The Main Buddha Hall

大雄寶殿

The Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden’s wooden architectural complex consists of the Main Buddha Hall, the Guanyin Hall, the Ksitigarbha Hall, the Manjushri Hall, and the Wooden Archway, forming a spectacular ancient temple cluster. The Main Buddha Hall is a three-tiered structure, with the first and second floors serving as the base of the main hall, constructed with reinforced concrete and occupying an area of 35,000 square feet. These levels are used for memorial halls, art galleries, scripture repositories, office areas, living quarters, and reception areas. The third floor houses the Main Buddha Hall, built entirely with wooden structures.

The wooden structure of the Main Buddha Hall covers an area of 1,418 square meters, with a total length of 44 meters, a depth of 30 meters, and a height of 15.72 meters. It is an all-wooden hall constructed using the traditional Chinese wooden tenon and mortise architectural technique. The Main Buddha Hall at the Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden in Canada is modeled after the Eastern Hall of the Dafoguang Temple in China's Wutai Shan, a structure with a history dating back 1,200 years. The primary material used for the Main Buddha Hall is precious rosewood imported from Laos, which emits a unique fragrance. The roof tiles of the hall are all made of cast bronze, surpassing the materials used in the Fuguang Temple on Wutai Shan in China.

Within the Main Buddha Hall are enshrined five sacred Buddha and Bodhisattva statues. In the center of the hall, on a Sumeru pedestal, are three colossal Buddhas, each standing at 6.85 meters in height, arranged from left to right: the Medicine Buddha in the east, the central Shakyamuni Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha in the west. Following common convention, they are known as the "Three Worlds Buddhas." Flanking these Buddhas are two Bodhisattvas, representing the wisdom and vows of Mahayana Buddhism: Manjushri and Samantabhadra, each standing at 5.4 meters in height. Additionally, the four walls of the Main Buddha Hall are adorned with precious redwood bas-reliefs gilded with gold, featuring the Eighty-Eight Buddhas.

The Main Buddha Hall possesses four distinct and noteworthy architectural characteristics: First, it exhibits a grand scale, strict planning, and imposing wooden structures in the style of Tang Dynasty architecture. Second, it seamlessly combines beauty and strength, featuring architectural elements such as arches, pillars, and beams inspired by Tang Dynasty architecture, with each element showcasing its unique shape and structural interplay, achieving an unparalleled unity of strength and beauty. The colour scheme is simple and vibrant, with a spacious and expansive roof, simple and unadorned doors and windows. Third, the building materials are of great value, as the entire wooden structure, both inside and outside, is crafted from precious rosewood imported from Laos. Fourth, the entire roof of the Main Buddha Hall is covered in bronze tiles, with a total of 24,220 bronze tiles and an approximate weight of 61 tons, bringing the total roof weight to about 600 tons.

The unique bracketing structure used in the Main Buddha Hall is a highly skilled architectural artistry unique to China, silently showcasing the charm of traditional Chinese culture and showcasing the grandeur of Tang Dynasty Buddhism and Chinese culture once again.

加國五台山大木結構園區由大雄寶殿、觀音殿、地藏殿、文殊殿、木牌樓等組成，整個五台山園區是無比壯觀的古建寺廟群。大雄寶殿整體建築共分為三層，其中，一、二兩層為大殿基座，混凝土結構，佔地面積3.5萬平方尺，用作紀念館、藝術館、藏經閣、辦公區、生活區和接待區域。三層是大木結構大雄寶殿。

大雄寶殿的木結構建築面積1418平方米，總長度44米，縱深度30米，總高度15.72米，是一個全木結構的殿堂，是中國古代傳統的大木作榫卯結構建築。五台山大雄寶殿仿照距今1200年歷史的中國五台山大佛光寺遺存的東大殿而建造。大殿所有主要材料都採用寮國進口的珍貴花梨木，這種木材具有獨特的香味。大殿的屋頂瓦片全部採用鑄造的青銅瓦，比中國五台山佛光寺用料更為講究。

大殿內供奉五尊佛菩薩聖像。位於大殿中央須彌座上的三尊大佛，每尊高6.85米，自左至右方向排列的分別是東方藥師佛、中央釋迦牟尼佛、西方阿彌陀佛，按照通常慣例而言，屬於「橫三世佛」。兩尊菩薩分別是代表大乘佛教智慧與行願的文殊、普賢二位菩薩，菩薩聖像每尊高5.4公尺。此外在大雄寶殿四面牆上還刻有珍貴的紅木浮雕鍍金八十八佛。

這座大雄寶殿有四個極為特殊且值得驕傲的建築特點：第一，唐風古建，規模宏大，規劃嚴整，全木結構、氣魄宏偉。第二，美和力的結合，仿唐建築鬥拱、柱子和樑，它們各自本身的造型和相互搭建而成的受力狀態，達到了一種無與倫比的力與美的統一，色調簡潔明快，屋頂舒展平遠，門窗簡潔、樸實無華。第三，取材珍貴，整個大木作結構內外均取材自寮國珍貴的花梨木。第四，整個大殿的屋頂全部都是銅瓦覆蓋，共計銅瓦24220片，銅的重量約為61噸，整個屋頂總重量約為600噸。

這座大殿所採用的中國特有的鬥拱式建築結構，這是一種工藝非常精湛的建築藝術，無聲地向世人展示中國傳統文化的魅力，再現盛唐佛教和中華文化的風采。