Research On The Wutai Mountain Stele Of The Tang Dynasty At The Dacheng Temple In Qufu

This dissertation is a case study about the Mount Wutai Stele of the Dacheng Temple,which is a stone carving of the Tang Dynasty in Qufu.With the top carved into the shape of Mount Wutai,the stele shows a peculiar appearance that differs from other stelae.The surface of the mountain are occupied by images such as Bodhisattva,architectures,dragon and so on.This stele is an important material for exploring the image and belief of Mount Wutai in the Tang Dynasty,yet there is no thorough study on it so far except for sporadic records.Based on the detailed analysis of the images and inscriptions,the paper focuses on the problems behind the transformation of the top of the stele from a flat Mount Wutai map to a three-dimensional mountain shape.The first part of the paper is a iconology research on the image of the top of the stele and the interpretation of the inscription,which leads to the preliminary assessment that the top of the stele generated before the inscription.The second part regards the top of the stele as a relic of the early Mount Wutai maps,and discusses the dissemination,transformation and acceptance of the images.After the analysis,it can be seen that the draft of the top of the stele may come from Lingyan Temple in Taishan.On the basis of the draft,the designer of the stele uses several icon units to further highlight the image of the sacred mountain.What's more,the spread of the Mount Wutai maps,which has the nature of auspicious pictures,reflects the role of such visual objects in connecting the Tang Empire at the level of common people's ideology.The third part focuses on the visual and material propositions of the Mount Wutai Stele,including the viewing of the three-dimensional mountain and the significance of the stele medium.It can be concluded that the primary purpose of the designer is to create a sacred mountain rather than to build up a stele.With the help of various visual methods,the people in the local monasteries were able to establish their own Mount Wutai.On this stone carving that violates the traditional image of a stele,the importance of images and vision goes beyond words.It is the result of the combined effect of Buddhist believers' needs,the aesthetic of the times and characteristics of the environment.