missionaries and merchants [Liu Monuments in the Desert: A 1988, p. 140]. The Parthians, Yuezhi and Indians mentioned from Note on Economic and Social this time probably all came from Kushana and followed the Roots of the Development of commercial routes through Central Asia into China. Buddhism along the Silk Road Construction of Buddhist caves and statues increased during the Connie Chin third and fourth centuries, reaching its peak during the Northern Stanford University dynasties. There is a historical record of cave cutting in 397 CE in Liangzhou, and the Dunhuang To develop into a social institution, palace full of precious things for caves were started in the fourth a religion must have economic as the Buddha could claim or fifth century. The first caves well as religious roots. This paper Buddhahood from this act of merit. were sponsored by the Former will discuss material, much of it In this text, the main items used Liang, a dynasty that administered found at Dunhuang, which in honoring a Buddha consisted of a vast territory from the Hexi demonstrates the economic base the exotic merchandise later corridor, beyond Dunhuang, on which the Buddhist religion traded extensively along the Silk stretching into Gaochang (Turfan). grew and became an integral part Road: pearls, coral, lapis lazuli, In this area resided diverse of life along the Silk Road. Along and other precious substances peoples, including Han, the Turkic the way it was flavored by diverse were used as religious gifts [Liu Xiongnu and Xianbei, Jie (who ethnic groups, languages, and 1988, p. 93]. The decoration of were perhaps Indoscythians), Qing gender relations, as is revealed in Buddhist monuments with silk was and Di, who were related to the archaeological, art, and encouraged by the Mahavastu as Tibetans and Tanguts [Howard documentary evidence. well, leading believers to decorate 2000, p. 242]. As stations along stupas with thousands of silk the Silk Road, the Former Liang Beginning as a reaction against banners. The items most valued cities were places where differing Hinduism and rejecting attachment in society changed to include the cultures interacted. to all things, Buddhism, paradox- seven treasures needed for ically, spread along the routes of Buddhist worship. The worship of There are fourteen votive commerce and began to develop bodhisattvas, future buddhas who pillars dating to the Liang period into a facet of urban, commercial could use their accumulated merit which portray the synthesis of culture in the Kushan empire, that to help the faithful, by extension covered a territory which is now implied that merit, like goods, northern India, western Pakistan, could be transferred to others or and Afghanistan. During the exchanged for good deeds or transition to Mahayana Buddhism donations. in the Kushan area, the Buddha began to take on supernatural Buddhism had spread rapidly power; thus worshipping relics of across the trade routes all the way the Buddha could bring blessings to China by the Han Dynasty. In to the faithful. Stupas built to the first century, however, contain the Buddha’s relics spread Buddhist communities seem to across northern India. Though the have been mostly foreign families monks in these days were dwelling in urban centers. By the forbidden to worship relics, the second century CE, missionaries laity was encouraged to pay for the were translating the sutras in construction of stupas and their Luoyang. The noted translator- decoration, as well as for the monk Dharmaraksha’s ancestors fundamental requirement to were Yuezhi people who had provide food and housing for the immigrated to Dunhuang a few monks. generations before. The Parthian merchant An Xuan joined An Some Mahayana scriptures, Shigao, a monk, in translating the Fig. 1. Votive pilla, Qocho Ruin E (MIK such as the Mahavastu, claimed sutras, a reminder of the com- III 6838). Museum für Indische Kunst, that worship of and donations to a mercial nature of the foreign Staatliche Museen Preussischer Buddha offered tangible benefits. community and the close Kulturbesitz, Berlin. Photograph © For example, a king who built a relationship between Buddhist Daniel C. Waugh 2004.
