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Consecration of the “White Stupa” in 1279

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HERBERT FRANKE

Consecration of the “White Stupa” in 1279


This article is written in memory of my friend and former student Anna Seidel. It is a study of the “White Stupa” (Pai-t’a of Peking and its history under the Yuan dynasty. I present a translation of an inscription that describes in detail the origin of the stupa and the tantric rituals per­formed for its consecration in 1279. This text is therefore of great interest for the study of lamaist Buddhism under Qubilai. In addition, because of the physical description of the stupa, it is a valuable source for the history of Buddhist art in China.


FACTS ABOUT THE WHITE STUPA AND ITS TEMPLE


Today the stupa is situated in the compound of the Miao-ying Temple (Miao-ying ssu in the western part of Peking. The Miao-ying Temple stands on the site of the imperial Yuan temple Ta sheng-shou wan-an ssu which was built around the stupa between 1279 3 0 d 1288.1 At about 167 feet, the White Stupa is the highest pagoda in Peking and also the oldest.

It dominates the skyline of the western city and the temple itself, so that both the Yuan temple and its successor, the Miao-ying Temple, were also commonly known as the Temple of the White Stupa (Pai-t’a ssu), a name that is in popular use today. Most of the European books on old Peking have something to say on the stupa, and it has been photographed many times.

A relatively detailed description is given in the standard work of Arlington and Lewisohn, where the history of the monument is summarized.2 Another modern work says that the White Stupa Temple is a “lama temple dedicated to the Bodhisattva Manjushri” and includes an impressionistic account of both temple and stupa.3 A German historian of Chinese architecture has written a scholarly article

1 See Ho k-1 am Chan, “SiLing by Bowshot: A Mongolian Custom and Its Sociopolitical and Cultural Implications," AM 3d ser. 4.2 (iggt), pp. 63-65. 2 L. C. Arlington and William Lewisohn, In Search of Old Peking (1933; rpt. New York: Paragon Books Reprint Co., 1967), pp. 207-8, 352. 3 Juliet Bredon, Peking (Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1922), pp. 197-200.

concerned with the architectural details, as is the case with the standard Japanese work on Buddhist architecture in China by Sekino and Tokiwa.4 Some of the older photos show the disrepair into which the monument had fallen during the first decades of our century.5 Many histories of Chinese architecture dealt with the stupa, however, briefly and without reference to original sources.6 By far the best modern description of the White Stupa in the Miao-ying Temple is a small booklet with the English subtitle “The White Pagoda at Miao Ying Temple.” It contains photos, some in color, and succinctly recounts the monument’s history (see appended photograph) ?

We find quite a few older Chinese sources that touch upon the history of the stupa and its temple.8 These are gazetteers of Peking, written in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries by various scholars, sometimes on imperial command.9 The fullest treatment of the history of the Miao-ying Temple and the stupa can be found in the monumental description of Peking by Chu I-tsun ® (1629-1709) titled Jih-hsia chin-wen k ’ao S and the addenda of later editors.10 It is of particular value

  • Ernst Boerschmann, “Pagoden im nordlichen China," in H. H. Schacder, cd., Der Orient in deutscher Forsckung: Vortrage der Berliner Orientolistentagiing r g4 2 (Leipzig: Otto Harrassawitz, 1944), pp. 198, 200-2. The ground plan derives partly from Sekino Tadashi and Tokiwa Daij'3 -SAina Bukkyo shisehi (Tokyo. 1938) 5, pp. 333-6 (with a ground plan of the stupa on p. 224). 5 See, e. g., Ernst Fuhrmann, China: Das Land der Mine (Hagen: Folkwang-Verlag, iga 1), p. 43, with two photos of the “Kloster dec weiBen l’agode." More recent photos are in Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Ari (Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd., 1975),

illus. 10, p. 32 (with a note on the early history of the monument). 0 Chung-kuo k’o-hsiieh yuan, Chung-kuo chien-cku J 3 ® !® ® (Peking: Wcn-wu ch’u-pan she, 1957), p. 75; Gin-dji Hsu (Hsu Chi ng-ch ih Chinese Architecture Bast and Contemp­orary (Hong Kong: Sin Poh, 1964), pl. 70; text, pp. 97-98; Liang Ssuch’cng, A Pictorial History o f Chinese Architecture, ed. Wilma Fairbank (Cambridge: Ml T Press, 1984), table 74a.

An excellent color photo of the stupa is in Chinese Academy or Architecture, eds., Ancient Chinese Architecture (Peking: China Building Industry Press, 1982), p. 124. 7 Yang I-hsi Miao-ying ssu pai-t’a (Peking: Wcn-wu, 1985). I am grateful to Dr. Peter Mohr of the German embassy in Peking for having obtained this publication, as well as a xerox of the article on the Pai-t’a in the new handbook of antiquities in Peking, Ting Hsi cd., Pei-ching ming-sheng ku-chi tz’u-lien jfcJTt S/j v J F (Peking: Pei-ching yen-shan, 1989), pp. 155-57; it includes a very small photo of the monument but is detailed and reliable. *

See Chan, “Siting by Bowshot,’ p. 65, n. a t. 9 These include Hsiung Meng-hsiang ed., Hsi-chin chik (Peking: Pei-ching ku-chi, 1982), p. 117 (only a brief note on the Pai-t’a); Wu Ch’ang-yiian Ch'm-yuan chih-liieh (Peking. Pei-ching ku-chi, 1981), ck 8, pp. 143-44, and Miao Ch’ijan-sun et al., Shun-l'ien fu-chih (t 884; rpt. Taipei: Wen-hai ch’u-pan she, n. d.), vol. 2, ch. rS, pp. 28b-joa [1012-15] (with a full description of the stupa’s history). 10 Chu I-tsun, Jik-hsia chiu-wen k'aa (Peking: Pei-ching ku-chi, 1981), vol. 3, ch. 52, pp.

because of the early texts quoted verbatim, with sources indicated. Chu I-tsun also includes transcriptions of the Chinese texts of Ch’ing imperial steles composed by the K’ang-hsi and Ch’ien-lung emperors, along with some comments. The Ch’ing sources have one thing in common: they refer only indirectly, through Ming gazetteers, to the most important Yuan source on the White Stupa, the “Stele Inscription for the Stupa with Spiritual Influence of the Sakya Relics Built Especially on Imperial Com­mand” (“Sheng-chih t’e-chien shih-chia she-li ling-t’ung chih t’a pei-wen” S W written by the Buddhist monk Hsiang-mai The stele itself has not survived, and what we have today is a version included in Hsiang-mai’s Pien-wei lu 1J This version is the one used for the partial translation, given below. When reading Chinese accounts or modern descriptions of the stupa, it is evident that their authors did not study the stele inscription itself, even though many items in Hsiang-mai’s text appear here and there in secondary sources.

