Dated Chinese Manuscripts in the Stein Collection

Author(s): Lionel Giles

Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1937),
pp. 1-25
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African
Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/608171
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 BULLETIN
OF THE

SCHOOLOF ORIENTALSTUDIES
LONDONINSTITUTION
PAPERS CONTRIBUTED
Dated Chinese Manuscripts in the Stein Collection
By LIONEL GILES
(PLATE I)
III. EIGHTH CENTURY A.D.
HIS century is cut in two by the fateful rebellion of An Lu-shan.
The first half was a period of halcyon peace and prosperity,
hardly affected by the Palace intrigues and massacres that followed
the abdication of the Empress Wu. The long reign of the Emperor
Ming Huang has some claim to be regarded as the Golden Age of China;
for the magnificence of the Court was solidly based on the well-being
of the people, and while trade and commerce flourished, the arts of
poetry and painting reached a height which has never since been
equalled. Buddhism, however, suffered a partial eclipse after its great
patroness had passed away; and even in the remote region of
Tunhuang a gradual decrease in its influence is clearly observable.
Several copies of the new translation by I-ching of the Suvarna-
prabhasa-sftra appear in 703; but during the fifty years following
there is a striking dearth of orthodox Buddhist texts in our list, while
Taoism, fostered as it was by the Court, enjoyed a brief spell of
popularity.
The second half of the century presents a melancholy contrast
to the splendours of the first. Civil warfare brought widespread ruin,
and the dynasty tottered under the onslaught of border tribes. The
Tibetans swept over large tracts of Eastern Turkestan, and though the
isolated cities appear to have offered a gallant resistance to the flood of
invaders, all were ultimately engulfed. The dated texts of this period
include a number of quasi-legal and other secular documents, some of
VOL. IX. PART 1. 1
BULL. S.O.S. VOL. IX, PART 1. PLATE I.
2 L. GILES-

which throw a glimmer of light on the conditions of poverty and

distress prevailing in the Tunhuang region. That Buddhist doctrine
was undergoing a radical change is shown by the emergence of the
Amida cult and the appearance of several new apocryphal suitras
in which increasing importance is attached to the repetition of meaning-
less formulae, charms, or spells. From now onward the practice of
copying sfutras as a means of gaining merit seems to have steadily
declined.

703 (CHOU: usurpation of the Empress Wu).

S. 4268, 1252, 523, 3712, 3870, 4989, 6033. r
I] ) 3E
Chin kuang ming tsui sheng wang ching (N. 126), ch. 1, p'in 1, 2;
*ch. 6, p'in 12; *ch. 8, p'in 15-20. These are the earliest dated
specimens of the Suvarna-prabhasa-uttamaraja-suitra,as translated
by I-ching. Nanjio states that Dharmaraksa's translation (see under
A.D. 568) was the most popular in China; but it does not appear to
have been so at Tunhuang, for although the latter is represented by
forty-two rolls in the Stein Collection, there are nearly five times as
many of the other.
For some reason, the copies of this siutra almost invariably include
a sort of phonetic glossary at the end. In S. 523 only two characters
are selected for ) -JJ analysis, namely, f ([ ,) and A
( E The colophon of this roll
E). is in tabular form, and the first two
columns run thus: * 5J+ J -- I- a #D A

: NI i3F ]E T " Newly translated at the Hsi-ming Temple

in Ch'ang-an, in obedience to imperial command, by the san-tsang
and Master of the Law I-ching, who also gave unity to the composition
and corrected the characters, on the 4th day, jen-hsii, of the 10th
moon, the first day of which was chi-wei, of the year kuei-mao, the
3rd of Ch'ang-an in the Great Chou dynasty " [17th November,
703]. The above agrees with the statements in K'ai yiian lu, ch. 9,
and Sung kao seng chuan, ch. 1. From the remainder of the colophon
we learn that V , j, Pao-ssut-wei, an Indian monk, e M si
"verified the meaning of the Sanskrit "; another Indian, ~ fIj
% Shih-li-mo-to, whose name appears in two other Stein MSS.
~
(the first character is accidentally omitted here), a ~ 3 "read
the Sanskrit text" ; eleven scholars e t "verified the meaning";
two E ~* " wrote from dictation ", and two |Jj pi "examined the
final result ". These monks belonged to no fewer than eleven different
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 3

monasteries, four of which are known to us only from this MS., whereas
the ]f PJ Hsi-ming and the " ] Lung-hsing occur very frequently.
The {f 4 H Fo-shou-chi and the X ~ T'ien-kung are mentioned in
S. 2278 (see Bull. S.O.S., VIII, p. 23), which also has the J* )M
to balance the * J ]Sjff here.
We cannot be certain that 703 was the actual date of copying, but
the occurrence of " Empress Wu " characters in S. 523 and 4989 makes
it highly probable that these two rolls at least were copied before the
beginning of 705, when the Empress retired from active life; for our
MSS. seem to show that the use of her characters was discontinued
immediately after that event. Those in S. 523 are $*, )q, jE, X,
and & ; curiously enough, El is written in its ordinary form. The
second character in the name gL ), which is not to be found in the
dictionary, may stand for _, though I cannot find that this was ever
taboo, or one of those altered by the Empress. In S. 4989, 0 appears
for X, f5 for iE, and E[ (though not consistently) for M]. S. 523 is
one of the few examples of a poorly written sfutra. S. 6033 is a tiny
fragment containing only part of a phonetic glossary and the beginning
of a tabulated colophon dated 703, but it evidently belongs to this
series. S. 4268 contains ch. 1 complete, though extensively patched,
S. 1252 the end portion of ch. 6, and the other rolls ch. 8. All have
as colophon the first two columns quoted from S. 523, above, only in
S. 4989 it is left unfinished. The handwriting varies from good to
mediocre, and no Empress Wu characters occur.

704 (CHOU: usurpation of the Empress Wu).

S. 622. This is a good, widely spaced MS. on soft yellow paper,
28-5 x 34-5 cm., containing the end of what is probably quite a
short siutra,dated R 5 El $ :iE + tff El " the 15th day of the
5th moon of the 4th year of Ch'ang-an" [21st June, 704]. That it is
apocryphal appears not only from its similarity in parts to the ~ j
g Hsin p'u sa ching and b H iJ Ch'iian shan ching, but also from
its allusions to fi T'ai Shan and the Chinese kingdom of
L
Western Liang. The following Empress Wu characters are found in
the text as well as in the final note: $l, , (written gf), )A (written
J ), and El.
708 (T'ANG).
S. 2136. ;k )R M Ta pan nieh p'an ching (N. 113), ch. 10,
p'in 4(7)-5(1). A fine MS. on a roll of very good paper dyed a
remarkably rich yellow, and 281 feet long.
 4 L. GILES-

The colophon is in two parts, the first in handwriting of the same

size as the text of the sultra. It expresses, in an ultra-elegant literary
style, the sorrow of two brothers and their family for the loss of their
parents:
, a J i a a f M E m , [for ]
A I I?iW a A Ak Xn pHmm Z ,! >
tt X W X Hfi^& r^ a gV j^ sit
t a ffi T ^

