Xuanhe 宣和 reign period during Huizong 徽宗's reign ... peror Xiaozong 孝宗's
reign to the first year of Qingyuan .... Tasha is a five-layered xianglun 相轮.
The Five Dynasties Underground Chamber of Pagoda Leifeng in Hangzhou Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology Keywords: Pagoda Leifeng
site
underground chamber
The site of Pagoda Leifeng 雷峰 refers to the deposited ruins of Pagoda Leifeng after its collapse on September 25, 1924. It is located on the smooth hill, east of Hill Xizhao 夕照山, to the south of the West Lake in Hangzhou 杭州. It is 60 m long from north to south and 45 m wide from east to west, 9–11 m above ground. In 1997 Zhejiang Provincial government declared it as one archaeological site under provincial protection. According to historical records, Pagoda Leifeng was originally built by Qian Chu 钱 , the king of Wuyue State at the end of Five Dynasties. From Song Dynasty to the end of Ming Dynasty this pagoda had twice suffered severe damage. In the third year of Xuanhe 宣和 reign period during Huizong 徽宗’s reign in the Song Dynasty (1121), the pagoda courtyard and the wooden structure of the pagoda itself were burned down during war. In the Southern Song Dynasty from the seventh year of Qiandao 乾道 reign period in Emperor Xiaozong 孝宗’s reign to the first year of Qingyuan 庆元 reign period in Emperor Ningzong 宁宗 ’s reign full-scale maintenance was done to this pagoda, including the restoration of some partly-damaged structure. At the end of Ming Dynasty, Pagoda Leifeng suffered a second damage and only the brick core of the pagoda remained. No reconstruction was done henceforward. In order to aid the reconstruction of Pagoda Leifeng, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology made an excavation of this site in two stages with the approval of the State Administrative Bureau of Antiquity. The excavation lasted from February 2000 to July 2001 and covered an area of 4000 sq m. The excavation reveals that the pedestal and the sub-staircase are roughly complete, the bottom layer of the pagoda is in fairly good condition and the underVolume 3
Pagoda A oka
ground structure originally built in the last years of Wuyue State during the Five Dynasties is in mint condition.
I. A Brief Survey of Pagoda Leifeng The ruins of Pagoda Leifeng compose of the pedestal, the sub-staircase, the pagoda body and the underground structure. The pedestal, octagonal in profile, measures 43 m in diameter, 17 m in side length. Its main body is a platform of sterile soil shielded by brick-andstone structure 1.2–2.5 m above ground. The 5.8-mwide sub-staircase has four square column footings of 1.2–1.5 m in side length deposited on each side, amounting to 24 pieces altogether. In the center of the east and west sides of the pedestal is a flyer leading to the substaircase. The pagoda body, octagonal, 25 m in diameter, 3–5 m in remaining height, is a sleeve type ambulatory structure composed of the outer jacket, the winding corridor, the inner jacket and the core chamber. The inner and outer jackets are all made up of bricks with yellow mud sticking them together. The exterior wall of the outer jacket is 10 m in side length. A door stands in the center of each wall. The winding corridor is 1.8–2.3 m wide, at each corner of which is a column-shaped hole 0.3–0.4 m in diameter and 1.6 m in depth. The core chamber is located in the center of the inner jacket, 4.5–5.3 m in diameter (Fig. 1). The peripheral ruins rebuilt in the Southern Song Dynasty and later times include monks’ dwelling and roads, located to the north and south of the pagoda pedestal. As for the northern structure, three stone column footings and some brick-paved ground of 2 m in width still remains, probably the peripheral winding corridor to the pedestal. In the southern section, only 19
山体基岩
N
外围遗迹 砌石
排水沟 石砌基座 柱 础 坍塌块体
副阶
北门 坍塌 块体 柱洞
柱洞 柱洞
外围遗迹 柱顶石 门道
门道 外套筒
回廊
塔 心 室
地宫
内套筒
柱顶石 门道 内套筒
门道
踏 步
回廊 外套筒
坍塌块体
砖砌散水
石砌基座
坑
塔身
南门 副阶 柱础
坑
塔基
坑 外围遗迹 道路
0
5M
Fig. 1 Plan of the site of Pagoda Leifeng
two stone column footings and some stone-paved ground remain. The paved ground is of three bays in area, probably the ground of the monks’ dwelling. To the southwest side of the pedestal is a brick-paved road, 12 m in remaining length and 1.7–1.8 m in remaining width. The unearthed artifacts from this site include architectural materials, stone scriptures, Buddha images and so on. Most of them belong to the Five Dynasties period while a small quantity may be ascribed to the Southern Song Dynasty and later. The commonest architectural material is the rectangular tower brick 37 cm in length, 18 cm in width, and 6 cm in thickness with inscriptions on one end. There are more than 160 types of such bricks, with the home town, name and year of birth of the donator impressed on them, such as“吴甲俞荣,” “沈 甲朱福,” “周甲金德,” “官,” “王,” “天下,” “西关,” “辛未” (971),“酉”(973),“壬申”(972) and others. 20