Although modern authors are aware of it, nobody has, as far as I know, dealt with the long description of the tantric consecration in 1279, a ^so included in Hsiang Mai’s stele text.12 It is a common opinion that ihe plan for the monument was made by the Nepalese architect and sculptor A-ni-ko (1245-1306), who came to China in about 1261 and played a prominent role for the introduc­tion of Indo-Tibetan art under Qubilai and his successor.13 Indeed the bottle-shaped stupa of the Miao-ying Temple is a faithful repetition of the Tibetan type.14 It is nevertheless surprising that Hsiang-mai’s inscription

825—30. The same data as in this work arc also to be found in Li Tsung-wan (1705-1759), Ching-ch’eng ku-chi k'aa (Peking: Pei-ching ku-chi, 1981), pp. 13-14. See p. 80 for similar data. 11 For this text see Hsiang-mai, Pien-wei lu (hereafter PWLj (printed in Tais Aushinshu dai&kyd [[[Tokyo]]: Taislio issaikyb kankokai, 1924-32: hereafter T]), vol. 32), eh. 5, pp. 779B-81A. <a See Yang, Eki-t'a, p. r 2, which reproduces a Ch’ing print of Pien-wei lu, opened on the page where Hsiang-mai’s stele-inscription begins. 13 A-ni-ko has a biography in Yuan-shih jtjp .

(Peking: Chung-hua, 1976; hereafter TS1) 203, pp. 4 5 4 5 -4 6 , which is based on a spirit-path stele by Ch’eng Chii-fu § f e ? c ( i2 49-1318) preserved in his collected works. For an annotated Japanese translation of Ch’eng’s stele text see Ishida Mikinosuke 5 Tha bunkaski soha (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1973), pp. 37'-94- Further Chinese sources on A-ni-ko are listed in Wang Te-i et al., Viian-jen chuan-chi tzu-liao so-yin I (Taipei: Hsin-wen-feng, 1979-82; hereafter 7J).

On A-ni-ko, see also Luciano Petech, Mediaeval History of Nepal (ca. 750—1480) (Roma: Istituto per il medio ed estremo orientc, 1958), pp. 99-101, and Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, pp. 21-22. 14 For a brief survey of lamaist pagoda architecture, sec Siegbcrt Hummel, Dis lamaistischs does not mention the name of the architect. A-ni-ko’s planning of the Ta sheng-shou wan-an Temple is a fact attested in his biography-.

Yang’s Miao-ying ssu pai-t’a notes that the area covered by the base of the monument is about 8,718 square feet. The umbrella-like disk is made of wood covered by copper plates and has a diameter of 31.8 feet. The center of this disk supports a hollow, stupa-shaped spire, 16.4 feet high and weighing four tons. It is made of cast bronze and was put on top of the monument in 1753. Below, in connection with the Ch’ing inscriptions, I discuss the spire’s mid-eighteenlh-century contents, which were recovered in the years spanning 1978 and 1980.

The stupa itself was repeatedly restored under Yuan rule (1344), Ming (1433, I 457> 159a )> Ch’ing (r688, 1753, 1816), and twice under the Republic (1925, 1937). Restorations under the present government have been carried out in the two periods 1961-62 and 1978-80. No Yuan-era inscriptions have been discovered so far with the exception of a grafitto produced during the firstrestoration.lt reads "Again repaired in the second summer month of the fourth year of Chih-cheng,”* * 15 16 or, between May 13 and June 10, £344. The nameTemple of Miraculous Evidence” (Miao-ying ssu) was given in 1457 to the new building erected on the site of the largely destroyed Ta sheng-shou wan-an.10 A £592 bronze stele commemorating repair work was discovered in 1924.17

Kanst in det Umwtll non Tibet (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1955); pl. 1 is a photo of the White Stupa based on that of Ernst Bocrschmann (see n. 4, above). '■s See photo in Yang, Jiii-fa, p. 10. 16 Ta sheng-shou wan-an Temple was struck by lightning and totally burnt, with the exception of two halls, June 20, 1368, that is, shortly before the Mongol court had to evacuate Ta-tu (Peking) and withdraw to the north. See T.S’33, p. 734; and 51, p. 1101. 17 Photo in Yang, Aw-I'fl, p. 10.


THE CH’ING IN SCRIPTIONS


The most important stone inscriptions were executed during the Ch’ing dynasty and deserve a few comments at this point. It is common knowledge that the Manchu emperors actively protected and supported lamaist Buddhism in order to foster allegiance and loyalty among lamaist subjects in Mongolia and Tibet. The Miao-ying Temple was an important center of lamaism in Peking, and it was therefore a matter of some impor­tance to keep the WhiLe Stupa in good repair for the Mongols and Tibetans who made pilgrimage to the capital in order to pay homage to the Buddha relics supposedly preserved in the stupa. At the same time, as a monument

created under the Mongol emperor Qubilai, the stupa could remind Mon­gol pilgrims of the imperial grandeur of the Yuan dynasty and thus enhance national pride. Not less than five different steles have been set up on imperial command in the precincts of the Miao-ying. There are two biling­ual (Chinese and Manchu) inscriptions commanded by the K’ang-hsi emp­eror in 1688. Two inscriptions that carry the four languages Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan were ordered by the Ch’ien-Iung emperor in 1753.

Finally, a monolingual Chinese stele, with a poem of the Ch’ien-lung emperor composed in 1785, commemorates both a miraculous event said to have happened at the stupa and the fiftieth anniversary of his reign. In the poem itself are explanatory glosses in prose. All five inscriptions have been reproduced after rubbings in the sumptuous portfolio edited by Franke and Laufer.18 It is obvious that these texts are not only valuable as evidence of the Buddhist inclination and propagandizing actions of the Ch’ing emperors; in addition they throw light on the techniques of transla­tion from Chinese into other languages of the Sino-Manchu empire.

Recently the five Miao-ying inscriptions have been studied successfully by Rainer von Franz.19 The author has transcribed the texts (supplying Chinese characters for the version in Chinese, and romanization for the Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan versions) and given an annotated German translation. Classical allusions in the Chinese versions have been elucidated and major discrepancies between the Chinese and non-Chinese texts noted. As well as providing a well-documented history of the Miao-ying, von Franz also includes a translation of all passages in Tuan-sAiA 7G5& that mention Lhe Ta sheng-shou wan-an Temple.

Of particular interest is the first Miao-ying inscription of lhe Ch’ien-lung emperor. The first paragraph tells us that the repair work for lhe Miao-ying and the While Stupa was begun in the seventh lunar month (July 30-August 27) and completed in the tenth (October 26-November 24) of the eighteenth year 18 Otto Franke and Berthold Laufer, Fpigrapkische DenkmdUr m s China, faster Till: Lamaislis-die Tempelinsekrifiai aas Peking, Jehol and Si-ngan (Berlin-Hamburg: Dietrich Reimer, 1914).

