5. Hebei Buddha statues and Pingcheng Buddha statues and grottoes
It is uncertain when the Gandhara and Matura Buddhist statue-making art, which originated in ancient India, was introduced to China. A pottery cash cow tree was excavated from the Hanya Tomb in Pengshan, Sichuan Province, and there was a Buddha and two bodhisattvas under the tree seat. There are three stone carved Buddha statues in the Tomb of the Eastern Han Cliff in the two caves of Leshan Mahao and Persimmon Bay. This is likely to be the earliest image of a Buddha statue in China. But from the tomb, the use is often mixed with Taoist and immortal alchemy, which is different from the real use of Buddha statues. At present, the earliest true Chinese Buddhist statue found should be the Sixteen Kingdoms period. After the death of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Pingcheng began a large-scale statue-making activity of the Yungang Grottoes, and the art of the Yungang Grottoes had a profound influence on the later Chinese carving art. Now it is rare to find a Buddhist statue with a clear chronology and excavation relationship near the capital city of Emperor Taiwu, which is of course related to the destruction of Buddhism by Emperor Taiwu, but any kind of art is not accidental, what kind of Buddhist statue near Pingcheng before the production of the Yungang Grottoes, whether there is a reference to the Statue of yungang Grottoes, experts and scholars have been discussing. It is precisely in the central and northwestern parts of Hebei, which is closer to Pingcheng, that relatively many examples of Buddha statues before emperor Taiwu destroyed the Buddha were found. These statues may have been popular in Pingcheng in the early Northern Wei Dynasty.
At present, there are 7 gold and bronze statues of Emperor Taiwu before the abolition of the Buddha in Hebei, all of which are small statues, of which 6 are seated statues in the Sixteen Kingdoms period and 1 is a standing statue in the Northern Wei period. In addition to the Later Zhao Jianwu 4th Year (338) Statue Collection in the San Francisco Museum, the Northern Wei Taiping Zhenjun 4th Year (443) Standing Statue Collection in the Tokyo National Museum, the other 5 are in the Hebei Archaeological Research Institute and the Hebei Provincial Museum.
1955 Shijiazhuang Northern Song Dynasty gold and bronze seated Buddha (front, back) excavated from the Northern Song Dynasty village
The seated Buddha statues of the Sixteen Kingdoms all wear a shoulder-length coat without exception, the chest and front placket are U-shaped or V-shaped, the stripe section is shallow and stepped, especially the two arms part of the coat pattern is deeply and powerfully carved, and the layers are obvious. The clothing pattern presents a patterned, stylized form. The square pedestal on which the Buddha statue sits is lined with without exception reliefs of two lions, the lion's head is frontal, and between the two lions is a relief water bottle or a Chinese-style Boshan furnace, and there are devotees on both sides of the furnace. The Buddha statues at this time contain the Elements of Gandhara Buddha in the Chinese style.
It belongs to the old style of the Gandhara system in the initial stage of Buddhism. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, zazen meditation was prevalent in the north, and this kind of small statue was the object of meditation or the offering of Buddha statues for blessings and disasters, and other types of Buddha statues were rare.
Pingcheng is similar to Hebei and connected by mountains and rivers, and if there are early gold and bronze statues in Pingcheng, its form should be basically the same as that of Hebei.
Before the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism was already popular in the Central Plains, but the monks were mainly translating, lecturing and preaching, and the purpose of building Buddhist temples was the same. Although the historical data also mentions that later Zhao and other countries wantonly built monasteries and cast statues, from the archaeological discoveries and Buddhist statues passed down from generation to generation, the number of Buddhist statues is limited, and they are mainly small gold and bronze statues, which are speculated to be mainly enshrined in private houses or carried around at any time for worship. Because the texture is copper and gold, its own production is very expensive, coupled with the often gilded decoration, it is more precious, the number of production is limited, non-ordinary monks can have, can not meet the needs of the majority of believers, in this situation, the late Sixteen Kingdoms, stone Buddha statue came into being, to make up for the lack of gold and bronze statues, and later with gold and bronze statues side by side. Stone statues have several major advantages, one is that there are relatively more stone mines than metal mines, especially in mountainous areas, and local materials can be used. The second is that there is no need to mine ore first, then smelt and cast like metal ore, with a variety of processes to avoid multiple processing. Third, the construction is simple, and the craftsmen only need to quarry and carve. Fourth, the statue is suitable for both size and low cost, and the majority of monks and believers can universally possess it, and can enter the temple halls in large quantities for believers to worship. Fifth, it can be carved on a large scale.
