Medieval Buddhist of the Day

[Twitter 6/6/19] Medieval Buddhists of the Day: Kong Que 孔雀 and Xue Mingling 薛明陵, of Boxing County 博興縣 in Shandong. This is a romance in three images across three dynasties, all gilt-bronze and all found in the caches on the grounds of the Longhua Temple 龍華寺 in Boxing.

1. In 532 (Northern Wei), Kong Que dedicated a figure of a Buddha and two bodhisattvas for the benefit of his deceased wife, whose surname was Ma 馬.
   
2. In 540 (Eastern Wei), Xue Mingling dedicated a figure of a seated Buddha “for all living beings” 為一切眾生.
   
3. Then in 554 (Northern Qi), Xue Mingling dedicated another bronze figure, of a standing bodhisattva. Only this inscription names her 孔雀妻薛明陵 “Kong Que’s wife, Xue Mingling.” She doesn’t say for whom the image was offered, but clearly she and Kong found each other.

Two other things. First: Kong Que’s full name is also the word for “peacock.” Peacocks were known from Yunnan as early as the Han or earlier, but they also figure in the imagery of Buddhism. Hard to say if the name has religious meaning or if his parents were just being clever. Second: What makes the gimmick of his name possible is the surname Kong, which is ancient in Shandong and which he shares with none other than Confucius himself. In later centuries, to be a Kong in Shandong meant carrying the weight of your presumed heritage at all times. I honestly have no idea what the significance of the name was in the sixth century, but I can’t help wondering what it might have been like to be a devoutly Buddhist descendant of the Great Sage. Chinese religion was pretty ecumenical by tradition, but still.