;t ~ , + ~ ~ , f,i ,. - [for
X ~ i
1]W i a m iZ I MJa Z Pi as

mISM
-
m X A J
X X f a
gi 9 i X @ i
-if fi IJ [for ~] _ h f~j "Because it is impossible
to requite the tender, unremitting care [of parents], which indeed is
illimitable as Heaven itself; and because the fleeting shadow [of
existence] and the feelings evoked by separation cause grief that will
last one's life long : realizing that, unless one relies on a firm foundation
of merit, there is nothing wherewith to repay their kindly deeds,
Ch'ung-hui and Ch'ung-su, having had the misfortune to lose all too
soon their revered parents, have watered their graves with tears, but
only increased their sorrow, have looked up in prayer to the canopy
of heaven, but all to no purpose. Furthermore, as the recipients of
bounty as children at their knee, having felt at an early age the joy
of united brotherhood; calling to mind the love experienced when
under their control, and how erstwhile they were imbued with the
wisdom of their precepts [lit. ' the beauties of pearls and jade'] ;
reflecting on past nurture and upbringing, with the memory of their
assiduous care deeply engraved in the heart; reverently grateful
for their pains and toil, and conscious that any attempt to make due
return must necessarily fall short: Ch'ung-hui and Ch'ung-su have
on behalf of their deceased father and mother reverently caused a
section of the Nieh p'an ching to be copied, in the hope that this slight
offering, made in all sincerity, may bring about for sentient souls
who have crossed the distant ford a tranquillization of karma and a
heightening of happiness, that those in the darkness of the underworld
may be brought across to salvation, that the barriers [of passion] may
be dissolved, and virtue made complete ".
For i f, etc., see Shih ching, ii, 5, viii, 4; for ;It -N, see Shih
ching, ii, 1, iv, 4, and T'oung Pao, xxiv, p. 368. The * $ ~ g Pen
ts'ao shih ming, quoting from the ancient ~ l "Bird Classic ",
informs us that the raven feeds its mother for a period of sixty days
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 5

in return for the feeding [j PiJ] which it receives during the first
sixty days of its life as a nestling.
What may be termed the formal part of the colophon now follows
in the same hand but much smaller writing: ; k : tI --

P5 a 1H l : a 4 ? R t A a l IX; "Copied to the order

of the disciple Hsieh Ch'ung-hui, ch'ao-i-lang, Magistrate of T'ung-ku
Hsien in Ch'eng-chou [south Kansu], and shang-chu-kuo, on the
26th day, ting-ssui, of the 5th moon, the first day of which was jen-
ch'en, of the 2nd year, mou-shen, of Ching-lung in the great T'ang
dynasty " [18th June, 7081. Then comes the list of persons belonging to
the family who associate themselves with this act of piety: Chung-
hui's wife, Madame Jt Yin, fi * M Lu-she-na; his younger brother
Hsieh Ch'ung-su, also an official; his brother's wife ;k i9
Ling-hu Ta-fa; his grandson ~ j| Ying-yen, with the title of shang-
chu-kuo; Ying-yen's wife 4 *t j R Ling-hu Ch'eng-shih-
B
hsiang; his grand-daughter Pfl iE f Ming-cheng-hsin; his grandson
: t Ying-liang; his grandson A jC Wei-cheng; his grand-daughter
3J E Hsiao-yii; his grand-daughter -Xi 4 Mu-niang; his grand-
daughter PA fI to Ming-shang-chih; and his grandson i|
Hung-hao.
The three-syllable personal names of some of the women are
explicable as being derived from Sanskrit; thus, Lu-she-na is Rocana,
which means " illuminating ", and Ch'eng-shih-hsiang is Satya-siddhi-
laksana, or " sign of complete truth ". The absence of any sons or
daughters of Ch'ung-hui is remarkable, and one wonders if % J and
4. *k may not denote the grandchildrenof the deceased, that is to say,
the children of Ch'ung-hui and his brother. These seem to be arranged
in order of seniority. On the other hand, f undoubtedly refers to the
younger brother of Ch'ung-hui himself. Altogether, this enumeration
of a Chinese family is decidedly interesting, and may be compared with
the families given in the Census of Tunhuang of A.D. 416 (see T'oung
Pao, ser. 2, vol. xvi, pp. 469 seq.).

710 (T'ANG).
S. 2424. [*A mi t'o ching.] This is another copy of the smaller
Sukhavati-vyuha in Kumarajiva's translation (N. 200), of which we
had an earlier and better example dated 694. The present MS. is only
mediocre, but there is a colophon of some interest, which closely
resembles one written thirty-five years before (see under date 675):
6 L. GILES-

--- HE
--$ + - X +-H 1~~~_ A--I 1

~ ? ;,
1_m > "Copied by Li Feng-yii at home in the wei hour
[1-3 p.m.] on the 11th of the 12th moon of the 3rd year of Ching-lung
[15th January, 710]. On the 11th day of the 12th moon, the female
devotee Madame Teng reverently caused a copy of the Amita Sutra
to be made, firstly for the benefit of our Divine Emperor and Empress
that their sovran influence may never be exhausted; and secondly,
on behalf of the living beings of the universe, that they may one and
all reach the Western regions [i.e. Amitabha's paradise] and together
share in the highest degree of felicity ". This pious aspiration appears
grimly ironical in the light of subsequent events; for only a few months
later the Emperor (Chung Tsung) was poisoned by his " divine"
but adulterous consort (j JR Wei Hou), who then tried to seize the
supreme power, but was herself massacred with all her clan.
The roll is of thin, whitish buff paper, 6 feet in length.
Mr. Clapperton calls it a " cream-coloured, long-fibred paper: 22 laid
lines to the inch. Soft and tough with a very long tear, and inclined
to be wild-looking, yet well closed, with a smooth, even surface.
Thickness -004 inch. The laid lines are even and parallel, and the
mould has been a good one. The surface, though smooth to write upon,
is covered with fine, hairy fibres. Composition: Paper mulberry ".

711 (T'ANG).
S. 2723. -X pIMCt g *Tsan a mi t'ofo ping lun. "Eulogy
of Amitabha Buddha, together with a dissertation," ch. 1 (_h). The
present roll contains only the end of the eulogy (a note tells us that it
consisted of 195 columns, of which twenty-two remain in whole or in
part) but the whole of the dissertation, which has the separate heading
BP & _ :: ? i " A brief dissertation on the meaning of the Land
of Peace and Joy " (Sukhavati). This will be found in K. Supp. B. xii,
3 (1), no. 1402 in Saeki's catalogue of that collection, whence we learn
that it was composed by i , T'an-luan, a monk of the Wei dynasty.
The text is the same as ours, with some slight variations, but the word
f is inserted before _? in the title, and there is also appended a
glossary (- j) of considerable length, giving the meaning as well as
the sound of a number of words. I am inclined to think that ~ _? in
our text must be a mistake, as the MS. appears to be quite complete,
being finished off by the following note: s J + JL E]
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 7

-* _T~j 7Y A ; " Copied by the Buddhist disciple Chang Wan-chi

on the 19th of the 3rd moon of the 2nd year of Ching-yiin " [llth
April, 711].
The whole of this roll, which is 13 feet long, has been photographed
and reproduced in Professor K. Yabuki's P,%JV ~ |, pl. 100, with
a brief description in the accompanying j -pt, p. 297.

715 (T'ANG).
S. 3563. i;% - g~ * T'ai hsiian chen i pen chi ching,
ch. 2. Only 31 feet of this roll remain: it is a Taoist siutra,part of the
same text as S. 3135 (see under A.D. 678), written in a very good hand
on yellow paper. Colophon: ml j - t - Jt- XF H 3
-i in tA " Reverently copied by the Taoist priest So
Tung-hsiian on the 25th of the 11th moon of the 2nd year of K'ai-
yiian" [5th January, 715]. So Tung-hsiian appears again as copyist
of the next roll, and also as the owner of an important MS. (S. 1857)
entitled t j- -f - Anfj ig " Sfutraof Lao Tziu going up into the
West and converting the Tartars ", ch. 1.