The bricks with inscription of the Buddhist scriptures are of the same specification, only with a round hole of 10 cm in depth and 2 cm in diameter on one end. The round tile-ends bear impressed plants patterns such as lotus, peony, lotus leaves, and chrysanthemum. The dripping stones are mostly of the double-lipped type and the animal-shaped ornaments are mainly in the shape of lions. The stone Buddhist scriptures are of different size, 1100 pieces in total number, with dozen thousand inscribed Chinese characters. As for the Buddhist scriptures inscribed, the majority are 80 types of Dafang Guangfo Huayanjing 大方广佛华严经, newly rendered by monk iksananda during Empress Wu Zetian’s 武则 天 reign. A minority of the scriptures are Jingang Banruo Poluomijing 金刚般若婆罗蜜经 translated by Yao Qin 姚秦 and Kumárajiva during the Sixteen States period. Apart from these, the fragmentary stele with the inscribed Huayanjing Ba 华严经跋 composed by King Chinese Archaeology
Qian Chu of Wuyue State is also discovered. The inscription of this stele may be checked with that recorded in Xianchun Lin’anzhi 咸淳临安志. As for Buddhist artifacts, they are of different textures, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and pottery. The unearthed items include Pagoda A oka made of pure silver, square stone pagoda, small statues made of gold and bronze and statues of Bodhisattva, arhat, guardian spirit of Buddhist monastery, and monks. Since they resemble distinctive style of the Tang and Five Dynasties period and were retrieved together with coins such as“Kaiyuan tongbao 开元通宝”and“Qianyuan tongbao 乾元通宝,”they must have been donated at the beginning of the construction of Pagoda Leifeng.
N 北门
柱洞 塔 心 室
东门 西门 地宫
柱洞
II. The Underground Chamber and Unearthed Artifacts The underground chamber is just below the core chamber in the center of the pagoda pedestal and covered by the pedestal in the beginning of the construction work. It was never opened afterwards. To be more specific, the underground chamber is located 2.6 m below the paved bottom of the core chamber and sealed with a square limestone slab 0.92 m in side length and 0.13 m in thickness, over which are piled earth 0.3 m in height and a top stone 1 m in side length and 0.2– 0.4 m in thickness. The underground chamber is a shaftshaped single square chamber made of brick, 0.6 m in side length and 0.72 m in depth, coated with lime, paved with three layers of brick. From the slit between bricks are retrieved a piece of gold-coated silver pin and 20 “Kaiyuan tongbao”bronze coins and one yansheng 厌 胜 coin with the design of dragon and phoenix on both sides (Fig. 2). There are 51 pieces or sets of artifacts (numbered up to 77) retrieved from the underground chamber. In the center of the underground chamber is an iron case, beneath which are thousands of various types of bronze coins mingled with beads, jade coins, jade tortoises, bronze mirrors, onyx ornaments and silver armlets. In the crack outside the iron case are bronze coins, bronze mirrors, lacquer bracelets, bronze Buddha coated with gold, silver girdle, jade Avalokite vara, jade boy servant, wooden seat coated with gold, textiles, and scriptures, most of which are placed on the Sumeru Seat inside the iron case. On the wall behind the main Buddha are stuck round hollowed-out ornaments resembling the solemnity of Buddhism. In the same position on the other three walls are stuck small Buddha images, and images of Volume 3
南门
塔心室 地坪
柱
柱
塔身
洞
洞
夯土 填 土
顶石
盖板
地宫
0
1M
Fig. 2 Plan and elevation of the underground chamber of Pagoda Leifeng
Locapatas. On the bottom slab of the iron case are deposited tidily a hollowed-out silver padding coated with gold, a square bronze mirror round in corners, a silver box coated with gold circled by a complete silver girdle coated with gold. Inside the silver box are a gourd-shaped glass bottle in light green and Pagoda A oka harboring a gold coffin. The unearthed artifacts may be divided into 10 categories according to their texture: iron case, gold and silver wares, bronze wares coated with gold, jade wares, onyx ornaments, lacquer wooden ware, bronze mirrors, bronze coins, glass bottle and beads, textiles,and scriptures. 21
