Monument of the Buddha
——My indissoluble relationship with Zheng He, National Museum of Colombo, Sri Lanka, "Monument to the Buddhist Temple of Mount Busch Ceylon"
In the fourth main exhibition hall of the National Museum of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, known as the "Land of Buddhism", stands a piece called "Zheng He", "Bushi Ceylon Mountain Buddhist Temple Stele" (hereinafter referred to as the Zheng He Monument). The stele was erected by Zheng He on the second voyage to the West from September 1407 to the summer of 1409 AD, after landing in Sri Lanka, on the "Seventh Year of Yongle Second Ugly February Jia Shuo Day". The monument is 144.5 cm high, 76.5 cm wide and 12.5 cm thick. The forehead of the stele is arched, the front and back are engraved with exquisite reliefs of five-clawed double dragon play beads, the back of the stele is smooth and textless, and the front rectangle is surrounded by Chinese pattern carvings. The inscription is inscribed in three scripts of Chinese, Tamil and Persian, Chinese is a vertical book from top to bottom, counting 11 lines and 275 characters from right to left, tamil text is written from left to right at the upper left end, Persian is written horizontally from right to left in the lower left, and foreign historians also call it trilingual inscription, which records that more than 600 years ago, Zheng He, Wang Guitong, and others were sent by Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng. Went to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) to give money to the Buddhist temple on the island to worship the Buddha. Regarding this stele, there is no record in the historical documents since the Ming Dynasty in China, and since the erection of the stele, it is unknown in what year, it has been annihilated in the world, and its whereabouts are unknown. It was not until 1911 that it was rediscovered by the British engineer H.F. Tomalin in a sewer at the turn of Cripps Road in the southern port of Galle, when the monument was used as a cover. At that time, it had been more than 500 years since the erection of the monument, due to long-term erosion by water, the Tamil and Persian parts of the stele were heavily damaged and difficult to fully identify, but fortunately, the damage to the Chinese part was lighter, although it was vague, the content was still generally recognizable. The monument was later moved to the collection of the National Museum of Colombo. Zheng He in 1405-1433 AD, seven to the West, in overseas countries have many records of charity monuments, but after more than 600 years, as far as the stele is concerned, the overseas relics can still survive, only this one, cultural relics and historical value is extremely high, this is the ancient Chinese Maritime Silk Road and Sino-Sri Lanka friendly exchanges of physical evidence, extremely precious.
As a cultural diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, I have worked in Sri Lanka for five years and have formed an indissoluble relationship with this monument.
In July 2009, I was dispatched by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China to serve in the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka. During the period, often accompanied the domestic delegation to the museum to visit the Zheng He Monument, whenever you see this ill-written stele, there is a sense of historical vicissitudes in your heart, for China's great navigator Zheng He more than 600 years ago, despite the hardships and dangers, arrived at ceylon treasure island to erect this monument and feel sincere admiration and pride, at the same time feel that as a cultural diplomat sent by the motherland, it is responsible for a deeper understanding and attention to the historical situation of the monument, and to do its best to better protect this precious historical relic. In 2010, the author consulted mr. Wu Zhihong, deputy secretary general of the Zhenghe Research Association of Jiangsu Province, "Zheng He 'BuShi Ceylon Mountain Buddhist Temple Stele' Inscription Examination" article, and learned that in 2005, the Nanjing Gulou District Government decided to restore the Zheng He Bao Shipyard Site Scenic Area at the original site of Nanjing Zheng He Bao Shipyard, and copied the stele according to the size and style of the original stele, so Wu was sent to Si in June of that year to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the stele, but due to the limitations of the conditions at that time, Wu could not clearly identify every text on the stele. After returning to China, although the Nanjing side organized experts to identify it, it was still unable to interpret all the words of the Chinese inscription clearly. As a result, when the stele was copied, there were 10 Chinese characters blank, which was a pity. Subsequently, I read Mr. Ni longcun in Taiwan's article "Zheng He Busch Ceylon Mountain Buddhist Temple Stele Chinese Text Interpretation", which has many discrepancies between the textual examination results of the Chinese of zheng he bushi stele and the textual examination in Wu Zhihong's text, and Longwen said that he had no chance to see the stele in person, and the interpretation was only inferred from the works of other Chinese and foreign experts. In addition, I also consulted the sri Lankan scholar Chadima and the Chinese scholar Wu Yuanlei's article "Interpretation of the Stele of the Buddhist Temple of Zheng He Ceylon Mountain" and found that its interpretation was not the same as the previous two. Later, Mr. Ranjith Hewage, director of the National Museum of Skolumpo, provided me with a photocopy of the Chinese interpretation of the monument made more than twenty years ago (the author's anon. I also find it different from other versions. Different versions, different interpretations, which are right and which are wrong, are questionable. According to the author's understanding, although foreign scholars have made rubbings of the stele, China, as the hometown of Zheng He, has never owned the original rubbings, and if I can have this precious rubbing, it will surely provide strong historical support for China to better study the historical facts of Zheng He in the future. From this, an idea sprang up: First, we should try to promote the Nanjing side to send experts to make rubbings for the monument; second, ask the Nanjing side to make a protective cover for the monument and protect this precious historical relic; third, seek an opportunity to explore the full text of the Zheng He monument Chinese. These are also the author's three dreams.
