中国早期佛教遗存的考古发现与研究综论

A Synthetic Summary of the Archaeological Discoveries and Research on the Early Buddhist Remains in China

中国早期佛教考古是指从佛教正式传入的东汉至两晋时期的佛教考古。这一时期的佛教遗存发现相对较少,有些佛教遗物在形态和性质上较为模糊,不易辨识,但它们对研究佛教如何进入中国及进入中国后的早期历史表现具有十分重要的意义。从19世纪末20世纪初开始直到近年,学者们对中国境内发现的早期佛教遗存的性质、时代、分期、艺术风格、传入路径等开展了大量研究,相关成果对认识东汉至两晋时期的佛教历史文化具有重要贡献。

The archaeology of early Buddhism in China focuses on the periods ranging from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms.It is known that Buddhist remains found in this period are relatively few,and some associated remains are obscure in their forms and nature,making them difficult to be further studied.However,from the early works during the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century onward,voluminous research has been conducted to facilitate the identification of the nature,date,chronology,artistic style,and transmission routes of remains associated with early Buddhism.Those fruitful results have made significant contribution to the understanding of the history and culture of early Buddhism during these periods.