從玉器和佛教看乾隆皇帝的文化統治

The Qianlong Emperor’s Appropriation of Cultural Discourses from the Aspects of Jade Artifacts and Buddhism

本文主要關注的是，作為一個高度愛好藝術的皇帝，清高宗透過收藏、製作與翻譯等行為，來靈活管理自己身為中原天子與滿族統治者這兩個彼此間可能存在矛盾的形象。清高宗有意地採取了兩種截然不同的「文化政治」：其一，當清高宗面對比中國玉器更精巧的痕都斯坦玉器時，他如何採用華夏中心的「天下秩序」，並將精美的異域器物視為缺少德性的匠人之作；其二，乾隆皇帝在積極翻譯藏傳佛典、尊崇藏地佛教的同時，他採用的是起源於蒙古的「供施關係」模式，因此將「漢傳佛法」視為是某種對於佛法真諦的偏離。透過這兩種看似矛盾的文化論述，我們其實可以看到清帝國「多元統治」的一個側面，也能理解清帝國充滿彈性地在不同的脈絡中，建構自己的族群身分。

This article concerns how the Qianlong Emperor, as a connoisseur of art, flexibly managed the potentially contradictory image of himself as the ruler of both the Han Chinese and Manchuria through the collection, creation, and translation of artifacts. The Qianlong Emperor intentionally adopted two strategies regarding cultural politics: (1.) while being presented with Hindustan jade artifacts which were more intricately carved than their Chinese counterparts, he utilized the Sino-centric discourse of “tianxia zhixu” 天下秩序 (“world order under heaven”) and dismissed these non-Chinese artifacts as unvirtuous craftsmanship; (2.) with his patronage of the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon and reverence for Tibetan Buddhism, he adopted the so-called “yon bdag dang mchod gnas” (“patron and chaplain”), or “yon mchod,” in the Tibetan language and regarded Chinese Buddhism as a deviated form from authentic Dharma. Through these two seemingly contradictory cultural discourses, we may not only catch a glimpse of the diverse ruling approaches of the Qing Empire, but also arrive at an understanding of how the Qing flexibly constructed its own ethnic identity within various contexts.