715 (T'ANG).
S. 2999. *; ?_- .;l* A m # * T'ai shangtao pen t'ung wei miao
ching, ch. 10, p'in 1-4. Another Taoist sutra not to be found in the
Canon, with exactly the same colophon as the preceding. It is a
fine MS. on bright yellow paper of good quality, 15 feet long.

718 (T'ANG).
S. 80. _i ? . - * Wu shang pi yao, ch. 10. The title may be
translated " Secrets of supreme importance ". This is a very small
portion of an enormous Taoist compilation in 100 chiian which is
contained in vols. 768-779 of the _ Ip jE t il I. Pere Wieger
speaks of it in his Index (no. 1124) with his usual bluntness as " un
amas informe d'ineptes balivernes ". Our fragment is only 3 feet long,
but has a certain interest in that ch. 10 happens to be missing in the
present Canon. It deals, inter alia, with the hells corresponding to
each of the five sacred mountains, the last two being a it Ming-ling
beneath '[r llj Heng Shan in the north, ruled by the Black Emperor,
and t ~ P'u-liao beneath W tll Sung Shan in the centre, ruled by
the Yellow Emperor. Colophon: m, 7~ =" ,*HA H

e t 2ndA ) 4 X 1
6Xomo y o[1
'i a M
r Xc"h,'On
the 8th of the 2nd moon of the 6th year of K'ai-yuiian[14th March,
8 L. GILES-

718] this sfitra was reverently copied as an act of worship to the order
of Ma Ch'u-yu, priest of the Shen-ch'iian Monastery at Tun-huang
Hsien in Sha Chou, and his nephew the Taoist priest Ma Pao-i, on
behalf of their deceased ancestors in seven previous incarnations, the
parents that begot them, and all the living beings of the universe ".
Although the transmigration of souls is in no sense a Taoist doctrine,
we see that it has been duly taken over from the Buddhists, while the
phraseology of the Buddhist colophon is also minutely copied. On the
other hand, it would appear that Taoist priests or monks still retained
their own names instead of adopting religious appellations like their
rivals.
This is a good MS. on dark yellow paper, much defaced by the
intrusion of a Vinaya text which has been scribbled between the
columns recto as well as covering the back of the roll.

720 (T'ANG).
j % g * A mi t'o ching. Yet another copy of the smaller
S. 1910. HiP
Sukhavati-vyfuha (see under A.D. 710), with dharani. What remains
is a mere fragment hardly more than 2 feet long, but it has a postscript
which also appears, though in a somewhat different form, in the Korean
edition of the Tripitaka: ti nR - B Emffl 1 m f Q a a a

^- -t" The precedingdhran has

^ ? ~ ~
' C ? "The preceding dharan.mI has
already been translated and issued for circulation. If, after
cleansing the mouth in the morning with a willow twig, scattering
flowers and incense before the image of Buddha, kneeling and joining
the palms of the hands, it be daily recited seven, fourteen, or twenty-
one times, the four grave sins, the five wicked acts, and other trespasses
may be wiped out, the existing body will be afflicted by no untimely
calamities, one's final destiny will be the realm of immeasurable
longevity, and reincarnation in a female form will be escaped for ever.
Now that the Sanskrit text has been re-examined, and the Indian
Vinaya monk Buddhasangha and others have been consulted, we know
that the majestic power of this dharani is beyond all conception:
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 9

if recited one hundred times in the evening and again at noon, it

destroys the four grave sins and the five wicked acts, and will pluck
out the very roots of sin, ensuring rebirth in the regions of the West.
If in sincerity of spirit one is able to complete 200,000 recitations, then
perfect intelligence is born, and there will be no backsliding; if
300,000, then one will see AmithabhaBuddha face to face, and with
absolute certainty be reborn in the Pure Land of tranquillity and bliss ".
This is followed by the note: j;x $A ji A/ H ~Bp X
- 4 , ," : &. - t "Copied by the disciple of pure faith Sun Ssiu-
chung on the 8th of the 4th moon of the 8th year of K'ai-yiian"
[19th May, 720].
721 (T'ANG).
S. 3510. # - *Miaofa lien hua ching, ch. 5, p'in 14-17.
A good MS. of the Lotus Sfitra on soft brownish yellow paper, 363 feet
long, with a note at the end: H fH i ' X X X " Received and
[its precepts] upheld by the lay devotee Yin Hsiian-tan." This seems
to be the meaning of - j, a phrase which is often found in the
Tunhuang MSS. Another note follows in a different hand: f [;C]
JL T iAX - H V P v X i t )J ^I " -4 VJ
" On the 1st
--- day of the 5th moon of the 9th year of K'ai[-yiian]
[31st May, 721] the lay devotee Yin Chia-li unrolled [and read through]
the whole of the sultra on behalf of all the living beings in the Ten
Regions of Space ".
721 (T'ANG).
S. 5714. A mutilated fragment of a letter ending: f jJx L
t-- H , WE i n " On a day in the llth moon of the 9th
year of K'ai-yiian [Nov.-Dec., 721]. From the Military Councillor
Wang [ ] ". This is followed by a hardly legible docket in large
characters, and another scribbled note.
723 (T'ANG).
S. 610. Three separate texts are included in this roll: (1) The
longest, P al ,t Ch'i yen lu, or " Face-expanding Record ", is a
collection of some thirty or forty humorous anecdotes. Two sub-
headings are given after the title, namely, f 4 "Nimble wit " and
" Awkward situations while a
U f ", third, fJJ 'fi "Jests ", appears
only in the body of the text. This work does not appear to survive
elsewhere, but its title will be found in the list of sources quoted at the
beginning of the ;* 2f )& T'ai p'ing kuang chi, that vast miscellany
of folklore and marvellous tales from which I have already extracted
 :

10 L. GILES-

the story of the Sha-chou dragon (Bull. S.O.S., VII, pp. 554, 555).
The latter was compiled in A.D. 977, some two and a half centuries
after the date of our MS. Colophon:: f ?C+ -- 4;J Yi ti
B 7 " Copied on the 5th of the 8th moon of the 11th year of
X

K'ai-yiian " [9th September, 723]. Parallel to this, but in a different

hand: gl E -T: j [for . ?] - M "Given by Liu Ch'iu-tzufto his
second maternal uncle ".
(2) m
J a ~ ~r f { "A miscellaneous collection
of 1,300 important characters in current use ". There are fewer than
200 characters in this list as it stands, and they are grouped under
three headings: m in % "The Two Primordial Principles ";
a nli , " Clothing "; and g %j " Music ".

(3) Verso, in a more careless hand: a short note on lucky days.

