北朝佛教造像记的文学意义

The Literary Value of Epigraph on Buddha Statues in the Northern Dynasties

北朝造像记作为一种独特的文学样式,是北朝儒佛交融的社会思潮的产物。造像记使用了传统的文章体裁,吸收了佛经中的内容,并借鉴了佛经中惯用的抒情方式、景物描写、心理描写等表达方式,以其大量的超现实内容、丰富奇丽的想象,冲击了以实用为中心的北朝文学观念,也改变了这一时期文学典雅平正的审美特点。这种文学内容与技巧的发展,与唐初文学融合南朝技巧、北朝气质的特点极其相似,为中国古代文学在吸收外来文学样式和文化遗产方面提供了方法、思路。

Epigraph on Buddha statues, a unique literary form, is the product of social trend in which Confucianism and Buddhism were combined in the Northern Dynasties. The epigraph on Buddha statues adopts the traditional genre of literature, absorbs the contents of sutras and uses the mode of emotion-expressing, scenery description and psychological description, the methods which frequently appear in sutras. The abundant supernatural contents and plentiful extraordinary imagination impact on the pragmatism-centered literary values in the Northern Dynasties and change the aesthetic features of literature in that period. The development of literary contents and skills is similar to the character of literature in the early period of the Tang Dynasty, that is, a combination of the skill of the Southern Dynasties and the temperament of the Northern Dynasties. The epigraph on Buddha statues provides a new method and angle for ancient Chinese literature to absorb new literary forms and cultural heritages.