© 2005 Connie Chin 8 Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism that developed in the third century. For example, one artifact [analogous to that in Fig. 1 (p. 8) but not shown here], was donated by a patron named Gao Shanmu and dated 428 CE. It has several sections, with a bottom frieze showing four males and four females; incised above each is a trigram from the Yijing, a Confucian text. The writing above that is an early Buddhist text, the Ekottaragma sutra. Above that is a band of Buddhas, and it is topped by the constellation of the Dipper (a Daoist symbol) on its rounded summit [Howard 2000, p. 255; Juliano and Lerner 2001, pp. 152- 155]. This cultural melding is reflected in some of the earliest Fig. 3. East slope of ceiling of Mogao Cave 285, photographed in 1908 by caves. Wenshushan [Fig. 2] in Charles Nouette. Source: Mission Pelliot en Asie Centrale. Les Grottes de Hexi and later, Cave 285 at Touen-Houang (Paris: Geuthner, 1914; facsimile ed. 1997). Dunhuang, include cells on the sides, which were likely used as including Siva, Vishnu and Ganesa, dynasty, the Xianbei rulers used meditation enclosures similar to flank the main Buddha niche on the Buddhism to lend themselves the Indian site at Ajanta. Syncretic west wall. The dated inscriptions legitimacy. Buddhist institutions, Daoist, Indian, and Buddhist on the wall are flanked on the right in turn, garnered political and themes crowd Western Wei Cave by male donors in Tuoba Xianbei- economic support from the 285, which is dated 538 and 539 style clothing, and on the left, by Northern Wei emperors. Much CE. On the ceiling, a central jewel women in long, striped skirts, with Buddhist building activity took is flanked by serpentine beings, larger figures of monks [Whitfield place. The Northern Wei emperors one holding a builder’s square 1995, p. 42]. honored Buddhist teachers as they (Fuxi) and the other a compass tried to control them. Emperor (Nuwa), early Chinese deities [Fig. As time went on, Buddhism Dao Wu appointed Faguo as Head 3]. Thunder gods, birds and became more and more integrated of Monks, and Faguo responded by phoenixes, some with Daoist into Chinese society. Although calling the emperor the modern- immortals riding them, sweep there was a brief period of day Buddha. The rulers and the across the ceiling. Indian deities, persecution, in the Northern Wei monasteries generally lived in harmony because the Buddhists submitted to the government. As the years passed, the number of monks and monasteries began to increase, and the Wei rulers found it difficult to rein them in. In the early 460s a monk from Liangzhou named Tan Yao became Head of Monks. He began the excavation of the earliest caves at Yungang, and had five gigantic statues of Buddha carved out of the cliff, thought now to represent the five emperors of the Northern Wei as incarnations of the Buddha. He requested permission from the Wei emperor to take war captives from Shandong as tenants for Buddhist Fig. 2. Wenshushan. Photograph © Daniel C. Waugh 1998. monasteries, and called them
9 “sangha households.” Each of whose patronage of Buddhists and pilgrims witnessed Buddhist these households paid “sangha laymen was without equal” [Yang, ceremonies in India, visited grain” to the local office of monks. tr. Wang 1984, p. 56]. monumental buildings dating back Tan Yao also asked to convert some The de facto ruler of the to the Kushan king Kanishka, and criminals and slaves to “Buddha Northern Wei dynasty at the time carried Buddhist writings back to households,” whose members Buddhism became a state religion China. The information they cleaned or cultivated land for the was Empress Dowager Wenming, brought back encouraged Chinese monasteries [Wei Shou, tr. Hurvitz who was Chinese. Empress Buddhists to finance rituals, cave 1956, p. 73]. Dowager Wenming was the driving temples, and statues. Emperors and empress- force behind the imperial chapels The Buddhist monasteries dowagers patronized Buddhism by at Yungang. A later Empress launched a large-scale votary building monasteries and Dowager, Lady Ling, was a central movement. The Northern Wei conducting ceremonies. The first figure in Northern Wei court donors expected to receive