Cliff Tomb 1 at Hejiashan in Mianyang, Sichuan yielded a late Eastern Han period bronze mirror with figures of immortals and the inscription "其师命长." According to some scholars, the character "师&quo...Cliff Tomb 1 at Hejiashan in Mianyang, Sichuan yielded a late Eastern Han period bronze mirror with figures of immortals and the inscription "其师命长." According to some scholars, the character "师" refers to priests of Wudoumi Taoism 五斗米道 (Five-dou-of-rice Taoism), and the mirror may have been a Taoist instrument. However, based on the results of an all-round examination of the mirrors coming from the Eastern Han to the Six Dynasties period, including a grammatical study of their inscription "其师命长," as well as a investigation of their date, prevailing region and typological attribution, it can be preliminarily concluded that the "师" must refer to the mirror making master rather than any priests of Wudoumi Taoism in the Shu region. As for the nature of the mirror under discussion, it is difficult to clarify for the time being whether this is a Taoist instrument.展开更多
文摘Cliff Tomb 1 at Hejiashan in Mianyang, Sichuan yielded a late Eastern Han period bronze mirror with figures of immortals and the inscription "其师命长." According to some scholars, the character "师" refers to priests of Wudoumi Taoism 五斗米道 (Five-dou-of-rice Taoism), and the mirror may have been a Taoist instrument. However, based on the results of an all-round examination of the mirrors coming from the Eastern Han to the Six Dynasties period, including a grammatical study of their inscription "其师命长," as well as a investigation of their date, prevailing region and typological attribution, it can be preliminarily concluded that the "师" must refer to the mirror making master rather than any priests of Wudoumi Taoism in the Shu region. As for the nature of the mirror under discussion, it is difficult to clarify for the time being whether this is a Taoist instrument.
