The purpose of this study is to clarify the historical background of the setting of seungdang(僧堂) and gowon (庫院) in the Zen Buddhist temples of Song dynasty, in terms of as a Buddhist temple universality and as a Zen temple specificity, through the historical reference investigation on its relevance to the Buddhist temples of Tang dynasty. In the Zen Buddhist temples of Song dynasty, the Zen meditation space of seungdang was located on the west side of Buddha hall, and the kitchen and officiating priest’s living space of gowon was located on the east side of Buddha hall. Through the analysis of historical reference it was confirmed that, in the Buddhist temples of Tang dynasty, the Zen meditation section of seonwon(禪院) was on the west side, and the gowon was on the east side too. Therefore, it can be said that, the setting method of seungdang and gowon of the Zen Buddhist temples of Song dynasty was established above tradition of the Tang dynasty Buddhist temples.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of Zen Buddhist temple’s building composition of the Northern Song dynasty, through the analysis of literature historical material, such as Seonwon chenggyu(禪苑淸 規), Cham cheontae odaesan gi (參天台五臺山記) and so on. The building composition method of Zen Buddhist temple in Northern Song dynasty, which grasped from the Seonwon chenggyu, reflects the actual situation of the temples in that time. And it was ascertained that, the Zen Buddhist temple’s building composition of the Northern Song dynasty was basically same to that of Southern Song dynasty. And the comparative analysis was attempted between Zen Buddhist temples and that of other Buddhism sect described in Cham cheontae odaesan gi. From this analysis, the common features as Buddhism temple and the characteristics of building composition as Zen Buddhist temple was clarified.