Research On Stone Carving Calligraphy Of Northern Wei Dynasty From The Perspective Of Three Religions

Throughout the development of stone carving calligraphy in the Northern Wei Dynasty,Buddhist stone carving calligraphy,Yuanshi epitaph and Taoist stone carving calligraphy were undoubtedly the most eye-catching cultural scene at that time.However,the close relationship between the three and Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism makes it impossible to study them simply by relying on the traditional style research method.Therefore,this paper will take the society,politics and culture of the Northern Wei Dynasty as the background and use the research method of ideological history to carry out a comprehensive and in-depth study on the stone carving calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty under the background of the coexistence of three religions.Buddhist stone calligraphy originated from Northern Liang which was the result of the development of Buddhist politics by the rulers of Northern Liang.The reason that the development of Buddhist politics in Northern Liang is that Buddhism can provide the minority regime with the much-needed support of ruling legitimacy.Buddhist stone carving calligraphy in the Northern Wei Dynasty inherited the Northern Liang stone pagoda and started after the unification of Northern Liang,it was the signal that the Emperor Taiwu wanted to develop Buddhist politics.However,although Buddhism is favored by the rulers and the grass-roots level of society,it is excluded by the Confucians who ensure the operation of political power.The tense relationship between the three religions led to the destruction of Buddhism,and it led to the interruption of the development process of Buddhist stone carving calligraphy.Since the restoration of Buddhism in the Emperor Wencheng,successive rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty all revered Buddhism.The reason why they did it was not only to obtain the legitimacy of rule through Buddhism,but also affected by the atmosphere of worshipping Buddhism in the north.Under the influence of the above reasons,Buddhist stone calligraphy developed mature in Pingcheng period and reached its peak in Luoyang period.The development of Yuanshi epitaph was synchronized with the process of Sinicization in the Northern Wei Dynasty.First of all,Emperor Xiaowen transformed the minority society into Chinese by changing the bad customs of Xianbei and restoring the fine policies of the Han ethnic group.Secondly,he ordered to determine the social level and arrange positions according to the status,so as to integrate the politics of minority ethnic group and Han ethnic group.With the opening of Sinicization,studying the system of the Southern Dynasty made epitaphs popular in the Northern Wei Dynasty.Then,after the foreshadowing of Sima Jinlong epitaph and starting with Yuanzhen epitaph,the in-depth Sinicization of society and politics in the Northern Wei Dynasty created the prosperity of Yuanshi epitaph.Hereafter although Six Towns Uprising and the rebellion of Erzhurong caused a serious blow to the society of the Northern Wei Dynasty,the number of Yuanshi epitaphs is still growing rapidly under the impact of the counter current of anti Sinicization.The performance of Yuanshi epitaph reflects the establishment of the Sinicization of the Northern Wei DynastyFrom Songshan temple monument in the Taiwu period to statue monument of Yao Boduo brothers in the Xiaowen period,the changes of Taoist stone carvings calligraphy not only reflected the transfer of the center of Taoism from Songshan Mountain to Huashan Mountain in the post Taiwu period,but also reflected that it found a new development direction of the integration of Buddhism and Taoism.In addition,during the Xuanwu Period,the content of Yunfeng stone carving,which was presided over by Confucianism,changed significantly to Taoism,which reflected the exchange of Confucianism and Taoism.Confucianism and Taoism constituted the way for Confucian scholars to advance and retreat in the Northern Wei Dynasty.After research,we can find that many phenomena in the stone carving calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty were closely related to the development of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism at that time,and the integration and tension of the three religions finally led to wonderful and rich artistic expression of the stone carving calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty.