西夏时期敦煌的观音信仰

A Study on the Belief of the Avalokitesvara in Dunhuang during the West Xia Dynasty

西夏立国后,极为重视佛教,显密观音信仰成为西夏国民的一种重要信仰形式。从现存出土文献及有关西夏佛教文物遗存来看,西夏不仅流行显教的《观音普门品》佛经,也流行多种密教观音类经典;不仅有不少显教观音壁画,亦有丰富的密教类观音造像,这在西夏时期的敦煌表现尤为突出。

After the establishment of the Western Xia Kingdom(1038-1227),great importance was attached to Buddhism,and the exoteric and esoteric Guanyin(commonly known in English as the Mercy Goddess)belief became an important belief form of people of the Western Xia Kingdom.From the existing unearthed documents and the remains of Buddhist relics about the Western Xia Kingdom,the Kingdom is popular not only the Buddhist text of Exoteric Buddhism-"The Universal Door of the Guanyin Who Listens to the Sounds of All the World",but also a variety of Guanyin classics of Esoteric Buddhism;there are not only many Guanyin murals of Exoteric Buddhism,but also abundant Guanyin statues Esoteric Buddhism,which are particularly prominent in Dunhuang during the Western Xia Dynasty.