150912462 the Discovery of the Tun Huang Library and Its Effect on Chinese Studies

7/28/2019 150912462 the Discovery of the Tun Huang Library and Its Effect on Chinese Studies

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The Discovery of the Tun-Huang Library and Its Effect on Chinese StudiesAuthor(s): Cheuk-Woon TaamReviewed work(s):Source: The Library Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul., 1942), pp. 686-705Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4303004 .Accessed: 30/10/2012 11:41

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THE DISCOVERY OF THE TUN-HUANG LIBRARYAND ITS EFFECT ON CHINESE STUDIES

CHEUK-WOON TAAM

INTRODUCTION

N THE beginning of this century a hoarded library was dis-covered n one of the stone caves of Tun-Huang, ocated in thewestermost part of China. This library contains a great quantity

of manuscripts, both in Chinese and in many other languages. Thediscovery was first made known to the academic world by Sir AurelStein and Professor Paul Pelliot, both scholars and explorers. Thelatter told his story in a letter' in French, while the former ncluded avery detailed description of his find in many voluminous works deal-ing with his central Asiatic expeditions.2 Professor Pelliot's report

might not have attracted the attention of the English-speaking orld,because t was written n French and was published n a highly special-ized journal. In the case of Sir Aurel, his works cover a wide scopeof archeological xploration which s likely to overshadow his particu-lar incident. At best, these two scholars can give us some idea only ofthe portions of this collection which are now housed in the BritishMuseum and the Bibliotheque Nationale. As to the remaining ortionof this library, they have not given us any detailed report as yet. Aperiod of thirty-five years has elapsed since the removal of this libraryfrom Tun-Huang, and there has been quite a number of importantworks published n connection with this find. It is the desire of thepresent writer o give the reader as far as possible a full account of theentire library and how it has affected many problems in Chinesestudies.

In the year I900 an itinerant Taoist priest, coming from Shansi,took his abode in one of the temples in the "Caves of the ThousandBuddhas" at Tun-Huang. The entrance of this temple was coveredup with fallen rock, debris, and drift sand. Seeing that the place could

I "Une Bibliotheque medievale retrouvee au Kan-sou," Bulletin de l'Ecole Franfaise

d'Extreme-Orient, Vol. VIII (I908).2 E.g., Ruins of the deserted Cathay (2 vols., I912); Surindia (5 vols., I92I); Inner-

most Asia (4 vols., I928); On ancient central-Asian tracks (1933).686


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THE TUN-HUING LIBRARY 687

be made habitable, he made many begging ours in the neighborhoodto get sufficient unds to restore it. While restoration was proceed-ing, the workmen engaged noticed a crack in the frescoed wall ofthe passage between them. Attracted by this crack, the priest dis-covered an opening eading to a small chamber hollowed out from therock. Within he found heaps and heaps of manuscript olls. Accord-ing to the diary of Yeh Ch'ang Ch'ih (I ), he had heard of thisdiscovery in I902 on his way to Chiu Ch'uan (i-iA) and on a

few occasions had received some manuscripts and paintings as giftsfromhis friends t Tun-Huang oth n I903 and n I904.3 Evidentlymuch of the hoarded material had been circulated around the neigh-borhood f Tun-Huang. The news finally reached he provincial head-quarters at Lanchou, and the viceroy yamen demanded some speci-mens of the find to be sent for examination. To comply with thisrequest he priest delivered ome rolls of Buddhist exts, together withsome bronze statues which were found in the chamber. Since theChinese officials attached very little value to Buddhist literature, theywere contented with an official statement that the manuscripts wouldcost a lot of money to transport and that the whole collection shouldbe restored to its original place of deposit uinder the custodianship ofthe priest. However, the bronze statues became very popular, and theconstant request for more of them from official circles very soonexhausted the collection.

VISITS OF STEIN, PELLIOT, AND OTHERS

It was through the suggestion of Professor L. de Loczy, the dis-tinguished head of the Geographical Society of Hungary, that Sir

Aurel Stein decided to visit the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" inhis second expedition in Central Asia under the auspices of the IndianArchaeological Survey. His purpose was then to make a study ofBuddhist art; but, as soon as he arrived at Tun-Huang in I907, lheheard some vague rumors through Zahid Beg, a Turkish trader fromUrumchi, concerning the discovery of a great collection of manuscriptsin one of the stone caves. He proceeded to the temple in March butfailed to meet the Taoist priest there. He was shown around, how-ever, by a Tangutan monk, who took him to the hoarding place andproved his reliability with a genuine specimen. This preliminary visitheightened Stein's hope of getting the hoarded manuscripts.

3 In his diary called Yuan Tu Lu Yueh Chi (& ft f EJ )


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688 THE LIBRA4RY QUARTERLY

When Stein returned rom his field work in May, he contacted thepriest through his able Chinese secretary, Chiang Hsiao Yuan. Aftera short interview his secretary was left behind to negotiate with thepriest for acquiring ome portion of the hoard. In spite of the promiseof a liberal donation, the latter refused to part with his manuscripts.It was only after ong persuasion, which required reat tact and skilleddiplomacy, hat the priest decided o let Sir Aurel examine he hoardedmanuscripts. Both Stein and his secretary were given a small room

adjacent to the chapel for that purpose. First, the priest brought insome manuscript rolls, chiefly canonical Buddhist texts; then camethe mixed bundles containing he convolutes of miscellaneous apers,such as painted banners, drawings, paintings, and block prints. Whilethese miscellaneous papers passed through Sir Aurel's hands, herapidly put aside those which he considered most valuable for "closeinspection." At nightfall Chiang began to negotiate with the priestagain, trying to persuade he latter to render an act of religious meritby saying that this pious concession would be rewarded by an ampledonation. The result was that Chiang returned at midnight with abig bundle of manuscripts ontaining all papers picked for "close in-spection." Evidently the priest did not attach any high value to thesemiscellaneous apers.

