Manuscripts and travellers : the Sino-Tibetan documents of a tenth-century Buddhist pilgrim / by Sam van Schaik, Imre Galambos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Schaik, Sam.

Contributor:

Daozhao, active 10th century.

Galambos, Imre.

Series:

Studies in manuscript cultures ; 2.

Studies in manuscript cultures ; 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dunhuang manuscripts.

Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages--China.

Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages--Tibet Region.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter, 2012.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Introduction

Part I. Cultural contexts and historical connections

The Dunhuang manuscripts

Buddhist pilgrimage to the West in the tenth century

Tibetans of the borderlands

Part II. The manuscript

The structure of the manuscript

From the Gantong Monastery

The Baoenjing

The Tibetan tantric texts

The letters of passage

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613398840

9781283398848

1283398842

9783110225655

3110225654

OCLC:

769343063