Three Buddhist Texts from Dunhuang

Abstract

Abstract“Three Buddhist Texts from Dunhuang” provides an introduction to and translation of texts that are representative of the larger genre of Chinese Buddhist medical literature. These examples are indigenous Chinese Buddhist scriptures dating to the early ninth century. They were recovered in the early twentieth century at Dunhuang in western China. Although they often draw from Indian Buddhist sources, these texts are local Chinese products and are characterized by etiologies and therapeutics drawn from both Indian Buddhist traditions and Chinese worldviews. In these texts, disease is alternately the result of personal immorality, divine retribution, and collective misconduct. The prescribed therapies are also multiple, but consistently social in nature. These include worshiping buddhas and Buddhist deities, performing repentance rituals, copying Buddhist scriptures, sponsoring meals, and refraining from immoral behavior. As manuscripts essentially discoveredin situ, these texts provide valuable insight into on-the-ground worldviews, concerns, practices, and institutions in far western China. With their composite nature, drawing from established Indian Buddhist scriptures, folk beliefs, and governmental fiats, they are also suggestive of the strategies behind indigenous textual production.