莫高窟第428窟影塑千佛相关问题考述

A Study on the Clay-Molded Thousand Buddhas in Mogao Cave 428

千佛在敦煌早期石窟的各类题材所占壁面比例中居于首位,是敦煌早期石窟艺术中十分兴盛的题材。莫高窟第428窟四壁上层保存了敦煌石窟中最多的影塑千佛,有1485身,它们按照一定的排列组合方式精心制作而成。该影塑千佛与西壁五塔图中央大塔上层的白衣佛构成三世三千佛,其在第428窟中的造作与北朝时期僧尼坐禅观像和僧俗信众礼拜供养三世三千佛的活动有密切关系。

The Thousand-Buddha motif was a very popular theme in Buddhist art that appears more than almost any other theme in early Dunhuang caves in terms of wall surface used to paint murals and house statuary. There are 1, 485 molded small Buddhas stuck to the upper part of the four walls of Mogao cave 428, the largest amount used to express the Thousand Buddhas motif in any of the Dunhuang caves, all of which were designed according to specific patterns of combination. Together with the illustration of Buddha in a white cassock on the upper level of the large central pagoda in a painting of the Vajrasana Pagoda on the west wall of the cave, this set of artworks combine to form the Three Thousand Buddhas in the Three Ages. The appearance of this theme in Mogao cave 428 was closely related to the activities of both monastic and secular practitioners paying attribute to the Three Thousand Buddhas in the Three Ages, and to the meditation and image-worshiping practices of Zen monks in the Northern Dynasties.