1. One iron case. Composed of the iron housing and the bottom panel, the iron housing is square in shape with a box-lid top, double-layered Sumeru seat, 51.2 cm in height. 2. Gold and silver wares. 14 pieces altogether. All are silver wares except a gold coffin. Either the surface of the silver ware is coated with gold all over or only the motif section is gilded with gold. The items include a Pagoda A oka, a box, a pad, girdles, a hairpin, armlets, hollowed-out ornaments, etc. Most items have applied the processing and decorative techniques of hammering, hollowing-out, engravings, and welding. One Pagoda A oka made of pure silver and coated with gold. It consists of four sections: the pedestal, the pagoda body, the mountain flowers, and the plantainleaf and the tasha 塔刹. On the four sides of the pagoda body are engraved the stories of the Buddhas before their ascension and inside the pagoda body is a gold coffin holding “the Buddha’s combed hair.”The mountain flowers and the plantain-leaf on the four corners are carved the stories of the Buddhas after their ascension. Tasha is a five-layered xianglun 相轮. The whole pagoda is 35.6 cm in height (Figs. 3–5). Two girdles. One is discovered from inside the iron case, with gold-coated surface, composed of 4 square kua , 7 semi-circular kua, 1 round-headed rectangular tuowei 铊尾 and one belt hook. There are oblong holes on the kua decorated with patterns of parrots. On the belt hook are engraved an inscription of 15 Chinese characters“弟子陈承裕敬舍身上腰带入宝塔内” (meaning the follower of Buddhism named Chen Chengyu reverently dedicated his own girdle to be deposited inside the pagoda). The other girdle is only gold-coated in the motif section, composed of 8 square kua, 1 roundheaded rectangular tuowei and 1 belt hook. The kua and tuowei are all decorated with cloud patterns. One silver box coated with gold. Round, the whole surface being coated with gold. It composed of the box lid and the box body. The lid is engraved on the face with interlocking peony patterns and double phoenixes and four Chinese characters“Qianqiu wansui 千秋万岁” in standard style and interlocking peony patterns on other sides. It is 20.7 cm in diameter, 13.7 cm in height. A silver pad. Shaped like a round hollowed-out thin disk. With a“Qianqiu wansui 千秋万岁” yansheng coin in the center of the pad, the pad is decorated with joined-bead patterns and designs of love birds, lotus leaves and wild gooses, 25.4 cm in diameter. 3. Gold-coated bronze wares. Five pieces, includ22
Fig. 3 Profile of gold coated silver Pagoda A oka (Scale: 2/5)
ing the sculptures of Buddha Sakyamuni, Avalokite vara, Devaguardians, and small Buddhas. All coated with gold, but now the gold coat has severely dropped. One Statue of Sakyamuni. Composed of flamelike negative light, lotus seat, the dragon column, Sumeru seat, and the triangular pedestal. The Buddha is wearing double-collared drooping overcoat, with the right hand poised in preaching Buddhism and the left hand resting on the knee, sitting cross-legged on the lotus bud. Under Chinese Archaeology
Fig. 4 Gold coated silver Pagoda A oka
Fig. 5 Part of gold coated silver Pagoda A oka
the lotus seat is a supporting column circled by a twisting tri-claw dragon, the Sumeru seat and the oblong pedestal. The whole sculpture is 68 cm in height (Figs. 6 – 8). 4. Jade wares and onyx ornaments. 8 pieces in total number, including Sudhana boy servant of Budhisattva, Budhisattva, jade coins, jade turtle, and onyx ornaments with clouds patterns, flat pendants, and round beads. The sculpture of a boy servant made of jade. It is a flat sculpture and made of greenish white jade. The auspicious clouds and part of the body are hollowed out in reticulation. The front and back sides bear detailed designs in incised inscription. At the bottom of the sculpture is a flat tenon inserted vertically on a triangular pedestal. The whole sculpture is 8.8 cm in height. One jade coin imitating“Kaiyuan tongbao” bronze coin, 2.5 cm in diameter. 5. Lacquered wooden works. 3 items in total number. Including a wooden seat overlaid with gold leaves, a lacquered bracelet and a handle-like fragmentary wooden work. 6. 10 pieces of bronze mirrors. Including the sunVolume 3
