The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia

Chapter 6 Reading between the Lines: A Comparison and Analysis of the Tangut and Han Texts

133 CHAPTER 6 Reading between the Lines: A Comparison and Analysis of the Tangut and Han Texts Back to back on a stone slab, the 1094 inscriptions of Liangzhou capture the tensions in the fine balancing of protocol, pragmatic compromise, and political defiance at work in late-eleventh-century Xia. Between them unfolds a dialogue over the formulation of Tangut /Xia identity, at a time when competing claims of ethnicity, culture , rulership, gender, and statehood carried weighty political consequences. In this chapter I will discuss the structure and significance of the two texts translated in Chapter 5.1 Structure, Style, and Authorship Both texts of the 1094 stele inscription treat basically the same topics in the same order, and the length of subsections is in most cases also the same. Yet in style and in the precise content of each topical subsection , the Tangut and Han texts diverge markedly. Without doubt they were composed independently true to the stylistic conventions of each language in compositions of this nature. The Tangut text is somewhat longer and often more detailed than the extant Han text. On the basis of their divergent datings of the earthquake of 1092 (T12, H7 and H19), moreover, I speculate that the Tangut text was composed earlier than the Han text (Chapter 5, note 39). We can outline the basic structure of the texts as follows: A. Introduction 1. T 1–2: Full title of inscription, followed in T2 by the introduction of two high-ranking officials as “explicators,” who perhaps presided over the ceremonies or composed this portion of the text. 2. H1: Effaced. 134 The 1094 Stele Inscriptions B. Discourse on Buddhism 1. T 3–6: A lengthy summary of the Buddha’s origins and history in verse form. 2. H 1–2: A cursory description of Buddhism, parts effaced. C. History of stûpa at Liangzhou (ca. six columns each) 1. T 6–12: Minor but significant variations from H. 2. H 2–6. D. Recent damage suffered by the stûpa, the throne’s patronage of Buddhism and repair of the stûpa, description of stûpa 1. T 12–15. 2. H 7–12: This section is longer than T, as it includes material covered elsewhere or not at all in T. E. Ceremony and endowments to temple (three columns each) 1. End of T15 to top of T18: Lists endowments first, then describes the ceremony; does not introduce eulogy. 2. H 13–15: Describes ceremony first, then lists endowments, introduces eulogy. F. Verse eulogy (five columns each). 1. T 19–23: Five paired couplets of four and seven characters each per column (4–7 4–7 4–7 4–7 4–7) until last column (4–4–4–4–4– 4–4 8–7–4–7). Buddhist content, no repetition of previous lines, lengthy vow. 2. H 16–20: Thirteen four-character phrases per column, twelve in last column. Repeats, virtually verbatim, the history of stûpa and its repair recited in lines 2–7. G. Date and list of names (five columns each) 1. T 24–28: Date appears at top of T28; names and titles can in most cases be matched with those in H. More names preserved. 2. H 21–25: Date appears at top of H21, followed by names and titles; last column badly effaced. Perhaps the first striking difference lies in tone. The Tangut inscription overflows with allusive, metaphorical Buddhist language, largely absent in the Han version. Whereas the Tangut text elabo- Reading between the Lines 135 rates Buddhist themes, the Han text gives a straightforward narrative account, stressing historical themes, employing clichés typical of Chinese historical prose, and inserting a little more local color. The seemingly more “secular” tone of the Han inscription may reflect the literary preferences or experience of the author, or the models followed in composing the piece, or an effort to play to the loyalties of the longtime resident Han population of Liangzhou. An emphasis on local history as an essential component of the “national” identity and welfare might appeal more effectively to the likely audience of the Han text: ethnic Han and Chinese-reading patrons of the temple. The Tangut text expresses a devotion to Buddhism and to stûpa worship shared by a large segment of the Xia population and elites, and closely mirrors the empress dowager’s personal piety. As we have seen, the cult of...