Shanmen

The Gate of Shanmen or Hall of the Shanmen or simply Shanmen, is the entrance gate of a Buddhist temple. In ancient times, nearly all Buddhist temples had a single Shanmen gate leading into a large hall for the temple. Today, it is observed that most of the surviving Chinese Buddhist temples follow the hall style but have three main gates incorporated into their construction. After successive wars and cultural discontinuity, most Chan Buddhist temples have changed the middle gate into a hall entrance, called "Hall of Shanmen". The Shanmen is the most important gate of a Chan Buddhist temple.

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