Sometime ater the priest took out the regular bundles from thehidden chapel and transferred hem to the spacious cell of the temple.It was estimated that there were about I,oSo bundles of Chinese rolls,each containing an average of more than a dozen separate manu-scripts, and 8o packets of Tibetan rolls and convolutes, as well as I Ihuge Tibetan pothis. There was also a large quantity of fine silk

paintings and beautiful textile pieces. Attracted by this greattreasure, Sir Aurel attempted to secure the whole hoard by offeringthe priest forty horseshoes f silver (about $i,Soo). But the priest re-fused the offer and considered ny cession of the sacred Chinese manu-script rolls impossible. This was probably owing to the fact that theabsence of the sacred text might cause public resentment and subse-quently might deprive him of his position. So the next day the priestmoved the whole collection back to the hidden chamber.

Further negotiation was carried on through the good officesof thesecretary, and the final agreement arrived at was that upon the pay-ment of four horseshoes of silver (about $iSo) Sir Aurel was permittedto take 50 compact bundles of Chinese manuscripts and 5 Tibetan textrolls, in addition to the selection from the "mixed bundles." Im-


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mediately after this transaction was over, the priest went on hisbegging tour again. When he returned a week later, Sir Aurel suc-ceded in obtaining from him by an appropriate donation for histemple 20 more bundles of manuscripts and some selection from themiscellaneous apers.

But this is not the end of the story. After the departure f Sir Aurelfrom the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas," Chiang was left behindto carry on his secret missionwith the priest. Owing o his fine diplo-

macy, he succeeded n making the priest give up 230 more compactbundles of Chinese and Tibetan manuscripts o that, when Sir Aurelreturned o An-hsi four months later, his secretary oined him withthese new acquisitions, which brought he total number of cases to bedeposited n the British Museum o 29 (24 of manuscript olls and 5ofpaintings and art remains).

Under the auspices of the French government and several earnedbodies of France, Paul Pelliot, then a professor t the Ecole Francaised'Extreme-Orient t Hanoi, was sent on an archeological mission toCentral Asia in I906. Before his expedition Pelliot had read someworks about the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" from authorslike Pajevahkii, Kroutner, and Bonin. So, when he started fromParis, he decided to visit Tun-Huang on his journey. After makingsome successful ventures, he arrived at Urumchi in the autumn ofI907. There he heard some rumors about the discovery of old manu-scripts at Tun-Huang. Meanwhile, he had made the acquaintance fDuke Tsai Lan and Wang Shu Nan, the head of the civil service ofthe Kansu province. They treated him with great courtesy. Theformer presented him with a roll of Buddhist sutra which was made

probably before the ninth century. In reply to Pelliot's inquiry, theduke told him that, upon his arrival n Kansu, some people gave himthe manuscript, aying that it was one of the specimens f the hoardedrolls of the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas." In Urumchi, Pelliotalso met Pei Ching-Fu, who told him that he had seen some of theTun-Huang manuscripts. So the rumor was verified, and immediatelyPelliot went to Tun-Huang.

As soon as he arrived here, he learned that Stein had been in thecaves before he had. He calculated that the whole hoard would beempty and felt extremely discouraged. But, when he met the priestwho told him that Sir Aurel had bought only a certain portion of themanuscripts, he was greatly relieved. On March 3, I908, the Taoistbonze took him to see the hoarded hamber n which he still saw from


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690 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

I5,000 to 20,000 rolls of manuscripts. He then negotiated with thepriest for the purchase. When the deal was concluded, Pelliot beganto work. If he had to unroll all those manuscripts and examine themone by one, it would probably take him more than six months. So hedrew up some criteria for selection. He decided to pick out (i) all thenon-Chinese manuscripts, (2) manuscripts of Chinese secular litera-ture, and (3) Buddhist manuscript rolls that contained colophons.According to his own record, about I00 rolls passed from his handevery hour, and in the first ten days he inspected almost I,000 rolls aday. The entire task took him more than three weeks. It was re-ported by Chang Yin Ju4 that Pelliot paid the Taoist priest $200 forall the manuscripts he took away from the "Caves of the ThousandBuddhas."

Before his return to France, Pelliot took a book-buying trip toPeking, Nanking, and Shanghai. When he reached the old Chinesecapital in the early part of I909, the news of the discovery and the pur-chases made by Stein and Pelliot was widely spread. Pelliot happenedto have brought along with him some specimens of the hoarded manu-

script rolls, and the Chinese scholars were much excited over them.The Viceroy Tuan Fang even made Pelliot an offer to buy back thesemanuscripts. The Chinese literary world was fully aware of the im-portance of these precious manuscripts. A group of influential Chinesescholars urged the Ministry of Education to have the rest of the Tun-Huang hoarded manuscripts transferred to Peking. The order wasissued in I9I0 by the central government and demanded the prompttransmission of the manuscripts with a substantial sum to provide forthe custodian.

According to the Taoist priest, the remuneration never reachedhim. The "whole" collection was taken way in carts, and the manu-script rolls were carelessly packed. Because of some delay, these loadshad been waiting in the Tun-Huang yamen for some time. It was saidthat some pilfering had already started there. Owing to the slacknessof the guarding convoy, thefts also occurred on the road. Just howmuch was lost we do not know, but the total number of manuscriptrolls which arrived in Peking was about 8,ooo.