monastery built by the Northern politics, from making policies to benefits for their future lives and Wei rulers was the Yungningsi in appointing officials. She also was for their deceased relatives in Pingcheng in 476 CE, a landmark a lavish benefactor of Buddhism return for their donations. One of of the capital city with its seven- before a coup resulted in her being the favorite subjects of murals was story stupa. Princes of the royal thrown into the Yellow River and the Tushita heaven, or the Western family contributed the largest drowned. Of course, the greatest Land of Bliss of Amitabha, themes amount of money for monastery woman ruler in China was Empress that are common subjects in cave construction. In the Northern Wei Wu Zetian. During her rule in the art of the time. From a study of capital of Luoyang, some Tang dynasty, the largest Buddha dated inscriptions of the Northern residences were changed statue in Dunhuang, which faces dynasties, we find the most posthumously into monasteries. the visitor upon approaching the common expected beneficiaries The many royal widows and Mogao caves, was constructed were the donor’s direct relatives, concubines were sequestered in [Fig. 4]. This 99-foot high image especially parents. The second nunneries when the princes or of the future Buddha Maitreya group of primary beneficiaries was rulers died, a frequent occurrence emperors, and other statues were due to the constant warfare of the dedicated to empress-dowagers, time. Government ministers, court officials, local administrators, eunuchs, and even the imperial religious teachers, and lay guards built monasteries. Of six associations. While the royal family monasteries built by eunuchs in and ministers and officials Luoyang, five were nunneries patronized the large-scale [Yang, tr. Jenner 1981, p. 231]. construction, in one study it The adoption of Buddhism in appears that common people China opened up new roles for donated 48% of the statues, women. Traditionally confined to followed by monks and nuns the roles of daughter, wife, mother, (19.7%) and donors’ collectives Fig.4. Head of the Maitreya Buddha and mother-in-law, women were (18.9%) [Sato Chisui, “Study of of Mogao Cave 96. Photograph © Votive Inscriptions on Buddhist offered in Buddhist institutions Tese Neighbor. new alternatives outside family Statues in the Northern Dynasties,” life. In Buddhist nunneries women reveals a woman’s bodily form and cited in Liu 1988, p. 163].The could be educated to read and copy clothing [Fig. 5; Ning 2004, p. Buddhist associations were sutras, to manage businesses and 115]. Ning Qiang has argued keep accounts, as well as fulfill that Cave 96, containing the their primary duty of worship and huge sculpture, is a local meditation. As Yang Hsuan-chih confirmation about the describes the Hu-tung Nunnery legitimacy of the rule of Wu (Nunnery of the Chief of Tuoba Zitian and an example of how Monks) founded by the aunt of the social and political issues were Northern Wei empress dowager addressed through religious art. Wenming, “The nuns here were Basing their activities on the among the most renowned and Indian models of the Kushan accomplished in the imperial city, state, the monks of the skillful at preaching and discussing Northern Wei dynasty spent Buddhist principles. They often their time encouraging Fig. 5. The Maitreya Buddha of Mogao came to the palace to lecture on donations and conducting Cave 96, from below. Photograph © Tese Dharma for the empress dowager, rituals. Faxian and other Chinese Neighbor.
10 organized to collect donations. or “pure people” because they the witnesses will immediately Some associations had strong spared the monks the impure tasks be found to modify the contract. family and territorial ties, while of farming, handling gold and This transaction is acknowl- some appeared to be urban-based silver, and trading in goods. edged by both parties. Silver of groups, but they seem to have In the early part of the recognized purity, five ounces, incorporated several social strata Northern Wei dynasty, the local is to be paid to the seller. In in their ranks. monasteries at Dunhuang must case Zan is dispatched on state Buddhist institutions played a have