天津蓟县独乐寺塔

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE STUPA OF THE DULESI TEMPLE IN JIXIAN, TIANJIN

蓟县独乐寺塔俗名"白塔"(图一;图版拾柒,1),坐落在蓟县城内西南隅,在独乐寺南380米偏东9米处,是"渔阳八景"之一。塔有院,南北长68、东西宽24米。塔处院正中,前有观音寺,故此塔又有"观音寺塔"之名。1932年梁思成先生考察独乐寺时,曾对此塔作过调查。塔院现只剩山门和正殿,东西配殿皆毁。据塔门洞内镶《重修渔阳郡塔记》碑载:此寺院乃明嘉靖时建造。院内还有万历二十二年《重修蓟州观音寺宝塔碑记》、万历二十八年《重修蓟州观音寺宝塔碑记》、《乾隆六十年春奉旨重修观音寺塔》、咸丰九年《重修白塔寺碑记》等碑四通,以及年代不明之《千手千眼观自在菩萨摩诃萨广大圆满无碾大悲心陀罗尼经》石幢一座。

The stupa in the Dulesi Temple in Jixian is popularly known as the Bai Ta (white Pagoda) and located in the southwestern corner of the seat of Jixian, it was seriously damaged by the earthquake of 1976; so it was rebuilt in the spring of 1983. It was stripped of its brick surface built in the last repairs and the original appearance of the Liao Dynasty stupa was bared, in the chamber of its middle story were discovered 169 pieces ofobjects that fell into it when the upper story collapsed down. Among them there is a stone sari case, dated from the 4th year of the Qingning reign (1058 A. D.) of the Liao Dynasty. In the southern side of the dome were uncovered a Buddhistic niche, built in the Ming Dynasty when it was encased in brick and containing statues of Buddha and Buddhistic scriptures written in the:Yongle and Wanli reigns of the Ming Dynasty. It was found that the temple and the stupa were rebuilt at the same time on their orignal sites of the Sui Dynasty in the 4th year of the Tonghe reign (986 A. D.) of the Liao Dyasty. In the 3rd year of the Qingning reign (986 A. D.) it was largely rebuilt for the first time after it was damaged during an earthquake. Then in the Ming Dynasty in the Jiajing and Wanli regions it was twice reparired on a large scale, encased in brick and altered in its appearance. In the present reconstruction, its original Liao Dynasty form was restored. The Liao stupa consists of four parts: a waisted monumental sumeru base, a pavilion-shapel octogonal body with double eaves, a dome and a presumably cone wheel sign with a shaft surmounted by a ball-mani. The outside of the stupa are carved in brick with a large number of bracket-dougongs, flower patterns and mythical animals, all possessing great historical and artisticak values.