As a matter of fact, in complying with the government order, theTaoist priest did not send the entire hoard to Peking. He managed to

keep back a considerable portion of the treasure for himself. The evi-dence against him follows. In the Third Otani Asiatic Expedition,

4 C. C. Yeh, op. cit., see his diary corresponding to the year I909.


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THE TUN-HUIANG LIBRARY 691

Zuicho Tachibana, a Japanese Buddhist monk and explorer, paid avisit to Tun-Huang in the year I9II. He also acquired a portion ofthe hoarded manuscripts.5 hen Sir Aurel Stein revisited Tun-Huangin 19I4 he was still able to obtain as many as five cases of Chinesemanuscripts from the Taoist priest.6 Wlether or not these representthe last bundles of the hoard is still an open question.

It seems unbelievable that the Chinese people, who have a tradi-tional reverence for antiquity and for local treasures, should allow

such a wholesale export of ancient manuscripts and art objects fromtheir country. If public sentiment could tolerate this, the officialsshould at least make some effort to stop it. But the fact was that afterthe Boxer Uprising, as the result of which China had to pay a largeindemnity to foreign powers, the Chinese populace at large andChinese officialdom in particular were afraid to interfere with theactivities of Westerners. Duke Tsai Lan, who had received Pelliotwith great courtesy and presented him with a Tun-Huang manuscript,was a victim of the Boxer disaster himself and was spending his daysof exile in that desolate land. His presence there reminded the localofficials of the consequences they might have to bear if they were in-volved in such incidents again. Second, when the hoard was dis-covered, the Taoist priest presented to the local authorities someBuddhist manuscripts as typical specimens. Being trained in andbrought up in the orthodox Confucian school, most of the officialswould naturally attach very little value to Buddhist sutras. Had theybeen shown specimens of Chinese classics, their reaction might havebeen totally different, just as was the case when they saw Pelliot'smanuscripts in Peking. Lastly, the custodian was neither a Buddhist

nor a Confucianist but an ignorant Taoist. He had no use for theBuddhist sutras or the Chinese classics. Had he been an intelligentTaoist, he would at least have saved those manuscripts of his ownreligion for himself. But to him the entire hoard was merely a com-mercial commodity which he hoped to exchange for money. That iswhy both Stein and Pelliot were so successful in getting these treasures.

THE SITE OF TUN-HUANG AND THE HISTORY OF THE HOARD

From the sixth to the eleventh centuries, when navigation methodshad not been well developed and sea travel was considered dangerous,

5 A list of Tachibana's Tun-Huang manuscripts is included in Lo Chen-Yu's HsuehT'ang Ts'ung K'e (2 !t 3& IJ).

6 Aurel Stein, Innermost Asia, I, 358.


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the chief route of communication between Asia and Europe was byland. Tun-Huang occupies a position near the point where thegreatest old highway of Asia, going from east to west, is crossed. Itserved therefore as a natural resting place for itinerants who traveledalong the desert regions around Chinese Turkestan. Besides being anancient crossroad between China, Tibet, and the quasi-Aryan ettle-ment of the Tarim Basin, Tun-Huang was also a great center of Bud-dhist worship. The great mural paintings of the temples, the objectremnants rom the patron donors, and the rich contents of the manu-script collection bear witness that the "Caves of the ThousandBuddhas" was one of the greatest Buddhist establishments n China.Furthermore, s Tun-Huang s situated on the borderland f China,in case of war between China and neighboring ribes, it would be thefirst town to suffer greatly from the conflict. History tells us that ithad been dominated by the Tibetans and then the Tanguts. All thesehave something to do with the formation of the manuscript ibraryand its contents.

It was said that Chinese civilization began to dwindle n the regionof Tun-Huang in the tenth century. For fear of invasion the localprince dug in the rocky hills a spacious sanctuary o preserve all thesevaluable manuscripts and documents. The room is about 9 feetsquare and IO feet in height. It should be remembered hat this littlechamber was inclosed by thick rock on the barren hill and covered upby drift sand. Moisture was completely shut off, and the air withinthe chamber underwent but slight changes of temperature. Only suchnatural protection could have preserved these manuscripts over aperiod of more than eight hundred years.

Among the manuscripts hat have been found n this library, manypossess colophons. As far as dates on the Chinese manuscripts areconcerned, hey extend from the very beginning of the fifth centurydown to the closeof the tenth century. The oldest Chinese manuscriptdates back to A.D. 406; while the latest bears the date A.D. 995. Fur-thermore, here is not a single mention of Hsi-hsia or the Tanguts.From these facts Professor Pelliot has concluded hat the deposit waswalled up in the first half of the eleventh century and probably at theepoch of the conquest of Hsi-hsia, which took place in I035. This con-quest must have been very serious and thorough, because all the con-tents of the various emples had been hidden with the manuscripts ndnone of the Buddhist monks survived to tell of the hoard.


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THE TUN-HUANG LIBRAfRY 693CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE COLLECTION

This is a collection of manuscripts rather than printed books, andthe majority of them are Chinese. These manuscripts all appear inrolls and fragmentary pieces. Since this library represents a medievalBuddhist collection, naturally we expect to find most of the manu-scripts therein dealing with that religion. In fact most of them belongto the common stock of the Buddhist canon, such as Buddhavatamsa,Prajnaparamita, Saddharmapundarika, and Mahaparinirvana. Inmany cases duplicate copies of the same sutra were found. They weregenerally donated to the temple by patrons as a token of faith or as agood deed for self-salvation. Some of them show very good handwrit-ing, and the texts had been checked two or three times by variousscribes. But in general the texts are full of mistakes, and the penman-ship is poor. This is simply because the donors had intrusted school-boys and uneducated monks with the work. However, these manu-scripts, which are formed of leaves pasted from end to end in rolls,represent the oldest specimens of Buddhist literature in existence.