The two r688 inscriptions are reproduced on ppi. 15 and 16, the two inscriptions of 1753 on ppi. ry /rS a n d 20/21, and lhe Chinese poem or 1785 on pl. 19. 13 Rainer von Franz, Die unbearbeitelen Peking-fnsekriften der Franke-lAitferschm Sammlung, Asiatische Forschungen 86 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1984), pp. 18-94. 20 Ibid., pp. 34—39. Yang, fti-t’e, p. 11, reproduces a rubbing of the first 1688 inscription (Chinese and Manchu) but without explanation. For the full text and translation, see von Franz, faking-fasckrijicn, pp. 20-27.

of Ch’ien-lung (1753 )21 Then the inscription lists imperial gifts presented to the temple, or rather the stupa itself, for its religious protection (cfien First is mentioned a manuscript copy of Pan-jo-po-io-mt-to tein-ching MSSllS written by the emperor himself. This short text, also called the “Essence Sutra,” or “Heart Sutra”, is a condensation of the long Prajna-paramita-sutra, one of the most frequently printed and copied texts of Mahayana Buddhism.22 Another piece of imperial handwriting, this time in fan-wen (which here means Tibetan and not, as usual, Sanskrit), was a text that the Chinese version calls “Tsun-sheng chou” .

This name is ambiguous but the Manchu parallel (“Giyolonggo umesi etehe erne gebungge toktobun tarni noraun”) and the Mongolian counterpart (“Us- nisa bizay-a eke-yin toytayal tarni nom”) make it quite clear what is meant: it is the Usnisa Vijaya dharani (Chin.: Fa-ling Isun-sheng I’o-lo-ni thing a magic invocation of the goddess Ushnishavijaya, who is regarded as the embodiment of supernatural wisdom and much wor­shipped in lamaist Buddhism. The Tibetan equivalent is, like the Chinese, abbreviated {rnam-rgyal grand}. The Sanskrit original has been repeatedly translated into Chinese.

Eight different versions have survived and been incorporated into the Buddhist canon.23 A third imperial present men­tioned in the inscription was a complete set of the Buddhist Tripitaka in Chinese, altogether 724 cases. All this was put into the bronze spire on top of the stupa, together with other objects not listed in the inscription, such as a golden AmiLabha reliquary adorned with precious stones and a Tibetan inscription on the inside, a five-pointed ritual kuna cap and a priest’s robe with fine embroidery, a Kuan-yin statue made of yellow sandal wood in an ornamented case with a receptacle for relics, a velvet representation of a stupa, and stalues of the Buddhas of the Three Worlds together with many ceremonial scarfs (Tib.: kha-blags) in while, blue, yellow, and green, each

The text is in ibid, p. 44, trans, p. 52; unnot. pp. 5^5—57. 11 For a detailed study of this sutra, its various Chinese versions and the translations into Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan, see Walter Fuchs, Die mandjurischm DruckMisgabcn des I-lsin-ching (Hrdayasulrad mil lleprodvklion der pier- und der fanfsprachigen Ausgabe, Abhandlungen Rir die Kunde des Morgcnlandes 39 3 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1970). 33 See T, vol. 19, nos. 967-974. Von Franz, Peking-fnschri/len, p. 57, has followed a suggestion of Dr. Kampfe and reconstructed the Sanskrit title as

$auijaya-sddluma. This is not quite correct because the text is technically a dharani and not a sadhana (mystical description and realization of a Buddha or deity). Also the wording of the Chinese title (Chin.: cAo«, a word that translates Sk. mantra, or dharani} points to a magical incantation.

Yang, Pai-l'a, p. eg, calls the text “Li-lo ko” (“Song of Profitable Joy"), which is misleading.

17.4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. Photos of most of these finds have been published.24 It is a fortunate coincidence that the data of the inscription on the donated texts could thus be corroborated by the actual contents of the stupa spire.


NON CHINESE NAMES FOR THE STUPA AND THE TEMPLE


In the first K’ang-hsi inscription of 1688 the Manchu text gives a hy­brid translation of the Chinese name (sanggiyan subargan i miyoo ing se}, where “white stupa” is translated but the temple name only phonetically rendered.23 A different approach can be seen in the Ch’ien-lung inscrip­tions of 1753. Here we have the temple name fully translated in all three non ­Chinese versions (Man.: ferguwecukei acabuha juktehen, Mong.: yayiqamsiy belegtu s it me, Tib.: no mchar rien 'brel can gyi lha khan)2G The word belegtu presents a problem. Literally, it means “to have a present, gift.”

It is not a very satisfactory rendering of the Chinese word ying Von Franz there­fore suggests that it be read belgetil instead , a word derived from beige “sign, omen.” The Tibetan translation follows very faithfully the Chinese. The fact that in 1753 ^ e temple name was no longer simply transcribed but semantically translated could be due to the great emphasis placed in the eighteenth century on the propagation of Manchu and the standardization of the language.

The non-Chinese names of the White Stupa offer no problems. The difference between the Manchu words subargan (1688) and suburban ( r753) is negligible and only orthographic. The word is evidently a borrowing from Mongolian and goes ultimately back to Sogdian via Uighur. The Mongolian text has cayan subur yan, the Tibetan mckod rien dkar po. In any case, the non-Chinese inscriptions give “White Stupa” as the name of the temple.

34 Ibid., pp. r j IE, where the emperor’s ms. of the “Essence Sutra" is reproduced on p. 13.

A colophon states that the emperor wrote the “Essence Sutra" and the Tibetan Tsun-sheng chon and that he gave these texts and a purple “secret" (pi kE, >• e -> tantric) hood in order to assure divine protection for the precious stupa. 35 See von Franz, ftking-fascJiri/lm, p. 20, for the text. 38 Ibid., p. 44 (text), p. 56 (notes). 37 On the language policies of the Cli’ing, see Pamela Kyle Crossley and Evelyn S.

Rawski, “A Profile of the Manchu Language in Ch’ing History,” (1993), pp. 63—102. This study shows that aside from being a medium for translating Chinese, Manchu. was used as the primary language of many documents.

The Mongolian name for the temple is quite old. The early-fourteenth-century colophon to the commentary on Bodhicaryavatara states that the text was printed in 1312 in the “great temple with the white stupa in Daidu (Ta-tu, modern Peking)” daidu-daki cayayan suiur/atu yeke slime™ For later Mongols, the stupa must have seemed a symbol of their former imperial grandeur. A seventeenth-century chronicle records a moving poetic lament of the last Yuan emperor Shun-ti (Toyon Temiir) before he withdrew to the north in 1368.

The emperor deplores, among many losses, leaving “my eight-sided white pagoda, completed in diverse fashions” eldeb jiiil-iyer biltiigsen naiman tala-tu iayan yuburya minu?3 During the eighteenth century the White Stupa and its temple played a prominent role among Mongol Buddhists as a place of pilgrimage. A guide to the stupa was published shortly after 1753 under the title “Description of the White Stupa on the Inner Side of the Western Gate of the Great City of the Emperor, Which Promotes Devotion” (“Qayan-u yeke balyasun-a driine-yin qayalya-daki cayan suburyan-u garcay susiig-i nemegiiliigci kemekii orusiba”).

It contains a summary history of the monument based largely on Chinese sources, and the construction is dated to Chih-yiian 8, twenty-fifth day of the eleventh lunar month (December 28, 1271), which must refer to the start of the building activities. The three repairs under the Ming are mentioned, as well as the restorations in 1688 amd 1753- An interesting feature of the guide is the fact that the Chinese signature on the printing blocks is the character Yuan 7E, perhaps an homage to the Mongol dynasty under which the White Stupa was built.

