从龙泉窑青瓷塑像看观音信仰

The Cult of Guanyin As Represented in The Longquan Ceramic Figures

观音是龙泉窑青瓷塑像中最具代表性的宗教人物塑像,这些塑像的制作与南宋及之后浙江地区发达的宗教文化有着密切的关系。在浙江地区有两处与观音传说和信仰有关的佛教道场——杭州的上天竺寺与舟山群岛的普陀山。青瓷观音塑像,尤其是南海观音形象的塑像,在龙泉窑大量生产,这与传说中普陀山是南海观音的修行道场,以及当地佛教徒对南海观音的崇拜有关。普陀山自宋代起就成为了浙江地区乃至全国,甚至全世界观音信仰的中心。龙泉窑青瓷观音塑像不仅反映了在中国的观音信仰中观音已变为女性形象的特征,同时也为研究观音信仰的发展,以及观音形象在宋元明各时期的面貌特征提供了实物依据。

Guanyin was the most prominent devotional image presented in Longquan celadon ceramic figures. The emergence of Guanyin figures at the Longquan kilns was closely linked with the vibrant cultural and religious landscape of Zhejiang during and following the Southern Song dynasty. Two important pilgrimage sites associated with the legends and cult of Guanyin Buddha were located respectively in the Upper Tianzhu Temple in Hangzhou and Mount Putuo off the coast near Ningbo. The prevalence of Guanyin images in Longquan figures, in particular, the Guanyin of the South Sea, was probably due to the establishment of Mount Putuo, which was closely associated with the legend and cult of Guanyin, as the local, national and international pilgrimage centre of Guanyin worship after the Song period. The Guanyin figures from Longquan not only suggest the significance of this feminine form of Guanyin in local domestic worship, but also provide valuable evidence about the development of the cult and visual imagery of Guanyin in late imperial China.