Besides Buddhism, this collection included many manuscripts per-taining to Taoism, Manichaeism, Nestorianism, and other religiouscults. All the Taoist manuscripts indicate one origin, and they all be-longed to Shen Ch'uan Kuan ($11 %IN). They were written fromA.D. 580 to 750. There are 2 and possibly 3 Manichaean manuscriptsin Chinese. As for Nestorianism, 8 manuscripts have been discovered.

In Chinese classics and literature the Tun-Huang library has a fairrepresentation of manuscripts. Confucius' Analects, the Book of poetry,the Book of history, and the texts of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzuare outstanding examples. A few manuscripts of Chinese prose andpoetry, together with rhyming dictionaries and elementary textbookswhich were considered lost long ago, were recovered in this collection.There is also a considerable number of manuscripts pertaining toChinese popular literature, such as legends and folk tales.

The Tibetan manuscript rolls and documents approach the Chinesematerial in character and extent, though their total number is not yetknown. The II enormous Tibetan pothis (kia-pan), about 2 feet, 5inches long and 8 inches wide with a height nearly Id feet, representthe best-arranged works in the whole library. The Taoist priest said

that a Mongol prince had regularly come to Tun-Huang each year tosee these Tibetan pothis. The mass of Tibetan manuscripts containsmostly the Buddhist canon or other religious texts, and they belong


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to the period when the region of Tun-Huang was under Tibetandomination. It was then that Buddhism in its Tibetan form firstgained a footing in Central Asia. Professor Pelliot thinks that theTibetan documents gathered in the "Caves of the Thousand Bud-dhas" would permit us to throw some light on the history of Buddhismin western China and Turkestan. Ten works which have been foundwere translated at Lung Hsing Ssu, and the French savant has raiseda problem of the possibility of a school of Tibetan translators co-

operating with their Chinese colleagues at work on the Buddhistcanon.The Indian Brahmin manuscripts found there have proved to

comprise texts in three distinct languages, namely, Sanskrit, Kho-tanese, and Kuchean. There are 9 Sanskrit texts in pothi form withslanting G-upta cript, few of which are central Asian imports. A largepalm-leaf pot/li, which has been definitely proved to be of Indianorigin, is the oldest Indian manuscript ever discovered. But far morenumerous are both pothis and rolls containing texts in the Khotaneselanguage. Stein's collection includes I4 pothis and 31 rolls, some com-plete and some fragmentary. One gigantic roll is over 70 feet long.The Khotanese rolls, written almost exclusively in cursive Guptascript, contain Buddhist texts, documentary statements, and medicalformulas. As to the Kuchean manuscripts, Stein's collection has 3folio remains, one of which has been proved to be of a medical textand another a Buddhist poem.

Most of the Sogdian manuscripts of the "Caves of the ThousandBuddhas" illustrate the cross-currents of Buddhist propaganda oncemeeting at Tun-Huang. The Stein collection possesses about a dozen

of such manuscripts, mostly in rolls or fragments of rolls. Two textswere identified by Professor F. WV.K. Muller-one as a Buddhistmetaphysical treatise and the other as a portion of the fifth and sixthchapters of the Padmacintamanidharami-sutra.

The Turkish manuscripts are few in number, but they are the mostremarkable, comprehensive, and the best preserved of all the manu-scripts written in the Turkish runic script which have been found upto the present time. There is a Divination Book containing 65 concisestories, which have been suspected to be of Manichaean origin. An-other manuscript roll containing 338 lines is by far the greatest por-tion of the Khuastuanift or an early Turkish version of the ConfessionPrayer of the Manichaeans.

The Uigur materials consist partly of texts and records written on


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THE TUN-HUA'NG LIBRARY 695

rolls, mostly fragmentary nd some with Chinese ext on the obverse,and partly of written books. One of these is a standard treatise onBuddhist metaphysics. These Uigur manuscripts and books datingfrom the thirteenth and fourteentlh enturies were the ones added tothe original hoard from ater finds elsewhere, and they were found onthe top of all other bundles.

Besides manuscripts, here are about 70 pieces of woodcuts n theTun-Huang collection, comprising he earliest specimens of the art.

The printed roll, dated A.D. 868 and containing he complete ext of aChinese version of the Vajracchedika, s considered he oldest speci-men of printing known to exist at present. The Frontispiece of thisroll shows Sakyamuni sitting on his throne, attended by a host ofdivine beings and monks and discoursing with his aged discipleSubhuti. This roll also proves that China's xylographical rt had beenfully developed n designs as well as in printing n the ninth century.There are many small prints of single divine figures ntended for vo-tive deposits and generally accompanied y printed prayers n Chineseand Tibetan form. Pelliot collected about twenty pieces of Chineseprinting of the tenth century. The subjects are principally he threegrand Budhisattva, namely, the Manjusri, he Samantabhadra, ndthe Avalokitesvara. One Dharani in 7 pages dates back to A.D. 947,and another o 971.

