Shaping the Stein collection’s Dunhuang corpus (2): the items from Cave 17’s ‘miscellaneous’ bundles

Posted by on
In a previous blog post , we looked at the instrumental role played by Wang Yuanlu during the selection of the items from the Cave 17. Wang, who directly chose from the small repository what to hand over to Stein for inspection, was very keen to divert his attention from the so-called ‘regular’ bundles, which were composed for the most part of Buddhist sutras in Chinese and Tibetan. During their first ever transaction, which took place between 21 May and 6 June 1907, Wang Yuanlu therefore began by handing over the ‘miscellaneous’ bundles, which he seemed to hold in low estimation. To Stein’s delight, these contained mixed and diverse materials, such as manuscripts in non-Chinese languages, illustrated scrolls, paintings, drawings, ex-votos, textiles, etc. Stein picked out any of the items that jumped at him as being particularly interesting and made sure to put them aside for ‘further examination’, the phrase that he used to refer to their removal in his transaction with Wang. This ...
0

Publication: Tibetan Zen

Posted by on

Discovering a Lost Tradition
The Stories Told by the Dunhuang Cave Manuscripts

Author: Sam van Schaik

Until the early twentieth century, hardly any traces of the Tibetan tradition of Chinese Chan Buddhism, or Zen, remained. The discovery of the sealed cave in Dunhuang transformed our understanding of early Zen, and its role in Tibetan Buddhism. Sam van Schaik of IDP has recently published a book of translations of key Tibetan Zen texts, with brief introductions discussing the roles of ritual, debate, lineage, and meditation in the early Zen tradition.

Shambhala Publications, 2015
PB. 240 pp. $21.95/£17.99
ISBN: 9781559394468

Available in the UK from Wisdom Books.

Comments

Post a Comment