Qingdao Municipal Museum holds stone Buddha statues of Northern Wei
Looking up at the Buddha, seeing the head to do a high bun, the face shape is thin, the big ears are drooping too ordinary, the deep eyes are high nose, there is a white phase between the eyebrows, "the white phase" is one of the thirty-two phases of Rulai, and it is said that there are white hairs between the eyebrows, and the right rotation is like a turn, such as the middle of the sun, and there is light." With a confused smile on his face, the two Buddhas stand barefoot on the lotus seat, the lotus petals are placed under the square Sumire seat, and there are many small Buddha statues engraved on the front and back of the seat. The Buddha's right hand is extended forward, the palm of his hand is outward, and the carving technique is skillful. Their pattern is delicate and soft, and the cross-section of the pattern is in the shape of a "V", which is lifelike. Eight feet tall? (about 6 meters today), these two Buddhas are also commonly known as "Zhangba Buddhas".
The shapes of the two Buddhas are basically the same except for the difference in hand posture and base. Their serene demeanor, ethereal posture, noble and elegant, fully reflect the artistic characteristics of the late Northern Wei Dynasty Buddhist statue carvings in pursuit of charm and elegance. From the perspective of preservation, according to the identification of Professor Su Bai, a famous archaeologist in China, as an ancient stone statue displayed indoors in China's museum, it is also the only well-preserved and largest "two Buddhas standing side by side" type Northern Wei circular carving statue, which has been very rare. The two Buddhas are of great value for the study of the socio-political, religious and art history of the country during the Northern Wei Dynasty, as well as the economic and cultural development of Shandong.
The rare phenomenon of the Eight Buddhas standing side by side with the two Buddhas
The Three Jewels of the Buddhist family are buddhist scriptures, statues of Buddhas and monks. Since the introduction of Buddhism to China in the Han Dynasty, through the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties for hundreds of years, the whole country has greatly developed Buddhist temples, sculptures of Buddha statues have become popular. Buddha statues are objects of worship made by monks who practice Buddhism according to Buddhist scriptures, so what is the specific height of the Buddha statues?
After Buddhism was introduced to China, it is generally believed that the height of the Buddha is one zhang six feet, called "Zhang liu golden body", China has accurate records of the era of building the big Buddha from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, at the beginning of the most for wood carving or bronze casting, the height of the statue is mainly Zhangliu, there are also Statues of Zhangsi and Zhangba. The Qingdao Municipal Museum holds the giant Buddha inscribed as "Zhangba" Buddha.
In the middle and late Northern Wei Dynasty, a statue model called "two Buddhas sitting side by side" was popular, some of which were sitting in a "figure eight" shape in a Shrine, and some were sitting side by side in the form of a gold and bronze statue, and some scholars counted that there were 385 "two Buddhas sitting side by side" shrines in the Yungang Grottoes alone. The popularity of this model of statue-making also had profound socio-political reasons, with Emperor Xiaowen only 5 years old when he ascended the throne in the first year of Yanxing (471) and his grandmother Feng holding the government for twenty years, until the death of Feng in the fourteenth year of Taihe (490), when the civilized empress dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong were called "Two Saints". Obviously, the popular "two Buddhas sitting side by side" after the middle of the Northern Wei Dynasty is a reflection of the imperial power politics of the "two saints" of Empress Dowager Civilization and Emperor Xiaowen, and the "two Buddhas standing side by side" at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty is the inheritance and evolution of Shakya Duobao's "two Buddhas sitting side by side" form. According to the characteristics of the stone Buddha statues in the Qingdao Museum, the construction age of the two giant Buddhas should be after the Jingming and Zhengshi of the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou, because from the Buddha statues, it can be clearly seen that the style of Buddhist sculpture art reflected in the Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor's Sinicization policy was implemented.
