The Palace Scriptures Of Dunhuang From The Tang Dynasty To The Yifeng Period From Xianheng To Yifeng

The Diamond Sutra and Lotus Sutra copied by Empress Wu for her parents are the prototype of Buddhist sutras written by officials in the Tang dynasty.Each sutra can be divided into three parts: the preface,the lection and the inscription.The prefaces to the Diamond Sutra and the Lotus Sutra were well organized and copied from the beginning of each sutra,which combinate two literary forms,eulogy and prayer.The versions of the two sutras are translated by Kumaraishi,and there are text variants between the transcripts and the version of CBETA.A series of inscriptions were written at the end of each volume,recording the date,the scribes,the number of papers,the person responsible for bookbinding,the proofreaders,the markers,the principal and the supervisor.This activity originated from the death of Empress Wu's mother,Lady Yang.It approximately began in the second year of Xianheng(671)and ended in the second year of Yifeng(677).The scribes were transferred from the central government offices including Secretariat(Menxia Sheng???),Imperial Library(Mishu Sheng???),Hongwen Guan???and Zuochun Fang???.The proofreading monks were transferred from the royal monasteries of Chang'an.The scribes are permanent staff while the monks were temporary.The scribes and the proofreaders of each scroll were different.On the assignment of the transcription of scriptures,each sutra was copied by one person independently.The single person's efficiency is about one Diamond Sutra per day and one Lotus Sutra per day.As for proof reading task,the number of the proofreaders of each scroll gradually changed from plurality to single.The senior monks who participated as the markers of the scriptures were basically fixed.They had a deep connection with the royal family and were the backbone in the Buddhist circles of Chan'an from the reign of Emperor Gaozong to Wu Zhou.The central government appointed a supervisor on behalf of the royal family and a principal responsible for the specific affairs.The prospect of the operation of sutra-copying activity revealed in the inscriptions may not be consistent with the reality.There are a large proportion of subjective errors in the scriptures,most of which show no signs of correction,as well as mistakes in bookbinding,indicating that the actual execution process was not rigorous.Although this activity is regarded as an epitome of the merits and virtues of the imperial court in the Tang dynasty,its standard preface and inscription format indicate that it was no more than a daily royal Buddhist activity.