The roll is 19 feet long, composed of dark yellow paper, and slightly
damaged at the end.
729 (T'ANG).
S. 2624. No title remains to this, but from the body of the text
we find it to be the apocryphal sfitra -X ^ J Eg
Chu fo yao hsing she shen kung te ching, which is first mentioned in
K'ai yiian lu, A.D. 730, that is the year after the date of our present
roll. There are altogether nine copies of this sutra in the Stein
Collection, two of them complete. The title in all cases is -A
(3 m) IN H * A I
Colophon: f P M p p
2It - ~ 5- l
"
f^E tf +t t -$ +Ai UEJ
H Copied by the
lay disciple Shih Kou-jen on behalf of his parents in seven previous
incarnations and the parents who begot him [in this life], those who
have died in the past and will die in the future. Recorded on the 15th
of the 6th moon of the 17th year of K'ai-yiian" [15th July, 729].
The roll is 5 feet long, and only 24 cm. wide. The paper is soft, buff-
coloured, and rather unevenly dyed.
743 (T'ANG).
S. 316. k ~ , e P *Ta sheng ch'i hsin lun, 1 ch. This, like
both the other copies of the Mahayana-sraddhotpada-sastra (without
commentary) in the Collection, is Paramartha's translation (N. 1250,
K. xxii, 5, d), although Siksananda had produced his new version some
forty years before. Similarly, Kumarajiva's popular version of the
Diamond Sfitra was never ousted from its dominant position, though
the great Hsiian-tsang was one of the rival translators.
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTI ON 11

- ` ft N
Colophon: i W A q q + E= fl- & # Al
"Copied by the monk Ling-hui of the Ch'ao-su Monastery on the 13th
of the 8th moon of the 2nd year of T'ien-pao" [15th September, 743]. In
red: J m] " Examined and found to agree ". I have not found another
mention of the Ch'ao-su Monastery. The name seems to mean, "Bring
the laity to salvation." This is a very good MS. Verso is part of a
Buddhist sutra with commentary of the Dharmalaksana school, in a
running hand, covering 8 feet. The total length of the roll is 19 feet.
749 (T'ANG).
S. 1324. The end of an official letter written in a good bold hand by
f1J , Chang Ho-chung to S ;X I Teng Kuang-chao, and dated
X / A ] J3 ti+ "the 10th of the 4th moon of the 8th year
of T'ien-pao " [1st May, 749], with a docket in large characters. It
will be noted that ij is used here instead of *. The substitution was
officially made in the 1st moon of the 3rd year of T'ien-pao [744], and
remained in force until the 2nd moon of the 1st year of Ch'ien-yiian
[758]. I can discover no reason for the change.
749 (T'ANG).
-
S. 4216. i L t a ? ; ,fi, g Ta pan jo po lo mi to hsin
ching, 1 ch. The has been wrongly added to the title both at the
b
beginning and at the end, in fainter ink. This is the only occurrence
among our dated MSS. of the Prajina-paramita-hrdaya-sfitra,trans-
lated by Hsiian-tsang (N. 20), although there are over 100 copies of
this very short sutra in the Collection.
Colophon: X /I ) $ ;L nM :T v a Wf A : X t
"Copied in the 9th moon of the 8th year of T'ien-pao [Oct.-Nov.,
749] by the disciple Yin Yu-yen on behalf of his deceased father ".
721 (T'ANG).
S. 6454. +~ 5 ~ Shih chieh ching. A work on Taoist discipline,
in imitation of the Buddhist Vinaya. It treats of the ten commandments,
the first five of which are the same as the Buddhist, and of + E E
J Z p", fourteen kinds of personal demeanour when conversing with
different classes of people. Immediately after the text, eight lines of
comment in verse have been inserted in a schoolboy hand.
-
Colophon: j] +- ica ^ ip E ,Z e*H

*" W A )^ W* 1fa: pa1 Pi k #ff

7 m q1 W
12 L. GILES-

This long effusion, in small, closely written characters, is the work

of one Chang Hsiian-pien, aged 27, a lay member of the K'ai-yiian
Taoist monastery in Feng-i Li, Yii-kuan Hsiang, Tun-huang Hsien,
Tun-huang Chiin, and dated the 26th day, keng-hsii, of the 1st moon,
the first day of which was i-yu, of hsin-mao, the 10th year of T'ien-pao
in the great T'ang dynasty [26th February, 761]. It sets forth his sense
of guilt after slaying a man, and his redemption by means of this text.
The phraseology, as usual, shows strong Buddhist influence. Yii-kuan
(Jade Gate) Hsiang is one of the country districts enumerated in
S. 2669: see Bull. S.O.S., VII, p. 551.
This is a good MS. on yellow paper, 21 feet long.
751 (T'ANG).
S. 6453. ;- i ti g *Lao tzi tao te ching, ch. 1, 2 (_, T).
As always in the Stein MSS., the text is divided into two parts, Tao
ching and Te ching. The former begins with chapter 7 (of which only
two or three characters remain, while chaps. 8 and 9 are mutilated),
the latter is complete. The handwriting is the same as in S. 6454,
above, and the colophon begins in exactly the same words, but breaks
off at X3 f JO. The paper is rather more coarse. The variations from
the received text are numerous, and should be carefully studied by
any future editor or translator.
753 (T'ANG).
S. 3686. -]J] 4: g *Chin kang pan jo ching (N. 10). This copy
of the Diamond Sutra is well written on dark yellow paper, forming
a roll nearly 15 feet long. The colophon shows the date in an unusual
place: yiJXj iV ^ X 3 +:_ *-~ , * t fm g f
"[Copy made to the order of] the field officer Wang Feng in the 12th
year of T'ien-pao for the general benefit of all living beings in the
universe, that they may all share in the happiness resulting therefrom ".
754 (T'ANG).
S. 6006. 0 4 P Wei hsing lun, " Reflections on the [Buddha-]
nature." This short discourse, which unfortunately is in a badly
mutilated condition, appears to be complete, though it has no title
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 13

beyond that given in the colophon: J -- =i: _ ?

X _t t+

mme;MW
sa ^^ W
A 5 iA Ml
^
"On the 13th of the 5th moon of the 13th year of T'ien-pao
[8th June, 754], after having superintended a feast and merry-making,
about midday I rested awhile at home with Shih Huai-ch'ing, dis-
cussing the Law of Buddha; Shih Huai-ch'ing then proceeded to take
the pen, and Huai-pao dictated this Wei hsing lun in one chiian.
Known firstly as Chang Huai-pao, secondly as Huai-kan, thirdly as
P'u-chiao. Fifth appellation, I-lun. Designated by the elders Meng,
Fan, and others as the lay disciple Hai-shen ".
The composition of this note is clumsy, and the meaning of the last
portion is somewhat obscure. The roll is about 2 feet long, and at the
end we find the heading of another text: --+ k K -T flt 4
T
"Eulogy of the Ten Great Disciples, by Seng Tzui-chieh ". A sub-
heading is half torn away, but appears to be * SIj ^ t ,, V -
" No. 1. The Wise Thoughts of Sariputra ". The handwriting is clear,
the paper whitish but discoloured.
755 (T'ANG).
S. 3392. This MS. was removed from a fragmentary copy of the
Diamond Suitra,to which it served as backing. It is part of an official
document, 4 feet long, containing three brief reports in a bold hand,
dated respectively the 2nd May, 22nd June, and 24th June, 755.
These dates, and also the text of the last report, are covered with
repeated impressions of a large red seal, which reads , N I,=1Ht,J f
;? fl1 "Seal of Mr. Chi, shang-shu and ssu-hsiin ". j X "Superin-
tendent of meritorious deeds" was originally the title of an officer
whose functions are described in ChouLi, xxx, 1. Between the reports,
in minute but widely spaced characters, are titles of functionaries.
The end of this year, 755, saw the outbreak of An Lu-shan's rebellion,
the repercussions of which were felt so disastrously in Tunhuang.

