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文/《华盛顿邮报》 Mark Jenkins 编译 霍淑贤
“虔诚的身体：三维的宇宙佛”展览只有一件原始的艺术作品，但展览包含了整个世界：中国佛教徒在公元6世纪所理解的的精神宇宙。这片宇宙被刻在一个真人大小的石灰石塑像上，代表着“卢舍那佛”，或宇宙佛，即佛祖释迦牟尼的众多表现之一。佛陀的意思就是“觉醒的人”。这座雕像的头和手都不见了，但精细的雕刻依然存在。
此外，赛克勒美术馆的这个展览有两台触屏电脑显示器，可以将这座有1500年历史的雕像传送到另一个空间：一个虚拟现实，可以展示雕塑的细节，可以从多个角度观察，也可以提供历史的，艺术的，甚至地质学的语境。三维的数据表明，这座雕塑是由一整块的灰色石灰岩雕刻而成，这块原料最初形成于古生代，至今至少有2.52亿年了。
赛克勒美术馆及其兄弟博物馆，弗利尔美术馆，已经在网上发布了它们全部馆藏的数码照片。但宇宙佛有一个特别的优先性，这个展览以及上述两个美术馆的古代中国艺术策展人基斯·威尔逊(J. Keith Wilson)解释道。 “我坐在展厅里，看着游客直接从它旁边走过，虽然它是来自中国的最重要的佛教雕塑之一。这是如此地令人沮丧，”他说。 这尊佛陀没有和人们说话，因为它已经失去了一部分沟通的能力，威尔逊说。“当它一开始被造出来时，它毫无疑问是有颜色的。我想它原来五颜六色的外表，会让人更容易解读，(它身上刻着的)每一个复杂的叙事场景实际上说的是什么。但随着颜料渐渐消失，可能还有表面的一些磨损，使得原本很清晰的一切都变得模糊。”
正因为如此，人们不会注意到(它身上刻着的)一系列装饰图案，描绘了近250个形象，包括动物和人物，在争取进入轮回和觉悟的因果循环——或者失败了。佛教的世界，通常在印度式的描绘里是一个圆，在宇宙佛的身体上变成垂直的。天界在他的胸口上，而地狱则在他的脚附近。 关于被判到地狱里呆一段时间的人，中国的图像有自己的特色。(在佛教中，被罚进地狱并不是永恒的。)“中国很喜欢公务员，”威尔逊笑着说：“判官也被包括在里面，我觉得是非常有趣的事。” 这尊“卢舍那佛”，是弗利尔美术馆在1923年购买的，创作年代有可能早于来自中亚的类似的佛像。“这是有些争议的，但可以肯定地说，这是最早描绘这个题材的作品之一，”威尔逊说。 如同所有的艺术，这尊佛像反映了它被创作的那个时代。中国，在几百年的战乱后，将在公元589年重新统一。而这座佛像被雕刻时，中国却很可能仍处于混乱中。此外，那个时候距离历史上佛陀释迦摩尼的逝世接近一千年，其中一些追随者将此看作一个新的循环将要开始的标志。他们担心，佛教将会衰落，甚至被破坏。 威尔逊指出，这或许可以解释，为什么在这段期间，有那么多的佛教教义被刻在石头上，而不是写在纸上。他们的目标是保存这些教义，直到一个更好的时代。 但是，宇宙佛上的教义会被拓印到纸上，因为拓片远远比一座石灰石雕塑更容易携带。这种做法损害了石头，现在已经很少被允许用在有价值的文物上。这个展览展示了两张全尺寸的拓片，将这座雕塑变成了一系列复杂的图纸。此外，还展示了二维和模拟三维的数字扫描。 (如果不去博物馆，也可以上3D.si.edu看到这些，这个网站甚至提供数据让你用3D打印机复制出一个塑料的宇宙佛。) 这座数字化的塑像对于学者和网民来说都是一个福利。不过，和1500年前被雕刻在有2.5亿年历史的石块上的佛像真身相比，它始终没有那种宗教或艺术的内涵。这座虚拟佛像是理解这件独特古物的一种尝试。而石灰石的佛像，则是对理解一切的一种尝试。 A modern look at ancient, spiritual work There’s just one original artwork in “Body of Devotion: The Cosmic Buddha in 3D,” yet the show contains an entire world: the spiritual universe as understood by Chinese Buddhists in the 6th century. That firmament is inscribed on a life-size limestone figure that represents the “Vairochana,” or Cosmic Buddha, one of many manifestations of the teacher whose name means “awakened one.” The statue’s head and hands are missing, but elaborate engravings remain. In addition, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery exhibition includes two touch-screen computer monitors that transport the 1,500-year-old artifact into another realm altogether: a virtual reality that shows the sculpture in close-up, and from multiple perspectives, as well as provide historical, artistic and even geological context. A spin through the digital data reveals that the sculpture was carved from a single block of gray limestone, originally formed during the Paleozoic Era, at least 252 million years ago. The Sackler and its sibling museum, the Freer, have published digital images of their entire collections online. But the Cosmic Buddha was a particular priority, explained J. Keith Wilson, curator of this exhibition and of ancient Chinese art at the two museums. “I would, sitting in the galleries, watch visitors walk past it, even though it is one of the most important Buddhist sculptures from China. It was so disheartening to me,” he said. The Buddha wasn’t