性别象征的争夺:十九世纪末女性主义的一个例证

The Contention for the Gender Emblem: an Example of the Feminism at the End of the 19th Centur

福建泉州开元寺,建于唐垂拱二年(686年),与洛阳白马寺、杭州灵隐寺、北京广济寺齐名。开元寺之名在正史的记叙中有多处奇特为中国其它寺所没有,比如大雄宝殿东西两侧的镇国和仁寿双塔,每一层塔都有系统的佛像浮雕,堪称无与伦比。 另一奇特之处是相传建殿之时有紫云盖地,因而开元寺的大雄宝殿不叫“大雄宝殿”而命名为“紫云大殿”。 佛教寺庙是一种象征之地,遍布寺内外的器物对无形的教义有精确的视觉解释,同时,寺庙的历史本身也具有自身权力史的器物象征。在大雄宝殿内外的两排舍利子塔,是开元寺历代住持尸骨化为舍利子的永久的存放之处,它既是精神的永久存在的象征,也是权力永久存在的象征。后者不仅指占有空间,也包含性别的权力。

The contention for the gender emblem in the public space was a typical example of feminist consciousness that existed in the later stage of the 19th century. The'feminist consciousness signified not only a vision for the gender rights which were not prohibitive, but also her self:productivity. But the first step for the feminism implied a contention for everything that the man had gained in his hands and then to set up her image on the basis of non-gender consciousness.All of the practices of the feminist consciousness took place against the specified backgrounds in the later stage of the 19th century, It was rumored that the abbess at the Kaiyuan Temple had a consanguineous relationship with the royal families so that she was delegated the appropriate authority to revise the emblems at her own will in a well-organized society under the masculine domination. This was identical to many examples of feminism in the Western society at the same period and the common ground was what the feminists had done at that time was only the contention for the position of gender emblem but that emblem had been designed by the masculine society and culture. The conception of feminism itself was a symbol of literature and an emblem of Utopia. There would be no longer feminism if the feminists gained their symbolic positions in the social structure.However, the revision of the gender emblem at Kaiyuan Temple was a rare example which signified that the feminist consciousness had entered into the practices of public emblems in China in the later stage of the 19th century. And furthermore it was unique that it was the self-determination and selfrevision at the core of the Buddhist cultural consciousness.