Conferences

Basic information

Name ONISHI Makiko

Title

Relic Worship of Empress Wu and the Commentary on the Dayun jing

Author

Makiko ONISHI

Conference

 

Date

2019-04-17

Invited Talk

Invited

Language

Chinese

Division

International conference

Assortment

Oral presentation(general)

Promoter

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge

Venue

Cambridge, United Kingdom

ID:NAID

 

Description

Wu Zetian was the only female emperor in Chinese history. Interestingly enough, the two Dunhuang manuscripts S.2568 and S.6502, generally called the Commentary on the Dayun jing (大雲經疏) , show the strained interpretations and logics used by the Empress and her patronage to authenticate her as a coming empress. In them, you can see her miraculous acquisition of the relics in the Guangzhai Quarter(光宅坊)in Chang’an, the distribution of these relics, and the construction of 8,040,000 stupas. Prior researches concentrate on the Seven jewel Pagoda(七寶臺)of the Guangzhai Quarter, for the original thirty-two reliefs of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas remained in the Baoqing Temple(寶慶寺). On the other hand, researches on the literary records regarding the distribution of relics and the construction of stupas by Empress Wu had been so few that her worship for relics remains almost unknown. In this report, I will discuss the records written in the Commentary and its meaning.

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