Currently not on view
Buddhist Stele of Ninety Monastics and Lay People (Daosu jiushi ren zaoxiang bei 道俗九十人造像碑),
543 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Chinese
Eastern Wei dynasty, 534–550 CE
y1957-179
Information
Title
Buddhist Stele of Ninety Monastics and Lay People (Daosu jiushi ren zaoxiang bei 道俗九十人造像碑)
Dates
543 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Medium
Sheet; ink rubbing on paper
Dimensions
image: 93.5 x 123.5 cm. (36 13/16 x 48 5/8 in.)
140 x 97.5 cm. (55 1/8 x 38 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of George Rowley
Object Number
y1957-179
Place Made
Asia, China, Henan province, Xinxiang
Inscription
Register 1 cartouches (top):
太子得道諸天送刀与太子剔
The Crown Prince [i.e. a previous incarnation of the Buddha] achieves the Way and the devas deliver a knife to cut the prince’s hair.
定光佛入因□□菩薩相時
The bodhisattva [Māṇava] scatters flowers when Dīpaṃkara Buddha enters the kingdom.
如童菩薩賫銀錢与王女買花
The bodhisattva Māṇava gives silver coins to the princess to buy flowers.
Register 2 cartouches:
摩耶夫人生太子九龍吐水洗
When Lady Maya gives birth to the prince, nine dragons spit out water to bathe him.
相師瞻□太子得到時
When the fortune-teller observes the prince and tells his fortune.
黄羊生黄羔，白馬生白駒
Brown sheep give birth to brown lambs.
White horses give birth to white foals.
此婆羅門妇即生恨心
This brahman woman harbors regret.
要婆羅門乞好奴婢逃去時
An important brahman asks for good slaves and takes the slaves away.
三年少婆羅門妇時
When three young women praise the brahman woman.
Register 3 cartouches:
五百夫人皆送太子向檀毒山辞去時
When the five hundred women send off the prince as he departs for Mount Tandu.
随太子乞馬時
When accompanying the prince to ask for a horse.
婆羅門乞得馬時
When the brahman asks for and receives a horse.
太子值大水得渡時
When the prince reaches the great river and crosses it.
Register 4
Cartouches at right:
開光明主宋憍女侍佛時
When the donor for the opening of the light Song Jiaonü worships the Buddha.
邑母解叔姬侍佛時
When the Society Mother Jie Shuyi worships the Buddha.
Center:
夫妙色湛然，假朱紫以顯其真；法性无为，託形言而標至德。目非洞解虚宗焉能悟斯玄猷者哉。有清信士合道俗九十人等發心超猛，志樂菩提，造石像一區，舉高七尺，咸竭瓊珵鎸飾，周訖綺麗，金顔輝映。楞伽冀藉此微因，广被群品。願慧海漣漪，四流息浪，鐵圍無垢，娑婆玉净，帝道熙明，普光訓世。存亡眷属并及塵沙，龍花初唱，俱得正覺。 贊曰：法身无像，至道難名，目非覺者，孰悟玄經。鑄金圖状，鎸玉摸靈，刊石標德，永振烋聲。
大魏武定元年歲次癸亥七月巳丑朔廿七日乙卯建。
The marvelous form is still; [only] through the red and purple [of ornament] is truth revealed. The Dharma is by nature unconditioned; it is only by recourse to form and language that its supreme virtue is made manifest. Unless one completely understands the doctrine of emptiness, how can one hope to become enlightened to the profound Path? We, some ninety pure devotees, including both monastics and lay people, our resolve fierce and our ambition only to delight in our intent to achieve enlightenment, have made one stone image, seven feet in height.
Having expended our treasures, the carving and ornamentation are now complete. Exquisite, the golden countenance shines like the śakrâbhilagna-maṇi-ratna [jewel]. We hope that, on the basis of this meager act, [the merit] may blanket all creatures. We pray that the sea of wisdom will ripple out, stilling the waves of the four rivers. May [all within] the iron mountain circle be without blemish, and the sahā world as pure as jade. May the imperial way spread its light, instructing the world. May our relatives, both living and deceased, as well as [all beings] in the limitless universe, at the first sermon under the Dragon-Flower Tree all achieve correct awakening.
A song of praise:
The Dharma body has no form; the ultimate path is difficult to name.
If not awakened, who can comprehend the mysterious scriptures?
With forged gold one can achieve perfection, by cutting jade we can depict the numinous.
Chiseled stone exhibits virtue, ever resounding with the blessed message.
Constructed on the twenty-seventh day, yimao, in the seventh month the first day of which is sichou, in the first year of the Wuding era (543) of the Great Wei, the year of guihai.
Cartouches at left:
比丘法洛侍佛時
When the bhikṣu Faluo worships the Buddha.
比丘道進侍 佛時
When the bhikṣu Daojin worships the Buddha.
Register 5 cartouches (bottom):
邑子□州西面都督長史路□
定光佛主前部郡從事路達侍佛
When the Society Son and Chief Clerk to the Commander-in-chief of the
West in the ... (missing in the original inscription) prefecture Lu ... (missing in the original inscription), and the donor who commissioned the construction of the stūpa of Dīpaṃkara Buddha and the former Assistant Officer of Commandery Governor Lu Da worships the Buddha.
都唯那法萇侍佛時
When the Rector Fachang worships the Buddha.
邑師法振侍佛時
When the Society Master Fazhen worships the Buddha.
邑主都維那法猛侍佛時
When the Society Leader and Rector Fameng worships the Buddha.
都維那法儁侍佛時
When the Rector Fajun worships the Buddha.
比丘法□侍佛時
When the bhikṣu Fa ... (missing in the original inscription) worships the Buddha.
比丘曇智侍佛時
When the bhikṣu Tanzhi worships the Buddha.
比丘僧珍侍佛時。
When the bhikṣu Sengzhen worships the Buddha.
Translations follow:
John Kieschnick,
A Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings
Supplement: Epigraphy
Translation, pp. 14-19.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IMsnx2R_KMqEaA8up522oKMWBb-j14IA/view
(Page updated on 2019-02-09)
Annotation, pp. 12-17.
https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj5946/f/primer-epigraphy-supplement-part-2.pdf
Culture
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