Study On Dunhuang Altar Rule And Altar Field In Tang And Song Dynasties

The altar field is a place for religious ceremonies,and the establishment of the altar field is a space guarantee for the smooth progress of religious ceremonies.Almost all religions will set up an altar field that conforms to their own standardization when holding ceremonies.Both Buddhism and Taoism have rich ritual activities,so altar rule and alter field have become an indispensable and important basic procedure of Buddhist and Taoist ritual activities.In Dunhuang documents,there are a large number of Tantrism documents,such as Altar Field Rule and Altar Field line drawing.The Altar Field Rule is the only Tantrism classic that describes altar fields and altar rules in Dunhuang documents at present.Its contents mainly describe the setting of altar fields and the image and placement of altar statues.The Altar Field line drawing is mainly a variety of altar field drawing drawings.Altar Field Rule and Altar Field line drawing are the text and image basis for the establishment and operation of Dunhuang altar field.The ruins of Altar Field in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes is located on the cliff top plane at the northern end of the southern section of the Mogao Grottoes,which is the present Tianwang Hall the Tianwang Hall.The whole site of the altar is divided into two parts: the inner altar and the outer altar.The inner altar is the tower hall building located in the center of the altar field,and the outer altar is the architectural relics around tower hall.The multi-arm Bodhisattva painted inside the tower Hall is related to Altar Field Rule and Altar Field line drawing.In combination with the Altar Field Rule and spatial layout of the tower hall inside and outside,it can be determined that the tower hall on the top of the Mogao Grottoes and the buildings in the outer area are the places for holding Buddhist rituals.Moreover,according to the Altar Field Rule,we can infer the specific Buddhist ritual activities held at the altar field.The basis for the existence of altar field and altar field activities is also reflected in the Jietan Text of the texts of fast ceremonies among the Dunhuang documents.In Tang and Song dynasties,the activities of fast ceremonies were characterized by the Tantrism factors,which was concentrated in the application of altar field building,worship of deities and incantations.A large number of Jietan Text preserved in Dunhuang documents is the embodiment of the Tantrism factors of fast ceremonies activities.The Jietan Text of the fast ceremonies invites all kinds of deities to come to the altar field for the main purpose of returning to the earthly merits of the host of the fasting ceremonies.At the same time,the altar fields in Jietan Text are mainly Tantrism altar fields,highlighting the shape of the central,four doors,four corners of the altar field.The four doors and four corners of the altar field in Jietan Text are in accordance with the shape of the altar field in Dunhuang’s Altar Field line drawing.The Jietan Text of Dunhuang fast ceremonies is a strong evidence that the Dunhuang altar field ceremony and altar field settings existed widely in Dunhuang society in Tang and Song dynasties and were frequently used by the public.In Tang and Song dynasties,there were also Wuzhe and Shuilu in the altar ceremony activities of Dunhuang.Because of its regional culture,times style and other local characteristics,Dunhuang’s Wuzhe and Shuilu will be different from the traditional Wuzhe Ceremonies and Shuilu Ceremonies.Dunhuang’s Wuzhe,there are making Buddhist statues and stupas and celebrating the completion of cave construction.Among,making Buddhist statues and stupas Wuzha is a kind of recreational activity of Dunhuang local people;The celebrating the completion of cave construction has obvious earthly interests.The Shuilu in Dunhuang the fast ceremonies mostly refers to the water and land creatures,living beings,water and land deities,excluding the ghosts of the underworld,the dead and the hungry ghosts.It is different from the Shuilu Ceremonies and Shuilu ashram,which took the theme of the ceremony for releasing souls from purgatory as the theme.During the Tang and Song dynasties,Dunhuang society had a variety of Buddhist ritual activities,from the initial setting of the altar field to the middle of the invitation deities,dedicate all merits,chanting,telling Buddhist scriptures in popular language,scattering flowers,to the last of the scattering of food,sending deities,etc.,which vividly reproduce the real scene of the Dunhuang social altar ceremony activities.