After passing away, the statue of Zhangba Buddha was almost stolen by the Japanese
There should have been four Buddha statues, and these two stone statues and the other two Statues of the Northern Qi Stone Bodhisattva were originally placed in the Longquan Temple in Linzi, Shandong, according to the "Linzi County Chronicle": "Longquan Temple is on the bank of Zishui In the northwest of Longchi Village, there are still four stone Buddhas, each eight feet high." Linzi County Chronicle? The Golden Stone Chronicle records that there were dutch people who wanted to buy stone Buddhas but could not get them. According to the data of the 1962 Qingdao Municipal Museum field survey, the site of Longquan Temple covers an area of about 40 to 50 acres, two Zhangbashi Buddhas were originally in the main hall, in the middle of the south side, two bodhisattvas on the south side of the double Zhang eight Buddhas, sitting on the east and west standing, the bodhisattva head has long fallen, one was used as a boundary.
On May 1, 1928, the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army entered Jinan, and Japan invaded Shandong in order to prevent the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army. The Japanese army sent troops to Jinan, creating the "May 3rd Massacre" that shocked China and foreign countries, and forcibly occupied the area of 20 miles on both sides of the Jinan and Jiaoji railways. Longquan Temple is located just within 20 miles of the so-called Jiaoji Railway. On July 15, 1928, the Japanese seized the stone Buddha and the stele and transported them to the Zihedian Railway Station, where they were to be transported to Qingdao and transported by sea to Japan. On July 24, Shanghai's Declaration reported: "... Linzi County Longchi place, there are two stone Buddhas (should be four), Chenghua monument, one broken stele, a few years ago there were Chinese scum, planning to sell the Buddha stele at a cost of 30,000 yuan to the Japanese, for the local people to hear about it, out of interference, so it was not sold, this time Japan occupied Jinan and Jiaoji Road along the line to Qingdao, Longchi is suitable for the Japanese so-called twenty miles, a certain day people coveted the ancient Buddha monument of Longchi and so on for a long time, but on the fifteenth day of this month, led people to rob the Buddha monument together, transported to Zihedian station, ready to be transported to Japan ..."
After the "May 3rd" massacre, the resistance struggle of the Chinese people surged up, and the Japanese invaders, forced by the situation, did not dare to steal these cultural relics, and only snatched two bodhisattva heads. On March 29, 1929, the Nanjing government signed the "Ji Case Agreement" with Japan, stipulating that the Japanese army would withdraw within two months, and on March 31, the Nationalist government would receive the Jinan and Jiaoji railways, and the cultural relics such as stone Buddhas and stone tablets would be left at the Zihedian Railway Station. In 1930, Luan Baode, the former director of the Qingdao Municipal Railway Bureau and the former director of the Qingdao Sifang Machine Factory, sent a special car to transport it to Qingdao and placed it in the Sifang Park at that time. According to Mr. Luan's recollection, when these precious cultural relics were found, they were only wrapped in straw ropes, unmanaged, and they were lying in Zihedian Station to be eroded by the wind and rain. In 1930, Mr. Luan personally dispatched a special train to transport these stone statues and stone tablets from Zihedian Station to Qingdao.
In 1977, the Qingdao Municipal People's Government decided to move four stone statues and two stone monuments to the Qingdao Municipal Museum for domestic and foreign tourists to see. Therefore, in July 1979, the stone Buddha statue was transported to the courtyard of the former Qingdao Municipal Museum for protection and exhibited as the "Treasure of the Town Museum". In 2000, the new East Museum was officially opened, and the Zhangba Buddha, which has endured 1500 years of ups and downs, was finally protected and exhibited indoors. At present, as the ancient stone statues displayed indoor in China's museums, the "Shuangzhang Eight Buddhas" can be the largest in volume, and the two Buddhas in the same hall stand side by side, both of which are Northern Wei round sculptures, which are the only ones left in history.
Gold was expensive, and copper could make coins, weapons, and other artifacts, so none of the gold and bronze Buddhas of the Southern and Northern Dynasties have survived to this day. The Qingdao Municipal Museum's collection of shuangzhang eight-stone Buddha can survive to this day, so that we can glimpse the prosperity of Northern Dynasty Buddhism and the superb art of statue-making, which is really valuable.