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The Translation of Buddhism in the Funeral Architecture of Medieval China

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The Translation of Buddhism in the Funeral Architecture of Medieval China religions Article The Translation of Buddhism in the Funeral Architecture of Medieval China Shuishan Yu School of Architecture, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA; [email protected] Abstract: This article explores the Buddhist ritual and architectural conventions that were incor- porated into the Chinese funeral architecture during the medieval period from the 3rd to the 13th centuries. A careful observation of some key types of sacred architectural forms from ancient East Asia, for instance, pagoda, lingtai, and hunping, reviews fundamental similarities in their form and structure. Applying translation theory rather than the influence and Sinicization model to analyze the impact of Buddhism on Chinese funeral architecture, this article offers a comparative study of the historical contexts from which certain architectural types and imageries were produced. It argues that there was an intertwined mutual translation of formal and ritual conventions between Buddhist and Chinese funeral architecture, which had played a significant role in the formations of both architectural traditions in Medieval China. Keywords: Buddhist architecture; funeral architecture; Chinese architecture; pagoda; lingtai; xiang- tang; mubiao; hunping; mingqi; mingtang 1. Introduction Since its legendary introduction to the imperial court during the Eastern Han dynasty Citation: Yu, Shuishan. 2021. The 1 Translation of Buddhism in the (25–221 CE), Buddhism had a profound impact on every aspect of the Chinese civiliza- 2 Funeral Architecture of Medieval tion in the following millennium of Medieval China. In the physical world, cities and China. Religions 12: 690. https:// landscapes were transformed by the spread of Buddhist practices and the introduction doi.org/10.3390/rel12090690 of new architectural types; in the spiritual world, Buddhism changed the way people perceived human life in terms of both its synchronic relationships with heaven (gods) and Academic Editor: Todd Lewis earth (societies), and its diachronic relationships with the past (ancestors) and the future (descendants). In the field of architectural history, much scholarship has been dedicated to Received: 19 July 2021 the translation of Indian and Central Asian Buddhist architecture into Chinese contexts, Accepted: 23 August 2021 especially the creation and development of the pagoda, the adoption and evolvement of Published: 27 August 2021 traditional Chinese courtyard conventions in the construction of monasteries,3 and their influence on the development of traditional Chinese architecture. With great contributions Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral to our knowledge on Chinese architecture, such approaches, however, presume an inter- with regard to jurisdictional claims in pretative model of influence vs. Sinicization that treats Buddhist and Chinese architecture published maps and institutional affil- as two separate systems. Buddhism, as would be argued here, not only influenced but also iations. directly participated in the very formation of Chinese architectural conventions. This article explores the Buddhist ritual and architectural conventions that were incorporated into the Chinese funeral architecture during the period from the 3rd to the 13th centuries. A careful observation of some key types of sacred architecture from ancient Copyright: © 2021 by the author. East Asia, both before and after the Buddhist introduction, reviews fundamental similarities Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. in their forms and structures. For instance, the early pagodas of West China from the 3rd to This article is an open access article 10th centuries share great resemblances with both the sacrificial halls, or xiangtang «堂, distributed under the terms and in the royal tombs of the Zhongshan kingdom during the Warring States period (476–221 conditions of the Creative Commons BCE) of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771–256 BCE), and the tomb mound, or lingtai uú, in Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// the royal mausoleums of the Western Xia kingdom (1032–1227), in their concentric plans creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). and the combination of an earth core with the multilayered wooden verandas. Similarly, Religions 2021, 12, 690. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090690 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2021, 12, 690 2 of 27 the highly architectural elements in the crowns of the funeral jars, or hunping B瓶, in the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces from the 4th century resemble both the Indian stupa and the Han mingtang 明堂. What is the nature of such resemblances? Rather than using the influence and Sinicization model, I prefer to use the concept of “translation” for the discussion on the interactions among different cultures. Translation is not simply a substitution of words between the original and targeted languages, but a reconstruction of meanings in new contexts based on the understanding of a text in a different cultural and linguistic milieu. Borrowed from the linguistic practice, the translation model in the analysis of cultural exchanges forsakes the static view on a given culture as singular and predefined, thus allowing us to treat both Buddhist and Chinese architecture as multiple and evolving traditions.4 Through the study of the historical contexts from which certain architectural types and imageries were produced and a comparative analysis of their forms and functions, intertwined mutual translations of formal and ritual conventions can be observed between Buddhist and Chinese funeral architecture, which played a significant role in the formations of both architectural traditions in Medieval China. 