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[Bluesky, 1/7/25] Medieval Buddhist of the Day: Wang Senghuan 王僧歡 of Chang’an. In 528 he dedicated an image to a surprising range of beneficiaries. It’s normal for lists of beneficiaries to start with the emperor and the state, then touch on personal concerns, then expand outward to “all living beings” or something like that. But
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Medieval Buddhists of the Day, collective award: all those sixth-century stonecarvers who had no idea what a lion looks like but weren’t going to let that stop them. (Details of bases from statues found at the 北吴庄 site near the old city of Ye 邺城 in southern Hebei)
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[Bluesky, 12/6/24] Medieval Buddhists of the Day: Cui Hong 崔鴻, Cui Kun 崔鵾, Cui Su 崔鷫, and Cui Qin 崔懃, presumably relatives of some kind. I suspect Cui Qin is the father and the other three, who are all named for birds (鴻 wild goose, 鷫 kingfisher, 鵾 some kind of pheasant), his sons. They
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[Bluesky, 12/2/24] Medieval Buddhist of the Day: Bhiksu Fasheng 比丘法生, who sponsored an image in the Guyang cave in honor of Emperor Xiaowen, of the Prince of Beihai (then a powerful court official), and the prince’s mother, Lady Gao (a previous MBOTD). Who was he and what did he think he was doing with this
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[Bluesky, 11/27/24] MBOTD: the continuing saga of Lady Hou, the dowager Princess-Consort of Guangchuan. I got through her inscription and wanted to explore it some more here, with a few comments. She begins with the date: 景明四年十月七日。 Fourth year of the Jingming reign, tenth month, seventh day. [This is a date in November of 504
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[Bluesky, 11/23/24] Having reported that the Prince of Beihai was guilty of “canoodling” with another man’s wife, I feel compelled to describe this incident since it, like so much else in this whole saga, is kind of amazing. The woman in question was also surnamed Gao 高氏, but from another Gao family with connections to
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[Bluesky, 11/22/24] The Medieval Buddhist of the Day is another grandmother. Lady Gao, the mother of the Prince of Beihai 北海王母高太妃, was a rough contemporary and sister-in-law of the previous MBOTD, Lady Hou. She was married to the Prince of Guangchuan’s elder brother, Tuoba Hong 拓拔弘, who became emperor Xianwen 獻文帝. However, she was not
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[Bluesky, 11/18/24] Medieval Buddhist of the Day: Lady Hou, the Dowager Princess-Consort of Guangchuan 廣川王太妃侯氏. Lady Hou was the wife, mother, and grandmother of three successive Princes of Guangchuan in the later Northern Wei. She was the daughter of one Hou Shiba 侯石拔, about whom little is recorded. Lady Hou’s dates are unknown, but she
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[Bluesky 11/14/24] Continuing on from the previous post about funerary gifts: OK, so the earliest source for the description of the 溫明 mirror and its case is apparently from the Han shu 漢書, from the biography of a powerful minister called Huo Guang 霍光 and some related commentary. [Digression before we even get started: Huo
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[Bluesky 11/13/24] OK, just for a change of pace, let’s talk about Northern Wei funerary gifts. I remember reading the biography of Xianbei elder statesman Qiumuling Liang 丘穆陵亮 and being struck by a list of imperial gifts to him at the time of his funeral in 502. It was normal for a loyal official to be
Medieval Buddhist of the Day 