The author works at Research Associate, Centre of Buddhist Studies, SOAS, University of London.
關鍵詞
Huayan Sutra; blood-writing; Yongming Yanshou; Shanji; Song Lian; Xie Bi; Qian Qianyi; Li Weizhen; Tao Ru’nai
摘要
This article takes as its subject one very famous intergenerational blood-written copy of the Huayan Sutra and the subsequent veneration of this text among the late Ming literati. This artifact was copied out by the late Yuan dynasty monk Shanji 善繼 (1286-1357) who was thought to be a reincarnation of Yongming Yanshou 永明延壽 (904-975), the purported progenitor of this project. However, the copy was believed to have been completed only after Yongming’s second reincarnation as the great early Ming statesman Song Lian 宋濂 (1310-1381). The karmic connections between these three successive generations elevated the stature of this particular copy, which was revered for its provenance in a storied traceable ‘Huayan lineage’ comprised of two monks and a famous literatus. Yet despite this acceptance, the historical work of determining who was a reincarnation of whom became a topic of interest in literati prefaces and postfaces, many of which espoused a uniquely Buddhist method of historical proof premised on assessments of reincarnation, karmic connections, dream encounters, and personal realization. After presenting a detailed analysis of prefaces and postfaces written by Song Lian, the Huizhou scholar Xie Bi 謝陛 (1547-1615), and the famous literatus Qian Qianyi錢謙益 (1582-1664), this article presents a brief history of how this text left Suzhou and was later returned. And finally, I will end with a brief discussion of how this copy is referenced in other late Ming and early Qing sources. The historical reconstruction of the provenance of the Shanji copy evinces a uniquely Buddhist method of historical proof, while the intricacies of this story further shed light on the devotional status of this Buddhist artifact and its reverberations within Buddhist culture during the late Ming toearly Qing.
目次
Introducing the Interconnections between Yongming, Shanji, and Song 362 Assessing Claims to Reincarnation: Xie Bi and Qian Qianyi’s Differing Historical Views 366 Controversial Moves: How Wang Daokun Acquired the Shanji Copy 373 Later References to the Shanji Copy 377 In Conclusion 380 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 381 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 381
