擦擦与善业泥考辨

Tsha Tsha and the Shanyeni Buddhist Votive Tablets

2011年3月扩建后的中国国家博物馆重新对外开放,新展中有一个《中国古代佛造像艺术》的专题展,其中展出了10件隋唐时期的"善业泥",文字说明为"善业泥佛像",并解释这种工艺的制作方法是"用净水澄泥,再以细绢过滤,调匀颜色,和以胶水,铸铜为范,由范成像"。笔者一直对这类造像感兴趣,而国博展览的说明留给我们阐释的空间很大,同时考虑到藏传佛教流行制作的擦擦与之的对应关系,本文探讨了两个问题,一是这种小型佛造像的名称,二是汉藏这种小型造像的题材比较。

The exhibition, Ancient Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, held at the National Museum of China that reopened to the public in March, 2011, showcases ten clay Buddhist votive tablets called shanyeni from the Sui and Tang Dynasties. According to the panel introduction, these tablets were made in steps such as settling the clay in clean water; filtering with thin silk; mixing the clay to create desired colour; adding with glue; and producing the tablet from a bronze mould. To the current author, who is very interested in these Buddhist tablets, such introduction allows the audience much freedom of interpretation. In view oftsha tsha popular in Tibetan Buddhism and its connections with the shanyeni, this article tries to solve two problems： the name of these miniature Buddhist tablets and comparing their themes with tsha tsha.