Wheels within wheels

[sueinbeijing]

I am trying to decipher some words about pagoda architecture.

On the steeple of Buddhist pagodas there are rings or discs called 'xianglun', literally revealing wheels. Can anyone help with a decent translation of this word? And what they mean. I don't think it's a dharma wheel but I'm not familiar with all the terms so if anyone can help I'd be grateful.

[skylee]

"pagoda finial" perhaps? Take a look ->

sourin　相輪

CATEGORY:　architecture / general terms

　

Lit. pagoda finial. The verticle shaft which protrudes from the top of a pagoda. The sorin' date=' whether made of bronze and placed above a wooden pagoda or carved into a stone pagoda (*sekitou 石塔), is usually divided into several component parts. At the base are the dew basin, *roban 露盤, and the inverted bowl, *fukubachi 伏鉢; next are the "nine rings", *kurin 九輪 surmounted by the water flame, *suien 水煙; above that is the dragon wheel, *ryuusha 竜車 (not found on sekit) topped with the sacred gem, *houju 宝珠. [/quote']

Structures of Pagodas[/url]]The most outstanding characteristic of the steeple was the discs around the pole of the steeple. They were called xianglun (wheel or disc) or golden basins or dew basins[/color'], as a symbol of honor or respect for the Buddha. Generally, the bigger the pagoda, the more and bigger the discs. In the early period there were no regulations as to the number of such discs on a particular pagoda. Some had as many as several dozen; others had three or five. Originally, the great wooden pagoda at Yongning Temple ha Luoyang, for instance, had thirty tiers of discs. The Four-Door Pagoda has five and Songyue Temple Pagoda has seven. In later times pagodas were built with one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven or thirteen discs. Most Lamaist dagobas have thirteen discs, which are therefore called "thirteen skies." An umbrellalike canopy is usually built above the discs as part of the pagoda's ornaments

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