At present, the earliest collection of stone statues from the Sixteen Kingdoms period is the fifth volume of the "TaoZhai Tibetan Stone Record" compiled by DuanFang in the Qing Dynasty, which records a Buddhist statue of Yan after 384 years. The earliest surviving stone statue in Hebei is a stone statue of the First Year (440) of the Taiping Zhenjun of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the fifth year (444) of the Northern Wei Taiping Zhenjun of the Northern Wei Dynasty (444) of the Wei Wei Wei Zhenjun in Wei County, Hebei Province.
Zhengding County Cultural Relics Depository Northern Wei Taiping Zhenjun First Year (440 AD) stone statue
According to observation, the early stone statues have certain limitations, and they are slightly arbitrary in the selection of materials, and more sand and stone with poor hardness, insufficient density and easy corrosion are selected as stone. For example, the early Buddha statues in Shaanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Hebei were basically sandstone, which was obviously different from the delicate bluestone and Han white jade selected in the late Northern Wei And Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties. Secondly, the Shape of the Buddha statue imitates gold and bronze statues, due to material reasons, the Buddha body, backlighting, and sitting bed are all one.
In the fifth year (444 AD) of the Taiping Zhenjun of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Wei County, Hebei Province, Zhu Ye was made of a micro-stone statue
At this time, the stone statues basically followed the form of statues in the Sixteen Kingdoms period. For example, the statue was created in the first year of the Zhengding Taiping Zhenjun, and the Buddha statue sat on a rectangular pedestal. He is strong, with a short and stubby neck, a slightly forward-leaning head, a polished bun, a rounded face, a wide and flat forehead, and two earlobes and shoulders. His eyes are looking down, his nose is wide and plump, and the corners of his mouth are slightly upturned, with a slight smile. Dressed in a shoulder-length robe. Place your hands on your knees for meditation. Round arch backlight, flame pattern on the inside and outside, honeysuckle pattern in the middle. The head light is a lotus petal pattern. The seat is rectangular and the statue is Maitreya Buddha. There are very few types of statues and images, basically Shakyamuni and Maitreya. The robe is shoulder-length, and the seal of the seated statue is the Zen Seal, which is the fixed form of the ancient golden and bronze Buddha during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, and this shape is still used until the time of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Maitreya's name appears more often, and it is a Buddha-shaped Maitreya, while the western region is popular with the bodhisattva-shaped Maitreya.
Pingcheng is closer to Hebei, Emperor Daowu reused Hebei monks, migrated Hebei craftsmen to build temples in Pingcheng to create statues, and the early Buddhist statues in the Pingcheng area should be similar to or even consistent with the Hebei region. There is a piece of the Taiping Zhenjun III (442) Bao Lu Stone Pagoda Pedestal that originally belonged to Pingcheng, which proves this. The stone tower is sandstone, 10 cm high, the tower body part has been lost, there is a god holding an incense burner in the center of the pedestal, and there are lions on both sides, and the expression of hair carved with thin lines is a relatively ancient form of expression. On the right side is a column of female providers, on the left side is a column of male providers, dressed by Hu people, and the back is engraved with inscriptions in the longitudinal frame. The throne is inscribed with the inscription 14 lines: One day in the third year of the Taiping Zhenjun of the Great Wei Dynasty, Bao Lu of the "Yongchang King Changshi" and "Dingzhou Changshan" (Hebei) made the "Stone Floating Map" and the "Great Nirvana Sutra" for his father and mother in Pingcheng, praying that his parents would be reborn in the world of Maitreya Buddha in the future, and wishing that his family members and children and grandchildren would receive this blessing. King Yongchang was supposed to be Emperor Mingyuan's grandson, King Ren of Yongchang (died in 445), and his messenger Bao Lu was his regular attendant. The carvings and ornamentation on the pedestal are basically consistent with the early statue style in Hebei. The early Buddha statues in Hebei should be one of the main forms of Chinese Buddha statues from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Early Northern Wei Dynasty, and are the product of the combination of Gandhara Buddha statues and local carving art after they were introduced to China, and were popular for at least one hundred years at that time. However, with the northern Wei Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao Shiguang's fourth year (427) attack on Bactria and Taiyan's fifth year (439) conquest of Northern Liang, opening up the Western Regions Passage, the new statue style transmitted from the Western Regions spread to the Hebei region, and a new type of Gandhara Liangzhou-style statue appeared.
