摘要
宋太平兴国八年(983)十二月,来华求法巡礼圣迹的日本国僧人奝然一行抵达汴梁。来年(太平兴国九年)正月,奝然得旨在东京大小寺院巡礼。在此期间,通过奏请宋太宗,他终于在皇宫大内滋福殿见到两个月前在扬州开元寺寻访不得的优填王旃檀瑞像。在结束五台山和洛阳的游历之后,奝然再访汴京,此时他已决定模刻此尊瑞像带回日本。^(①)这便是在中日佛教交流史和世界艺术史上占有重要地位的、如今日本京都清凉寺释迦堂供奉的本尊释迦如来的造像由来(图1)。
Celebrated as the“First Buddha statue of Jambudvīpa,”the King Udayana Sandalwood Image is arguably the most sacred statue in the history of Mahāyāna Buddhism.Literary accounts on its arrival and early transmission in China,most of which are given in monk Daoxuan’s(596-667)works of monastic biographies and miracle tales,however,present many conspicuous discrepancies.Such inconsistencies and contradictions greatly obstacle scholars from developing coherent historical narrative,and they even cannot achieve consensus on very basic facts.This paper re-considers Daoxuan’s accounts as a group of stories he collected from a wide range of sources,which were composed by various writers in diff erent times and places.By examining the specific historical intentions and contexts of the original records,the study reveals that China’s fi rst King Udayana Image was a tribute presented by Rudravarman(r.514-550),a usurper and the last king of Funan,to the Liang court in 519 immediately after Emperor Wudi conducted his fi rst great assembly of bodhisattva ordination.This statue,as an auspicious omen extolling the Bodhisattva-Emperor’s divine rule,played a significant role in Rudravarman’s political agenda to seek China’s support of his governance,and it was also very likely to be the f rst King Udayana Image ever made in the history of Buddhism.During the turbulent political situation of the second half of the sixth century,the King Udayana Image was replicated and transmitted to Jingzhou and Yangzhou respectively,in which stories were developed intentionally to claim greater authority than the other.The strong pro-Jingzhou position in the last years of Daoxuan’s life led him further elaborate a new story to legitimize the Jingzhou statue,and eventually the historical narratives of the King Udayana Image reached great complexity.Revisiting the sacred statue’s early transmission provides not only signifi cant insights into the history of Buddhist art and religions,but also new understandings of the political and diplomatic history of early medieval China.
作者
徐翥
Xu Zhu(School of Architecture,Harbin Institute of Technology(Shenzhen))
出处
《丝绸之路研究集刊》
2023年第1期174-205,584-585,共34页
Journal of the Silk Road Studies
基金
哈尔滨工业大学(深圳)科研启动项目“5—7世纪东亚佛教建筑研究:以萧梁武帝的改革为中心”阶段性成果。
