微言厚染,西尊东荣——论罗汉形象的确立

Ground in India and Gloryin China:Establishment of the Image of Arhat

罗汉形象在文本表述中局限于佛弟子的基本身份,在绘画中则得到了相对独立的再造和发挥。缺少来自印度造像依据的罗汉在中国绘画中经历了漫长而复杂的形象确立,在唐代受推崇偶像、注重仪轨的印度宗教传统深刻影响,呈现为神通广大、受僧俗供养的神圣形象;面临宋元中国本土化和印度复古化的两方张力,渐趋确立为根植中国社会文化的人物象征。本文突破“文本中心主义”研究范式,尝试以图像为主要对象,阐明罗汉形象确立的相对独立性及其发展过程中的中印文化角力,由此一窥中国文化将佛教从“追索真经”演化为“东土新风”的主动性。

While Arhat is limited to the basic identity of a disciple of the Buddha in the textual representation,it is recreated and evolves independently in paintings.Arhat,which lacks basis in Indian iconography,has undergone a long and complicated process of image establishment in Chinese paintings.In the Tang Dynasty,it was established as a sacred image of a divine being,which was profoundly influenced by the Indian religious tradition that revered idols and attached significance to rituals.In the Song and Yuan dynasties,Arhat was developed to a religious symbol rooted in Chinese society and culture,facing the tension between Chinese localization and revivalism to Indian Arhat.This article breaks through the paradigm of“text-centrism”,takes the image as the main object of study,and tries to elucidate the relative independence of the establishment of the image of Arhat,as well as to reveal the cultural tug-of-war between China and India in the process of its development.What is supposed to achieve is to get a glimpse of the cultural initiative of China in the evolution of Buddhism from“a search for true scriptures”to“a new style of the East”.