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Subject:Re: Buddha sculpture with dedication inscription
Posted By: Super Tue, Mar 13, 2018
Gakusei:
I totally agree with you that pictures of the statue should be posted here and not just some of the characters were posted which basically using this forum as a free translation service, without sharing Asian arts with others.
In this case, Nagy's translation is correct. The Chinese characters would be read from right to left, then from top to bottom. The problem again is the poster did not post pictures of the statue and some of these characters on this statue appear to be in the wrong order. (i.e. 洪武丙子四月吉日施 in p. 4 and 5 are in incorrect order). The correct order of all characters should be:
周府欲报四恩,命工铸造佛相,一样五千四十八尊供用,黄金镀之。所以广陈供养,崇敬如来,吉祥如意者。洪武丙子四月吉日施。
With characters in the wrong order, to be able to translate them would be a miracle.
In this case, 洪武 is the Ming dynasty first emperor and 丙子 is 1396 which was the 29th year of 洪武, 四月 means April and 吉日 likes Nagy had translated: an auspicious day.
This was found in the Hong Kong Sothebys:
http://www.sothebys.com/zh/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/chinese-art-hk0732/lot.436.html
Also, there were indeed supposedly 5,048 of the same (一様) statues as Nagy had translated:
In this link:
http://wantiquer.com/dital.php?DETAIL_NUMBER=B000069&LANG_TYPE=CHI
it gave this explanation for the number of 5,048:
"再回到這尊小佛的發願文上說,為何造五千零四十八尊,原也不解其意,不想介紹此小佛的文章發表在《收藏家》雜誌上,被日本東京名叫服部法照的僧人看到了,服部氏也喜收藏佛像。幾年後巧遇于東京,他認為這五千零四十八的數字是因為《大藏經》有五千零四十八卷,故而造此數目的佛像是以每尊佛像代表一卷大藏經,每鑄一尊佛像即與誦讀佛經同央A解釋令人心服。有點類似南朝的傅翕傅大士發明的佛寺中的轉輪藏,即木塔中裝貯佛經,每轉動一圈,即等同於念了一遍佛經。"
just like what Nagy had explained:
"5048 volumes of Tripitaka 大藏經 scriptures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka
Super
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