been modest and rather duties or is not at home, a role in social activities, such as inconspicuous [Soper 1958, p. witness can act on his behalf. festivals, and were widely 157]. Dunhuang was not yet a The old contract will be kept by supported by the society. A great pilgrimage center, and the Monk Benjia. description of a Buddha’s Birthday monks must have toiled away at Witnesses from Jiaza tribe celebration in Northern Wei depicts their tasks in relative isolation, a Mazhu (owner of the a thousand images from various few miles south of the great east- horse) monasteries paraded through the west trade route of the Silk Road. thumb print streets of Luoyang, attracting large However, by the mid-Tang dynasty, crowds as they competed in as elsewhere in China where Ying nuo ren (purchaser) splendor with each other [Yang, tr. Buddhist institutions controlled so thumb print Wang 1984, p. 46]. The golden much land that they were regularly Yadengsu Zan carriage of Jingxing nunnery was attacked in memorials to the official seal covered by a canopy hung with throne as parasites on society, the A legal dispute about a young golden bells and beads of the Dunhuang monasteries had slave named Li Yang Bei showed seven treasures, so valuable that become an important part of the that he was also purchased for five the imperial guards were called local economy, owning land, ounces of silver [Pelliot 1081, in upon to carry it. As the parade of lending money, and operating grain Wang 1983, p. 48]. While lengths images stopped at the gate of the mills and oil presses. of cloth, grain, and oil were the palace, the emperor bestowed Documents from the famous currency used for lesser purchases, flowers upon them. Acrobats and Library Cave of Dunhuang, carried apparently horses and people were dancers accompanied the images, off by Marc Aurel Stein and Paul bought with silver. as the people emptied out the Pelliot to Europe, demonstrate the marketplaces in order to see the Another legal document role that Buddhist institutions parade. depicts a lawsuit against a nun, in played in the Dunhuang economy. which intergenerational tensions Monasteries had received land For example, there is evidence that are revealed as much as a property from donors as early as 420 CE, monks and nuns owned and rights dispute [Pelliot 1080, in when an official named Fan Tai built bought property, including slaves. Wang 1983, p. 48, tr. Ernest and the Qihuan Monastery and donated A contract from the Library Cave Connie Chin]: sixty mou (about .14 acre) of fruit [Pelliot 1297, in Wang 1983, p. 59, and bamboo groves for its upkeep tr. Ernest and Connie Chin] reads, The case of nun’s adopted [Gaosengzhuan 7, T 50.368c, in daughter Ch’en 1973, p. 126]. The Sui Year of the sheep, spring, “In the past, in the Year of the Emperor Wen donated 100 qing Shang Liesang and Shang Rabbit, near two tribes, (one qing equals 100 mou, or [illegible] at General Yufanbo and Tuihun, many about 14 acres) of land to the Headquarters. Bhiksu (monk) people suffered from cold and Shaolin Monastery at the foot of Zhang Benjia from Caiduo hunger, waiting to die. When it sacred Mt. Song [Chin-shih ts’ui- tribe… purchased a horse. It is was snowing in the city of pien, 77.16b, in Ch’en 1973, p. a young horse, with a white Shazhou, a poor person 126]. The monks themselves were forelock and color pattern like carrying a bundled up one year forbidden to till the land [Pai-chang leaves and spots on a domino. old baby came to my door and ch’ing-kuei, Record Sayings, in Should any dispute regarding said, ‘The baby’s mother has Ch’en 1973, p. 148].1 The Buddhist the horse arise, Jiazala Zan will died and I have no strength to Vinaya, Rules of Discipline, be the responsible party. In raise her. She will die in a few prohibits farming by monks, on the order to forestall disagree- more days. You can take her as grounds that farming harms living ments we make this contract. your adopted daughter or take things in the earth, and even If the horse’s body has no her as a female slave, either is watering plants harms life disfigurement or damage, it will all right.’ Out of pity I adopted contained in the water. This meant be immediately handed over to her. Like a twinkling of an eye, that in most cases cultivation was the monk Zhang Benjia. If the twenty years have passed. The done by tenant farmers or temple horse changes hair color or girl is now twenty-one. Now, slaves, sometimes called qing ren, pattern in the summer, one of because of [?], the Kung family
