汉代石椁墓神树图像方位结构研究

Study on the Orientational Structure of the Sacred Tree on Han Sarcophaguses

苏鲁豫皖四省的汉代石椁墓多数描有呈三角形的抽象树形图像,这种图像并非一种具有装饰意味的符号,而是具有象征意义的宇宙树。此种神树为神话中通天的梯子,也是亡灵升天的通道。作为天梯的神树并非为汉代独有,它普遍存在于世界各地的神话与图像中。催生此种图像类型的是二分式神话方位结构:宇宙由天界和人间构成,二者之间通过位于宇宙中心的神树而得以沟通。对人类而言,死者亡灵能够通过宇宙中心的天梯而升天,继而获得永恒不朽的生命。这就意味着,汉代石椁墓神树图像的时间结构通过空间结构而得以表现,其图像内容描绘的宇宙图景为时空混同的神话宇宙论,与汉代神话文本《淮南子》《山海经》等表述的神话宇宙论并无两样。

The abstract triangle images are commonly presented on Han sarcophaguses in Jiangsu,Shandong,Henan and Anhui Provinces. The image of the tree is not the decorative sign,but the cosmos tree with symbolic meanings. It is the ladder that leads to heaven and it is also the channel that brings the spirits of the dead to the heaven. Sacred tree as ladder that leads to heaven is not only seen in the Han period,it is prevalent among the myths and images all over the world. What creates the images is the mythological orientational structure of duality,which means that the universe is consisted of heaven and man’s world,both of them are connected by the sacred tree which lies in the cosmic center. To the man’s world,the dead soul can ascend to heaven through the tree as ladder which leads to heaven in the center of cosmos and therefore obtain eternal life. That means the temporal structure of the images of sacred tree on Han sarcophaguses are represented by the spatial structure. The orientational patterns indicate the mythological cosmology which mixes time and space as the same,which are in line with the contents in mythological texts of Huainaizi and Shanghaijing.