755 (T'ANG).
S. 2500. ~ 1 E* P'u sa chieh pen su, commentary on
Bodhisattva-pratimoksa, agreeing with K. Supp. A, lx, 1 (2). This
roll, 74 feet long, is made up of three fragments containing practically
the whole work in 3 chiian, but not quite consecutive. At the end is
a note: E pq 1] f [for R] ; _" Composedby the Buddhist
sramana I-chi". s ; is the name of a well-known Korean monk
14 L. GILES-

whose biography will be found in Sung kao seng chuan, iii, 7. This is
followed by a colophon: R [W1]-+ P i A. ag l & 1 IA Pq R
e I;
M ~ i 1ll {f > Pr1 ?P3- ek '= " Copied and
heard [i.e. taken down from a lecture] in this school of sila in the 14th
year of T'ien[-pao]. This [commentary] is truly the way of salvation,
inasmuch as it establishes a guide for our conduct. Note by the
sramana T'an-yu, a native of Tunhuang ". The date is rendered certain
by the use of &, which as we saw superseded p from 744 to 757
inclusive. This is a fine cursive MS. on thin, soft, whitish paper, some-
what damaged by a series of holes.

756 (T'ANG)
S. 717. t J NE *Miao fa lien hua ching (N. 134), ch. 6,
p'in 21-3. The end of the roll is mutilated, and only the first part of
the colophon remains: X, V + ? t * A -I EHI "On the 20th
^
of the 8th moon of the 15th year of T'ien-pao . . ." [18th September,
756]. A good, bold MS. on rather thick yellow paper, which
Mr. Clapperton describes as having a " smooth surface, well polished
without any hairs. Thickness, -0055 inch. Hard, thick, and tough,
with a very resistent tear. Very closely woven and even in texture.
Laid lines scarcely discernible. Very hard-sized and easy to write on.
This paper was made just before the rapid deterioration in the quality
of. Chinese papers [due to An Lu-shan's rebellion]. Composition:
Paper mulberry ".
757 (T'ANG).
S. 1698. This is a roll containing ) ] : , i *Ta pan
jo po lo mi to ching, ch. 112. On a patch at the back is inscribed:
-+ g -- a " Sftra of the Ten Commandments.
2nd year of Chih-te " [757].
758 (T'ANG).
-
S. 5856. Apparently the end of a letter, with date:
'i- F
H Hl
E "Respectfully . . . on a day in the 2nd moon
of the 3rd year of Chih-te " [March-April, 758]. The regnal period
7C Ch'ien-yiian began in the 2nd moon, but, of course, the change
was not reported in Tunhuang until much later.

759 (T'ANG).
S. 5357. *Miao fa lien hua ching, ch. 1, p'in 1, 2. Colophon:
xF = $-L X +ti F 3i P9 3 MJM RE A a - *ftl i
* Mx i +?B~$SP
ftVT fl !Easa ^gt^>&Af,
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 15

-
J_; x ~a ] n "A,, ,, IL f ]
A ~ B" Note of personal
copying done by Huang-fu Ming-luan, Assistant commissioner at the
military station of the Jade Gate, hsiao-wei of Chao-wu, Right Garrison
commander of P'eng-ch'ih Fu in Ning Chou, che-ch'ung-yiian-wai,
chih-t'ung-chengyuan, decorated with the purple-and-gold fish-satchel,
shang-chu-kuo,on behalf of his deceased wife Madame Shang, on the
15th of the 7th moon of the 2nd year of Ch'ien-yiian " [12th August,
759].
Chao-wu was in i ] ][ Chang-i Chiin (the modern Kanchow).
The official designation , p was first used under the T'ang. This is
a fairly good MS. on light yellow paper.

760 (T'ANG).
S. 3824. A 4-ft. roll of buff paper. Recto: part of a dharani sutra,
in mediocre handwriting. Verso: The end of chapter 18 of the Filial
Piety Classic, with title: t * X
A X -- _ Yil chu
hsiao ching chi i ping chu, 1 ch. The commentary, though said to be
" imperial ", is not that which has come down to us under the name of
Hsiian Tsung. There is further text in red, then four lines in Tibetan
character, though the language appears to be Turkish. Next comes
part of a calendar, or list of days, perhaps for divination purposes.
Below this is an " order " (!j), with the date $ ; --$ " 3rd year
"
of Ch'ien-yiian [760]. The month and the day are added in a little
frame: : Y = t - IJ " 27th of the 5th moon" [14th July].
The handwriting versois very clumsy and inaccurate, probably that of
a schoolboy.
762 (T'ANG).
S. 4000. f{- f g I * Fo shuo chih hui hai tsang ching,
ch. 2 (T). This is an apocryphal siutraincorporating certain passages
from the Nieh p'an ching (N. 113). Four copies are preserved in the
Stein Collection: S. 2169, which contains the whole of ch. 1, gives the
complete title as ; ft i OR t V N P,t B L, I f. S. 5181 is
dated 659, and has already been discussed. S. 4103 contains ch. 2,
without the beginning. All these are very good copies of the middle of
the seventh century. The present roll, though not so fine a MS., is
interesting on account of its colophon, which records a personal
experience of the owner: k) : . x t ; )tiX JL H + g

Aj f t; ~: g~
ffi g -TN1~~ 1_;~ W~ { -P [forgi]
sIJ4 i g *R-A e e A TNHii w XdX?e
16 L. GILES-

~ff ? i {fXi " On the 29th of the 6th moon of the 1st year
of Pao-ying in the Great T'ang dynasty [25th July, 762], the monk
Ch'ang-huiof the Yen-hsing Monastery at the Middle Capital [Loyang],
having been requested to proceed to this desert station west of the
city of Tunhuang to make an offering, accidentally came upon this
sfitra, an imperfect copy without a title at the beginning. Now he is
about to go to the east branch of the Sung watercourse in order to
report to Buddha, and is hoping to procure the first roll of the sutra,
and thus form a complete copy. For the information of posterity he
has inscribed this note at the end of the roll, setting forth this
unexpected occurrence. And he, with all his companions, prays that
the merit accruing therefrom may fall upon them all, and that together
with all living beings they may participate in the Way of Buddha ".
The roll is 20 feet long. The paper is unevenly dyed, and ranges
in colour from a pale pink to a sort of reddish yellow at the end.

