雲岡中期における佛教圖像の變容

Abstract

This article focuses primarily on Buddhist Images of Yungang Cave-temples in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Caves 7 and 8 of the Middle-1 period (the beginning of the 480s) form a pair of caves, and this was constructed for the “two saints”, namely the Emperor Xiaowen and the Grand Dowager Empress Feng. The main image of Cave 7 is the Bodhisattva Maitreya (the symbol of the Emperor Xiaowen), the narrative reliefs of this cave appear depicting the Śākyamuni's past lives, while the main image of Cave 8 is the seated Buddha may well be taken to represent Śākyamuni (the symbol of the Grand Dowager Empress Feng). The niche dated A. D. 483 of Cave 11 was donated fifty-four villagers. It is divided vertically into three sections, the outer two formed of rows of niches of the “Eighty-eight Buddhas”, namely “Thirty-five Buddhas” and “Fifty-three Buddhas”, which relate the repentance belief. The central section is divided into four layers, the top image is the Bodhisattva Maitreya, and the second is two niches each with a single seated Buddha, namely Śākyamuni and Amitābha Buddha, and the third is two Buddhas seated side by side, and the fourth is three Bodhisattvas in relaxed postures. We can find that the Buddhists among the general public of this period sought solace in worshipping the other divinities. The pair consisting of Caves 9 and 10 of the Middle-2 period (the middle of the 480s) was also created for the “two saints”. The subjects of the narrative images in Caves 9 and 10 push this sort of the biography of Śākyamuni into the shadow, and place greater weight on moral tales linked to the acts of benevolence. The narrative reliefs of the Subduing the Three Kāśyapa of Uruvilva, the Conversion of the Tirthaka Brāhmaṇas and Mara's Assault, etc. in the biography of Śākyamuni in Yungang started in Caves 7 and 8 of the Middle-1 period. These narrative reliefs as part of the Buddha's life stories demonstrate the supernatural power of Śākyamuni to transcend 554 the Brāhmaṇas and demons. In the later Caves 10 and 12 of the Middle-2 and 3 period (from the latter half of the 480s to the beginning of the 490s), the focus of the subjects transformed to the conversion of the Brāhmaṇas and demons. This perhaps is related to the Zabaozangjing (the Sutra of the Miscellaneous Treasures) and Fufazangyinyuan zhuan (A History of Indian Patriarchs) translated in the beginning of the 480s by Tanyao who was in charge of the excavation of Yungang.