玄奘對觀音信仰的新證據 -- 以甘肅民樂童子寺石窟西遊記與觀音救難壁畫為例=New Evidences for Xuanzang’s Belief in Avalokiteśvara: A Case Study of the Murals of Journey to the West and Avalokiteśvara’s Salvation in the Grottoes of Tongzi Temple in Minle, Gansu
民樂童子寺石窟=Tongzi Temple Grottoes in Minle; 西遊記壁畫=Murals of Journey to the West; 觀音救難壁畫=Murals of Avalokiteśvara’s Salvation; 觀音信仰=Belief in Avalokitesvara
In the Northern Song and Western Xia Dynasty, the images of Xuanzang searching for Buddhist Scriptures mostly appeared in the sutra painting of water moon Guanyin 水月觀音, in order to show Xuanzang’s belief in Avalokiteśvara. In the Qing Dynasty, the images of Xuanzang searching for Buddhist Scriptures were transformed into the murals of Journey to the West, and combined with the popular murals of Avalokiteśvara’s Salvation at this time to show the belief in Avalokiteśvara. This paper investigates and maps the grottoes of the Tongzi temple 童子寺 in Minle 民樂 in detail, interprets the unidentified murals of Journey to the West, and identifies four murals of Avalokiteśvara’s Salvation. At the same time, it considers how murals’ themes were selected and the common phenomenon of combining the murals of Journey to the West with the murals of Avalokiteśvara’s Salvation in Zhangye 張掖 area. It discusses the belief in Avalokiteśvara reflected in those murals and establishes the chronological and spatial sequence of the development and evolution of such murals in Zhangye area.