763 (T'ANG).
S. 2436. * ~ X ~ ~-~ ~; ~ Ta sheng ch'i hsin lun liieh shu,
ch. 1. An unknown commentary on Asvaghosa's " Awakening of
Faith " (N. 1250), by the monk - B) T'an-k'uang. It would seem to
be a slightly abbreviated version of his Ta sheng ch'i hsin lun ) "
kuang shih, of which there are three MSS. in the Collection, containing
ch. 3 and part of ch. 4. Colophon: ;~ t -] nc )^
-
"E ^ ]^ i, " Record of copy made in the Lung-hsing Monastery
at Sha-chou at the beginning of the 9th moon of the 2nd year of
Pao-ying " [October, 763].
The nien-hao had been changed to fi W Kuang-te in August,
but the news had not yet reached Tunhuang. i[ for 4 is probably
an inadvertence, as the latter had been in use again for nearly six
years (see above, A.D. 749). This lost commentary is of great interest
to Buddhist scholars, and Dr. Yabuki reproduces the whole roll,
441 feet long, in his n, , f , pl. 56-61 (1). It is a good cursive
MS. on thin buff paper.
764 (T'ANG).
S. 721. ~ ~IJ te jff R Chin kang pan jo ching chih tsan,
ch. 2 (T). A commentary on the Diamond Sutra, also by T'an-
k'uang, ch. 1 of which is preserved entire in S. 2782. This is one of the
longest rolls (76 feet), and the whole of it is in cursive script. Colophon:
X X = t ' X i f " RA
X w is' AXHE
A iX Pt
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 17
" Copying completed by the Buddhist scholar P'u-tsun in the Lung-
hsing Monastery at Sha-chou on the 5th of the 6th moon of the 2nd
year of Kuang-te " [8th July, 764].
Verso is a patchwork of various texts, the sheets of which have
been put together more or less at random in order to make a roll for
the Diamond Sftra commentary. We find (1) a commentary on the
Nirviana Sftra; (2) a compilation from several sftras by ~ l a.
3E Prince Wen-hsiian of the Ch'i dynasty (A.D. 479-501); (3) a com-
mentary on the Vimalakirti Sfitra; (4) a fragment of the " Three
Stages " teaching. The handwriting of these ranges from cursive to
k'ai-shu. The paper is thin, soft, and whitish in colour.
765 (T'ANG).
S. 2616. | gp % 4J: J* [ r X m Yao shih liu li
kuang ju lai pen yian kung te ching (N. 171). The text is complete
except for mutilation at the beginning. This is our second dated
specimen of the Bhaisajyaguru-purvapranidhana-sfitra (cf. A.D. 695,
S. 5005), which became a great favourite in the Tunhuang region, no
fewer than sixty-nine copies having been brought thence by Sir Aurel
Stein. Colophon in a fine neat hand : g - N f^ !2,i W
-- A t -- ) -] ?: E ,--, ~ f ~- " The disciple
Chia Ch'ung-chiin, praying for peace, copied out the Yao shih ching
in 1 chtian with pious intent on the 15th of the 12th moon of the 2nd
year of Kuang-t"e [llth January, 765]. The empire was still in a very
disturbed condition after An Lu-shan's rebellion, hence the special
prayer for peace.
This is a good MS. on yellow oiled paper, 19 feet long. On a patch
at the back is inscribed k e e ff "Priest of the Great Cloud
Monastery ".

769 (T'ANG).
S. 514. Recto: f . ~ 3 Chungching yao ts'uan*, with preface.
A series of short extracts from nearly fifty miscellaneous Buddhist
works, mostly sfitras, though Vinaya and Abhidharma are also repre-
sented. These passages " are selected for the profundity of their
meaning and the beauty of their expression " (W, { H - *), and
are grouped under ten chapters (_), which are enumerated at the
beginning: (1) ; (2) p f ; (3) a ^ ; (4) DtL [ 5; (5) jit;
(6) JR :; (7) e *; (8) * OM; (9) J S_; (10) l ; ,,.
Chapters 8-10 are missing in the present roll.
Verso : a list of the population of S j 1I-ho Li, a hamlet in
VOL. IX. PART 1. 2
 18 L. GILES-

Im , g5 Hsiian-ch'iian Hsiang, Tun-huang Hsien, Sha Chou, with

their holdings in land. Of each member of a household the name, age,
relationship, and description (e.g. T " adult male of military age ")
are given, and sometimes a further note recording his or her death
subsequent to the actual taking of the census. The date of the final
compilation appears to be the 4th year of Ta-li (769). The document
is covered with brick-red impressions of a seal reading f ,~ ;Z F11
"Seal of Tun-huang Hsien ", and, at the joinings of the sheets, with
orange-coloured impressions of another seal, which may be ~J )H
I ] jef FP "Seal of the [ ] Fu at Sha Chou ". A section of this
text was printed in 1924 by Lo Chen-yii in his ~jJ+Fj3k %i ;" Sha
chou wen lu pu, ff. 9-11, with notes. The roll is about 251 feet long,
a mediocre but clear MS. on whitish paper. The handwriting recto
is bolder and more careless.
774 (T'ANG).
S. 4052. This roll of thin buff paper contains a commentary on
the Diamond Sutra in good cursive script; but it is chiefly remarkable
for its length (99 feet), in which respect it stands easily first among
the Stein MSS. It has no title remaining, but there is a short colophon
in faint red ink: i , L $ R l is H uI I
, Z?Yd " Note made at the close of a lecture at the Lung-hsing
Monastery in Sha-chou, on the 30th of the 6th moon of the 9th year
of Ta-li " [12th August, 774]. I take , to be a homophone for J.

776 (T'ANG).
S. 6203. This is the composition of a layman, written in elegant
literary style-a good MS. on buff paper, 21 feet long. The mutilated
date at the end has several points of interest: r kt J~ [Lk ~]
t- -- g 1A
~ M A ElFi . In the first place, "the
Dragon settles " is a phrase equivalent to j ~. In Huai-nan Tzu,
p3 " " Black Dragon" is a name for the spirit of the Great Year,
and thus the Year-star came to be known as the Dragon. -,: is the
ordinary substitute for the cyclical character pq, which became
taboo because a character with the same phonetic [IjJwas the personal
name of the first T'ang emperor's father. The regnal period is missing,
but there were only five ping-ch'enyears in the T'ang dynasty, namely,
656, 716, 776, 836, and 896; and of these, 776 is the only one which is
also the 11th year of a regnal period, so this must be the one required.
i seems to be a mistake, and one might hazard the emendation
EA,were it not that the two words are more similar in sound now than
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 19

they were a thousand years ago. The note will thus run: " Com-
posed (?) on a day in the 8th moon in the ping-ch'en year, the 11th
of [Ta-li] in the Great T'ang dynasty" [Aug.-Sept., 776].

776 (TIBETAN KINGDOM).

S. 3475. K 3 T ] j if * Ching ming ching kuan chung su,
ch. 1, p'in 2 (end only)-4. Out of 167 sfitra-commentaries in the Stein
Collection no fewer than fifty-six, or just over one-third, are com-
mentaries on the Vimalakirti or " Pure Name " Sfitra. The present
roll is one of a large number containing commentaries on it S
Seng-chao's t t S Chu wei mo, compiled in Kuan-chung, the
metropolitan province. Thus it is really a commentary on a com-
mentary. In S. 3770 the full title, Ching ming ching _ ) chi chieh
kuan chung su, is given, and the compiler is said to be j t Tao-i of
the R V Tzti-sheng Monastery at Loyang.
-jA,
Colophon: J X
E : /- X Pq L fi t.

m t X Vi*1J *i 9 1E A
m 7 k
m f 9 X *

the 2h of
tA r of ym
e7M Er o- X; tf " On
the 28th of the 3rd moon of the 7th year of Ta-li in the Great T'ang
dynasty [5th May, 772], the sramana T'i-ch'ing copied out this com-
mentary at the K'ai-yiian Monastery in Kuo-chou [Honan] for the
benefit of monks and nuns, clerics and laymen, in order to extend
the knowledge of this stitra for transmission to future students, praying
that its hidden treasure may ever remain open, and the principle of
the bh-utatathata be widely published, that the Lotus Palace [the
Pure Land of the Sambhogakaya] may be eternally fair, and the
sources of Prajina plentifully distributed. Again, on the 16th of the
9th moon of the ch'en year [1st November, 776 ?], the lay disciple
So Yu-yen finished copying out this roll afresh at Sha-chou, a
dependency of the Great Tibetan [kingdom], on behalf of P'u-i, a
nun of the P'u-kuang Convent ".
I have already tried to explain the puzzle of the double dating in
this colophon in Bull. S.O.S., VII, p. 560. It will be noticed that in the
ch'en year (which it seems reasonable to suppose is 776, though it
might be 788 or even later) Sha-chou had lost its independence and
was incorporated in the Tibetan empire. Both parts of the colophon
are written in the same hand, which, of course, must be that of So
Yu-yen, who seems to have copied T'i-ch'ing's note as well as the
 20 L. GILES-

