The history of the cycle of birth and death: A tibetan narrative from Dunhuang

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Dunhuang manuscripts, namely PT 218, PT 219, PT 220, PT 366-367, IOL Tib J 99, IOL Tib J 151, IOL Tib J 345 and I. O. vol. 69, folio 17. It also explains canonical sources and the problem posed by manuscript's composition. The chapter gives a description of narratives from Dunhuang manuscripts. It provides a relationship between the History of the cycle of birth and death and other Tibetan texts from Dunhuang. The Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang demonstrate the extreme variety of the facets of Buddhism that were already translated into Tibetan. It will be therefore only when the reader has achieved a thoroughgoing, minute examination of the Dunhuang archive that the reader will be able to understand more clearly how Buddhism penetrated the Tibetan world. Keywords: Buddhism; canonical sources; Dunhuang manuscripts; Tibetan texts