There are also illuminated Chinese manuscripts ontaining minia-tures of the seated Buddha with varying attendants dressed n pot/ileaves. Some of them represent animal-headed emale demons andthe scene of hell. Pelliot found four beautiful manuscripts written onfine silk in perfect state. There is a large number of paintings bearing

dates ranging rom A.D. 864 to 983. We also find that temple bannersin silk with painted figures of Buddhist divinities still retain theirharmonious olors. Regarding banners bearing Chinese inscriptions,there are many with dates corresponding o the years A.D. 495, 501,and 513. There is one banner proved to be of the epoch of Hou Ch'in(A.D. 384-417).

HOLDINGS OF TUN-HUANG MANUSCRIPTS IN VARIOUS LIBRARIES

With the exception of the Tibetan manuscripts, he whole collec-tion of the Tun-Huang hoard acquired by Sir Aurel Stein was de-posited in the British Museum. Since Sir Aurel was the first personwho laid his hands on the hoarded manuscripts, naturally his selectioncovers a great variety of subjects in many languages. The Chinese


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manuscripts arried away by him in 1907 comprise about 3,ooo moreor less complete rolls and, besides these, nearly 6,ooo documents anddetached ext pieces. In his trip to Tun-Huang n I914 he stated thathe again took away with him about 570 more rolls. His collection con-tains also 20 or more Chinese printed rolls. In addition to theseChinese materials, he had acquired for the British Museum about 800Tibetan rolls and around 200 in other languages such as Brahmin,Sogdian, Turkish, and Uigur. The entire Tibetan collection was trans-ferred to the India Office library for final deposit in I9I0.

An attempt was made in I9I0 to have the Tun-Huang collection inthe British Museum cataloged. The task was assigned to Pelliot, andthe manuscripts were actually sent to Paris; but for various reasonsthe inventory had not been completed by the summer of 1914. VhenWorld War I broke out and the savant was called for military service,the project was dropped. Later the preparation was intrusted to Dr.Lionel Giles of the British Museum. Recently we understand thatthe work has been brought to completion and some portions of thecatalog have already appeared in the Bulletin of the London School of

Oriental Studies. In 1923 the Kuo Hsueh Chi K'an (n * f1iJ)published a translation of the London catalog by Lo Fu Ch'ang.7

For the Tibetan manuscripts, Dr. F. W. Thomas, librarian of theIndia Office, undertook the arrangements for having them system-atically cataloged. The labors, commenced by Miss Ridding butmainly continued since 1914 through Professor De la Vallee Poussin'sefforts, have been carried to completion.

Professor Pelliot's collection of the Tun-Huang manuscripts wasdeposited in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The savant himself

estimates the quantity of his selection at about one-third of what hefound in the treasure chamber at the time of his visit. According toDr. Hu Shih,8 the total number of manuscripts acquired by Pelliotamounts to about 2,500. Being a profound scholar of Sinology, Pelliothad certainly picked out all the most worth-while manuscripts. Heobtained practically all the remaining non-Chinese manuscripts left byStein. The Tibetan manuscripts he has represent the first four cen-turies of Tibetan Buddhism. His selection also includes a Kanjur, be-longing probably to the ninth century-a specimen much older thanthose that are known in all Europe. As far as Chinese lay literature isconcerned, his portion constitutes by far the largest.

7See I, No. I, I60-87. 8 Hu Shih Wen Ts'un (3d ser.), Chuan .


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THE TUN-HUANG LIBRARY 697

A simple catalog of the Tun-Huang collection in Paris was preparedby Pelliot himself. No scheme of classification was employed, andeach manuscript was given only an accession number. The process wasvery simple, and thus the catalog was completed long before theothers. Mr. Lo Fu Ch'ang translated the first part of the catalog andpublished it in the Kuo Hsueh Clii K'an9 in two instalments. Anothertranslation of the same catalog by Ch'en Hsiang appeared in theBulletin of the National Libra7-y f Peiping in I933."O

The remaining portion transmitted to Peking contains 8,579manuscript rolls and I,I92 detached pieces. This collection is nowhoused in the National Library of Peiping. In I929, Hu Ming-Shengwas assigned to undertake the work of cataloging the Tun-Huangmanuscripts. Though the work was completed, it has never beenpublished. At the same time the Institute of History and Philologyof the Academia Sinica delegated Professor Ch'en Yuan to prepare acatalog for this collection. The list, which is divided into fourteensections, was finished and published in the year I93i."1 Because of itsvaluable notes and simple arrangement, it has been highly praised by

Chinese scholars as the best among all the Tun-Huang catalogs.While the remaining portion of the hoarded manuscripts was being

removed from its original place of deposit to Peiping, many pilferingsand thefts took place on the road. The stolen goods were later sold inthe neighboring cities and also at the old Chinese capital. Among theprivate book collectors who succeeded in buying the manuscript rolls,Li Sheng-To of Tientsin was generally considered to have obtainedthe largest share. It was reported, however, that in the year 1935,Mr. Li resold his Tun-Huang manuscripts to a Japanese book col-lector." The other persons who had possessed a considerable numberof rolls were Liu T'ing-Ch'en, Heng Chieh-Mei, Chang Yu-Li, andChang Hsiao-Shan. Contemporary scholars such as Lo Chen-Yu, HuShih, Cheng Chen-To, and others also own a few of these hoardedmanuscripts.

According to the Tripitaka in Chinese,I3 the number of Tun-Huang9See I, No. 4 (I923), 7I7-49; III, No. 4 (1932), 733-71.IO See Vol. VII, No. 6 (1933).II In analytical list of the Tun-Huang manuscripts in the Vational Library of Peiping

(Peiping, I931).

I2 See K. L. Hsiu's Tun-Huang Shih Shih Hsieh Ching T'i Chi .... (Shanghai, 1937),and especially Dr. Hu Shih's Preface.

