Qin Jingjing.
From October 28th to November 13th this year, the Nara National Museum will hold its 75th Shosoin Exhibition. This year, a total of 59 exhibits were exhibited, of which 6 treasures were exhibited for the first time, and most of the exhibits were exhibited for the first time in more than 10 years. Most of the collection of Shosoin is related to Buddhism, and a considerable part of it comes from the donation of Empress Koko, which is the treasure used by Emperor Shomu during his lifetime.
The Nara period in which Emperor Shomu and Empress Komitsu lived coincided with a trend in Japan to imitate the political culture of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, due to the invasion of Japan, epidemics and civil strife, Emperor Shomu and Empress Koko wanted to calm people's minds through Buddhism, so they actively promoted the development of Buddhism in Japan, and the Todaiji Temple and the Great Buddha of Lushena in Nara were built during this period. Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University, has tried to calculate that the cost of building the Great Buddha and the Great Buddha Hall at that time would cost 465.7 billion yen in today's currency, based on the Heian period's Todai-ji Essentials
The construction of the Lushena Buddha at Todaiji Temple in Nara is related to one of the Chinese emperors at that time, that is, Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history. Empress Guangming firmly believed in Buddhism, and even regarded Wu Zetian, who also believed in Buddhism, as an example. After the news of Wu Zetian's construction of the Lushena Buddha in the Fengxian Temple of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang reached Japan, Empress Guangming followed Wu Zetian's example and built the Lushena Buddha at Todaiji Temple in Nara as a sign of reverence.
The big Buddha of Luoyang Longmen Fengxian Temple in Luoyang imitated by the Empress of Guangming, it was built by Tang Gaozong Li Zhi for his father Li Shimin to make merits, excavated in Tang Gaozong Xianheng three years (672 years), it is the highest artistic level in the Longmen Grottoes, the largest statue of scale, known for its mysterious smile, and is praised as "Oriental Mona Lisa" and "the most beautiful statue in the world" by foreign tourists. According to legend, the Lushena Buddha of Longmen Grottoes is carved according to the appearance of Wu Zetian, according to the "Great Lushena Buddha Shrine Record": "It is really my emperor, Tuzli quality." "And there is a precedent in history for building a Buddha statue in the image of the emperor himself. For example, Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty "Zhao Yousi is a stone statue, and now it is like the emperor's body". The statue of Sakyamuni in the Guyang Cave has the "beautiful trace" of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At that time, Wu Zetian, who was still Empress Li Zhi, donated 20,000 rouge money to build the Lushena Buddha, which is equivalent to more than 6 million yuan now when converted into food ** at that time.
In addition to believing in Buddhism imported from China, Empress Guangming also loved the art of calligraphy imported from China, and she copied the Chinese "calligraphy saint" Wang Xizhi's "Treatise on Happiness and Ease", which is still preserved in the Shosoin of Todaiji Temple. The British Library in London hosted a major exhibition entitled "Writing: Leaving Your Mark", which chronicles the evolution and diversity of human writing over the past 5,000 years through 100 exhibits representing more than 40 writing systems. The exhibition includes Mesopotamian clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters around 3000 B.C., oracle bone inscriptions carved on tortoise shells and bones from the Shang Dynasty in China, and Buddhist scriptures by Emperor Shomu and Empress Komi of Japan in the mid-8th century AD.
Wu Zetian, whom Empress Guangming worshipped, was also a woman with high calligraphy attainments, and the "Tablet of the Prince of Ascension", which she personally wrote and engraved in imperial script, was known as one of the "100 most beautiful pieces of calligraphy in China", and was also the main object of later generations to study Wu Zetian's calligraphy. Now in the National Library of France, a volume of porcelain on a blue background and copied with gold powder in small block "Diamond Sutra", is one of the precious documents snatched from Dunhuang by the Frenchman Bo Xihe, according to the research of relevant experts, it is also from the hand of Wu Zetian.
Although Empress Guangming did not ascend to the throne like Empress Wu Zetian, whom she admired, as the first empress in Japanese history to be born from a courtier, she admired Buddhism, built temples, and established a "medicine house" in a corner of her palace to treat sick and poor civilians, and established a "sad field temple" to help orphans who lost their parents in disasters. Empress Koko had a great influence on the development and progress of the Nara period in Japan.
Needless to say, the influence of a generation of empress Wu Zetian on Chinese history is needless to say, Cui Rong, one of the "Four Friends of the Article" in the Tang Dynasty, called her "Brilliant and Far-sighted, Hongye Daxun" in the "Mourning Book of the Great Sage Empress Zetian". Thunder and martial arts, sun and moon and text. Sprinkle with nectar and cover the clouds. Make rituals and make music, but also return to simplicity. Zongli Mingtang, Chong Confucianism and Taixue. The four seas are Muhua, and the nine Yi are rich. Shen Bi River, mud gold Zhongyue. Success, the wind", word by word, is not all lies.
Empress Guangming of Japan and Empress Wu Zetian, the two women who shine in the history of Japan and China, shine not only because of their political power, but also because of their artistic talent. The power of women, since ancient times, can not be underestimated, under the starry sky of history, the starry sky with female power shining is even brighter. (The author is the director of the Center for Extraterritorial Sinology at Henan University of Science and Technology).