Claudia Wenzel Research project “Buddhist Stone Sūtra in North China,” Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
關鍵詞
Stone Sūtra=石經; Mount Tai=泰山; pilgrim sites=聖地; Xiyou ji=西域記; Buddha’s robe=如來袈裟; Buddhist relics=舍利子; Chinese script=漢語經文
摘要
This article proposes that the giant Diamond Sūtra (Vájracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra 金剛般若波羅蜜經) carved in Sūtra Stone Valley 經石峪 at Mount Tai 泰山 might be understood as a Chinese replica of Indian pilgrim sites associated with the place where the Buddha dried his kasāya robe in the sun after washing it. Accounts of these sites in the famous Da Tang xiyouji 大唐西域記 by Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664), repeatedly described them as “shining and distinct like a carving” 明徹皎如雕刻. At the Indian sites, the traces of the Buddha’s kasāya imprinted in stone were understood as paribhogika relics, relics of touch, emanating efficacious and apotropaic powers. Supporting evidence for this view is found in a wall painting in Dunhuang, in Mogao Cave 323, where an episode relating to the Vārānasī site of sunning the Buddha’s robe was illustrated. The author proposes that, when creating a replica of such Indian sites at Mount Tai, the pattern or lines of the Buddha’s robe 衣文 were transformed into sūtra script 經文. Expanding on a general tendency for multiplication of pilgrim sites and Buddha relics as reflected in various travelogues by Chinese monks from the fifth to seventh centuries, as well as on the general significance of bodily traces in stone left behind by sacred Buddhist beings, the author concludes that Mount Tai’s sūtra carving might be understood as a stone relic.
Introduction 53 Mount Tai’s Sūtra Stone Valley as a replica of Indian pilgrimage sites 56 The site today The Rock for Sunning the Sūtra The numinous Diamond Sūtra on the Rock for Sunning the Sūtra Reconstructing the original significance of the place The rock where the Buddha dried his robe in Chinese travelogues 73 Xuanzang Earlier travelogues by Song Yun, Huisheng, and Faxian Other Indian pilgrim sites with bodily imprints on natural rocks Concluding remarks: Relic character of the Mount Tai carvings 82