13 In the catalog section, I, io55-68.


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manuscripts owned by Japanese libraries and private book collectorsis approximately 8oo. The Dairen Museum, which is now housingthe Tachibana collection, takes the lead by having 363 rolls of theTun-Huang manuscripts. Koyen Shonin, a Japanese Buddhist monk,presented his 30 or more manuscript rolls to the Otani Universitylibrary. Among private book collectors, Fusetsu Nakamura, Gene-mon Mitsui, Teijir5 Yamamoto, and Kenji Kiyono possess the largestnumber of the hoarded manuscripts. But K. Tomeoka and Dr.Junjir5 Takakusu, who own some valuable Nestorian manuscripts ofthe Tun-Huang collection, are far better known than the others.

REPRODUCTIONS OF THE TUN-HUANG MANUSCRIPTS

Wlhen Professor Pelliot came to Peiping with the Tun-Huang manu-scripts in I909, he attracted a group of Chinese scholars, who werevery anxious to have some of these literary treasures reproduced.Among the early enthusiasts, Chiang Fu, Lo Chen-Yu, and WangJen-Chun were notable. Some of their reproductions were copied di-rectly from the manuscripts possessed by Pelliot at that time, and

some were photostats of the original specimens sent from Paris bythe French savant. As far as number of volumes is concerned, LoChen-Yu has reprinted by far the most numerous. Professor Liu Fu'sTun-Huang Miscellany (VA fI4NV) is another great contribution.While Liu was studying in Paris during the years I92I-25, hewent to the Bibliotheque Nationale to copy patiently some of theTuan-Huang manuscripts which he considered to be useful to Chinesescholars. The result of his labor was a book containing I04 items,which he classifies into three categories, namely, (I) popular folkliterature, (2) works on social life and conditions, and (3) works onChinese philology. So far only four volumes have appeared.

In the year I926 Professor Pelliot and Dr. Tohru Haneda publishedjointly the Manuscrits de Touen-Houang in two volumes in Shanghai,one including four works in photostats (ser. folio) and the other nineworks in printing (ser. octavo). The texts were based on the manu-scripts preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale.

As a political refugee, Tung K'ang visited Japan in I926 and I927.Trying to make the best of his exile, Tung decided to recover some ofthe Chinese rare books that were found in that country. Through his

acquaintance with some noted Japanese Sinologists, such as TorajiroNaito, Naoyoshi Kano, and Tohru Haneda, who had seen the Tun-Huang collections both in Paris and in London, he succeeded in copy-


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ing some of the photostats of the Tun-Huang manuscripts made bythem. Though Tung has not published any of these works in bookform, many Chinese scholars have often consulted his manuscript col-lection for research.

The above attempts were made chiefly to reproduce the Tun-Huang manuscripts preserved in London and Paris. In regard to thehoarded rolls kept in Peiping, the same sort of undertaking also tookplace. Hsiang Ta first reproduced some of the Buddhist folk litera-ture in the Bulletin of the National Library of Peiping14 in I932; andin 1936 Hsi! Kuo-Lin, once an assistant to Hu-Ming-Sheng, pub-lished a book called Tun-Huang Shih Shih Hsieh/ Ching T'i ChiYu Tun-Huang Tsa Lu (A 7f 4E*A 9. ;| AAE t Ut X A). Thisbook consists of two parts-the colophons and the miscellane-ous Tun-Huang manuscripts. It is rather surprising to note thatafter Pelliot claimed to have taken all manuscripts bearing colophons,there are still more than 400 items left over for the Peiping collection.The second part contains the following: (i) Buddhist literature ex-clusively noncanonical, such as folklore, popular epistles, and moral

teachings; (2) early Chinese pedagogical literature, such as elementarytextbooks; (3) forms and specimens of social correspondence andceremonial documents; (4) commercial documents, such as labor con-tracts and land-lease agreements; and (5) miscellaneous items, suchas genealogies, lists of missing sutras, etc. There are also many otherswho have reprinted a few special texts. Even after the Sino-Japanesewar began, the National Libraryr f Peiping delegated both Hsiang Taand Wang Chung-Min to go to Paris and London to make photostatsof the important Tun-Huang manuscripts there. It is reported's thatup to I939 more than 3,000 photostats of the Tun-Huang rolls in theBibliotheque Nationale alone had been completed.

In spite of the fact that there has been no formal agreement betweenChinese and Japanese scholars concerning reproduction of Tun-Huang manuscripts, the trend seems to show that there exists a tacitunderstanding. With very few exceptions, practically all the repro-ductions undertaken by the Japanese belong to Buddhist canonicalworks, and, likewise, those made by Chinese are mostly lay literature.In I9IO a group of Japanese professors of the Kyoto University weresent by the Japanese government to go to the old Chinese capital to

examine the newly acquired Tun-Huang manuscripts. Then in the4 See Vol. V, No. 6, and Vol. VI, No. 2 (1932).

'5 Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography (Chinese ed.; new ser.), I, No. I, 93.


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Dr. Yabuki discovered a few fabricated exts pertaining o that schoolamong the Tun-Huang manuscripts n Europe. In analyzing thesetexts the author revealed hat the doctrine and practices advocated bythe Three Stages School all owe their origin to the North dynasties(A.D. 386-58I). Hsin Hsing, who had a full recognition f the prevail-ing Buddhist thought of the age and sought confirmation hroughthese fabricated exts, founded the school. Because this school wasproscribed n A.D. 6oo and again finally n A.D. 725, we heard very littleabout it. These manuscripts have brought it back to light again.There still remains a huge quantity of recovered Buddhist iteratureto be explored, and when it is done the present texts on the history ofChinese Buddhism may have to undergo a thorough revision.

