Scattered gold leaf, turquoise paper... In the exhibition "Chinese Characters in China - Chinese Civilization Between Squares", the paper mantras unearthed in the Tang Tomb of Chengdu and now stored in the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology confirm the spread and change of Buddhist culture in the Tang Dynasty in words and forms.
At present, there are only 13 cases in the country
The paper book consists of two types of text
Wang Jin, a research librarian at the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology who participated in the excavation of the Tang Tomb on the Masses Road, said that the mantra on paper is not as valuable as bronze or Ming Dynasty official kiln porcelain, but because it is difficult to preserve, it is a very precious cultural relic in terms of historical value. Including this paper mantra, only 13 cases have been unearthed nationwide.
"In the other 12 paper mantras, there are images of mandalas similar to this one. For example, the silk mantra unearthed in Sanqiao Town, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, can provide a good reference for the restoration of paper. Wang Jin told reporters that the paper that the audience is currently seeing is actually the leftmost part of the entire paper, accounting for about one-third of the entire paper. On the complete paper, there should be a symmetrical image of the mandala inside and outside.
The scattered gold leaf should have been stacked on top of the hand-drawn boxes on paper to form a square or slightly rectangular gold box. This pattern is a very typical image with esoteric colors. As for who cut the paper like this, and whether it was already cut when the tomb owner asked the paper mantra, people have no way of knowing.
The content of this example paper mantra consists of two scripts. The name of the mantra is first written in italics, followed by the content of the mantra written in Sitan Sanskrit. Its content is a collection of 21 mantras, such as "Cross Buddha Top Mantra", "One Word Crown King Mantra", "Buddha's Eye Mantra" and so on. "This practice of chanting mantras was also a particularly popular practice in esotericism at that time." Wang Jin introduced.
The owner of the tomb is a woman in her 30s
The mantra is hidden in the hollow copper arm
Wang Jin said that although the mantra on paper is not as valuable as bronze, because of its material, especially in the Chengdu Plain, where the water table is high, it can be preserved for more than a thousand years, which is rare. This example of the paper mantra can be preserved for so long, firstly, because the Tang tomb unearthed on paper is a trapezoidal brick chamber tomb of the middle and late Tang Dynasty, which is common in the Chengdu Plain, and has not been disturbed; The second reason is that when it was unearthed, it was placed in a hollow copper arm, which played a certain protective role on the paper.
During the excavation of this Tang tomb, the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a human bone identification on the tomb owner, and the results showed that it was a civilian woman in her 30s. The arm is a kind of ornament that was quite popular in the Tang Dynasty. It is recorded in the "Shuwen Jiejie": "Kushin, the arm ring also." The arm ring, also known as the "jade arm branch" and arm ring, is an ornament worn on the arm. When the paper mantra was unearthed, it was folded from right to left and placed in the hollow groove of the copper arm. Although this method caused some damage to the gold leaf on the paper, it is precisely for this reason that the paper itself has not suffered greater damage.
It has obvious characteristics of Chengdu
It embodies the trend of secularization of esotericism
The paper mantra unearthed in the tomb of the Tang Dynasty of the masses is not the first time that a mantra hidden in ornaments has been found in Sichuan, nor is the bronze arm Kushi the only ornament unearthed to install mantra. In April 1944, Sichuan University archaeologist Feng Hanji once excavated a hollow ring-shaped silver bracelet in a Tang tomb on the campus of Sichuan University. The silver bracelet contains the "Dharani Mantra" on paper, and at the same time, the paper book also has the words "Chengdu County, Chengdu County□ Longchifang□□□ near Bian □□ printing and selling mantra books□□□..." In 4, the hollow ring-shaped copper arm shank collected from the Three Bridges in Xi'an was also superimposed with the silk "Great Sui Dharani Mantra".
Wang Jin said that esotericism flourished in the Xi'an and Luoyang areas at that time, and later spread to the Chengdu Plain. "In the early and middle Tang dynasties, the form of esoteric mantras on paper was very diverse. But what we unearthed in Chengdu is relatively fixed. ”
Early brachials were not hollow forms. By analyzing the manufacturing process and shape characteristics of the device, combined with previous discoveries, archaeologists found that this hollow ring-shaped device has obvious Chengdu characteristics, and its appearance should be relatively late, which is an improvement of the latter after wearing the Dharani mantra, a prayer method introduced from the Gyeonggi region to the Chengdu area. "This is because after the introduction of esotericism into the Chengdu Plain, it has developed to a certain extent, and after printing mantras in combination with the unique form of the local area, it has been introduced into the Xi'an area in reverse, which has had a certain impact on the carrier of esoteric belief."
This influence is also reflected in the content of the mantra on paper. "In the early days of paper, there would be personalized, customized content, such as so-and-so's paper mantra, or customized for so-and-so. But after development, these personalized contents have become less likely to appear. Wang Jin believes that the reason for this change is the secularization of religion in China: "Buddhism, which has just been introduced to China, is popular among the official class; In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, especially after the Anshi Rebellion, Buddhism embarked on the road of secularization and popularization. ”
West China Metropolis Daily - cover news reporter Liu Kexin