The Taoist master Sima Chengzhen (647-735) was also a metallurgical mirror sword master with historical records. During his seclusion in the Spiritual Ruins of Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang Province, he built a Great Dan Furnace in the courtyard to cast mirror swords, and there are still "Mirror Sword Platform" ruins on Tiantai Mountain. He also presented Tang Ruizong and Tang Xuanzong with Taoist bronze mirrors and swords that he designed and cast, which were highly praised.
In the second year of Emperor Ruizong Jingyun (711), the emperor sent Sima Chengzhen's brother to Tiantai Mountain to announce his summons to the palace and inquire about the number of yin and yang and the affairs of the country. The fact that Sima Chengzhen presented the bronze mirror this time has not been recorded in the history books, but in the edict written by Tang Ruizong afterwards, it is mentioned that the bronze mirror presented by Sima Chengzhen is mentioned: "The mirror entered is regulated by Youqi." Hidden to the essence of the Tao, containing the image of Taiyi, hiding the treasure box, Ming Pei Liang deep. ”
After Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, he summoned Sima Chengzhen twice, and the second time in the fifteenth day of the new century (727), Sima Chengzhenjin presented the bronze mirror and sword he designed and produced, as well as the "Shangqing Hanxiang Sword Jian Tu", which illustrated and illustrated the Taoist philosophical significance of the mirror sword cast and the symbolic relationship with imperial power. Emperor Xuanzong's "Reply to Sima Chengzhen's Entry into the Cast of the Sword with Elephant Mirror" Yun: "The Sword of Mingzhao, etc., contains the two Yao Zhihui, and the elephant of the Bagua, which is enough to prolong the life of the light and destroy the city." Admire the amorous, ashamed of the four rhymes. And the imperial system "Reply to Sima Chengzhen on the Sword Mirror Poem" said: "The treasure reflects the heavens and the earth, and the excalibur merges with yin and yang." Sun and moon beautiful scenery, star bucket cut article. Write the appearance of the table, admire for the body defense. From Ziyi appreciation, Yongde bowling long. ”
The bronze mirror and sword presented by Sima Chengzhen were specially designed for the emperor and had a clear meaning of Hongdao, and the ornaments and inscriptions fully expressed the Taoist doctrines, and Sima Chengzhen named himself Hanxiangjian and Jingzhen Sword. Among them, the Jing Zhen sword has not been seen in the actual circulation, it seems to have become an extinct sound, and the historical records record that its inscription is: "Pounding thunder and lightning, transporting XuanXing." Destroy the evil, Henry Chastity. Dry and descending, Kun Yingling. The sun and the moon are like, and the yue is blasphemous. The bronze mirror called the Xiangjian has been passed down to the world.
Sima Chengzhen's explanation contains xiang jian yue:
This is why the outer circle is inside, taking the image of heaven and earth also. In the middle of the column, there is yin and yang also. The essence of the sun, away from the sun also; the essence of the yin, the kan is the moon; the five elements of the star and latitude, the seven yao also; the thunder and lightning in the 卯, the earthquake is also thunder; the heavens are in the unitary, the exchange is the Zeye; the clouds are divided into gossip, the festival is also the four hours, and the text of this table is heavenly. Its square circumference is water, with four streams of water, built into the mountains, to the five mountains, the mountains are ventilated, and the goods are stored, and the text of this standing place is also. The four sentences of the word inscription should be three talents, the class is long, and it can be understood, and this message is also written by the Ming people. Therefore, it is said that it contains the image of the book, covering its general meaning. Le Shu is in the box, and the image of the instrument is carefully observed.
According to the Shangqing Hanxiang Sword Jiantu, there are two kinds of bronze mirrors presented by Sima Chengzhen to Xuanzong. One is the Xiangjian, the first sentence of the inscription "Heaven and Earth Contains Elephant", so it is named "Shangqing Xiangjian Heaven and Earth Mirror". The mirror pattern is bounded by a square bagua elephant and is divided into two areas: inside and outside. The whole system of the inner district is square, alluding to the meaning of the place, the square is in the east, south, west, north, and middle of the right position, each placed a series of mountain patterns representing the five mountains, the four corners of the Yue, each column of 4 seal inscriptions, the word order is the corner jump reading, as "heaven and earth contain elephants, the sun and moon are bright, write rules and all things, cave to see the lark" 16 characters. The outer area as a whole coincides with the 3 strings of the round mirror, showing a perfect circle, which means that the sky is round, and the sun and moon are symmetrical between the bagua and the mirror edge, and there are two symmetrical white clouds on both sides of the sun and the moon, and the moon is very peculiar, far from looking like the sun, and a raised crescent moon appears at close range. At the north-south symmetry, the Stars are formed by a Taoist star chart; the diagonal angle of the mirror's central button is four mountain-shaped patterns, which are collectively called the Five Mountains of Yuyi with the Mountain Button.
This kind of Tang Dynasty bronze mirror object is stored in the hands of the Palace Museum, Luoyang Museum, China History Museum and other units and individual collectors in Beijing. The Forbidden City is named "Sun, Moon, Stars, Five Mountains Bagua Mirror", Luoyang Museum is named "Four Mountains, Sun Moon, Star Bagua Mirror", and the Taiwan Collection is named "Tang Dynasty Celestial Bagua Mirror". Mr. Wang Yucheng divided Sima Chengzhen and the Taoist Mirror Testimony of the Tang Dynasty (Journal of The Museum of Chinese History, No. 1, 2001) into 5 types according to the differences in the details of the physical ornamentation.
The second kind of xiangjian is relatively simple, and the main ornamentation is divided into two areas: inside and outside. The position of the mirror button in the center of the inner area is a turtle-shaped pattern with a full head, and there is a certain blank band around the turtle; the outer area is an inscription belt between the two strings, with 12 Taoist symbols, which are very prominent. Next to the jiantu is the seal character of the mirror inscription and its interpretation of the script, which is written: "The turtle is self-bu, the mirror is self-illuminating, The ji kezhen is not shining." "No, that is, the ancient writing of the Pi character. This kind of bronze mirror is called "Shangqing Containing Elephant Jian Gui Zi Bu Mirror", and there is a side in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, which is named "Gui Zi Bu Bagua Mirror".
The Shangqing Hanxiang Sword Jian Tu also appends Sima Chengzhen's summary of the "Sword Casting Mirror Method and Medicine":
Whoever casts a sword mirror must have a hundred refining real irons that can be cast. Where the smelting iron is refined, there is no cinnabar silver hook iron, not a fine sword, so the Taigu Sword Divine Mirror, since the Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor received the Divine Xu Gong Law, and later passed on zuo Qiu Zi Gong Gong, Wu Yue Qixiao Gong will be the Divine Mirror Spirit Sword Method. Posterity is not allowed to add cinnabar, fine iron is difficult to cast, this first fire cinnabar into silver, secondary smelting iron, hook adding mixed, take the year, month and day, the sword mirror as the previous law as the pattern, and do not make a size display, or the size of each has its own law.
Sima Chengzhen was a well-deserved master of mirror sword casting in the Tang Dynasty, and it was a fortunate thing that the xiangjian he designed and cast was exquisitely designed and profoundly meaningd, and could still be appreciated by today's people after thousands of years.
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