Revolving Scripture Pavilion

Revolving Scripture Pavilion

The Revolving Scripture Pavilion is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Revolving Scripture Pavilion, located to the right of the Great Compassion Pavilion and facing east, shares the same floor plan and exterior appearance as the Maitreya Pavilion. Built during the Northern Song Dynasty, it is a two-story pavilion with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof. Its architectural techniques retain prominent features of the Song Dynasty. It has undergone various degrees of renovation in different dynasties. In 1956, the State Council allocated funds for a complete dismantling and reconstruction, during which the eaves added during the Ming Dynasty renovation were removed, restoring the building to its original Northern Song appearance. This pavilion employs large curved beams and inserted-column construction methods, possessing extremely high scientific value. The upper level houses an octagonal wooden revolving scripture cabinet with a diameter of seven meters, and the upper level also enshrines three gilded wooden Buddha statues. This revolving scripture cabinet, which can rotate, serves as a rotating scripture repository. It symbolizes the Buddhist concept of constant rotation and unyielding progress, likening Buddhist teachings to a wheel that turns continuously, spreading without end.

When you step into the Revolving Scripture Pavilion and see this towering revolving scripture cabinet, turning ceaselessly, you’ll find that it slowly begins to rotate with just a gentle push of two fingers.

One remarkable feature of this revolving scripture cabinet is its ingenious use of ancient Chinese indoor spatial design principles — the large revolving structure is placed partially below ground level. This not only highlights the cabinet’s grandeur but also makes full use of the interior space.

Ancient Chinese architectural theories on spatial design have garnered attention from many countries in modern times. The American modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright once quoted Laozi, whose original meaning suggested that what truly matters in building a house is the empty space within. The Italian modernist architect Sebastiano Serlio, in his book *The Theory of Architecture*, emphatically declared: “Space is the protagonist of architecture.” However, compared to China’s Revolving Scripture Pavilion, these ideas emerged more than a thousand years later.

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Maitreya Pavilion

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