The Dai nationality, living in the south and southwest of Yunnan, believes in TheravadaBuddhism, also called Hinayana Buddhism. The Buddhist monastery and pagoda, among buildings, have gained the highest achievements and possess the most distinguishing features.

a miansi temple

The Theravada Buddhist monastery is called a miansitemple. There is at least one such temple in almost every Dai village. According to religious discipline, every male must become a monk once during childhood, learning to read and write in the monastery. The Miansi Monastery provides a place not only for religious activities, but also for celebrations, election of leaders and mediation of disputes. The monastery has gone beyond pure religious significance, and people cherish a special cordial feeling for it. Therefore, the Miansi temple is quite different from a Buddhist monastery in Han areas and the Lamaist temples of Tibetan Buddhism. It is not so strict and solemn as the former, nor as magnificent and uninhibited as the latter; rather, it appears closer to the people. It is exquisite in shape, beautiful in posture and simple and unaffected in character.

 The ManSuman Monastery

The ManSuman Monastery in Ganlanba of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, located on the east bank of theLancang River, is arranged in order from east to west with temple gate, approach porch and Buddhist hall. On the northeast side of the Buddhist hall is a Dai-styleBuddhist pagoda; on the other side is a monastic hall, constituting an extremely vivid and beautiful but not symmetrical composition.

Temple gate with three rooms,roofwith two slopes, high in the middle and low by the side, simple in technique but rich in bodily form. Unlike the Han Buddhist hall which takes longitude as the front, the Buddhist hall, plane and rectangular, takes gable (i.e., short side). The center of the big hall is covered with two sloping roofs. The four sides surround a single sloping roof, and the whole composition is a two-section roof like a Chinese-hip-and-gable roof. A huge statue of Buddha is erected within the hall facing east.

 The Octagonal Pavilion

The monastic hall of the Miansi Temple, similar to the Buddhist hall in appearance, is a place used to store Buddhist scripture and hold ihram .Its outward boundary is comparatively closed, and the lower part has a fairly high Sumerian seat. But the monastic hall of JingZhen Temple in MengZhe of Xishuangbanna, a plane polygonal angle cross, is composed of 16 outside angles and 12 inside angles, and ca1led an "octagonalpavilion". Its beautiful shape is the pride of Dai nationality architectural art. The pedestal of the "octagonal pavilion" is laid up with bricks and is quite high. The body of the pavilion is also laid up with bricks. Doors open on all four fronts. The roof is exceptional, composed of many two-slope Chinese overhung gable-end roofs stretching out from every storey and radiating in eight directions. They were laid Up into 10 stories from bottom to top and large to small, forming a complex of silken scale composed of 80 small roofs which are very complicated. The general outline of the roof is of a concave curve: giving a strong sense of movement. Finally, it converges in a laksata plate, then extends upward through a high laksata pole, being fully played up and intensified. The color of the whole pavilion is very bright and beautiful, its shape is delicate and exquisite. The splendid jewelry, under the Sunshine, looks like blossoming lotus, expressing the outstanding molding talent of the Dai architect and the Dai people's ardent feeling for life.

The Buddhist pagoda of Theravada, called Mianta Pagoda, often exists side by side withBuddhist temples, There are also Mianta pagodas constructed independently. The Mianta pagodas are all solidly laid up with bricks, the surface plastered with mortar and coated with white or gold color. The pagoda is composed of four parts: base station, pedestal, the pagoda body and pagoda temple. The change in form and style of the four parts constitutes a variety of images.

The pedestal is a layer of platforms, laid up with bricks or stones, on the rammed earth, which is slightly higher than the ground. It is plane and mostly square. The pedestal plane is also square, composed of one or two layers of Sumerian bases. There are also two-three-layer plain platforms in a staircase shape. The pagoda body is mostly composed of two-four-layer Sumerian bases, with each storey from the bottom becoming smaller than the other. It is plane and mostly polygonal angle cross, but there are also square, hexagonal, round and other shapes. From the pagoda body up is a bending bell-shaped pagoda temple seat, leading to inverted lotus, flower bud, multi-layered dharmamudra wheel and high metal saksata pole with several layers of canopies formed by metal ring sheets strung on it. The canopies are decorated with blazing jewelry or a small pagoda and the like. The temple seat is half of the height of the whole pagoda. Unlike the Han Buddhist pagoda, which takes the tower as the main molding element, the Dai nationality Mianta pagoda looks more like a vertical long-handle bell, which is very forceful and pretty.

Mansu Manta Pagoda is a typical Mianta pagoda. There is one more Mianta pagoda of a combination of group pagodas, which is particularly pretty and charming.

 The Manfeilong Pagoda

TheManfeilong Pagoda in Xishuangbanna is composed of nine rounded pagodas of various sizes, which jointly sit on the pedestal of around Sumerian seat, the nine pagodas. The pagoda at the center is the highest formed by three stories of tapering off Sumerian seats. The remaining eight pagodas look like the central pagoda, but are only half its height. The various corresponding pagodas radiate on the pedestal containing two small sloping Buddhist shrines facing outside the mountain Surface. On each shrine, a stem form is laid up as a transit symbolizing the bark of mercy

The pagoda stands gracefully erect like a spring bamboo shoot emerging from the earth and brimming with vitality Manfeilong Pagoda is locally called "tanuo". "Nuo" means spring bamboo shoot. The Manfeilong Pagoda, beautiful, exquisite and charming, is an architectural artistic treasure of the Dai nationality. The pagoda was built on a small mountain top about 100 meters high, and visible a dozen li away.

The Dajin Pagodas

The Dajin pagodas in jiele Village of Ruili, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, are also a group of famous Mianta Pagodas, and are bigger than the Manfeilong Pagoda. The pagoda at the center is Surrounded by 16 pagodas of various sizes. The pagoda body is neat and white; its top is gilded, dazzling under the Sunshine.

In addition, the Manmengding Buddhist Pagoda in Yingjiang is also a famous combination-type Mianta Pagoda.