Illustrating the Efficacy of the Diamond Sutra in Vernacular Buddhism (通俗佛教版畫所見的金剛經靈驗力)
Shih-shan Susan Huang (黃士珊)
This article examines Song-to-Ming printed illustrations celebrating the power of the Diamond Sutra, one of the most widely copied Buddhist scriptures in East Asia. An integral part of printed copies of the Diamond Sutra, these illustrations reflect a strong popular taste appealing to common folks, connecting modern readers to a wider realm of vernacular Buddhism and popular Buddhist visual culture in traditional Chinese society, where indigenous beliefs, popular images, and various religious practices are freely borrowed, converged, and re-packaged. The first part of the study, "Buddhist Records of Magical Efficacy," identifies the round-trip of protagonists to the underworld, and the efficacy of prolonging life in Tang-to-Northern Song miracle tales of the Diamond Sutra as two recurring features carried on in the Southern Song-Ming illustrated versions. The second part, "Illustrations of Miracle Tales," examines illustrated miracle stories of the Diamond Sutra highlighting the underworld court, messengers from the underground, miraculous fungi, and magical writing. The third part, "Women in Vernacular Buddhist and Folklore Visual Cultures," turns to good and evil stereotypes of women pictured in selected miracle tales. The author then also explores the half-animal, half-woman demons subjugated by Buddhist guardians, whose images are juxtaposed with the illustrated miracle stories in the Ming versions. Finally, the fourth part, "Publishers and Donors," shifts to the social and religious context of the illustrated books of the Diamond Sutra. The extant Southern Song-Yuan woodcuts were likely printed by Hangzhou's commercial publishers. A donor's colophon and a hybrid Esoteric Buddhist pantheon in an early fifteenth-century version points to a multicultural community in early Ming Beijing.
金剛經乃東亞文化圈中流傳最廣的佛經之一。本文旨在探討南宋至明初金剛經版畫所描繪的金剛經靈驗故事。這些插圖反映了吸引大眾的民間品味，使吾人一窺傳統中國社會中，在吸納了本土信仰、通俗圖像、以及多元宗教習俗後所融匯而成的通俗佛教及視覺文化。全文共分為四大部分。第一部分「佛教靈驗記」指出，往返冥府、續命延壽的故事主題，乃源自唐宋金剛經靈驗記書寫，並流傳到南宋至明木刻插圖版金剛經靈驗記的二大主題。第二部分「靈驗記插圖」，探討金剛經靈驗記版畫中的冥府、冥使來訪，以及與書經功德有關的芝草等靈驗表現。第三部分「通俗佛教及民俗視覺文化中的女性」，關注靈驗記版畫所見的女性善、惡面，以及明代金剛經版畫中，與靈驗記插圖併列的金剛圖像所添加的半人半獸女性鬼怪形象。第四部分「出版者與施主」，將重點轉移到金剛經木刻插圖出版的社會、宗教網絡。現存南宋、元版木刻版畫，可能都產自當時杭州的坊間印書店。一套帶有漢、梵合名之施主題記，以及混雜了密教與道教神群像的明初金剛經木刻版畫，則指向宣德年間北京城中的多元文化社群。