28 See Francis W. Cleaves, “The Bodistw-a cari-a awatar-un tayilbur of 1312," K JA S 17 (1954), pp. 55 (text), 86 (English trans.), and 1 28-29 (n - 347). Cleaves has correctly identified this as the Yuan Ta sheng-shou wan-an Temple. A new edition is in Dalantai Cerensodnom and Manfred Taube, Die Mongo lira der Berlin er Turfan sammlung, Berliner Turfantexte 16 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1993), p. 95 Yang I-hsi has been aware that this Middle Mon­golian text mentions the name of the temple because he reproduces folio 167b in his Dd-l'a, p. ro.

But he uses a Chinese name that differs from the standard P’ti-l'i filing eking (see 7) vol. 32, no. r66i). On p. 5 Yang mentions that the temple was a center of Mongol and Uighur Buddhist learning under the Yuan. » Charles R. Bawden, The Mongol Chronicle Allan Tobit, Galtinger Asiatische Forschungen 5 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1955), p. 66 (text in sect. 57), p. 152 (translation). Cleaves too has drawn attention to this passage (see previous n ).

The work is 30 pages; several copies are in European collections (British Library, Russian Academy of Sciences in S t Petersburg). See Walther Heissig, Die Pekinger lamaislis-cken Blockdrvcke in mongoliscker Sprache: Malerialien zur mongolischen Uleralurgeschichle, G Ottinger Asiatische Forschungen 2 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1954), pp. rr6 -i8 . Heissig’s summary incorrectly equates the “first year sio rang" of the Liao with 1032, the first year of Ch'ung-hsi. The Mongolian transcription of the Liao reign-name points rather to Shou-ch’ang (1095-1100).

31 For die text and a German trans, from the Uighur, see Peter 2iemc, Buddhisliscke Slainrmdudilungen der Uiguren, Berliner Turfantexte 13 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1985), p. 179, text no. 50. The Uighur version is the work of Karunadasa, whose biography in K9134 is trans, into German by Georg Kara, “Weiteres uber die ligurische Nhm Sangili,"

Aitorientaliscke Forschungen 8 (rg8r), pp. 231-36. The text was first studied by Peter Zicme, “Zur buddhistischen Stabreimdichtung der alien Uiguren," AOASH 29 (1975), pp- 197-99 (facs. on pp. 20 5-6). 32 See Kubo Noritada, “Prolegomena on the Study of the Controversies between Bud­dhists and Taoists in the Yuan Period," M lB 26 (1968), pp. 39-61. On the stele inscription, see pp. 53-54- For Hsiang-mai’s text in the Buddhist canon, see above n. r 1. 33 This is also the opinion or Kubo, “Prolegomena," pp. 39-40. 38 PWL, pp. 751C-52A.

Other sources, such as those listed in fj, vol, 4, p. 2159, are secondary and do not go beyond what reverend Kuei says in his preface. A slightly ab­breviated version of this preface is in the Buddhist chronicle Jv-Xsu li-lai I’ung-Lsai S t ? by Nien ch’ang l&'ft (?) vol. 49, ch. 2 r, pp. 7100-11 a). Kuei’s preface must have been written after 1294 because Qubilai is referred to as “the former emperor."

We also know (he Uighur name of the White Stupa Temple. Among the Turfan finds in Berlin is a printed fragment of an early-fourteenth- century Uighur translation of Manjusri-ndmasamgili. According to the col­ophon, the text was translated (and also perhaps printed) in the “great temple with the white stupa in wonderful Taydu (Ta-tu, modern Peking)” adinciy mungadinciy laydu-taqi aq stup-hiy uluyvrxar, that is, the Ta sheng- shou wan-an Temple. The date corresponds to a “tiger year” - either 1314 or, more probably, 1302.31 All these facts demonstrate lhe importance of the stupa and the temple for not only Buddhist Central Asians, but also for religious Tibetan literature, especially guide books for pilgrims. The latter point should be looked into by scholars who possess the necessary tools.

Hsiang-mai (t. Ju-i $0® ) is chiefly known as the compiler of Pien-wei lu, a text of five chapters that is our most detailed source on the controver­sies between Buddhists and Taoists under the Mongols. It has has been studied many times by western and Asian scholars, although some parts have been regarded as not authentic, due perhaps to later interpolations.32 The authenticity of his stele-inscription is, however, beyond any reasonable doubt.33 Most of the few details on Hsiang-mai’s life and works come from either the colophons in Pien-wei lu or the preface to this work written by the reverend Kuei known also as Hsiieh-ch’i yeh-lao abbot of the Ta yiin-feng Temple

Hsiang-mai was born in Tai-yuan (Shansi) into the Hu-yen PfJiE family. Many of his ancestors were military leaders, among (hem Hu-yen Tsan (d. 1000), who served as a cavalry commander under Sung T’ai-tsu and T’ai-tsung The date of Hsiang-mai’s birth is not known.

At nine he joined the Buddhist clergy and spent time as a mountain recluse. Later we find him as senior {chang-lao in the monastery at K’ai-chiieh Temple |0(SExF near Yung-p’ing (Hopei). In the time spanning 1286 and 1291 Hsiang-mai is mentioned as senior and also as abbot {cku-ch'ih J £ ^ ) of Ta yiin-feng in the Tao-che Mountains northwest of Ch’ang-li county (Hopei).*' Reverend Kuei’s preface to Pien-wei lu praises Hsiang-mai’s literary accomplishments and compares him to such prominent historians as Pan Ku and Ssu-ma Ch’ien. He is also said to have studied the works of Mo Ti and Taoist scriptures. Apart from Pien-weilu, Hsiang-mai was a prolific author.

His works cover many different fields of learning. He wrote a commentary to Lu Chi’s Wen-Ju a preface to the Four Books {Ssu-ching hsii which might concern either Confucan or Buddhist scriptures, and a text titled Han-wenpieh-chuan The latter was probably a private biography of the famous T’ang author Han Yu (768-824). While it is surprising that a monk wrote about Han Yii, who was something of a bets noire for Buddhists, we must also note that Han’s family came from Ch’ang-li - the vicinity of the monastery.

Hsiang-mai also wrote a prose-poem on fundamental nature, “Hsing-hai fu” a title that suggests a specific Buddhistic content, that of Artng-ftat as the immaterial nature of the Buddha’s dharma body (Sk.; bhutatathallT}?* All of these texts seem no longer to be extant. One other work by Hsiang-mai survives. It is a commentary to the preface of the Lotus Siitra by Tao-hsiian jT (596-667). The full title is Miao-fa lien-hua eking hung-chuan hsii chu SE, and it is included in the continuation of the Buddhist canon compiled in Japan

See Hu-yen’s biog.: Sung-skik Jfrffe (Peking: Chung-hua, 1977) 279, pp. 9488—8^; other sources are in Ch'ang Pi-le et al, Sung-jen ckuan-cki tzii-liao so-yin ’ 51 (Taipei: Ting-wen shu-chu, 1974-1976), vol. », p. 1415. 36 PWL a, p. 764ft.; g, p- 771 a; and 4, p. 775c; also PWL pref, by Han-lin historiographer Chang Po-shun ‘tS'ffl?? (1243-1303), p. 751A. Sources for Chang are in TJ, vol. 2, pp.

