筆者首先要向各類讀者概略說明：佛教圖像學研究的主要目的是：鑒定佛 教美術作品的名稱、內容、形像造型特徵與性質。重視對佛教美術（雕塑和繪 畫）的研究，我們就必須探究作品的內涵和思想（例如佛教經變像所要傳播的 教義）。佛教美術作為宗教藝術是特定時代的傳播作品，它們是信仰、崇拜， 而不是單純觀賞的對象。它們的理想、內容、形像造型和審美形式，是為其宗 教服務的。佛教圖像學的研究還應該將不同地域的佛教美術內容、形像造型特 徵，按時代和地域作縱向、橫向的比較，研究同時期不同地方，以及同一地域 不同時期的衍變和發展。這就是筆者在本文中研究探討成都南朝佛像與印度早 期佛教美術流派關係的宗旨。 海內外學術界過去探索成都南朝佛教石刻的源流，嚴重缺乏可資比對的圖 像學方面的資料。大多數學者都認為其源流是來自溯江而上的建康（南京）佛 像模式，而後者又是由海路從南印度經東南亞輸入的笈多（5-6 世紀前半期） 新樣式。綜觀其論證，都未能清楚認識西元2-6 世紀印度佛教藝術各流派的造 型特徵和傳播路線。有鑒於此，筆者在本文中擬將成都南朝佛教造像石與前期 犍陀羅佛像石雕，後期犍陀羅藝術，即印度－阿富汗流派白灰膏塑像，笈多秣 菟羅和薩拉那特的佛教雕刻，從圖像學角度出發，就其形制、圖像結構、形像造型等方面進行比對研究，對它們之間的關係作出比較合理而又科學的結論。

This iconographic study identifies the name, content, features, and nature of various works of Buddhist art. The authors contend that any study of Buddhist art – sculpture or painting – must consider its content and meaning, including the teachings intended to be conveyed by pictorial representations of Buddhist doctrines. Buddhist art, which originated as a religious art form to spread its teachings, was intended to convey beliefs and be used in worship, not solely to be appreciated aesthetically. The goal, content, image-composition and aesthetic style of Buddhist art are all subject to the needs of the Buddhist religion. Moreover, an iconographic study of Buddhist art should include both longitudinal and crosssectional research on works in the same region that were produced at different historical periods, or vice versa, so as to determine how they evolved and developed. This paper engages in such a study of the relationship between Buddhist sculptures of the Southern Dynasties in Chengdu and different styles of early Buddhist art in India. There are hardly any comparative iconographic studies of the origin of the Buddhist stone sculptures in Chengdu during the Southern dynasties in previous scholarly. Most scholars hold that these Buddhist sculptures came up from Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, in Jiangsu province) on the Yangtze River, and were originally transmitted to China by sea from South India to Southeast Asia during the 5th century and the first half the 6th century. Nevertheless, they have failed to attendto the characteristics of the image-compositions of Indian Buddhist art between the 2th and the 6th centuries and their transmission route to China. The authors of this paper explore the origin of such Buddhist stone sculptures in Chengdu from the Southern dynasties by comparing them with Buddhist stone sculptures of both early and late Gandhāra style, i.e., the white-plaster sculptures of India and Afghanistan, the Buddha images of Mathurā art of the Gupta period, and Buddha images of Sārnāth style. On the basis of their comparative iconographic study of the image structure and the image composition of such Buddha images, they draw a reasonable conclusion concerning the relationship between the two.