speaking to people because it had lost some of its ability to communicate, Wilson notes. “When it was first created, it was no doubt painted, and the polychrome surface would have made it much easier, I think, to decipher what was actually going on in each one of those complicated narrative scenes. But with the loss of the pigment, and maybe some erosion of the surface, a lot of the clarity that would have been there originally would have been lost.” Because of this, people weren’t noticing a series of vignettes that depict almost 250 figures, both animal and human, negotiating the karmic cycle of reincarnation and enlightenment — or failing to do so. The Buddhist world, generally rendered as a circle in Indian-style depictions, becomes vertical on the Cosmic Buddha’s body. Paradise is at the top of his chest, while hell is near his feet. There is something distinctively Chinese about the images of people who are being sentenced to a season in hell. (In Buddhism, damnation is not eternal.) “China loves civil servants,” Wilson said with a laugh, “and the fact that judges are included there, I think is really interesting.” The “Vairochana,” which the Freer purchased in 1923, may or may not predate similar Buddhist statues from central Asia. “It’s a little bit contentious, but you can certainly safely say that this is one of the earliest depictions of the subject,” Wilson said. Like all art, the Buddha reflects the time in which it was made. China, which would be reunified in 589 after centuries of strife, was probably still in chaos when the statue was carved. In addition, it had been about a millennium since the historical Buddha’s death, which some followers took as a sign that a new cycle was about to begin. They feared that Buddhism would decline, or even be destroyed. That might explain, Wilson suggests, why so many Buddhist teachings were inscribed in stone, rather than written on paper, during this period. The goal was to preserve the creed until more congenial times. But the Cosmic Buddha’s lessons would have made it to paper anyway, copied via rubbings that were far more portable than a limestone sculpture. The practice damages the stone and is now seldom allowed for valuable antiquities. This show includes two full-size rubbings, which turn the sculpture into a series of intricate drawings. Also available are the digital scans, in 2- or simulated 3-D. (To view these without visiting the gallery, go to 3D.si.edu, whose data can even be used to replicate the Cosmic Buddha as a plastic avatar via 3-D printer.) The digitized statue is a boon to scholars and web surfers alike. But it doesn’t have the spiritual or artistic heft of 1,500-year-old carvings on a shaped hunk of 250-million-year-old rock. The virtual Buddha is an attempt to understand one exceptional artifact. The limestone one is an attempt to understand everything. 【域外看点系列文章】 （本文仅代表作者个人观点，图文版权所有，转载请注明作者及出处） （编辑：李秀娜） |
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来自： 木头1018 > 《考古 博物馆 文化遗产》
