阿育王塔实物的发现与初步整理

A Primary Summary of Recoveries of Real Objects of King Asoka Tower Model

阿育王塔作为一种极具浙江地域特色的佛教文物,是五代十国时期末代吴越国王钱俶毕生崇佛的集中体现。由塔上铸铭可知,钱俶在乙卯岁(955)和乙丑岁(965)两次范金铸成八万四千宝塔,瘗藏舍利、佛经。阿育王塔实物,多出土于吴越国境内的佛塔,河北定州、河南邓州北宋地宫发现的铁阿育王塔应与钱俶两次进京有关。历代民间仿造的阿育王塔实物,时代以五代至宋为主,塔上多有纪年铭刻。五代时期民间造阿育王塔均分布在吴越国境内,宋代的出土地点仍以五代吴越国故境为多。

The King Asoka tower model is a Buddhism cultural heritage characteristic of Zhejiang local worship. It proves the fact that Qian Chu, the king of Wuyue State at the end of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, faithfully worshiped Buddhism throughout his life. The inscriptions on the tower models document that it was in AD 955 (Yimao) and AD 965 (Yichou) that Qian Chu conducted two massive manufactures of tower models particularly for storing Buddhism ashes (sarira) and Buddhism sutras. The real objects of King Asoka tower model are mainly recovered from the Buddhism towers in the territory of ancient Wuyue State. The iron King Asoka tower models recovered from the underground chambers of Buddhism towers in Dingzhou, Hebei and Dengzhou, Henan might be relevant to Qian Chu’s two visits to the capital city. Furthermore, most of the unofficially replicated King Asoka tower models, in terms of the date inscriptions on them, belong to Five Dynasties Period and Song Dynasty. All of the tower models produced in Five Dynasties and a large proportion of those produced in Song Dynasty were unearthed within the territory of Wuyue State.