大足北山宋刻《维摩诘经变》及其相关问题考察

Illustration to Vimalakīrti Sūtra at Beishan and Related Issues

大足北山佛湾第137龛是一铺南宋绍兴時期所作阴刻线描画。该作依据《维摩诘经》而绘,完整地表现了文殊问疾维摩的情景。目前虽有漫漶,但仍保存了大部分内容,尤为可贵的是,画面留有关于画工、刻工、主持人、功德主、制作年代等诸多题记,信息涉及有关该作图像、历史、信仰等问题,是研究晚期佛教美术不可多得的案例。宋、明、清等历代文献及今人一些著述对此经变有程度不同的载录与探讨。然经检索,发现各类文献对此经变的记载不仅失之粗略,还出现诸多纰漏与错讹,更令人忧心的是,某些谬误被学界所忽视,并以偏为正,粗率因袭,以致以讹传讹。鉴于此,本文通过田野考察与文献甄别,对各类错讹予以商榷补正,并对经变之内容、粉本、作者等问题加以考述。

Carved in intaglio in the Shaoxing period, Southern Song dynasty, the illustration to Vimalakīrti Sūtra at Cave 137, Beishan site in Dazu depicts Manjusrī bodhisattva visiting the sick Vimalakirti. The remaining picture bears inscriptions about the artisans, supervisor of construction, patrons, devotees and date. They are valuable for studying late Buddhist art. Through a literature review of historical records about this illustration written in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties and previous researches, the current author finds out many mistakes, which have been ignored by researchers. Based on field investigation and literature review, this paper intends to make corrections to those mistakes and study related issues such as the content, prototype and artist of the illustration to Vimalakīrti Sūtra.