蓬莱神山与死后想象:以马王堆帛画为中心

The Sacred Mountain of Penglai and the Postmortem Imagination:Centering on the Mawangdui Silk Paintings

结合文献和考古材料,蓬莱神山大致存在两种形态,一种表现为横向排列的三座独立山峰,另一种为拥有壶状外形的神山。以马王堆汉墓出土的两幅帛画为代表的壶形是西汉时期壶形神山的典型图式,由上升的巨龙蟠曲而成,以龙的躯体为线条,构成壶的外形轮廓,象征着海中蓬莱仙山。壶形神山图像中的玉璧象征着“阊阖”,也就是天门,起着连接双龙和壶形神山的关键作用,是进入蓬莱仙境的重要通道。升天并非是死后唯一的选择,壶内与壶外均是对死后世界的美好期望,愿景可以是多样的,我们需要重新审视古代生死信仰中可能存在的多元表达。

Combined with literature and archaeological materials,there are two general forms of the sacred mountain of Penglai,one manifesting itself as three separate peaks arranged horizontally,and the other shows as a sacred mountain with the shape of pot.The pot shape represented by the two silk paintings excavated from Mawangdui Han Tomb is a typical schema of the sacred mountain with the shape of pot in the Western Han dynasty.In the paintings,the shape is coiled by two rising huge dragons with the dragonsbody lines forming the outline of the pot,symbolizing the sacred mountain of Penglai in the sea.The jade annulus in the image of the pot-shaped sacred mountain symbolizes the gate of the Heavenly Palace,which plays a key role in connecting the two dragons and the sacred mountain in the shape of pot,and forms an important access to the Penglai fairyland.Ascension to heaven is not the only option after death;both inside and outside the pot are fabulous expectations of the world after death,and the visions can be various,so we need to reexamine the possible diversity of expressions in ancient beliefs about life and death.