A Study On Luming Books In Dunhuang From The Perspective Of Regional Social History

Through Generations of scholars' tireless efforts,the Shushu manuscripts ofDunhuang have been achieved in the overall understanding and classifiedreorganization at present.However,the traditional model does not appear to beconsciously enhancing strong points and avoiding weaknesses.Author attempts tointroduce the theory of Regional social History in the study on Luming books asthe center of Shushu manuscripts in Dunhuang,in order to promote the researchincluding Shushu manuscripts and social history of Dunhuang to advance to the newstage.huming book was the divine book about individual good fortune and officialposition destiny in ancient times.The luming books in hand-written form in Dunhuangimported from the Central Plain are mainly reorganized linking to the place societyreality by Dunhuangwriters at the time of Late Tang,Five Dynasties and Song,whichcan satisfy the local different ethnic groups in the demand for belief.According to predecessor research and the Dunhuang manuscripts which have beenpublished,author compiled 38 Luming manuscripts which includ two ancient Tibetanmanuscripts.According to content and form,Dunhuang Luming books may divide into13 kinds covering Mingsuan,Younianbagua,Jiutian,Jiugong,BigDipper,Chinesezodiac,Qiyao,Jiuyao,Shiyiyao,Constellations,Nayin,Yuanchen writings and so on.Dunhuang Luming books describing a real-life scenery that the multi-type Lumingbelieves spreaded in Dunhuang will fill the flaw about the Shushu history of MiddleAges and open one window for us to see clearly the Dunhuang society populace spirituallife and the inner world Tang and Song dynasties.Multi-cultural tensions such as traditional and local,domestic and foreign,secular and religious,Han and National minority existing in regional society areshowed by the knowledge systems of Luming books in Dunhuang.These phenomena mirrorthe social history ecology of Dunhuang that paced back and forth between unity andseparatism in Han and Tang Dynasties as well as the multi-ethnic and religiousculture.Study indicate those luming books and corresponding believes which aresimple to understand are easier to receive populace's favor in Dunhuang of lateTang,Five Dynasties and Song.But,those knowledge of luming books which were popularat the same time in central plains have not been effectively disseminated inDunhuang,reflecting the region cultural difference between Dunhuang society andcentral plains society in this time.The writings about diseases,causes of disease and medical services in Shushumanuscripts of Dunhuang mostly have the same or similar arrangements with Medievaland Dunhuang medical literature,so that verify there is a mechanism for the resourcesharing between medical and Shushu in ancient times.There are many medical groupsat least including official doctor,folk medical person,Buddhist priest,Taoist priest,witchdoctor,Bon—po,Manichaean priest and Nestorian priest have beenengaged in the medical activity in Dunhuang during the Tang and Song Dynasties.Thesegroups provided different medical skills,but they had the general character thatmedicine and witchcraft were used alternately.The ambiguity in ancient medicaltechnique caused patients medical service idea to be ambiguous.Dunhuang people haveadopted many kinds of ways to deal with diseases.The situation that Dunhuang medicalwere assumed by a number of medical groups has relation with the objective realitythat the local government medical service cannot meet effectively the socialtreatment.We inspecting the religious factors in Shushu manuscripts of Dunhuang on theone hand may see different religions and Shushu have the close relation each otherwhen Tang and Song Dynasties in Dunhuang,on the other hand Shushu manuscripts ofDunhuang just likes a multi-prisms reflects different history destiny and survivalsituation of religions in Dunhuang area.The shushu manuscripts of Dunhuang in the perspective of long time andconsideration of the overall operation reveal that ethnic groups of Dunhuangexperienced a mental journey from opposition to approval around Guiyi Armyestablishment.Dunhuang populace have no longer limited to the national - - countryideology in unified dynasty time under the historical background that centralauthorities estranging from Dunhuang day by day,Guiyi Army being graduallyindependent and region religion and ethnic groups' historical restructuring.Ethnicgroups of Dunhuang have progressively integrated into a community which was amulti-ethnic,multi-religious culture region through each other' s marriage,language,custom belief and so on.The social groups have changed opposition eachother and sought the internal approval.This social psychology has been witnessedby shushu manuscripts of Dunhuang in Multi-ethnic languages from one side.