11 has instigated the girl’s transactions at the monasteries. Early industrial projects were changing her mind and she has Examples are a contract for the carried out either by rich and threatened me, saying, ‘My loan of beans, with an interest rate powerful families or by monas- maternal uncle is Ni Baitso.’ A of 50%, and a contract for a loan teries, which had access to the woman came from the Tongjia of silk, with a default penalty, large amounts of capital which Yamen [office concerned with which was double the amount were required. One of the most matters between Han and tribal borrowed [Stein 1475 and Pelliot profitable and widespread peoples], and the girl claimed 3004 and 3472, cited in Ch’en enterprises was the water- it was her mother. They talked 1973, pp. 165-167]. Perhaps, as powered mill, or nien wei, which like people insane. The girl also in central China, the Dunhuang ground grain to produce flour. was not keen on working as monasteries served as Several Dunhuang documents hard as before. Because of this pawnbrokers, or repositories are accountants’ reports on income I appeal to you to render where local patrons could keep derived from mills owned by local judgment that the girl belongs their wealth. One document from monasteries.3 For a ten-year to me as designated by the the British Library Dunhuang period between 924 and 945 CE, agreement. No one will be able Archives website is an inventory Pelliot manuscripts 2032, 2040, to ask for her, and no one of cloth and grain, perhaps of 2049 and 3234 show rent earned should do harm. I earnestly ask donations. Part of it says [Fig. 6; by Qingtu Monastery from its you to issue an order with the IDP, BL Or. 8210/S.5691/R.1, tr. milling installations yielded more official seal.” Ernest and Connie Chin]: than 60 shih of flour annually Instruction: “According to the Zhang Yangde [Gernet 1995, p.146].4 In addition, adoption agreement, she is not presents it received 18 shih of bran used as free to select a master. She feed for horses and 5-18 shih of diagonal weave coarse wool must follow the original coarse flour (tsu mien) that the cloth, 2 zhang 2 chi agreement.” gauze sieves had not allowed to Because of the availability of Zhang Ande pass, which was used to feed the scribes and the moral authority total presents female workforce at the monastery 5 lent to contracts signed there, diagonal weave coarse wool [Gernet 1995, p. 355]. Gernet temples in the ancient world were cloth, 2 zhang 5 chi estimates that half of this amount would have provided the needs of a main site for writing contracts, diagonal weave coarse wool the religious community at Qingtu exchanging money, and lending cloth, 1 zhang 2 chi money. This was true in Greek with its population of fifty to temples, the temple in Jerusalem, Monk Dingxing seventy monks at that time. and in Buddhist monasteries. The total presents The flour was also used as a Mahasanghikavinaya sutra justifies Gaocheng coarse wool, 2 medium of exchange and sold to this kind of commercial activity, zhang 7 chi.2 the laity. The monasteries had to saying that if goods donated to the sangha were not consumed by the monks and nuns, the surplus could be sold or loaned out to earn a profit, to be used to support the sangha and Buddhist facilities. This was the scriptural basis of the wu-jin-tsang, or “Inexhaustible Treasury,” a kind of Buddhist savings bank of donations by the faithful which became a flourishing commercial institution in the Tang dynasty. The revenues of the Inexhaustible Treasury were used to repair Buddhist temples and monasteries, to relieve the sufferings of the poor, and for offerings to the Buddha [Taiping kuang-chi, 493.4047 (Peking 1959), in Ch’en, 1973, p. 163]. Many documents from the Library Cave at Dunhuang give Fig. 6. Account Note, BL Or. 8210/S.5691/R.1. Photograph © The British details about commercial Library, used with permission. All rights reserved.
