Comparative Study of Dougong and Flying Buttress from the Perspective of Religious Culture

This is a comparative study of the dougong system in Buddhist architecture and the flying buttress in Christian architecture from the structural, historical, and cultural points of view. Despite their similar structural load-bearing and ornamental functions in religious buildings, these two systems actually embodied the fundamentally different philosophical and religious principles: Chinese dougong has Taoist harmony and multi-layered spatial development, and Gothic flying buttresses are emphasizing verticality and divine transcendence. Through comparative studies, this paper illustrates that dugong and flying buttresses both originated only as stabilizing architectural elements, but their cultural meanings evolved under different social contexts. Flying buttresses more directly reflect Christian culture because they developed in a mono-religious society, whereas dougong, emerging in a multi-religious context, carries more complex cultural associations beyond a single faith. The paper emphasizes the importance of the significance of cross-cultural exchanges between the East and the West, as well as the interplay between architectural structures and cultural connotations.