In the fifth year (444) of the Northern Wei Taiping Zhenjun in Wei County, Hebei Province, Zhu Ye micro-stone statue, with a height of 60.5 cm, is a gray-brown sandstone seated statue. The face is long and round, the eyebrows are thin, there is a white phase between the eyebrows, the recesses are deep, and the corners of the eyes are slightly upturned. The bridge of the nose is straight, the mouth is slightly larger, the corners of the mouth are upturned and adducted, the head is slightly forward, and the chin is adducted, showing a double chin. Hanging shoulders and large ears. With a slight smile on his face, he sat on his knees and showed his feet. Apply meditation seals with both hands. Unlike the zhengding Taiping Zhenjun statue in the first year, the robes have undergone new changes, becoming a Liangzhou-style favoritism on the right shoulder, with water ripples on the bun and arrays of fa silk. This new way of dressing brought a new look to Pingcheng and Hebei, and was soon accepted by the vast number of monks, and during the Taiwu Emperor period, Liangzhou-style Buddha statues should have become popular in Pingcheng and Hebei. If the Buddhist modeling style that was popular in the Pingcheng area during the Taiwu Emperor's time, the Weixian Zhuye micro-stone statue form is one of the answers. Therefore, in the design and selection of Yungang Grottoes, the popular statue form in the early Sixteen Kingdoms was abandoned, and the Liangzhou-style biased right-shoulder Buddha statue shape gradually began to be popular in the Pingcheng area and Hebei region, and became one of the important references for the design selection of Tan Yao. The founder of the Yungang Grottoes, Tan Yao, was originally a senior monk in Liangzhou, and it is speculated that he came to Pingcheng with Shi Xian and other senior monks after Emperor Taiwu destroyed Northern Liang, and took refuge in Zhongshan, Hebei Province, when he destroyed the Buddha, and in the second year of the restoration of the Buddha, he was ordered to return to Pingcheng from Zhongshan, Hebei Province, and asked Emperor Wencheng to excavate five grottoes in the west of the capital. Therefore, the shape of the 20th cave of the Yungang Grottoes, that is, the first grotto Buddha statue at that time, has many similarities with the five-year Zhu Ye micro-stone statue of the Taiping Zhenjun of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Wei County. With the excavation of the Yungang Grottoes, the Buddha statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty began to break free from the monotonous and stylized Sixteen Kingdoms period, laying a solid foundation for the prosperity of Buddhist statue art in later generations.
Datong Grottoes 20 Caves Seated Statue of Shakya
In summary, Hebei is part of the Central Plains, often in the central region politically, economically and culturally developed, is the main agglomeration area of the Han people, the geographical location belongs to the junction of agricultural civilization and nomadic peoples, in the late Han Dynasty since the end of the Han Dynasty in the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the great integration of nationalities, the first to open the integration. Later, these ethnic minorities worked together with the Han people to create brilliant art and culture, including the Yungang Grottoes.
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Author | Li Baocai
Editor| Yang Yichen
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