12 pay artisans, hold banquets for much in demand for lamps burning carrying bowls. The people in the officials and lay associations, and in the Buddha Hall, illuminations mural are probably preparing for provide for monks traveling that frequently took place at the a vegetarian feast, one of the through the region. There were monasteries, and for cooking. In activities sponsored several times many feast days on the Buddhist addition, oil served as currency. a month by lay organizations. calendar, which involved not a According to documents from The Buddhist lay associations trivial amount of expense. Dunhuang, one Chinese liter of oil were attached to monasteries and was worth 30 chi (feet) of cloth. A The mills were owned by the assisted in various programs to foot of cloth was worth six liters of monasteries, but maintained by spread the religion among the cereals, so the value of a liter of professional millwrights. Ban- populace. They helped organize oil was approximately 180 liters of quets, to which the millwrights and fund the numerous festivals, millet or wheat [Gernet 1995, p. were invited, celebrated the end often centered around popular 355]. The oil presses were of repair work and opening of the sutra lectures by eloquent monks. operated by specialized house- sluice gates. A document from The Dunhuang manuscripts are holds, which paid the monasteries Anguo nunnery shows the accounts replete with papers and fragments rent spelled out in contracts [Pelliot of the abbess for the year 886, which contain information on the 2032, 2040, 2049, 3234, in Gernet including expenditures of .3 shih lay societies and their activities. A 1995, p. 355]. An example of of millet, .5 sheng of oil, and .1 whole category of manuscripts on expenditures denominated in oil shih of wheat for a banquet on the the British Museum’s Dunhuang comes from Pelliot 3234: .0015 occasion of the opening of the Archives website is devoted to this shih for a quilted gown and a meal; sluice gates [Pelliot 3107, in type of material, which they label .05 shih of oil for the sculptor- Gernet 1995, p.147]. “club circulars.” A typical one reads artisan Ling Hu and workers who [Fig. 7; IDP, BL Or. 8210/S.6066/ Oil presses at Dunhuang were coated the walls [Gernet 1995, p. R.1, tr. Ernest and Connie Chin]: another source of income for the 151]. religious communities. Oil was one You gentlemen are invited on of the most precious commodities, Cave 317 at Dunhuang (Middle the 24th of this month in the Tang, 825-830 CE) early morning (6-8 AM) to meet has a lovely wall at the door of Yaming Temple mural showing these to present contributions. If commodities as used late, the fine will be one beaker in daily life in the of wine. If no show, the fine courtyard of a will be one half container of monastery wine. This notice must be [Whitfield 1995: Vol. passed on quickly with the 1, p. 214]. At the accompanying document. If back of the court- late, you will be fined. yard is a Buddha Ren Zhen Year, 4th month, 23rd figure with bodhi- day sattvas on either Clerk Kung side. Two monks sit in the corners, one Notice copied to 13 names reading from a listed. sutra. In the middle Another such notice was sent of the courtyard a to the membership of a lay long silk banner flies association on the occasion of from a pole, and a Buddha’s Birthday [IDP, BL monk stands Or.8210/S.5813/R.1, tr. Ernest and beneath the banner Connie Chin]: reaching up to place Circular an oil lamp on a five- wheeled candelabra, Second month. Buddha’s preparing for an Birthday Celebration. illumination. A huge From officer in charge of the amount of food, association, Kung Zi Sheng: including noodles On the 20th day of this month and flat cakes, is before evening, deliver one dou piled on a large table and five sheng of wheat and to one side, two sheng of millet. This notice Fig. 7. “Club circular,” BL Or.8210/S.6066/R.1. Photograph © The British Library, used with attended by laymen must be immediately circulated permission. All rights reserved.
13 and must not stop or you will Indeed, it is striking how many and Buddhist institutions flourished be fined. women donors appear in wall under their patronage, becoming Signed murals in the caves. Often there an integral part of society and She Guan (officer of are as many women donors economy. People from all walks of association), Song depicted as there are men. life were involved in Buddhist She Zhang (officer of Women appear in nomad dress in institutions, participating in rituals, association), Zhang. the earlier caves, and in Chinese donating goods and time, and dress in some later caves. They are enjoying feast days. Many women Both Song and Zhang have ini- both lay and monastic, wealthy took part, and developed in roles tialed it with the word zhi and ordinary people. outside the family as Buddhist institutions granted new spaces for “acknowledged.” The Buddhist peoples of Inner