Examining a Fifth Century Bilingual Votive Stone Stūpa In China

Abstract

In the 20th century, fourteen Buddhist stone stūpas of the Northern Liang were excavated in Dunhuang敦煌, Jiuquan酒泉, Wuwei武威 and the Turfan 吐魯番 areas. These Buddhist stone stūpas have been identified with date of the Northern Liang (397─439 CE) ; they are among the earliest extant ancient stūpas in China. Among the fourteen Northern Liang Buddhist stūpas excavated fromthese sites, the bilingual stone stūpa of Minzhou Temple 岷州廟石塔from Dunhuang is quite unique because it was inscribed with a Buddhist sūtra in both Chinese and Brāhmī scripts. Refer to historical documents and archaeological discoveries, a detailed examination and analysis of the main features of the iconography and inscriptions on these Buddhist stone stūpas. This paper investigates the formation of early temple Buddhist scribal workshop or scribal education system in making Buddhist sūtras in Liangzhou, China.