2. The Shifting Underground: Mingqi, Hunping, Stupa, and the Early Translation of Buddhism in Local Tombs Before the introduction of Buddhism to China during the Eastern Han dynasty, the Chinese buried their deceased’s bodies without cremation. In the Qin and Western Han period (221 BCE–8 CE), the rich and powerful built enormous aboveground tumuli with elaborate underground chambers. The Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shihuangdi), for instance, had two layers of rectangular enclosure of walls with gates on the cardinal directions, which measured 2165 m north–south and 940 m east–west for the outer layer, and within the inner layer, a pyramidal rammed earth mound (封土 fengtu) with a base square of 350 m each side and an extant height of 76 m.5 Commoners had much humbler tombs, buried with at least several specially made objects or utensils they once had during their lifetimes to accompany their afterlives. Buddhists, on the other hand, cremated the remains of the deceased, especially the venerated ones, to create the relics known as sharila, which was believed to be a confirmation of nirvana, the ultimate enlightenment. On such occasions, such as in the case of Shakyamuni Buddha, structures such as the stupa would be built to honor such a spiritual achievement.6 During the early Medieval period of the 3rd to 6th centuries, with the progressive Buddhist conversion and the gradual establishment of Buddhist communities and monasteries, pagodas were built to honor both relics of Buddha and the remains of great Buddhist masters.7 Burial customs of common Buddhists also started to bear the imprints of the new faith. The reception of Buddhism was incorporated into the Chinese funeral tradition by the substitution of the previous Confucian and Daoist imageries with Buddhist deities and forms. The images of Buddha appeared in Chinese tombs as early as the late 2nd century. In the cave-tomb from Mahao in Sichuan province, for instance, a seated Buddha carved on the lintel carries the unmistakable Buddhist iconographic marks of ushnisha and abhaya mudra (see Figure1). Among other narrative carvings of Confucian ideology and morality, such as the famous Jing Ke’s attempted assassination of the First Emperor of Qin, it occupies a place previously occupied by the Daoist gods of Dong Wanggong q王l and Xi Wangmu 西王 Í. Although the icon is Buddhist, the concept and functionality behind the Buddha image is Daoist, as Professor Wu Hung pointed out that “this holy image is no longer an object of worship on public occasion, but is a symbol of the deceased individual who had hoped to attain immortality after his death”.8 Buddhism was translated into the Chinese architectural context of the 2nd to 3rd centuries through the substitution of traditional Chinese deities with the Buddha. Such an understanding of the foreign god was also confirmed by the contemporary intellectual discourse on Buddhism. In the famous monograph Lihuolun 理惑論, Mu Rong, the late 2nd-century Buddhist scholar, frequently cited Confucius and Laozi in the defense of Buddhism and argued that Buddha is an honorary title for the Religions 2021, 12, 690 3 of 27 enlightened one, much like the title of Shen ^ for the Three Huang 三皇, the title Sheng V Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 28 for the Five Di 五帝, and the supreme origin of Dao and De S·KCV.9 Deities and saints of both Confucianism and Daoism were evoked to help for a translation of Buddha into the Chinese religious contexts. Figure 1. Mahao tomb, front chamber, lintel carved with a Buddha image, Leshan, Sichuan province, Figurelater 2nd 1. Mahao century CE.tomb, (Drawing front chamber, by author, afterlintel Figure carved 1 in with Wu Hung, a Buddha “Buddhist image, Elements Leshan, in Early Sichuan province, laterChinese 2nd Art”.)century CE. (Drawing by author, after Figure 1 in Wu Hung, “Buddhist Elements in Early Chinese Art”.) Grave goods of the early Medieval China experienced a similar Buddhist translation. The previously mentioned specially made objects buried to serve the afterlife of the tomb Among other narrative carvings of Confucian ideology and morality, such as the fa- masters are known as mingqi 明h, which literally means the “bright utensils”. Since the mousHan dynasty,Jing Ke’s a typeattempted of mingqi assassinationmade in the form of th ofe house First modelEmperor became of Qin, increasingly it occupies a place previouslypopular. Archaeologists occupied by discovered the Daoist such gods architectural of Dongmingqi Wanggongin large quantities, 東王公 especially and Xi Wangmu 西 王母from.
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