commentary itself. This is a fairly good MS. on soft buff paper,

43 feet long.
780 (T'ANG).
S. 2851. Among the miscellaneous Buddhist documents in the
Stein Collection there are a number of so-called Jt fJ, or certificates
showing that certain persons solemnly " accepted ", that is, undertook
to observe, five, eight, or ten Buddhist commandments. The ceremony-
was performed in a temple by a priest, whose name is always given.
The present certificate, which is rather badly mutilated, publishes the
fact that a woman named # ft Miao-te accepted ten commandments
in the 3 J Ling-t'u temple at Sha-chou on the 30th of the 1st moon
of the 15th year of Ta-li [10th March, 780]. This is the only certificate
in which the commandments are actually enumerated; they differ
a little from the usual list, being directed against (1) i& ; jt -r tJi
wilfully killing sentient beings; (2) fi A
ft Jk Pt 4 stealing other
men's property; (3) t [~] lustful desires ; (4) i- lying; (5)
fi& El [, ft[{] ~t ij buying wine for oneself or others; (6)
-fe
tI t a l ~ E X publishing the sins of monks or laymen;
(7) - X O self-commendation; (8) Mt|':: Jt ~ avarice, or meanness;
(9) ~ Pj k )k PyJanger, and the causing of anger in others; (10)
~_p ~i 4ftI
p slandering the Triratna, or causing others
to do so. The officiating.priest was j ja J il1i~ )| "Chih-kuang,
transmitter of sila and Master of the Law . The size of the sheet is
27-5 x 36 cm.
781 (T'ANG).
S. 5864. This is a petition for the return of a donkey lent ten
months previously, dated in the 2nd moon of the 16th year of Ta-li
[March, 781]. The regnal period Ta-li ended in 779, so that not only
this petition but the loan itself must have been made several months
after the beginning of the new period (Chien-chung). The document,
which is in a mutilated condition, measures 24-5 x 12-5 cm.
782 (T'ANG).
S. 5871. (See Plate I.) There are some fifty legal documents in
the Stein Collection. The present is a contract, somewhat mutilated,
relating to the repayment of a loan, consisting of seventeen piculs of
grain, made by v k Ch'ien-ying, a monk of the IS : Hu-kuo
monastery, in the 17th year of Ta-li [782]. This date shows that the
change of nien-hao was unknown in the Tunhuang district for as long
as three years after it had taken place. At the end of the document
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 21

are seen the names of the borrower, one OJffft Ho Hsin-yiieh,

aged 37, his wife A% 4J-- Ma San-niang (Tertia), aged 35, and his
daughter * Aft Ho Ta-niang, aged 13. Ho promises repayment in
the 9th moon; if he defaults, Ch'ien-ying is authorized to recoup
himself from his debtor's live stock. The formula ? A 1ii ta
$1 | "for fear faith should not be a
kept, personal agreement is
herewith drawn up ", appears regularly in these contracts. ($L may
be a homophone for v"this ". In S. 5826 its place is taken by Jfl.)
A curious feature is the impression of the finger-tip in ink as a sort of
guarantee of good faith, alluded to here in the words I f ; gg.
It must not be imagined that this served any purpose of identification
like our modern finger-prints, for the impression is merely a small
blob of ink in which no fine lines are traceable. It seems comparable
rather with the custom of " making one's mark " practised by illiterates
in this country; for the names of the debtor and his family are not
actual signatures. The document is in somewhat cursive handwriting,
on a single sheet of thin grey-buff paper, 29 x 36 cm.
782 (T'ANG).
S. 5867 is another contract, this time correctly dated the 12th of
the 7th moon of the 3rd year of Chien-chung [25th August, 782], and
also relating to the repayment of a debt. The creditor is again the monk
Ch'ien-ying, who seems hardly to observe the Buddhist precept
inculcating a merciful spirit; for the debtor, Mg4 ,J Ma Ling-chuang,
is a novice aged only 20, who having borrowed 1,000 cash binds himself
to pay interest at the exorbitant rate of 10 per cent per month!
Principal and interest are both to be repayable on demand, and failing
this, distraint may be made on Ma's property in lieu of cash. Appended
are the names of Ma himself, his mother (whose maiden name is
illegible), aged 50, and his younger sister Ma Secunda, aged 12, together
with their finger-marks. This is a faint manuscript, on thin grey-buff
paper like the last, measuring 28-5 x 38-5 cm.
787 (T'ANG).
S. 5869. A mutilated fragment of a contract, with names attached,
dated the 20th of the 4th moon of the 8th year of Chien-chung [12th
May, 787]. Again we find the Tunhuang chronology lagging far behind,
for the year should actually be the 3rd of Cheng-yiian. A semi-cursive
MS. on thin buff paper, 13 5 x 36 cm.
788 (T'ANG).
S. 6972. Small mutilated fragments of a contract, one of which
22 L. GILES-

contains a reference to the hiring of a donkey ( g ^ -) and bears

the date j;7 IlV l "4th [year] of Cheng-yiian ".
789 (TIBETAN KING1DOM).
: , *Chin kang
S. 3485. ~4jWNiJa pojo ching. The Diamond Sfitra
(N. 10), a mediocre MS. on yellow oiled paper, 16 feet long. Note ~ ,
the old transliteration for prajnd, which is not used by Kumarajiva.
The colophon, in very small characters, has already been translated
inBull. S.O.S., VII, p. 561: * k ea -L t+ - fI
i? ,~A ~ TA- [for []; & iL t " On the 11th
of the 7th moon of the chi-ssu year of the Great Tibetan dynasty,
reverently copied by Wang T'u-hun to secure the blessing of peace for
his whole family, the country having fallen into turmoil ". There can
be very little doubt that this chi-ssu year is 789, in which case the exact
date is the 11th August. There are a few inscribed patches on the back,
one being the end of a Buddhist text dated the 17th of the 7th moon
of a ting-mao year.

790 (T'ANG).
S. 5862. A fragment,* 10 x 5-5 cm., from the beginning of a
document, with the date A 7x * 4 "6th year of Cheng-yiian ".

793 (T'ANG).
S. 1185. This roll consists of two sheets stuck together, each con-
taining a short apocryphal siutra: (1) - X Chiu
chu chung sheng k'u nan ching, a popular text of which there are
sixteen copies in the Collection. The handwriting is fairly good.
Colophon: i $v A aC, iE l [I]H t ai
; F X X, - -]k Xl 1t k "On the 4th of the lst moon of
chi-hai, the 4th year of T'ien-fu [26th January, .939], the disciple and
monk Yuan-hui upheld and recited this dharan.i suitra [in order to be
delivered from] his trouble and affliction ". (2) ~J H ,f Ch'iian shan
ching, 1 ch. In a somewhat freer hand. Colophon: A 7C Jt l iE
-tk iH Tf " Promulgated on the 23rd of the 1st moon of the
9th year of Cheng-yiian " [9th March, 793]. The difference of date is
surprising, especially as the quality of the paper is much the same in
both portions of the roll. If -F has the meaning I assign to it, the
obvious explanation would seem to be that 793 is not the actual date
of copying. But, as we shall see, there are strong reasons against that
view. The sutra itself opens with the formula.j tB_W \{I
[for _mlr 1t 9 EJ Q -E{
fA T
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 23

