Silk Road and Early Buddhist Scribal Culture in China (3-5 C)

Abstract

The earliest existing Chinese Buddhist manuscript found in the world, the Buddhasaṃgīti-sūtra, was excavated at Toyuq in Turfan, and was dated the sixth year of Yuankang 元康六年(296 CE), in the Western Jin. It was a copy by Dharmarakṣa’s (384-433) monk disciple Zhu Fashou 竺法首. (Figure1, 1a) Who was one of the distinctive Buddhist scribes in Dharmarakśa 竺法护 translation team. During the period when Buddhism was initially transmitted into China, historical documentation and archaeological findings both demonstrated the sacred Buddhist writing by Buddhist monk scribes from Central Asia played a key role in transmission of Buddhism without borders. It also enhanced producing the diversity and vigorous calligraphic styles in China during 3rd to 5th century. However, before the 20th century, early Buddhist scribes or foreign calligraphers were unknown in history of Chinese calligraphy or official records. This paper aims to examine the early sacred writing culture with a broader and more in-depth study of the extent and nature of the role of the Central Asian Buddhist scribes, as well as the significance of their calligraphic expertise to the history of Chinese calligraphers and calligraphy.