them in society. Acts of Buddhist Asia and China, like the Greeks and Most lay supporters, of course, devotion, patronage, and politics Romans, early Christians and many were ordinary people. One caused works of great art to be others, apparently also felt the document in the British Library created and sustained, finally to be need for a female deity or deities. describes a society of fifteen left buried in desert sand, a The most important feminine icon, Buddhist women founded by a nun panoramic fusion of the cultures of the boddhisattva Avalokitesvara, for the promotion of friendship many peoples who lived and or Guanyin, was transformed from among women [Stein 527, in Ch’en traveled along the Silk Road. 1973, p. 288]. Dated 959, the a male to a female on the long trip document opens with a statement along the Silk Road and over the that centuries. Two Tang Caves at About the Author Dunhuang, 45 and 194, show the our parents give birth to this Boddhisattva’s different genders. Connie Chin works at the Center body but friends increase its In Cave 45 [Fig. 8, p. 15] for East Asian Studies at Stanford value; in times of danger we Avalokitesvara is male, protecting University. A graduate of Oberlin support each other; in times of a merchant caravan “carrying College, she studied Chinese at misfortune we rescue each valuable treasures by a precipitous Chinese University of Hong Kong other. In dealing with friends, road in an infinity of lands full of while writing for the South China our words are to be trust- bandits” [Cartouche quoting the Morning Post. She also taught worthy. Older members are to Lotus Sutra in the wall painting in English at Tunghai University in act as older sisters; young ones Cave 45, tr. Whitfield 1995: Vol. Taiwan, where she began to study as younger sisters, paying II, p. 316]. In Cave 194 Avalo- classical Chinese. She is intrigued deference to the older ones. kitesvara is depicted as the by Silk Road cultures and loves to The regulations are established epitome of plump female beauty, read early Chinese history. E-mail: with the mountains and rivers arrayed in the most elegant of High
14 Cultural Relics Publishing House, Wang 1983 Yang, trans. Wang 1984 2000, pp. 239-242. Wang Yaoqian. Dunhuang Tufan Yang Hsuan-chih. 547. Translated Wenxian Xuan by Wang, Yi-t’ung. A Record of International Dunhuang Project Chengdu: Sichuan Minzu Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-Yang. International Dunhuang Project, Publishing House, 1983. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton British Library. http://idp.bl.uk. University Press, 1984. Wei Shou, trans. Hurvitz 1956 Notes Juliano and Lerner 2001 Wei Shou. 506-572. Treatise on Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Buddhism and Taoism. English 1. An exception to this was the Lerner, eds. Monks and Merchants: translation by Leon Hurvitz, Chan school, whose leader, Huai Silk Road Treasures from Appendix II to an English Hai, had a slogan, “One day no Northwest China. Gansu and translation of the original Chinese work, one day no food.” Ningxia, 4th-7th Century. New York: text of Wei Shu CXIV and the 2. One chi is about 30 cm. One Abrams; Asia Society, 2001. Japanese annotation of Tsukamoto zhang is 10 chi, or 3 meters. Zenryu (repr. from Yun-Kang, The Liu 1988 Buddhist Cave Temples of the Fifty 3. Such reports were presented at the end of each year to the Xinru Liu. Ancient India and Century A.D. in North China, vol. xvi, supplement). Kyoto, 1956. assembly of monks at the relevant Ancient China: Trade and Religious monastery. The famous Japanese Exchanges A.D. 1-600. Delhi: Whitfield 1995 pilgrim monk Ennin described such Oxford University Press, 1988. a session at the Zusheng Roderick Whitfield and Seigo Monastery in Chang-an in 840. Ning 2004 Otsuka. Caves of the Singing 4. A shih (or dan) is about a bushel, Qiang Ning. Art, Religion, and Sands: Dunhuang: Buddhist Art the amount a person could carry Politics in Medieval China. from the Silk Road. 2 vols. on his back. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i London: Textile and Art Press, 2004. Publications, 1995. 5. Pelliot 2049 contains the amount of tsu mien in the year 930 Soper 1958 Yang, trans. Jenner 1981 which was expended on women Alexander Soper. “Northern Liang W.F.J. Jenner, trans. Memories of who were employed to sew and Northern Wei in Kansu.” Loyang: Yang Hsuan-chih and the canopies and make a bonnet for Artibus Asiae, 21 (1958): 131- Lost Capital (493-534). Oxford: the head of a bodhisattva in Qingtu 164. Clarendon Press, 1981. Monastery.
Fig. 8. Avalokitesvara with scenes of the bodhisattva’s miraculous intervention, illustrating the Lotus Sutra. Dunhuang Mogao Cave 45, photographed in 1908 by Charles Nouette. Source: Mission Pelliot en Asie Centrale. Les Grottes de Touen-Houang (Paris: Geuthner, 1914; facsimile ed. 1997).
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