Sānshèng yùzhì fóyá zàn 三聖御制佛牙贊
Three-Sovereign Imperially Composed Encomia on the Buddha’s Tooth by 太宗趙炅, 真宗皇帝, 仁宗趙禎 (撰); critical edition by 陳明光 (整理)
About the work
A composite stele inscription comprising three short imperially-composed zàn 贊 (encomium) poems on the Buddha’s Tooth relic, by the Northern-Sòng emperors Tàizōng 太宗 (Zhào Jiǒng 趙炅, r. 976–997), Zhēnzōng 真宗 (Zhào Héng 趙恒, r. 997–1022), and Rénzōng 仁宗 (Zhào Zhēn 趙禎, r. 1022–1063). The original “Sāncháo yùzhì fóyá zàn bēi” 三朝御制佛牙贊碑 was erected in Yīngzōng Zhìpíng 2 (1065 CE) — see Fózǔ tǒngjì 佛祖統記 j. 45 for the canonical reference.
Abstract
The Dàzú stele is a re-engraved copy of the original 1065 imperial stele (which was first re-cast at the Lúshān Xīlín Qiánmíngsì 廬山西林乾明寺 — the Dàzú colophon explicitly identifies the Qiánmíngsì as its source). The form is therefore particularly valuable: it preserves the imperial encomia at remove from the lost original. A Dūnhuáng witness of the Rénzōng 仁宗 verses survives independently as S. 4358 (titled Lǐ xiānggōng tàn zhēnshēn 李相公歎真身, with text divergence). The Dàzú inscription is on the lower portion of the Dà fāngbiàn fó bào’ēn jīngbiàn niche (KR6v0048); the title-cartouche reads “Sānshèng yùzhì fóyá zàn” with shèng 聖 written as 玨 (paired-jade), referring to the three Northern-Sòng emperors. A duìlián 對聯 (couplet) flanks the inscription: “Only my Master’s golden bones remain — / having endured a hundred firings, their colour ever new” (惟有吾師金骨在，曾經百煉色長新).
The catalog meta gives Tàizōng with dynasty marker BěiSòng 北宋, but does not identify the three emperors by personal name. Standard Sòng imperial-name conventions: Tàizōng 趙炅 / 趙光義 (939–997); Zhēnzōng 趙恒 (968–1022); Rénzōng 趙禎 (1010–1063). The composition window is bracketed by Tàizōng’s accession (976) and Rénzōng’s death (1063); the original 1065 stele consolidation date is one year later.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003), ch. 4 — the Northern-Sòng imperial cult of the Buddha’s Tooth.
- Strong, John S., Relics of the Buddha (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004) — context.
- Chén Míngguāng 陳明光, zhěnglǐ preface in Zàngwài fójiào wénxiàn vol. 4.
Other points of interest
The Sāncháo yùzhì fóyá zàn is the only known case of a Northern-Sòng imperial Buddhist stele whose text survives only through a Southern-Sòng provincial re-engraving (and a single Dūnhuáng manuscript fragment). It is therefore an unusually clean case of paratext preservation through inscriptional transmission.
Links
- CBETA
- IDP record for S.4358
- Cf. Fózǔ tǒngjì 佛祖統記 j. 45 (the original 1065 stele record)
- Cf. KR6v0045–KR6v0051 (the Dàzú stone-inscription cluster)