light mirror of the Han Dynasty, the mirror with designs of auspicious animals and epigraph, the mirror with designs of auspicious animals and grapes, and the mirror with designs of double phoenixes in the shape of a sun flower (all these three are of the Tang Dynasty), the “Dusheng tongfang 都省铜坊”mirror of the Five Dynasties period, square, round-cornered mirrors and round simple mirrors. 7. Bronze coins. More than 3300 pieces altogether. The oldest coins are the sizhu banliang 四铢半两 while the latest are“Songyuan tongbao 宋元通宝.”There are nearly 30 types in total. As for“Kaiyuan tongbao,” they are 3060 such coins, 2–2.6 cm in diameter. Among them a small number of such gold-coated coins are made of bronze, lead or iron, some bearing the names of reign period or place names such as“昌,” “洛,” “越,” “鄂,” “兖,”and“润.”One Japanese“Raoyi shenbao 饶益 神宝” bronze coin came out in the first year of Zhenguan 贞观 reign period (859) when Japan was under the reign of Emperor Qinghe. Still a small quantity of the coins is yansheng coins for the purpose of expelling evil and draw auspiciousness. A case in point is the“Zhouyuan 23
Fig. 6 Gold coated bronze statue of Buddha (Scale: 1/4)
tongbao 周元通宝”coin with the design of dragons and phoenixes on the back. 8. One glass bottle. Shaped like a gourd, with thin wall, light green in surface. The remaining height is 3.2 cm. 9. Textiles. Most in poor condition. The varieties include gauze, silk polychrome, and woven silk. Now only the traces of the textiles remain. 10. Scriptures. Two types: the printed and the hand-copied. Most of them are now decayed. 24
III. Conclusion Pagoda Leifeng was originally named“the Princess Pagoda,”built by the king of Wuyue State Qian Chu for the deposition of“the Buddha’s combed hair.” In view of the unearthed fragmentary stele bearing the inscribed Huayanjing Ba and Pagoda A oka made of pure gold, Pagoda Leifeng is a Buddhist pagoda constructed for the deposition of Buddhist relics. Its shape and structure are the same as the Pagoda in Yunyan Chinese Archaeology
Fig. 8 Part of gold coated bronze statue of Buddha Fig. 7 Gold coated bronze statue of Buddha
Temple 云岩寺, Suzhou 苏州 and Liuhe Pagoda 六合 塔, Hangzhou, belonging to the typical Buddhist pagoda structure in the late Wuyue State period. The unearthed bricks bearing the year of construction and the preface and postscript to the Buddhist scriptures discovered after the collapse of the pagoda reveals that Pagoda Leifeng was first constructed in Renshen 壬申 year (972) and completed early in the second year of Taiping Xingguo 太平兴国 period during Emperor Taizong 太 宗 ’s reign in the Song Dynasty (977). The underground structure of Pagoda Leifeng is the first one receiving scientific excavation among the large quantities of Buddhist pagodas built by Wuyue State. Its excavation enables us to gain a rough understanding of the shape and structure of pagoda underground chamber in the south during the Five Dynasties period, the varieties of the dedicated items and their deposition, and provides new material for the research of the structural difference between the pagoda underground chambers in the south and the north as well as the Volume 3
burial system of Buddhist relics during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Apart from these, the unearthed rare relics are of high rate and well-wrought, and so they represent the art of Wuyue State in the making technique of gold and silver wares, jade wares as well as bronze wares. Burying Buddhist relics in gold coffin within a silver outer coffin is a distinctive characteristic of the burial system of Buddhist relics during the Tang and Song periods. The unearthed gold coffin and the silver pagoda for King Qian Chu’s deposition of “the Buddha’s combed hair” retrieved from the underground chamber of Pagoda Leifeng is a good case in point. One Pagoda A oka is retrieved respectively from the tiangong 天宫 and the underground chamber of Pagoda Leifeng. This kind of small pagoda is also called Baoqie Yinjingta 宝箧印经塔 Pagoda and Jintuta 金涂 塔 Pagoda. It is well wrought because it is made under the order of King Qian Chu, who in making such pagodas, was deliberately following the example of King A oka of India who had 84,000 pagodas built 25
throughout the country in his reign. Such pagodas were discovered early in Zhejiang 浙江, Jiangsu 江苏, Shang-
hai 上海, Fujian 福建, Anhui 安徽, Henan 河南, and Hebei 河北, mostly made of bronze or iron.
Note: This report is originally published in Kaogu 考古 2002.7: 18 –20, with 42 figures and 1 page of plate, written by Li Yuxin 黎毓馨. The present version, an abridgment from the original, is prepared by the author himself, Englishtranslated by Wang Shufang 王淑芳, and revised by Yi Nan 亦囡.
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Chinese Archaeology
