Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim (Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 2)

Main description: This study is based on a Sino-Tibetan manuscript from the late 960s, carried by a Chinese pilgrim through the Hexi corridor on his way from Wutaishan to India. Included is a series of Tibetan letters of introduction that functioned as a passport as the monk stopped in monasteries on his way. The manuscript is a unique contemporarytestimony of the large pilgrimage movement known from historical sources. It also provides evidence for the high degree of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in Western China during this period

This study is based on a manuscript which was carried by a Chinese monk through the monasteries of the Hexi corridor, as part of his pilgrimage from Wutaishan to India. The manuscript has been created as a composite object from three separate documents, with Chinese and Tibetan texts on them. Included is a series of Tibetan letters of introduction addressed to the heads of monasteries along the route, functioning as a passport when passing through the region. The manuscript dates to the late 960s, coinciding with the large pilgrimage movement during the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song recorded in transmitted sources. Therefore, it is very likely that this is a unique contemporarytestimony of the movement, of which our pilgrim was also part. Complementing extant historical sources, the manuscript provides evidence for the high degree of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in Western China during this period.

This study is based on a manuscript which was carried by a Chinese monk through the monasteries of the Hexi corridor, as part of his pilgrimage from Wutaishan to India. The manuscript has been created as a composite object from three separate documents, with Chinese and Tibetan texts on them. Included is a series of Tibetan letters of introduction addressed to the heads of monasteries along the route, functioning as a passport when passing through the region. The manuscript dates to the late 960s, coinciding with the large pilgrimage movement during the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song recorded in transmitted sources. Therefore, it is very likely that this is a unique contemporary testimony of the movement, of which our pilgrim was also part. Complementing extant historical sources, the manuscript provides evidence for the high degree of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in Western China during this period. One of thousands of documents sealed in a cave in Dunhuang, in Chinese Central Asia, in the early 11th century, the text studied here is a record of the pilgrimage of a Chinese monk to India about 960. The manuscript is now in the British Library, where Van Schaik and Galambos work on the International Dunhuang Project. Their topics include Buddhist pilgrimage to the West in the 10th century, Tibetans of the borderlands, the structure of the manuscript, from the Gantong Monastery, the Tibetan tantric texts, and the letters of passage. Photographs of the pages are appended. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Acknowledgements 7 1 Introduction 9 Part I. Cultural Context and Historical Connections 19 2 The Dunhuang Manuscripts 21 3 Buddhist Pilgrimage to the West in the Tenth Century 43 4 Tibetans of the Borderlands 69 Part II. The Manuscript 83 5 The Structure of the Manuscript 85 6 From the Gantong Monastery 95 7 The Baoenjing 115 8 The Tibetan Tantric Texts 135 9 The Letters of Passage 155 10 Conclusions 185 Maps 189 Bibliography 193 Index 213 Plates 221