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Problems in the History of Chinese Bindings

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Problems in the History of Chinese Bindings PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF CHINESE BINDINGS LI ZHIZHONG translated by FRANCES WOOD THE origins and development of different binding formats form a subject of importance amongst the many aspects of the history of the Chinese book that require further research. In 1986, I published an article on the distinctions between ym^jsAe ['pleated sutra' or accordion binding with the first and last pages pasted onto outer boards], the 'whirlwind' binding and the 'Sanskrit' [or po{ht type binding], in order to clarify the forms and dispel errors.^ While in London in September of that year I examined some of the manuscripts found in the cave at Dunhuang, in China, currently held in the British Library, and as I looked at them, saw that they provided further valuable evidence for the study of the evolution of the different types of Chinese bindings. ^SANSKRIT' BINDING Fanjia zhuang^ literally 'Sanskrit' binding but more graphically translated as po{ht format, is a non-Chinese form which originated in India, the home of Buddhism.^ The naiuG fanjia is an early Chinese term used to designate the format of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures written on palm leaves. Another name was heiye jing [palm leaf sutra]. Amongst the Chinese literary references to palm leaves are two from the account of the early pilgrim Xuan Zang (602-664), ^' y^ P [Account of the countries to the west] where in juan 11, describing Nepal he says, 'Not far to the north of the capital city are many palm groves in an area of over thirty /; [about ten miles] in circumference. The leaves are long and glossy and all the documents of the country are written on them.' In his preface to the account of the country of Fusheyan, Xuan Zang notes with approval, 'there, poems are produced and perfected and the texts inscribed and passed down on palm leaves'. In juan 18 of the You yang za zu [an eighth century miscellany compiled by Duan Chengshi] it states, 'Palms originate in Moqiezhi; they are six to seven feet high and evergreen and there are three types . The sutras of the western regions are written on the leaves of all three types. If the leaves are carefully preserved they will last for five or six hundred years'. In the account of the Southern Man [Man was a general term applied to minority tribes of the South-West] in the Jiu Tang shu [History of the Tang dynasty, compiled 940-945], Suipodeng state, south of Linba, is said to produce '. rice which ripens every month. There are scholars there who write 104 on palm leaves.' The Xin Tang shu [a later history of the Tang, compiled 1044-1060] describes the western regions including '. Tianlan, where there is a script and the people are skilled at calendrical calculations. They believe in the Buddhist heavenly way and record events on palm leaves.' Such accounts amply demonstrate that the Chinese were aware that in ancient India and much of tropical South Asia, it was customary to use palm leaves as the major writing material and that the early Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India were commonly written on this type of leaf The form of binding of books and documents is affected by the basic materials used. As the Buddhist sutras of ancient India were written on palm leaves, their binding had to adapt to the material and thus arose what the Chinese call 'Sanskrit' binding (fanjia zhuang). [The term consists oifan meaning 'Sanskrit',yVa 'pressed between or sandwiched between* and zhuang 'binding']. The term was originally used in China to designate Sanskrit Buddhist texts written on palm leaves and bound between boards.-' The number of leaves depended upon the length of the text inscribed. The leaves were all pierced at the same point on each leaf, threaded with hemp or silken cords of considerable length, and placed between wooden or bamboo boards which were also pierced and threaded with cord. The length of the cord meant that it was possible to turn the leaves without unthreading them; in storage, the cord was wound securely round boards and leaves. We know about this form of binding from surviving examples and also from literary descriptions. In juan 25 of the Zi zhi tongjian [Mirror of history, late eleventh century] discussing the year 862 in the reign of the Yizong emperor, it states that the emperor was 'excessively devoted to Buddhism, to the extent of neglecting the affairs of government. He was often at the altar in the Xiantai [complete peace] hall receiving instruction in the dharma from the monks of the inner temple and there were always monks in attendance. He also set