[: Di ,9 H H " The ch'eng-hsiang of the Left, Chia Tan, is com-

manded to publish this in all districts (chou),that all living beings may
be stimulated to goodness, and by daily repeating ' Amida Buddha '
one thousand times may get rid of evil and walk in the path of virtue ".
Chia Tan is the famous cartographer: for his biography see T'ang shu,
ch. 166; Chiu t'ang shu, ch. 138.
793 (T'ANG).
S. 4923. Another copy of the Ch'iian shan ching, in all respects
similar to the preceding. A good MS. on thick brownish buff paper,
30-5 x 43-5 cm.
793 (T'ANG).
S. 4924. Chiu chu chung sheng k'u nan ching, 1 ch. Cf. S. 1185 (1),
above. The colophon, paper, and handwriting are the same as in
S. 4923.
800 (TIBETAN KINGDOM).
S. 2729. (1) An official report, written in a small hand, and dated
in the 3rd moon of the ch'en year, giving a list of monasteries and
nunneries (in Tunhuang ?), with the names of their inmates. There
are 139 monks, distributed as follows among these nine monasteries:
g ^ Lung-hsing (28), ;e Ta-yiin (16), e e Lien-t'ai (10), m g|
Ling-t'u (17), t PJ)Chin-kuang-ming (16), ;C c Yung-an (11),
T 7C; Ch'ien-yuiian(19), & 7C K'ai-yuiian (13), X , Pao-en (9).
The nunneries are only four in number, yet they hold as many as 171
nuns: g {~ Ling-hsiu (67), - ; P'u-kuang (47), ;k ^ Ta-sheng
(44), jm ,K Se-yiian-pao (13). (2) In a different hand, a *phonetic
glossary* to the ff , Shih ching, pt. 1, books 1-10, including preface.
This is a good bold MS., which has been joined on to the preceding in
order to make a roll for (verso)a *treatise on divination. Here, among
other things, the following planets and towns are paired off together:
'
,~ Ying-huo (Mars) is assigned to j AZ Wu-wei (the modern
Liang-chou); AJ Chen-hsing (Saturn) to M 1a Chiu-ch'iian (Su-
chou); i j T'ai-po (Venus) to ] i Chang-i (Kan-chou);: ,
Ch'en-hsing (Mercury) to ~ H Chin-ch'ang (east of An-hsi); and
li Sui-hsing (Jupiter) to Tunhuang. Colophon: ;g [for I]
"
A x t! 35ii -t- E H F H1 [I [Copied by .. .] of Sha-chou
on the 23rd of the 5th moon of the keng-ch'en year in the Great
Barbarian [i.e. Tibetan] dynasty " [18th June, 800]. See Bull. S.O.S.,
VII, p. 560. Written in a neat hand on light drab-coloured paper,
about 133 feet long.
24 L. GILES-

803 (T'ANG).
S. 912. I Ch'iian shan ching. This is a fairly good MS.
K
on what Mr. Clapperton describes as " a dirty brown, coarse, flabby
paper ... Very poorly made, but tough on account of the great length
of the strong fibres ... Soft-sized and difficult to write upon, on account
of a very rough and hairy surface. Eight coarse laid lines to the inch,
very uneven and irregular. Composition: Paper mulberry and ramie ".
With it commences a new series of this sfitra, all the copies of which
are dated the 23rd of the 1st moon of the 19th year of Cheng-yiian
[18th February, 803]. The roll is nearly 11 feet long.
803 (T'ANG).
S. 1349. Ch'iian shan ching, 1 ch. There are two copies of the siutra
on this roll, the first dated simply the 23rd of the 1st moon of chia-shen,
the 19th year of Cheng-yiian, while the second has a more detailed note:

T 1&i ;L A_ " Text issued on the 23rd of the 1st moon of chia-shen,
the 19th [year] of Cheng-yiian; copied out on the 29th day of the 5th
moon [21st June], and this note made accordingly ". The cyclical date
points to A.D. 804, which does not agree; I have preferred to take the
19th year as being correct, for in S. 4739, below, we find this date
without any cyclical characters. It is hard to decide whether I 3
means exactly the same thing as -~ seemed to mean in S. 1185 (2),
namely, "published" or "promulgated"; for, though the dates
are different, yet we do find the term T- used in S. 4739, which is
also dated the 18th February, 803.
803 (T'ANG).
S. 2853. [Ch'iian shan ching.] A mutilated fragment bearing the
date A JC+ JL [I..
803 (T'ANG).
S. 3792. Ch'iian shan ching, 1 ch. An indifferent MS. on coarse
buff paper, with date : A x + JL * q3 q~ a iE ) A -= H-.
803 (T'ANG).
S. 3871. Another copy of the same, with the significant addition
of A " copied " to the colophon. The text is preceded by four columns
of scribbled characters from the initial portion of the sutra. Variants
are: ;t for ; ; the insertion of & before J; the omission of-
before ^. At this point there has been added in different ink:
7c 4 9- A ;Il f. LA-, []. For the Ch'ien-yiian monastery, see
S. 2729 (1), under A.D. 800, and several other MSS. But the note seems
 DATED CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE STEIN COLLECTION 25

to be merely scribble, as Vg -J A makes no sense, and Hj f is an

unsatisfactory name for a priest.
803 (TANG).
S. 4739. Ch'iian shan ching, 1 ch. The date is again the same, but
without cyclical characters, and with the addition of -F. A mediocre
MS. on coarse yellowish paper.
803 (T'ANG).
S. 5113. Ch'iian shan ching, 1 ch. In large handwriting on rather
coarse buff paper. Colophon as in S. 3792, above. Versoare two notes:
-
(1) " ii X fIt - '- " One bundle of bamboos taken at the
South Gate ". (2) ~yf : pe, fl "Notes on the Pofa [ming men
lun] taken down by hand, and other bundles ".
This concludes the sequence of dated copies of this sftra. While
all nine are dated the 23rd of the 1st moon, it is remarkable that two
should be assigned to the 9th year, and the other seven to the 19th
year, of Cheng-yiian; for the latter year, as we have seen, is said to be
that in which the text was issued. One is almost driven to conjecture
that JL in S. 1185 (2) and S. 4923 is a mistake for +t )L. The fact
that one of the rolls at least is definitely stated to have been copied
on the 18th February, 803, establishes a strong presumption that the
others were also copied on that date.
803 (T'ANG).
S. 5820. (See Plate I.) The purport of this document,* 27 x 14 cm.
in size, is the bartering of a three-year-old black cow ( try Z4-
gf- -- j), absolutely unmarked (jX; f jp ?B), in exchange for
12 piculs of wheat and 2 piculs of millet, by the nun ) *B Ming-hsiang,
on account of her lack of food and her outstanding debts. The other
party to the bargain is one ] ji Chang Pao-yii, and it is stipulated
that the exchange be effected immediately. Dated the 25th of the
intercalary 10th moon [f for fq] of the wei year. Intercalary moons
after any particular month are so rare that they are most useful in
helping to fix a date. In the present instance, the only date within
the bounds of probability works out as the 12th December, 803, and
this may safely be accepted as correct. Ming-hsiang appears again as
the vendor of a _ Mf4? "first-class ox " in S. 5826. Her age is given
there as 53.
A gap of forty-five years now intervenes before we reach our next
dated document. This was the period of Tibetan domination which was
brought to an end by the revolution of Chang I-ch'ao.