Introduction: There are many categories of stele, such as merit stele, monument, tombstone, temple stele, epitaph, stone scripture, etc. So, what does a monument generally refer to? What does a monument usually refer to? Below is the content I carefully prepared. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!
What does a stele generally refer to?
A stele generally refers to a stone with words engraved on it to commemorate a cause, meritorious service or as a mark. Steles are usually erected in palaces, mausoleums or temples, with words engraved on the top, which means they will last forever. The stele consists of three parts: the head, the body and the base. The body is the main part of the stele, which is vertical and rectangular. boulders.
A stele is actually a type of stone carving. It is a standing stone used as a memorial or mark. There are many seal-engraved words on it. The words are mostly to commemorate a cause, meritorious service or mark, which means to hang on for a long time. Generally, a stone tablet is an independent piece of architecture. It has its own shape and is mainly composed of three parts: the head of the tablet, the body of the tablet and the base of the tablet.
The head of a stone stele is generally in the form of a "coiling dragon" stipulated in the "Building Methods", and of course it can also be in the form of a house roof; the body of the stele is the most important part of the stele, and the front and rear sides of the stele can be engraved with words. The body of the stele is generally not decorated; the base of the stele is generally made of stone, and the image is shaped very realistically. Generally, low reliefs are used to maintain the integrity of the base.
Relevant content of stele
Stele has a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, stele refers to an inscribed stone engraved with words such as describing virtues, inscriptions, chronicles and compilation, such as tablets, Cliffs, statues and epitaphs, etc. In a narrow sense, a stele refers to a rectangular stone slab with inscribed text that was erected in front of a memorial site, building or tomb after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, the meaning of the stele, in short, is "the stele is called a stele based on trees, stones, and calligraphy" (Zhang Honglai's "Calligraphy").
In fact, there is a difference between carved stone and stele. For example, Mr. Ma Heng said in "Fan Jiang Zhai Jin Shi Cong Manuscript": "Nowadays, people call any text written on stone a stele." In fact, this is not the case. The rise of stele engraving dates back to the Han Dynasty, and it was only called stone engraving in ancient times. Qin Shihuang was discussing the sea, and his ministers came to the meeting and said: "The ancient emperors... still carved gold and stone to keep track of themselves." ...Now the emperor is united in one sea...all the ministers recite the emperor's merits and deeds to each other and engrave them on gold and stone as a representation of the sutra'. Therefore, all the carvings in the counties and counties on its eastward journey were called stone carvings, but they were not called stele at first. The name of the stele began in the Zhou Dynasty. It was designed for practical use and was not a tool for engraving words. "Book of Rites: Sacrifice for Righteousness" says, "The king leads the animal... and the monument is beautiful when it enters the temple gate", which is called the monument at the temple gate. According to "Book of Rites·Tan ??Gong", "the public office regards the monument" as the monument at the tomb. ”
The stele at the temple gate is made of stone to show the beauty of the animal and to measure the sunlight (shadow). The stele at the tomb is made of wood to guide the rope to lower the coffin (see "Etiquette·Betrothal Gift Notes" and "Etiquette" "Notes on Tan Gong") "... the inscriptions on the stele are from after the Han Dynasty, and are not discussed in ancient inscriptions. However, it is said that ancient carvings also have so-called tablets, so the authenticity of ancient carvings cannot be ignored. "Liu Xizai's "Release of Names" said: "The stele is also a quilt. This was set up when I was buried. Shi Lulu used a rope to quilt it on top and led it down to the coffin. The ministers pursue the merits and virtues of the king and father and write them down. Because of this, later generations built it at the head of Daomo. Where it is visible, it is named the stele as it is called in the text. "Fengshi Hearing and Seeing Records" said: "The monument Huanying is the pillar on which the coffin is placed when the princes of the world are buried. There are holes in it, and fiber ropes are passed through it. The coffin is hung down, and it is taken out for safe examination. After the incident, it is closed in Xiengzhong." The ministers or ministers may write the honors of the king and father on the stele. Later, it was erected at the entrance of the tunnel, so it was called the Shinto Monument, the way of the gods. ”
From the above records, we can clearly tell us that the original meaning of the stele is: ① In the ancestral temple of the ancient slave-owning nobles, the standing stone in the courtyard was the sacrifice mouth, and this kind of standing stone was called a stele; ② When the ancients were buried, Inside the tomb there was a vertical log with holes for the coffin, which was later replaced by a stone, with the merits of the deceased engraved on it. It was the ancestor of the Shinto stele. ③ From the inscriptions on the stele, it can be seen that the ancient feudal emperors engraved it on the stele. Stone seals commemorate merits and deeds, such as the practice of Emperor Qin Shihuang setting up monuments for the deceased in Mount Yi. The original meaning of the monument was a standing stone without words, which was the earliest monument in China. , there is no inscription, it is just a symbol. For example, it can be seen in the palace of Zhou Dynasty, the ancestral temple and the lower coffin. Later, it gradually developed into an inscribed stele, which was used to commemorate merits and express virtue. Text. The characters on the stele that people see now have two meanings: broad and narrow.
In a narrow sense, it is just one of many types of stone carvings; in a broad sense, it refers to various forms of stone carvings. The tradition of stone inscriptions, called tablets, did not start in recent times. Ye Changchi of the Qing Dynasty once said in "Yu Shi": "Any text carved on stone is called a stele, and it should be after the Han Dynasty." Therefore, the stele has been extended in meaning, and it is the general name of all stone carvings with text except for inscriptions. .