37 See Achilles Fang, “Rhymeprose on Literature: The Wen-fu of Lu Chi (A. D. 261- 3°3) ” bijA S 14 (1951), pp. 527-66. 33 See William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous, A Dictionary of Quaes e Buddhist Terms (rpt. Taipei: Chung-kuo Fo-chiao yiieh-k’an she, rg61; hereafter S/lp, p. 259ft.

between 1905 and rg r2 .39 A pious anecdote in the gazetteer of Yung- p’ing says that when Hsiang-mai wrote the commentary he was overcome by doubt in his ability to convey the gradual perfection to buddhahood and to realize the great dharma.40 To achieve this would be like cutting the text to pieces and to reassemble them later. Indeed he cut up his manuscript and threw the single pieces around. Shortly afterwards a gentle wind came and blew the fragments together so that not a single character was misplaced or lost. “Everybody regarded this as a miracle und thus the work was printed and transmitted.” We do not know when Hsiang-mai died, but can deduce that it occurred during the 1290 s.

SOME REMARKS ON STUPA CONSECRATION

In order to understand Hsiang-mai’s text we have to remind ourselves that the stupa originated in India and was used first as a receptacle for relics of the Buddha. Later, in Tibet and the Far East, including China, a stupa could also be built as a visible sign of the Buddha’s mystical presence and therefore as a representation of the Buddhist creed. It did not necessarily contain Buddha relics or remnants of a saint.

The White Stupa, in any case, contained relics, as did its predecessor built under the Liao. This called for a correct ritual consecration. One was performed in is7g by a Tibetan cleric and followed tantric precedents. The idea underlying the rituals (Sk.: praiislhtt. Tib.: mb gnas) was to establish the holy and sacred character of the building, or of single images, and to make it fit for religious worship.

On a higher level of meaning the stupa was regarded as a receptacle of the Buddha’s body (Ch.: shen Tib.: sAu), speech (Ch.: yti Tib.: gsati) and mind (i (W. thugs). In Sino-Japanese tantrism these three are also called the “three secrets,” san-mi , corresponding to the Sanskrit iriguhya trinity of the secret of body [kayagukya], speech (vagguhya), and mind (manoguhya). The scriptural basis is several texts, including P’u-l’i kstn-lun translated by Amoghavajra (Pu-k’ung 705-770, or 774), and Mahavairocana-sutra, translated by Shan-wu-wei d. 735) and his

»J Zflkufjikyo (rpt- Taipei: Hsfn-wcn feng, 1968-1970), vol. 47, pp. 532-37. The undated colophon calls the author “Ju-i ych-lao SfiigSM? Hsiang-mai of the Tao-che shan.” The index to fj>kuzd/l}v (Taipei, 1977), p. 78, mistakenly calls Hsiang-mai a Sung author. For the text of Tao-hsiian’s pref, see 7, no. a6t, vol. 9, p. ib - c. s*1 Kimi’-p'ingju-chili (1879; r pt- Taipei: Taiwan hsiich-sheng shu-chti, 1968]

disciple I-hsing — f j (683-727) and generally known as Ta-jih chitig S ® . The Buddha Vairocana is a central deity in esoteric Buddhism and therefore plays a prominent role in tantric rituals.41 The “three secrets” were instrumental for the consecration of the White Stupa in 1279. The author Hstang-mai clearly distinguished which actions on the phenomenal level have taken place: Buddha’s body is first of all represented by the Buddha’s relics, over which the stupa was built, and also by the images put up for Lheir protection; his speech is represented by the recitation of cerLain texts and their deposition in the stupa; and finally his mind is symbolized by cerLain offerings in the interior or the monument and also by describing the decorations on the exlerior of the stupa.

Also the architecture of stupas in general reflects religious symbolism. For example, lamaist stupas usually have a square basis representing the cosmic mountain Sumeru, which is Lhought to be the place where the Buddha Vairocana resides. Also the thirteen tiers of the White Stupa have a symbolic meaning. They correspond to the thirteen Buddha worlds (skth-san ti in each of which an esoteric Buddha resides, presided by the central figure of Vairocana?'2 Some of the above-mentioned practices are reflected even in Lhe contemporary culture-sphere of Tibet and Nepal, where we have greater opportunities to witness rituals.

  • • For the “three secrets," sec Fu-i'i hsin-lun (7'cdn., vol. ya. no. 1665), p. 574 B, and 'la-jilt thing (Tedn., vol. 18, no. 8+8), p. 1711. The biographies of Amoghavajra and Shan-wu-wci are translated by Chou Yi-iiang, “Tantrism in China," IIJAS& {1944-1945), pp. 284-307, and pp. 251-72, and p. 257 n. zg, for “three secrets"; and also Nishimura Akira cd., Mikkyo daijilen (Tokyo: Mikkyo jitett hensankai, 1983, hereafter Affl), pp. 839B-40B.

For Buddha worlds and the Buddhas, see MD, pp. 863C-64R. « A recent we 11 documented study by Yael Bentor of Indo-Tibetan consecration rituals shows that the basic ideas underlying the consecration of stupas or images are lhe same Tor Tibetan and Sino-Japanese tantrum Bentor uses a wealth of Tibetan sources and also adduces contemporary observations of such rituals in the Tibetan cultural sphere; Bentor, “Sutra-stylc Consecration in Tibet and Its Importance Tor Understanding the Historical Development of the Indo-Tibetan Consecration Ritual for Stupas and Images,” Tibetan Studies: Proceedings 0/ lhe Sth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Nasita 1989 (Narita: Naritasan Shirtshoji, 1992) 1, pp. 1—12.

The custom to deposit scriptures in stupas or images, one of the “three secrets," is studied competently on the basis of a Tibetan text discovered in Tun-huang and a comparison with Chinese data. See Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, “Some dharani Written on Paper Functioning as dharmakirti Relics: A Tentative Approach to PT 350,” Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of lhe 61k Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Fagemess iggit (Oslo: Institute for Comparalive Research in Human Culture, 1994), pp. 711—27. In 1980 I witnessed the placing of scriptures in images in the monastery Tikse near Leh (Ladakh). The Dalai Lama had announced a visit to Tikse and in order to welcome him the monks were constructing a gigantic Buddha image made of clay (about 50 ft. high).


ON THE HISTORICAL PERSONS MENTIONED IN HS1ANG-MA I’S STELE-INSRIPTION


Apart from the emperor Qubilai,44 three historical persons appear in the inscription. The first is a Liao monk who was author of a stele-inscription for the predecessor of the White Stupa dated Shou-ch’ang 2, fifteenth day, third lunar month (April to, iog6). The stele itself has long disap­peared, but Hsiang-mai quotes a few passages on the Buddha’s relics deposited in the old Liao stupa. The monk’s name is given as Tao-chen Dharma-Teacher expert in exoteric and esoteric doctrines (hsien-mi ytian-t’ung fa-shih an official title). Tao-chen was a prominent Buddhist of the eleventh century, born into the Tu t t family of Yiin-chung (Shansi).