The opportunity pays off. In December 2013, Zhang Lianzhen, Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, led a friendly delegation from Jiangsu Province to visit Slovakia at the invitation of the Minister of National Heritage of Slovakia. On the eve of the question, I proposed in coordination with the Sri Lankan side: First, Jiangsu Province should give a protective cover to the Zheng He Monument, because Nanjing was the starting point of Zheng He's voyage to the West, and according to scholars, the monument was obviously carved after being summoned in Nanjing, and went to Ceylon with the treasure ship and stayed there after giving alms (5). More than 600 years later, Jiangsu Province intends to make a protective cover for the monument to reflect the mother's cordial care for overseas wanderers; second, it is proposed that the Sri Lankan side invite our side to send experts to Slovakia to rub the monument in order to collect this important historical document in the history of Sino-Sri lankan friendly exchanges. On December 13, when the Jiangsu Provincial Friendship Delegation met with the Minister of Heritage of Sri Lanka, Chairman Zhang Lianzhen announced that a glass protective cover for the Zheng He Monument would be presented to the National Museum of Sri Lanka. Mr. Jagath Balasuriya, Minister of National Heritage of Sri Lanka, sincerely thanked the Chinese side for its support and help and announced that he had agreed to send experts from Jiangsu Province to Come to Sri Lanka to make rubbings for the monument.
On May 22, 2014, at the invitation of the National Heritage Department of Slovakia, the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage dispatched a working group of three people, deputy director Of Yin Liansheng, director of the Cultural Protection Department, Xu Sen, and researcher Qiang Mingzhong of nanjing museum, to Sisi to carry out the installation of the rubbings and glass covers of the Zheng He Monument. After several days of hard work, the working group successfully completed the rubbing work of the Zheng He Monument, and the glass protective cover was successfully installed on May 28.
During this period, the author had the honor to visit the museum site in person, carefully investigate from different angles, check all the inscriptions word by word, and after repeated screening and deliberation, finally interpret the inscriptions as follows (in the text (1)... (11) Added by the author, indicating the number of lines of the original inscription):
(1) Daming
(2) The emperor sent eunuchs Zheng and Wang Guitong to announce it
(3) Buddha's Venerable Ancestors Yang Wei Ci Zun Yuan ming Guang Dao Zhen Xuan Miao Fa Ji Qun Lun Li Xi Shu
(4) The brake inspiration of the Emperor sent the edict to the opening of the sea passages of the various seas, and the boats of the Ci People came and went without any traffic
Yu Yongwei's great virtue ceremony is to weave gold crepe with gold and silver
(5) Incense burner vases in gentle silk tables lamps and candles are given to the Buddhist temple to make offerings
(6) The Venerable Ones have learned from it
(7) A total of offerings are made to the Ceylon Hill Buddha and other monasteries
(8) Golden One Silk Money Silver Wu Qian All Colors Of Silk Wu Pick-up All Colors of Silk Silk
(9) Bronze incense burner Wu a gold seat full Bronze vase versus a gold seat full Brass candlestick Wu pair gold seat full Brass lamp Wu a gold seat full
(10) Arsenic Red Lacquer Golden Incense Box Wu Zhen Golden Lotus Flower Land Pair Sesame Oil Two Euntium Wu Bo Chen Candle One Pick Pair Sandalwood One Pick
(11) Yong Yong Leqi was young and ugly in February
At this point, the author's above three dreams have finally come true, fortunately. In particular, I was relieved that I had the opportunity to completely unravel the contents of zheng he's monument Chinese on the basis of the research of scholars of previous generations, and I was also very pleased that I had done a little practical work to promote friendly exchanges between China and Sri Lanka.
Throughout the installation of the rubbings and glass covers of the Zheng He Monument, the Ministry of National Heritage of Sri Lanka and the National Museum gave the necessary support and assistance to the working group of the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
This is my indissoluble relationship with Zheng He's "Monument to the Blessing of ceylon mountain". (The author is Shen Ming, First Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka)