The architecture of Chinese Buddhist temple originated from the model of palace. But, it is different from either the India's arama or the Chinese palace. It adopts the outlook of Chinese palace and the contents of Buddhist stupas, patriarch stupas, Buddhist images, mural paintings, etc. From the layout of space, the whole complex follows the model of vinaya Master Tao-hsuan's The sutra of the Map of Ordination Mandala. It is at least the style of san-ho-yuan, i.e. a courtyard with rooms on three sides. Added with the front gate and the walls on its both sides, the san-ho-yuan becomes Shih-ho-yuan, i.e. a courtyard with rooms on four sides, forming an axle line. Some larger monasteries are formed by over two axle lines. For example, Sungshan Shaolin Monastery is made up of several axle lines of Shih-ho-yuan on the slope starting from the front gate. But, in some cases, due to the limitation of the topography of slope, only the central axle line is in orderly array, the halls and other buildings on both sides don't necessarily from an axle main line. However, they should match with the various buildings of the axle main line; they are not isolated buildings. For example, the Chieh-t'ang-shih Monastery in Beijing is arrayed in this way. In general, the large-scaled Buddhist monastery has headquarter and several branches. The headquarter complex has several independent halls of special styles, such as Maitreya Hall, Manjusri Hall, Avalokitesvara Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, Avatamsakara Hall, Ordination Altar Hall, Sutra-translation hall, etc. The Hsien-t'ung-shih Monastery of Wu-t'ai-shan, according to the record, had "12 halls" during the reign of Emperor Hsiao-wen-ti of Northern Wei Dynasty. The medium-sized monastery has different function rooms such as dharma hall, meditation hall, guest hall, dining hall, lecture hall, Buddha-name-repeating hall, Maitreya Hall, etc. No matter how large the size is, every monastery has dormitory, kitchen, store room, lavatory, etc. The ancient Buddhist architectures in China tends to change in the footsteps of time. The styles of T'and and Sung Dynasties are still extant in Nara and Kyoto of Japan. The older Buddhist architectures in China are mostly the styles of Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties. The old monasteries in Taiwan such as the Kai-yuan-shih Monastery and Chu-his-shih Monastery in Tainan adopt the mainland style of Ch'ing Dynastery.