After joining the clergy he resided in the Chin-ho Temple on Mount Wu-t’ai (Shansi). His courtesy name was Fa-ch’uang StW- Tao-chen wrote a compendium of esoteric Buddhism called Ffcien-mi yuan-t'ung Ch'eng Fo-hsin yao-ckt in two chapters and a handbook on tantric rituals for obtaining health, Kung-Fo li-sheng i Both works have been reprinted in Lhe Taisho canon.45 The few biographical data available on Tao-chen come from Lhe postface to his works written by the monk Hsing-chia of whom nothing is known.

He must have lived under the Yuan because he mentions the Tangut monk Kuan-chu-pa A , who was active around 1300. A preface to Tao-chen’s work was written by Ch’en Chiieh a well-known Liao official and Han-lin scholar who lived in the eleventh century. In 1067 he was assistant condolence-envoy to the Sung court after the death of emperor Ying tsung and in to6g wrote a funerary inscription for an imperial concubine.46 The fact that a prominent Chinese scholar-offi-

Into each of the big fingers of the statue a copy of the Tibetan Mahaprajhdpdramitd-sulra was plac**e dS beee foMreo rsrcisa liRnogs asanbdi ,d eKckourbaitlianig K thhaen c:l aHyi sU Lnigfeer sa.nd Times (Berkeley: U. of California P., 198«8) .7'edn., vol. 46, no. 1955, pp. 98911-10060. O n this work, see also AfD.p. 485c. An early-1 2th-c. woodblock print of no- 1955 has been discovered in Khara-khoto; see L. N.

Menshikov, Opisanie kilaiskai chasii kollektsii iz Khara-khoto (fond P. K. Kozjooa) (Moscow: Nau16k aS,e 1e9 8L4ia)o, -nsoh.i hj oa, p. (2P4e5k.ing: Chung-hua, 1974) 22, p. 266. His condolence mission to the Sung is also recorded in Sung hui-yao dii-kao (Peking: Chung-hua, 1957), vol. z, p. toSgc. The exact date is July 16,1067. Ch'en Chtteh's preface to Tao-chen’s work is also reprinted in Ch’en Shu Ch'tian Liao wen SrjSjfX (Peking: Chung-hua, 198s}, pp. 194-95. Biographical details for Ch’en Chiieh are in ibid., p. 413; Ch’en’s funerary

cia] like Ch’en Chiieh wrote a preface to Tao-chen’s work shows that this monk must have played an important role in the Khitan state of Liao, The Tibetan lama who organized the tantric consecration of the While Stupa in 1279 is a well-known figure who at that lime held the office of state teacher (kuo-shih His name is written by Hsiang-mat as I-lin-chen (^$5 f t , which with a prothetic vowel (thus, Irinjin) is a mongolized form of the Tibetan name Rin-chen. I-lin-chen/Iririjin is, however, an abbreviated form because his full name was Ye ses rin-chen (“precious wisdom”). In Chinese sources his name occurs also as Yeh-lien which in turn is an elliptic form of the full Tibetan.

I-lin-chen was born in 1248 into the Sarpa family and became a pupil of the famous Sa-skya patriarchPhags-pa (1235-1280). His office as stale teacher is already attested in 12^^. From 1285 to 1287 he was a member of the multinational commit­tee that produced a new catalog of the Chinese Buddhist canon and was appointed in 1286 as imperial teacher [tl-shih i^f-ljj), an office held previously from 1270 to 1274 by ’Phags-pa. In 1291 he was dismissed, probably in connection with the fall and execution of lhe Tibetan states­man Sangha, and retired to Mount Wu-t’ai, where he died in 1294

An original document issued by Ye-ses rin-Lhen’s chancery in 1290 has been found in the monastery Za-lu. His name appears there as Ye-ses rin-chen ti-sri (fi-sArt).41* The third person mentioned in Hsiang-mai’s text is lhe major-domo [feng-yu ^®J) T’u-lieh The major-domos al lhe Yuan imperial court were close personal servants of Lhe emperors and usually recruited from the imperial bodyguard.43 With the orthography for T’u-lieh as we find him as a feng-yiiln 1281 transmitting an imperial order that forbade actors to dress and mask themselves as the four heavenly kings (I’itn-wang

inscription of 1069 is at pp, 193-94; biographical data on Tao-chen are al p. 417, an excerpt from the lost Yung-an ssu stupa inscription of 1096 is rpt. P <52 (after Hsiang-mai’s text). 0 IS 14, p. 294; 202, p. 4518; Wang Ytin Ch'in-chien hsien-skengla ck’iian roen-cki (SFTK edn.) 67, p. 18a. For Tibetan biographical sources, see Luciano Petech, Central Tibet and the Mongol: The Yuan- Sa-skya Period in Tibetan History (Roma: Istituto per il medio ed estremo oriente, igyo), pp.

(whore n. 10 misprints “1296" for “ 1286”), PP- 73’74- v ° f 4' P i I 7". e r n in dating I-lm-chen’s death to 1283; see I’ctech, above. 48 The document has been edited and studied in Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls (Roma: Istituto per il medio ed ostrcmo oriente, r 949} 2, p, 670. « David M. Farquhar, 'The Government of China under Mongolian Rule: A Reference Guide (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1990), p. 97, says that the office of major-domo ial'.ogeiher 24] was es­tablished in 1308. But they were mentioned earlier, e. g., in Hsiang-mai’s text and elsewhere.

Actually, the mistake can be traced to an eii-or in IS 22, p. 496; and 73' 88, p. 2224, saYs lhat the major-domos were first established in 1329—1330, which is even more erroneous.

Sk.: devardja}.50 He is perhaps the same person as the close servant T’o-lieh who in 1283 recommended that the learned Uighur Aryun Sali debate a western (Indian or Tibetan?) monk.51 In 1277 major-domo T’o-lieh is attested twice: he transmitted an imperial order to Buddhist monks and an order concerning a stupa to the Central Chancery.52 T’u-lieh ended badly. He was executed in 1291 after having been tortured: a wild fox was made to lacerate his belly. This detail is told in a literary gloss by Wang Yun Hslang-mai tells us that it was T’u-lieh who brought to Qubilai’s attention the miraculous light emanating from lhe old reliquary stupa.

Also the other data in Chinese sources show that he must have been an active Buddhist - probably a follower of the notorious Sangha who eventually shared Sangha’s fate.54 We do not know his nationality. The name can be reconstructed as *Tore or *Tiire. Both forms are attested as Mongolian personal names. It is possible that *Tore refers to lhe older form of liirl), “law or order,” and in turn is derived from the Uighur lord.55 Our major-domo could therefore have been a Mongol or Uighur.


