Study On Manjusri Image Of Ming Dynasty Bingling Temple

As a symbol of wisdom in Buddhism,with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism,the Prajna Sutra and the single Dharma it represents were also introduced into China.The translation of Prajna Sutra,the Avatamaya Sutra,and the Nakarjuna theory of interpreting "emptiness" through "middle" were spread.In addition,Bodhisattva Manjusri was regarded as one of the Buddhas,and the Manjusri belief,which took Mount Wutai as the Manjusri Ashram,was finally formed and spread in China.At present,the earliest inscription found in Bingling Temple is "the first year of Jianhong(420)" in the Western Qin Dynasty,and the second year of Yuanxi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the Central Plains Dynasty,in which the entire translation of Huayan Sutra was completed.In the mural paintings in Cave 169 of Bingling Temple,there are inscriptions of "Manjusri Shili" and "Vimakirai",indicating that the image of Manjusri appeared in Bingling Temple at the beginning of the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism.With the change of dynasties,the Manjusri image of Bingling Temple in more than one thousand years of construction also showed different characteristics.From the ancient line drawing of Western Qin Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty,which "shows the bones and makes the image clear,wears the clothes and wears the belt",from the round and full Tang Dynasty to the esoteric characteristics of Ming Dynasty,the caves opened early,the styles varied,and the development of Manjusri belief in China,we can all see the evolution of Buddhism in China and the development of Manjusri belief.Looking at the development course of Manjusri belief,its most prosperous period in the Tang Dynasty,but the image of Manjusri in the Bingling Temple is most in the Ming Dynasty.According to the author’s statistics,there are a total of 40 Manjusri images in Bingling Monastery,among which there are 34 Manjusri images in Ming Dynasty,accounting for 85%.This is mainly due to the overall academic ideological trend of Ming Dynasty,the central Dynasty’s policy of governing Tibet,and the spread of Tibetan Buddhism,especially Gelugpa School,in Bingling Monastery.There are many records of Manjusri Bodhisattva in Buddhist classics,whether explicit or esoteric.In the spread of Buddhism through the Silk Road,Bingling Temple was exposed to the explicit and esoteric teachings of Mahayana Buddhism earlier,so a wide variety of Manjusri images appeared in Bingling Temple.Especially in the rise of Gelugpa School in Ming Dynasty,Bingling Temple ushered in its second glory after the Tang Dynasty.At this time,images of Manjusri with the characteristics of esotericization appeared in Bingling Temple,such as Dawide Vajra,thousand hands and bowls Manjusri,and variants of Manjusri.Similarly,images of esotericized Manjusri also appeared in Qutan Temple and Miaoyin Temple in Tibetan areas,with strict practice rituals.This is all related to the central Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty building a Buddhist temple on Mount Wutai with Manjusri as the ashtra and advocating the Manjusri belief.More importantly,the Central Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty gave strong support to Tibetan Buddhism by enthroning Tibetan Buddhist monks as the king of Dharma and publishing the Tibetan version of the Tripitaka Sutra.Finally,the strong Manjusri belief of Byung-ling Temple was formed.