Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Sichuan Province, Volume 5: Wofoyuan Section E-F ed. by Manuel Sassmann and Sun Hua

Abstract

Manuel Sassmann and Sun Hua, editors. Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Sichuan Province, Volume : Wofoyuan Section E-F. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag and Hangzhou: China Academy of Art Press, . xi,  pp. Hardcover, €,, ISBN ----. This volume in the magnificent series on Buddhist Stone Sutras in China is the fifth and final dealing with the Grove of the Reclining Buddha (Wofoyuan) in Sichuan Province. This grove is “hidden away in a small valley among the gently rolling, tree-studded hills at the heart of the Sichuan basin,” and with its some , characters chiseled into rock walls, the largest cave site in China. Volume  on Sichuan, published in  (reviewed in CRI (–)) dealt with “Section G,” the northernmost part of the complex; Volume , also published in  (reviewed in CRI (–)), dealt with “Section A” and “Section B” to the southwest of the complex; Volume , published in  (reviewed in CRI ()), dealt with the central “Section C” of the complex; and Volume , published in  (reviewed in CRI ()), dealt with “Section D” to the north of “Section C.” The present fifth volume on the Grove of the Reclining Buddha deals with the last two sections—“Section E” and “Section F” to the northeast of “Section D” and on the southern side of the Grove. Although the two sections, E and F, that are the subject of the current volume have more caves—seven and nine respectively—than any of the preceding sections, they each only have a total of four walls that are engraved with sutra texts. The texts that are engraved are (parts of) the “Diamond Perfection of Wisdom Sutra” (Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra; Jingang banre boluomi jing) and the “Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra” (*Mahāprajñāpāramitāhr ˙ daya-sūtra; Banre boluomiduo xinjing) on two walls of cave  in “Section E,” the “Synoptic Golden Light Sutra” (Hebu jin guangming jing) on two walls of cave  in “Section E,” a continuation of the “Great Parinirvān ˙ a Sutra” (Mahāparinirvān ˙ a-sūtra; Da banniepan jing) that was partly engraved in a cave of “Section D” on one wall of cave  of “Section F,” and the “Sutra Spoken by Vimalakīrti” (Weimojie suo shuo jing) on three walls of cave  of “Section F.” Of all these texts, the “Synoptic Golden Light Sutra,” a synthetic version of the *Suvarn ˙ a(pra)bhāsottama-sūtra, is unique in sutra caves in China. On the walls in both Sections E and F are engraved colophons referring to the *Suvarn ˙ a(pra)bhāsottama-sūtra. One of these colophons is dated  C.E., Reviews©  by University of Hawai‘i Press and the other one is dated  C.E. Sections E and F further contain a colophon that most likely has to be dated to the Tang dynasty, and a colophon dated to the Guangzheng era (–) of the Later Shu dynasty. This means that the colophons found in the two sections discussed in the present volume date to the period in which the carving of the Wofoyuan project began in the Tang dynasty (–), the Later Shu dynasty (–) when repairs and additions were undertaken, and the Northern Song dynasty (–). They, as such, are a testament to the major periods of activity of this cave complex (pp. –). The sutra texts, called colophons, Buddhas carved in relief, among which are the Thousand Buddha pattern and the “Synoptic Golden Light Sutra” might be of particular significance (p. ). Michael Radich states that “the space is thus hemmed about with Dharma and Buddhas in alternation, even implying an identity or complementarity between the two” (p. ). Other carvings and dhāran ˙ īs, possibly date back to the tenth century (p. ). Furthermore, engravings that resemble the paintings on silk banners from Dunhuang of the late ninth and tenth century can also be observed (p. ). A stele dated  C.E., where the name “Cloister of the Reclining Buddha” appears for the first time, who’s purpose was “to establish and promulgate rules that were aimed at warding off further calamities of the kind that had recently befallen the monastery,” can be interpreted as part of a “programme” that is the fundament of the Wofoyuan complex (p. ). Michael Radich summarizes this “programme...