Liu Gen’s Buddha Image Stele (Liu Gen zaoxiang bei 劉根造像碑),

524 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)

Liu Gen’s Buddha Image Stele (Liu Gen zaoxiang bei 劉根造像碑)

524 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)

Liu Gen 劉根 , donor, carving agent

Hanging scroll; ink rubbing on paper

56 x 153 cm. (22 1/16 x 60 1/4 in.)

Gift of George Rowley

y1957-195

Asia, China

Right of image: 夫水盡則影亡，谷盈則響滅。娑羅現北首之 期，負杖發山類之嘆，物分以然，理趣無爽，故 優填戀道，鑄真金以寫靈容；目連慕德，剋（刻）旃 檀而圖聖像。違願儵忽尚或如斯，況劉根等 托於冥冥之中，生於千載之下，進不值鷲嶺。 初軒退未，遇龍華寶駕而不豫殖微因，心存 祈問，何以拔此昏？疆遠邀三會，樹因菩提者， 必資緣於善友，入海求珍者，亦憑導於水師。 故世王之愆藉耆婆而曉，須達之倒假門神 而悟，由此而言，自金剛以還，未有不須友而 成者也。於此迭相㢡動異心，影附法義之眾， 遂至卌[一]人有餘，各竭己家珍，并勸一切仰為 皇帝陛下、皇太後、中宮、眷屬、士官、僚庶、 法界有形，敬造三級磚浮圖一塸，藉此徽因， 周滿世性，慧雲彌布，慧波洪澍，令一切含零 悉入智海。學窮首楞，究竟常果，大誓莊嚴，理 无虛應，十方凈覺，現為我證。 大魏正光五年歲次甲辰五月庚戌朔卅日 已卯䢖訖。佛弟子劉根卌一人等敬造刊記。 Left of image: 侍中車騎大將軍、儀同三司、左衛將 軍、御史中尉領領左右武陽縣開國公侯剛； 前將軍武衛將軍領細作令寧國伯乞伏寶； 武衛將軍景明寺都將元衍； 冠軍將軍中散大夫華林都將領右衛司馬孟永。 浮图主段永、浮图主趙遵、浮图主劉根、浮图主祝顯、浮图主邢昇、浮图主袁茂、浮图主張纂、浮图主劉顯、浮图主趙貴、齋主王道隆、唯那主劉根、唯那主張纂、唯那潘伯年、邑子劉昇、王㑺、郝神、張道、成[拼]、李遷、吳奴、王㯹、儀延、韓句、王明、王隆、田龜、耿洛、程煩、沮顯、朱達、黄和、李文、孟穎、卑周、王奇、蔡雄、常起、王欣、綦檀、張[臺]、張老、伯㑺、趙宾、董珍。 References: https://kknews.cc/culture/yepax8j.html https://metadata.teldap.tw/project/filebox/stone-Metadata/requirement/stone_metadata_SV1.0_15.pdf

Liu Gen’s Buddha Image Stele, as it is sometimes known, was actually dedicated by Liu Gen along with 41 others. At center is a scene of Sakyamuni seated on a square platform expounding the Buddhist doctrine. Behind is a large leaf-shaped nimbus under a floating round canopy with four hanging banners. Flanking the canopy are rectangular cartouches that have been left uninscribed. In front of Sakyamuni are two bodhisattvas each at left and right. They have aureoles around their heads and are standing on lotus pods. Six attendant disciples stand to the side and rear of each pair of bodhisattvas. The young attendant at far left is perhaps the disciple Ananda, and the elderly one at far right may be Kasyapa. The disciples are dressed in monk’s robes and most are bald, except for one on the right that has a hair tied up in a spiral cone. Above each group of bodhisattvas and disciples are tall trees. To the right of the scene is an inscription in 19 columns that is dated to 524. In the carving of this inscription, the name “Liu Gen” is highlighted in the 4th column from the right. The names and many of the official titles of the donors are listed to the left of the Buddha scene. The pictorial stone from which this rubbing was taken was unearthed during the Qing dynasty Guangxu reign (1875-1908) at a location east of present-day Luoyang 洛陽, Henan province, and is now in the Henan Provincial Museum. A passage in the inscription seems to indicate that this stone may originally have been part of a three-story Buddhist pagoda structure.

Chinese

Six Dynasties

rubbings

figures (representations), attendants, inscriptions, canopies (structural elements), Buddhism