Art historian brings to light Korean Buddhist temple design, decoration

LAWRENCE — Eighteenth-century Buddhist monks in the Korean countryside took advantage of the artistic freedom that distance from the capital granted them to create immersive temple environments that elevated the spiritual lives of worshippers.

Maya Stiller, associate professor in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, focuses on one detail of this — the roof-supporting brackets and their artistic adornment — in her latest article, “Carpenter-Monks as Crafters of Chosŏn Architecture: Bridging Sacred and Secular Spaces,” in the Journal of Korean Religions.

She said the piece could be considered a first draft of a chapter of her forthcoming book project on Chosŏn Buddhist temple art and architecture more broadly.

“This is going to really break ground on a new topic,” Stiller said. “Because my work explores temple architecture and mural painting through a highly interdisciplinary lens, I draw not only on art and architectural history but also on Buddhist poetry, royal court records and even performance traditions like ritual music and theater. By bringing these diverse sources together, I look at how temple spaces were not just religious but cultural centers that reflected the visual, literary and spiritual life of their communities.”

Stiller said that, like their contemporaries in Europe during Baroque or Rococo periods, Korean Buddhist artisan-monks believed that, when it came to worship structures, more is more, not less. Secular architecture in realms controlled by the royal court tended to be austere, influenced by Confucian notions of modesty. Not so Buddhist architecture out in the provinces.

“This is an area that scholars in Buddhist studies haven't really explored,” Stiller said. “Their focus tends to stay on the religious side of things. My work expands that scope by examining how religious and secular architecture intersected. I have found that there was a significant amount of overlap and interaction between the two, but there are also some key differences, and in this article, I am bringing those relationships to light.”

Stiller said, “As long as it didn't pose a threat to royal authority, the carpenter-monks working in the provinces had a great deal of freedom. They could build whatever they wanted and how they wanted it, as long as they had the materials and funding. And they really made use of that freedom. By the late 18^th into the 19th century, temple architecture becomes incredibly vibrant and decorative. You start seeing elaborate bracket arms with intricate carvings of lotus flowers, dragons and phoenixes. It’s full of movement and life."

“When I was doing fieldwork, I was just stunned by the energy of these places. The royal palaces are impressive in scale, but the intensity and vibrancy you feel inside a Buddhist temple hall is something else entirely.”

Imagine, she said, being a peasant in 18^th century Korea.

“You share a small, thatched-roof hut with three generations of your family, scraping by on just enough rice, beans, some vegetables, maybe an egg or two, and, if you’re lucky, a bit of meat once or twice a year,” Stiller said. “And then you visit the temple, and it is the complete opposite of your daily life. The space is expansive, and roof-tiled buildings with their tall ceilings feel majestic, bursting with color and filled with sacred images like bronze statues that shine like gold. Maybe you attend a ceremony, and the monks begin to play their drums, cymbals and bells, and music fills the space. It becomes kind of a spiritual cleansing and a moment of emotional release, a real escape from the weight of everyday survival.”