SMC 2
Manuscripts and Travellers:
The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim
by Sam van Schaik, Imre Galambos
This study is based on a manuscript which was carried by a Chinese monk through the monasteries of the Hexi corridor, as part of his pilgrimage from Wutaishan to India. The manuscript has been created as a composite object from three separate documents, with Chinese and Tibetan texts on them. Included is a series of Tibetan letters of introduction addressed to the heads of monasteries along the route, functioning as a passport when passing through the region. The manuscript dates to the late 960s, coinciding with the large pilgrimage movement during the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song recorded in transmitted sources. Therefore, it is very likely that this is a unique contemporarytestimony of the movement, of which our pilgrim was also part. Complementing extant historical sources, the manuscript provides evidence for the high degree of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in Western China during this period.
Contents
Acknowledgementsvii
Introduction 1
The Dunhuang Manuscripts13
Buddhist Pilgrimage to the West in the Tenth Century35
Tibetans of the Borderlands61
The Structure of the Manuscript 77
From the Gantong Monastery87
The Baoenjing107
The Tibetan Tantric Texts 127
The Letters of Passage147
Conclusions177
Maps 181
Bibliography 185
Index205
Plates213