本文從銘文、母題、和圖像學三個側面，對以往研究中稱的《魏文朗「佛道造像碑」》，做了綜合探討，得出了不同於以往研究所得的結論。本文認為，在未有新的考古發現或文獻證據以前，《魏文朗造像碑》應定為北魏始光元年的產物；它的銘文中無道教的資訊；它的圖像風格與母題，也與五世紀的佛教造像相符；以前研究者見於碑陽右像的頜下鬚，或只是臉部破損殘痕，並非真正的鬍鬚；碑中造像所據的佛經，是《妙法蓮花經》。通過這些結論，本文認為《魏文朗造像碑》，是一單純的佛教造像碑，否定碑中有中國最早的道教造像。

This paper examines the inscriptions, motifs and iconography of the Buddhist Stele of Wei Wenlang (424 C.E.) and argues that the scholarship on the subject hitherto is based on a series of misreadings of the inscriptions, motifs and related literatures. It concludes that instead of being a syncretic monument of Buddhist and Daoist faiths as all previous scholarships believe, it is an exclusively Buddhist monument. Through the discussion of this individual case, the paper explores the typology of sinicization of Buddhist icons in the early and mid 5th century and provides a method for distinguishing early Daoist icons from Buddhist icons. In so doing, it cautions against the tendency prevalent among some oversea scholars that tends to neglect literatures and typologies and places too much weight on “intentionality”.

The paper is divided into four sections: 1. reading of the inscriptions, which argues for the proper reading of some key words from the inscription on the Stele such as “nan nü” and “dao nü”, hitherto used as evidence for the alleged syncretic nature of the Stele, and corrects their misreadings found in Dorothy C. Wong and Marylin Martin Rhie; 2. discussion of the motifs, which traces the evolution of some crucial iconographical motifs on the Stele and corrects their misperception found in Li Song as well as in Rhie and Wong; 3. interpretation of the meaning, which analyzes the meaning of the iconography of the Stele and proves Eugene Y. Wang’s interpretation of the Stele in a recent book to be based on misreadings of the inscriptions and misidentifications of a number of crucial motifs of the Stele and therefore to be groundless; 4. conclusion, which summarizes the paper and engages in some methodological issues in the study of early Chinese art.

魏文朗; 始光元年; 佛教造像; 道教造像; 妙法蓮花經

Wei-wenlang; the first year of Shiguang; Buddhist stele; Daoist Stele; The Lotus Sutra