These hoarded manuscripts give us not only new light on ChineseBuddhism but also on other foreign religions n China, such as Mani-chaeism, Nestorianism, and Zoroastrianism. t is true that Chinesesources give here and there scattered information about them, butnone contains the basic texts of their teachings. As far as we know,there are four, possibly five, manuscripts ound in the Tun-Huang

collection pertaining o Manichaeism. These manuscripts helped thepublication of two very learned papers, namely, Professor Ch'enYuan's "History of Manichaeism in China"I7 and "Une Traite mani-cheen retrouve en Chine"I8 by Edouard Chavannes and Paul Pelliot.In the former article Professor Ch'en tells us the interesting storyabout the submersion of Taoism in Manichaeism in the T'ang periodand vice versa under the Sung dynasty. By the evidence given in theChinese Manichaean manuscript, he points out that a strict disciplinewas observed by its followers and that Manichaeism is not such amysterious religion as many people have thought it to be. The latterwork, though mainly a translation of the Chinese Manichaean manu-script preserved in Peiping, gives a comprehensive survey of Mani-chaeism as a whole.

As to Nestorianism, there are 8 important Chinese documents whichhave been recovered from the Tun-Huang collection.'9 ProfessorP. Y. Saeki of the Waseda University, who had spent more thantwenty years of study on Nestorianism, published Nestorian docu-ments and relics in China in 1937. As the author says in his Preface,one may learn from this book "a kind of Christian literature produced

17 Kuo Hsueh Chi K'an, I, No. 2, 203-40; original texts reproduced in I, No. 3 (1923),53 I-46.

18 7ournal asiatique, XVIII (ser. IO, 191 I), 499-617.I9 See P. Y. Saeki, Vestorian documents and relics in China, Preface.


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in the Land of Sinim during the Middle ages on the one hand andthrough these Chinese documents, one may compare these thoughtsof Oriental Christianity developed outside the sphere of the Graeco-Roman civilization with those of western Christianity fostered withinthe Roman Empire on the other." This book includes the Englishtranslations of all the seven Chinese manuscripts with an appendixshowing the originals. On the Nestorian Tsun-Ching (the Book ofPraise), one of the manuscripts preserved in the Bibliotheque Na-tionale, there is a statement indicating that there existed 530 sutras

belonging to Nestorianism and that they were on patra in the Brahmintongue. It further tells us that Priest Ching-Ching was summoned tothe court and that he was responsible for the translation of 30 books,of which a list is given.

Although no Chinese documents on Zoroastrianism have been foundin the Tun-Huang collection, the various Manichaean and Nestorianmanuscripts mentioned above furnish many sidelights on that religionin China. It is simply owing to the fact that these three religionsentered China about the same time (T'ang dynasty) and from the

same source (Persia) that Chinese scholars usually mixed them up.Aided by these Tun-Huang manuscripts, Professor Ch'en Yuan wroteanother noted article on the history of Zoroastrianism in China,20which was the first systematic treatise on that subject written inChinese.

The recovery of a considerable amount of Chinese secular litera-ture yields new information concerning the development of manybranches of Chinese literature. The important item is the discoveryof the popular literature of the T'ang period. Among the manuscriptsof the Tun-Huang collection there are many folk tales, epics, popularlyrics, and novels of the Middle Ages. Some of these, especiallyChinese novels and poems in the form of tz'u, represent the oldestspecimens that have ever been found. Perhaps the most significantfind is the 40 or more pieces of pien-wen (; t),21 which disappearedas a type of literature after the tenth century. Professor Cheng Chen-To has made a thorough study of the pien-wen and traced its originboth in form and in content to the influence of Indian literature. Tohasten the process of spreading Buddhism in China under the T'angdynasty, many of the sutras were translated in the pai-hua or col-loquial

style. Later, stories of Buddha and other Buddhist saints were20 Kuo Hsueh Chi K'an, I, No. I,27-46.21 It is a narrative written in a mixed form of prose and poetry. The prose part is for

dialogue, while the poetry part is for singing.


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written in the same manner n a mixed style of prose and poetry. Asthis style gained popularity, it was soon adopted for recitals aboutheroes and heroines n Chinese history. Before the discovery of theTun-Huang manuscripts, many Chinese cholars were greatly puzzledabout the sudden appearance f the ping-/ua (P: f:)'2 in the Sungperiod and equally perplexed by the rise of pao-chuan t )23 andtan-tz'u ($ gJ),24 which flourished under the Ming and Ching dy-nasties. The recovery of the pien-wen explains everything. The ping-hua, pao-chuan, and tan-tz'u an be called direct descendants of pien-wen, for they all come from he same source. Furthermore, omeof thetraditional styles in Chinese fiction and drama can also be traceddirectly back to the influence of pien-wen. Another interesting dis-covery was made by Dr. Hu Shih, who found n the Tun-Huang manu-scripts a few poems written in the pai-hua style by a T'ang poetcalled Wang Fan-Chih. These poems have been reproduced by Dr.Hu in his book, Chung Kuo Pai Hua Wen Hsueh S/ih (4pIN 4ffl ), with biographical notes and appreciative commen-taries. It seems that this poet has been raised from the dead and

given a laurel crown which he should have received many centuriesago.It should be remembered hat the manuscripts ound n the "Caves

of the Thousand Buddhas" represent not only the Chinese anguagebut also those of the people who dwelt and traveled n the Tun-Huangregion during the first thousand years of the Christian era. Such ma-terials would be of great significance o philological tudies. It is saidthat in India itself there were no manuscripts lder than the eleventhcentury; but the Indian pot/is in the Tun-Huang collection date backto the first century of the Christian ra, being the oldest Indian manu-scripts in existence. The identification of the Brahmin manuscriptsin the Tun-Huang collection has required much hard labor by manylinguistic experts. It was learned hat the Brahmin ystem of writingwas used in Chinese Turkestan for two foreign languages besidesIndian. After a great deal of trouble, Dr. E. Leumann and Dr. S.Konow, German and Norwegian scholars, respectively, determinedone to be Sakian, an Iranian anguage with many loan words from In-dian. The other, examined by Professor F. W. K. Muller, an authorityon linguistic material rom eastern Turkestan, was named Tokharian,

