Mounted on the back of a gigantic bixi, the Divine Merit and Sage Virtue Stele stands before us. This mythical tortoise-like dragon supports what’s thought to be the largest stele in China. Look closely at the stele. It details the noble deeds of the Yongle Emperor. Hongxi, his successor, inscribed them.
This glorious pavilion housing the Divine Merit and Sage Virtue Stele is located along the Spirit Way. It stands before you reach the pairs of stone guardians. The Spirit Way is a funerary avenue. It leads to Changling, the earliest and central tomb.
The Stele Pavilion of Divine Merits and Sacred Virtues is an annex to every tomb. It is meant to record an emperor’s merits and virtues. Curiously, the stele inside Dingling Tomb is blank. Why are the steles of the thirteen Ming tombs blank? Only the one in Changling Tomb is inscribed.
Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang believed steles were not objective. He thought learned officials composed them without inspiring offspring. Thus, succeeding emperors were tasked to write inscriptions. Chengzu Emperor authored the inscriptions for Xiaoling Tomb. Renzong Emperor inscribed the stele in Chengzu’s Changling Tomb.
Initially, the Ming Tombs lacked steles except for Changling Tomb. In 1542, during Emperor Jiajing’s reign, steles were erected for six tombs. Another stele was added to Changling Tomb’s first courtyard. This made a total of seven new steles.
Jiajing Emperor should have inscribed the seven stone tablets. But he was muddle-headed and addicted to Taoism. He neglected state affairs and writing inscriptions. Some emperors had mediocre reigns with little to extol. Therefore, the steles remained blank.
It would be rude for successors to be extolled if an emperor’s tomb stele lacked inscriptions. All thirteen steles were left without inscriptions. The stele in Changling Tomb and Siling Tomb of Chongzhen Emperor are exceptions. They were erected and inscribed in the Qing Dynasty. The Divine Merit and Sage Virtue Stele is also called the Moon Stele. There is a white moon pattern on the top right on the other side of the steles.
Consider the weight of history held within the Divine Merit and Sage Virtue Stele Pavilion. The blank steles serve as a reminder. They are a testament to the complexities of power and legacy.