In 2003, an ancient shipwreck from northern Malaysia shocked the world: it was an ancient ship from China. In the shipwreck, experts once found a strange artifact, and the reappearance of the artifact actually revealed a secret in Buddhism. What's going on here? If you want to know, let Xiaobian reveal the secret for you:
In November 2003, an ancient shipwreck was salvaged from the waters six miles off the coast of Malaysia by a professional salvage vessel. After the identification of archaeologists, it was confirmed that the shipwreck was the "Wanli" recorded in the historical records, a merchant ship that sailed from China to Portugal during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
The cause of the sinking of the "Wanli" was somewhat painful, when the "Wanli" departed from the port and sailed near Terengganu Island, failed to communicate effectively with the local Dutch ships, so it was shelled by dutch ships, resulting in the hull full of cargo being shot and causing a fire and sinking.
Now that hundreds of years have passed, experts have finally made it see the light of day, but it is regrettable that the damage rate of 37,300 pieces of Jingdezhen porcelain on the "Wanli" merchant ship is as high as 80%, and only 7,434 complete and semi-complete pieces are left.
Among the many Jingdezhen porcelains, experts also found a special piece of porcelain, which is a typical Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain, its shape is similar to an elephant carrying a heavy object, above the elephant's mouth and the weight, there are also two large and small mouths, which initially looks like a container for water, as to what it is? Experts really don't know.
We all know that archaeology is a very rigorous science, can not tolerate a little sloppy and error, to find out the real use of cultural relics, not only for the study of the background of ancient shipwrecks has great significance, but also may contribute to the development of the archaeological field.
In order to find out the "true identity" of the "blue and white porcelain elephant", archaeologists held a fierce discussion. Some experts believe that the shape of the artifact is beautiful and elegant, and it should be a kind of artwork used to cultivate sentiment. However, some experts believe that it cannot be some kind of ornament, because its upper end has a hole and the abdomen is hollow, and it should have some practical use. While experts on both sides were arguing, a ceramic expert offered his opinion. The expert believes that the image of the elephant is rare in the history of Chinese porcelain and common in India. Therefore, the artifact is likely to be related to Buddhism, and if you want to unravel the final mystery, you still need to find a Buddhist expert.
After the identification of Buddhist experts, the identity of the "blue and white porcelain elephant" was finally revealed, and it turned out that it was really not a handicraft used for decoration, but a common living utensil used by ancient Buddhist monks, called "military holding", which is the so-called "net bottle".
In order to explain to the public, Buddhist experts also specially named the artifact "Blue and White Elephant Shoufang Foot Military Holding", which is a typical artifact in the military holding category. Buddhist experts explain that military holding is a Sinicized harmonic of the Sanskrit word for "捃稚嘉", which is a must for monks to travel far, usually for the purpose of holding clean water. The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty is a work dictated by Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty, which once recorded: "Shu Zhi Jia, the Shakya purified his hands", which means that the water in the military can be used to wash hands. In addition, the water in the military holding can also be drunk, but the metal military holding will often rust, and the water contained inside is not hygienic, so most military holdings are made of ceramics. It should also be added that the jade vase held by Guanyin Bodhisattva in the "Journey to the West" is actually a derivative version of the military.
Many readers may be confused about the use of military holdings, in fact, its design principle is very clever, after reading it, people will shout that it is the ancient "black technology". The military holding has two mouths, the low mouth is the inlet and the high mouth is the outlet. When using, press the bottom of the bottle down in the water so that the water surface does not pass through the inlet, and can be removed after filling.
At this time, the military holding has been filled with water, in order to prevent the liquid from spilling, you can also stuff a lump of cotton cloth at the inlet, but the outlet does not need to worry, because the water in the military holding will not spill a drop no matter how bumpy, unless it is tilted to greater than 90 degrees when drinking water, so that the water in the military holding can flow out smoothly.
In this sense, we really owe it to archaeology, if there is no spirit of experts to seek knowledge and explore, the identity of the "military" is still a mystery, let alone uncover the secrets of ancient Buddhism. Archaeology is not only the golden key to open the door of history, but also a bright light in the vast sea of history.
Wen xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio, written by: Special history writer: Changshan Zhao Zi worm