22 They are historical tales told in dramatic dialogues.23 A kind of recital in a mixed form of prose and poetry, chiefly circulated among

Buddhist followers.24 Same as the pao-chuan, except that it circulated among the common people.


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an Indo-European anguage resembling he Italic and Celtic. TheSogdian manuscripts, which have been fully studied by R. Gauthiotand A. Meillet, give the linguists another new specimen of an oldIranian ongue. Thus the Tun-Huang manuscripts ave helped to re-store three otherwise unknown anguages to the world, namely, theSakian, the Tokharian, and the Sogdian. Again, the Tun-Huang dis-covery has been credited with the solution of the unknown charactersin the Orkhon nscriptions ound in Mongolia n I889. They were de-termined only after the identity of the runic alphabet of the Turkishmanuscripts n the Tun-Huang collection had been discovered.

The discovery of 4 Chinese manuscripts, a printed text of theCh'ieh Yun (1J l), compiled in A.D. 6oi, and i manuscript ofthe T'ang Yun (O M), compiled in A.D. 75I, has given Chinesephilologists he original material on which they depend to reconstructthe Chinese spoken language of the Middle Ages. Professor WangKuo-Wei made a very detailed study of these early texts of rhymingdictionaries and contributed many valuable findings about them.25The Shi/ Yun Hui Pien (+ g 2 W), an analytical study of

these early texts on rhyme prepared by a group of professors at theNational University of Peiping, is another great contribution toChinese philology.

As we know that Tun-Huang s located in the westernmost part ofChina, records of that region have become very meager, especiallyafter the T'ang dynasty when it was under the rule of foreign ribes.From the hoarded ibrary we find a few important documents elatingto Tun-Huang tself. The Sha ChouWFen u and Sha ChouChih2l6ivesome new information oncerning he history and geography of Tun-Huang. The stone inscription dated 85i, which was translated byProfessor Chavannes, ouches on the political history of that region."A census of Tun-Huang,"'27 translated by Dr. Lionel Giles, is atypical Chinese specimen of a census record aken in A.D. 416. Thereare many other local documents, such as leases, contracts, and loanagreements, which can supply us with materials for social, political,and economic study of the whole region of Tun-Huang.

Finally, the great quantity of paintings, ilk remains, and woodcutstaken from Tun-Huang to Europe brings forth many interesting re-sults. Many of these paintings had been examined and studied by a

25 See his many articles n Kuan Tang Chi Lin (A ).26 In Tun-Huang Shih Shih I Shu, edited by Chiang Fu and Lo Chgn-Yu.27 T'oung Pao, XVI (I 915), 468-88.


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group of distinguished authorities of oriental art such as RaphaelPetrucci, A. Foucher, Paul Pelliot, Laurence Binyon, and manyothers. Professor Pelliot seems to think that Greco-Buddhist art wastransmitted to China by the Iranians. Foucher puts forth a theorythat Greek models were passed through the Buddhist art of ancientGandhara in northwest India to China. Binyon believes that Tun-Huang was a central tradition of Chinese Buddhist art and that thetradition of Buddhist art formulated in Gandhara, after assimilating

certain minor elements in its passage across eastern Turkestan, wastransformed in China by the genius of China's art, and so transmittedto Japan. Thus these paintings from Tun-Huang not only give usthe artistic aspect of cultural relations between China and the outsideworld but have also helped to clear up the question of the origins ofthe Buddhist art of Japan.

The abundance of silk remains among the finds prompts us totheorize that Tun-Huang was on the main, if not the only, route bywhich China's silk trade passed at all times into Central Asia and tothe west. Judging from the specimens of the silk remains, one wouldconclude that silk-weaving had reached a high state of technical per-fection in China a thousand years before the chapel was walled up. Inregard to designs, there is indication of the presence of Persian influ-ence, and printed silk with designs undoubtedly was derived from thePersian model. The recovery of some printed rolls belonging to theT'ang period has challenged the prestige of the Sung editions, whichwere considered the oldest printing in existence. Again we find aparallel in the history of printing since, just as in the West, the cuttingof wood blocks was first used by the Chinese for the reproduction of

divine figures and prayers and only later applied also to the printing oftexts.The few paragraphs above tell us only some of the obvious effects

of the discovery of the Tun-Huang manuscripts and pictorial remains.When Professor Ch'en Yin K'o went through a portion of the Tun-Huang manuscripts in Peiping, he pointed out specifically many of thetexts which could be utilized for various kinds of research. The Tun-Huang collection is still a great literary mine, not yet fully explored.If a complete union catalog could be prepared and if many of thevaluable documents could be reproduced and made available to allwho seek them, we are sure that many more fruitful results would beforthcoming in the next twenty years. By then it could truly be saidthat a dead library has been brought to life again.

Documents

150912462 the Discovery of the Tun Huang Library and Its Effect on Chinese Studies