TRANSLATION OF THE STELE-INSCRlPTION


Hsiang-mai’s text begins with an excursus on the spread of Buddhism in China and, naturally for the author, its culmination under Qubilai. The following translation omits this part and begins where Qubilai personal piety is praised. Next is a brief history of the old Liao stupa and the miracles said to have happened in about 127 c that eventually persuaded Qubilai to order the construction of the White Stupa. The monument is briefly described and praised in poetical terms. After this the state teacher Ye-ses Yuan lien-chang (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1976) 57, p. 33b. 51 IS 130,9.3175. 32 Wang, Cll’iu-chien hsten-skeng 67, p. rga; and 95, p. 5b. 85 Ibid. 20, p. 17a. 54 O n Sangha, sec Luciano Pctcch, “Sang-ko, a Tibetan Statesman in Yuan China,"

AOASTi34 (1980), pp. 193-208 (rev. rpt. in Luciano S’etech, Selected Papers on Asian History [Roma: Istituto per il medio ed estremo oriente, 1988)), pp. 395-412); and Herbert Franke, “Sangha (? - ragr),'1 Igor de Racbcwillz et al., eds., A the Service of the Khan: Eminent Per­sonalities of Ike Early Mongol-Titan Period (1000-1300) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993), pp.

K For Mongol names with Tore, see Paul Petliot and Louis Hambis, Histoire des camRagnes de Gengis Khan (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1951), pp. g o -g i, and the name index in John Andrew Boyle, trans., The Successors of Genghis Kkan: Translated from lhe Persian of Rashid Ai-Dfn (New York: Columbia U. P., 1971), p. 370,

rin-Cben is introduced as organizer of the tantric consecration. The descrip­tion of the rituals follows the “three secrets,” as outlined above. Several passages are enigmatic, chiefly names of Buddhist scriptures and deities.

In his (the emperor’s) spare time from attending government he concentrated his mind on Buddhism. He followed the old statutes of his ancestors and enacted benevolent edicts of clemency. All believers in Buddha therefore enjoyed respect and peace. Frequently he sum­moned famous monks to preach and to discuss mysterious secrets. He sincerely believed in the Buddha’s dharma and had the precious texts of the manifold treasures (of the canon) recited. He investigated what was not yet known and listened to the mysterious meanings of the Three Vehicles.

Constantly he made plans for the new capital (Ta-tu, Peking) which was then built for eternity after suitable divina­tion. In order to provide blessing for a foundation nothing can be compared to building a stupa. He hoped for the protection of the divine nagas and relied on the gods of the Soil and Grain for everlastingness. In the southwest corner of the walled capital within a palace garden he cleared and amplified a spacious and even area where this precious stupa was built like polished jade and gems.

Formerly, in the old capital north of T’ung-hsuan kuan there was the Temple of Eternal Peace (Yung-an ssu ^kf&r^F),59 where the halls were completely in ruins and only a stupa still standing.

According to the temple’s name-board it was a stupa for the relics of Sakya. Scrutiny of its stone inscription shows that it had been built under the Great Liao in the second year of Shou-ch’ang, third lunar month, fifteenth day (April to, 1096) by Tao-chen, dharma-teacher expert in exoteric and esoteric doctrines. Inside were twenty “ordina­tion pearls” (chieh-chu 2,000 small stupas made of perfumed

On Three Vehicles (Sk.: triydna), see $/H, p 58 x-a. Explanations for tire term differ, s’ The then-lung WJJS, “divine naga,” were regarded as protectors against water disasters and resided in the subterraneous sphere.

M These were recipients of one of the major rituals in the traditional imperial ritual system of China. 59 Under the Chin the northern gate of the capital was called T’ung-hsuan men; see Chin-Shih (Peking: Chung-hua, r975) 24, p. 57a.

The Yung-an Temple was located on “Fragrant Mountain" (Hsiang-shan lij) and was completed 1186, The emperor Shih-tsung visited the temple, which he endowed liberally and named Great Temple of Eternal Peace (CAin-sAiA 8, p. 192}. The old Liao stupa was within the precincts of this temple.

clay, five copies of the sutra Wtt-kou ching-kuang eking and other dharantsulra. The knobs of the roller (of the scrolls) were made of crystal. Because of war and fires the place was desolate and over­grown with weeds, but in every clear night there appeared a divine light so that those living nearby became afraid and feared that a fire had broken out. However when they looked up, there was neither smoke nor flame. In this way the awe-inspiring spiritual power of the relics became known, and the people began to worship them.

This passage describes the site and the history of the Liao stupa, which was to be replaced later by the White Stupa, and lists the relics and other contents deposited within the monument, apparently according to a lost Dao inscription. Ch’en Shu regards the passage from “Inside there were. .. ” until “., . made of crystal" as a quotation from the Liao inscription.60 What I tentatively translate as “ordination pearls” might refer to rosary beads. Or they may refer to metamorphic remnants of a saint or the Buddha after cremation that were shaped like grains of rice or millet.

They had a brilliant color and were regarded as extremely auspicious, indestructible by water or fire.61 The “stupas made of perfumed clay” are obviously the votive gifts called tsha-isha in Tibetan (orthographies vary). They were produced in great numbers from models and placed inside stupas or images, which is a widespread practice among lamaists up to this day.

Some tska-lska show a relief image of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, with or without a short inscription, and others are in the shape of a small stupa. The word itself occurs in Chinese orthography as ts’a-ts’a The Kian History says that Tibetan monks produced them, sometimes in quantities of up to 300,000“ The dharanistitra placed into the stupa can be identified as Wu-kou ching-kuang ta i ’o-lo-ni eking in one chapter that was translated into Chinese by the Tokharian monk Mi-t’o-hsien 3SP£flll (*Mitrasanta), who resided in Ch’ang-an between 690 and 704 and later returned to his country.

eo See n. 46, end of note. « See Paul Demieville, Lt amciie dt Lhasa (Paris: College de France, 1987) 1, pp. 254-55. For Indian and Tibetan parallels, see Scherrer-Schaub, “Some dharamg p. 718 and n. 99. ® ZV 202, p 45 23, An informative study on stupas and tr'a-ls'a is that of Giuseppe Tucci, “Mc’od rten e Ts’a-ts’a nel Tibet Indiano ed Occidentale,” Lnda-libelica (Roma: Reale Accademie d’ltalia, 1932) r, esp, pp. 57-60, for the ceremonies of is'a-ts'a making. For stupa-shaped Is’a-ts'a, see tables 41-42. » See 7*edn., vol. rg, no. 1024. On Mi-t’o-hsien and his trans.,

The major-domo T’u-lieh reported this auspicious omen, and the emperor when he was informed regarded it as truthful. He wished to make the old stupa more beautiful, had it opened and closely inspected. Indeed there were the small stupas made of perfumed clay.

A stone chest between them was opened and inside stood an iron stupa that contained a bronze vase filled with fragrant water. It was brilliantly fresh and white and had a color like fluid jade. The relics were well preserved and complete, lustrous like grains of gold. In front, two ndga kings were kneeling for their protection. On a stand, the five sutras were complete and without damage.

As an offering ten kinds of strange fruits made of gold, pearls, and precious stones had been displayed. At the bottom of the vase a single bronze coin was found that had been cast with the four-character inscription Chih-yiian t ’wig-pao Thereby one could know that the Holy Man (Buddha), when he regulated the dharma, predetermined in advance what was still hidden, and when the right time arrived it became manifest and was realized according Lo the will of Heaven.