up a prayer mat inside the palace and chanted sutras himself with a fanjia or po{ht in his hand.' A note on this text by the Yuan dynasty scholar Hu Sansheng explains that, 'What is meant hy fanjia is a palm leaf sutra, bound between boards.' Two important points emerge, one, that Hu translates 'palm leaf sutra' ^s fanjia, secondly, he suggests that a palm leaf sutra, once bound becomes 2i fanjia [or 'Sanskrit' binding], and that it is the binding that requires the extension of terminology. In the Fo xue da ci dian [Great Dictionary of Buddhism, 1922, reprinted 1984], Ding Fubao (1874-1952) defines/i2«;/fl by supplying the alternative terms 'palm leaf sutra' or 'Sanskrit text box'. He defines 'Sanskrit text box' as one of various terms for palm leaf binding. 'Many layers of palm leaf are placed between two boards and bound with cord. This is easily inserted into a box so the whole is called a 'Sanskrit text box'. Du Bao of the Sui (A.D. 581-618) in his Da ye za ji [Random notes on the Great Task] includes a vivid description of the appearance of palm leaf texts, demonstrating the technical use of the term fanjia: 'The southern gate of the eastern capital [Luoyang] was the Cheng fu [Continuing happiness] gate and to the south of the gate was a bridge over the Luo River which led to the place where sutras were translated. The sutras came from abroad, and were written on palm leaves. The leaves were like those of the 105 loquat, with a broad surface, inscribed horizontally, and arranged according to the length of the sutra. They are now called y^«/Vfl.' In the first juan of the Xu gao xiu zhuan [Further account of elevated cultivation], it states: *In the twenty-three years from the reign of Liang Wu Di [502-547] to the beginning of the reign of Chen Xuan Di [557], sixty-four sutras, collections, records and biographies in 2^0 juan were written as translations of sutras on palm leaves in 24.0 jia [or pot^htY^ and in the second ^M^M, 'In 606, a decree was passed which referred to the sutra translations of the Shanglin yuan [Upper grove garden] of Luoyang which had exceeded itself in the glorious task and produced 5647/^1 containing over 1350 items.' The Buddhist works brought back to China by Xuan Zang were listed in the Xi yu ji^ '224 Mahayana sutras, 192 Mahayana commentaries and fourteen Vinaya texts; fourteen Sthavirah texts, fifteen Mahasahghikah texts, in 520 Sanskrit bindings, comprising 670 items'. In the Song gao seng zhuan [Bibliographies of eminent monks], Fotu xiehan is described as a 'Translator o£fanjia\ and the ^rsi juan of the same work describes Shibukong returning to the capital in 746 having collected Prajnaparamita po{hi\n Ceylon. References in juan 3 include one to a monk from the western borders who collected potM^^ the period 836-840 and the instruction that 'those who translate fanjia texts should not employ excesses of Confucian elegance'. The account of India in the 'foreign countries' section of the Song shi [History of the Song, compiled 1343- 1345], describes the monk Dao Yao who, 'returned from the western regions with a crystal Buddha figure and forty fanjia sutras that he had been given' and states that after the Kaibao reign period (969-976) there was 'an endless stream of monks from India with gifts of pot^hf. These accounts demonstrate the etymology of the Chinese term fanjia; it meant Sanskrit Buddhist sutra texts written on palm leaves, originating in India but it also referred to Buddhist texts translated into Chinese. The term arose from both the content {fan - Sanskrit) and the exterior appearance of the binding {jia - sandwiched between boards) and later came to serve as a synonym for both palm leaf sutras and Indian Buddhist texts. In the past, there has been a confusion between fanjia or pot^kT format and jingzhe zhuang or 'pleated sutra binding' [sheets of paper pasted together, pleated and encased between a board or boards] and many writers have failed to make any distinction between them at all. As I have tried to demonstrate, the original meaning of fanjia comprises texts written in non-Chinese script, bound in the/>(?(Ar format, quite distinct from the Chinese text of sutras, which from the fifth to the ninth century were usually in the scroll format and from the tenth to the twentieth century frequently bound in the 'pleated sutra' form.^ In the British Library collection from Dunhuang, there are a number of examples of this originally Indian format in a Chinese transformation. S.5532 is a manuscript version of an uncanonical Buddhist sutra, Chan men jing, written on nineteen leaves of thick, coarse hemp paper, inscribed on both sides. There are six lines of script on each page, written top to bottom on the leaves which measure 20 x 7.5 cm.
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