渗透与分离:北朝女性群体造像记探微

Penetration and Separation: A Research on Inscriptions on the Statue and Stele of Female Groups in the Northern Dynasties

北朝时期佛教的风靡打破了阶层的界限,深深地渗透到民众的生活之中。从出土的造像记来看,女性作为重要群体积极参与到造像活动之中,贵族女性、平民女性和比丘尼的身影皆有显现。但由于政治地位、经济基础、文化素养等的差异,佛教信仰又在不同的阶层和群体中出现分离,具有了一定的阶层性特征。造像记作为僧尼、信众表达其信仰、心愿的重要载体形式,因所处阶层的差异,使得不同女性群体的造像记呈现出各自的独特性。比丘尼因僧侣的特殊身份,其造像的基本建构模式与俗家信众迥异,产生了特有的文本形态。平民女性和贵族女性在造像活动中的组织结构、造像题材、发愿套语等极为相似,却因所在阶层的影响,形成了各自不同的造像类型、文体特征和祈愿内容,具有"同构异质性"特征。

Buddhism began to prevail in the Northern Dynasties, which broke the boundaries of the hierarchy, and deeply penetrated into people’s lives. Judging from the unearthed inscriptions on the statue and stele, the female, as an important group, took actively part in the activities of building Buddhist statues, including aristocratic women, civilian women and nuns. However, due to the discrepancies of the political status, economic foundation and cultural literacy,Buddhist beliefs were diverse in different classes and groups with certain hierarchical characteristics. As an important carrier that the nuns and belivers expressed their wishes, Buddhist inscriptions were distinct in different female groups.Owing to the special identity of the nuns, the basic structure of their inscriptions were different from the believers’, so that produced the special texts. Despite the similarity in themes and formalities of the aristocratic and civilian women’s inscriptions, different groups of women, based on their stratum, have formed different types, stylistic features and praying contents of inscriptions, which is of the same structure but different connotation.