This passage concerns the stupa contents. The iron receptacle seems to have contained the relics in the form of twenty “ordination pearls,” or pellets, that looked like grains of gold, discussed above. The ndga kings kneeting in front were guardians of the relics because in religious lore the naga, or dragons, were thought to preside over treasures. The inscription on the bronze coin is, of course, Qubilai’s reign period, from 1264 to 1294. A modern critic might suppose a kind of pia. fraus because the coin could not have been genuine. Prior to Qubilai no such reign name was ever given, and no such name existed under the Liao. The discovery of the relics in 1271 is also briefly alluded to in a gloss to the Ch’ien-lung emperor’s poetic inscription of 1785, where the emperor quotes from Chu I-tsun’s jpih ftsia chiu-wen ft ho.

Thereafter on the twenty-fifth day, third lunar month, of Chih-yiian 8 (May 5, 1271), the emperor and the empress viewed (the relics), which increased the intensity of their devotion. He then greeted the relics in person and had this precious stupa built. (The construction) was in the hands of selected soldiers, and its shape symbolized the form of a form of a sacred element (t’o-tu Sk i dhatit}. T

his extraordinary achievement was wonderful to the extreme, and the sculptor’s art came to profound perfection. Above, its beauty shone like engraved precious stones and, below, it manifested completely the dharma. The pattern of the basis was shaped with sculpted birds and quadrupeds projecting from the corners. Jade pestles (vajra} were distributed in tiers on the stone balustrades and hung down from the eaves. Colored tassles covered the body (of the stupa); there was a net with pearls and precious little bells, which chimed harmoniously when a wind came, and a golden disk shone brilliantly when facing the sun.

(The stupa) stood isolated and high and seen from a distance it glistened in the purple palace (Heaven); it stood alone and lofty like a hill against the blue sky. The ingeniousness of its planning is rare indeed, for both past and present.

Most of the above passage is self-explanatory. The new stupa is praised for its beauty and religious symbolism. A minor problem is the date when Qubilai is reported to have visited the relics in the old Liao stupa. According to Hsiang-mai it was May 5, 1271. But according to the Kian History the emperor had left Ta-tu for the summer capital Shang-tu already on May 1, 1271.®

No explanation exists for the chronological discrepancy. The word i’o-Lu/dhaiu has been translated as “sacred element.” Il can refer to a sacred locality, but in this context another meaning is more appropriate, that is, Buddha relics, for which East Asian tantrism contains several rituals of worship and mystical representation.

At that time there was the stale teacher I-lin-chen, a Tibetan. He was intelligent, had a divine understanding, and the range of his abilities was very profound. There was nothing in the exoteric and esoteric doctrines that he did not fully penetrate; he apprehended clearly the Great and Small Vehicles (Mahayana and Hinayana). His victory over causation was fulfilled, and his virtue influenced the emperor’s heart.

He constantly remembered the august ruler's belief in Buddha and that he had established this religious merit (by building the stupa). In order to profit the state and bring peace to the people it was necessary to rely on divine mantras (shen-chou He therefore followed the secret doctrines (tantra) and organized imposing features for the placement of the Tathagata (the Buddha relics). The functions of body, speech, and mind encompassed what was above and below, so that everything was regulated in orderly sequence.

Here I-lin-chen (Rin-chen) used tantric ceremonies for the consecra­tion. What has been translated as “divine mantras” also refers to tantrism (Chin, shen-chou translates Sk. rddhimantra}. These mantras are called divine because their recitation or deposition in written form was believed to have immediate magic efficacy. The term ih.en-ch.ou is also sometimes used for dharanis.67 The functions of body, speech and mind - the “three secrets” - in consecration ceremonies were explained above.

It is not quite clear what “above and below” means in our context. One could interpret this as, for example, gods and men, or monks and laymen, but it could perhaps also indicate the stupa structure above the earth and what was at its bottom, namely, the relics. The following passage in Hsiang-mai’s text is a rather confusing enumeration of all the images placed into the stupa for protec­ting the Buddha’s bodily remnants.

First, what was followed regarding the body. First, a stone chest carved with the Buddhas of the Five Directions was placed al the bottom of the stupa, and images of white jade-stone (marble?) were then set up and distributed in order. Nearby was put a wheel (?) of the 8 Great Demon Kings and the 8 Demon Mothers. Jointly their images af­forded stability.

Below these were placed on stone Sumeru-thrones sculptures of the gods who protect the dharma, the Lord of Riches, the 8 Great Gods, the 8 Great Brahma Kings, the Four Kings, the g Luminaries, and the Heavenly Naga Guarding the io Directions. Later there were put into the vase shape (the vase-shaped part of the stupa?) printed pictures of all the saints (Buddhas), These were the Buddhas of the io Directions, the Controller of the Three States of Existence Buddha-mother Prajfia, the White Parasol Buddha, the Honored and Victorious Undefiled Clear Radiant Manci-deva, the Vajra Destroyer

Pu-k’ung and the Net Bearer Pu-tung, the honored Kings of Knowledge, the Bodhisattva Vajra-bearer, and the Mafiju Friendly Words. These all were distributed one after the other in a circle.

The identification of Lhese statues is not an easy task and must remain tentative. One reason is the uncertainty about just which Buddhas or gods belong to the numerically grouped figures. It is a well-known fact that the names given to the constituent members of such a group vary greatly between individual sects and traditions, even within one and the same cultural sphere. On the other hand, the disposition of the statues in the stupa is described by Hsiang-mai in so detailed a fashion that we obtain at least a rough picture of what the stupa looked like inside.

When he speaks of a “wheel” (fun Sk.: coAra) he seems to mean a ceremonial placement like that on an altar or in a mandala. At the end of the passage he expresses himself more clearly by calling the placement circular. Both sentences might therefore mean the same. The Buddhas of the 5 Directions (Wu-fangfo 77 A W preside in esoteric Buddhism over the 4 cardinal points, and the center in the “Diamond World” [vajradhalu] and the “Matrix World” (garbhadhaiu). The central figure is always Vairocana. For the other four the most frequent enumeration is as follows: the east is ruled by Ak$obhya, the south by Ratnasambhava, the west by Amitabha, and the north by Amoghasiddhi, or Sakyamuni.

These five are also known as Meditation Buddhas (Dhyani Buddha).68 The 8 Great Demon Kings (Pata kuei-wang A -F) are the Yak?a Kings who act as fierce protectors of the Dharma. ® Their female counterparts are the 8 Demon Mothers (Pakuei-mu A.M®)- Kuei-mu, or Kuei-tzu -p mu, was originally the deity Hariti, a child-devouring demon who was later converted to Buddhism and became a defender of the religion. Here they appear as a group of eight and may be connected with the 8 demons called Ma-mo in Tibetan lamaism (ma-mo means “grand­mother” in Tibetan and is a euphemism for these potentially malevolent beings).70 Lord of the Riches (Chu ts’ai-pao t’ien is one of the names

,a VW, p. 113A, i i ^a; Affit pp. 633C-34A. 83 E. g., Bft vol. to, pp. 8140-15*; and MD, p. 1813A-B. 70 Sec BD, vol. r, pp. 5160-18*; and MDp. i Bis b . O n the Tibetan Ma-mo, see Eva Neumaier, “Ma.Ura.ij und Ma-mo: Studien 7.ur Mythologie des Lamaismus,’ (Ph. D. diss., U. of Miinchen rg66).



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