- Introduction
- Background
- Topics
- Archaeology & the Discovery of the Dunhuang Caves
- Explorers
- Artefacts as Evidence
- Understanding Manuscripts
- Links
In 868 a resident of Dunhuang, Wang Jie, paid for a copy of one of the most popular Buddhist sutras, the Diamond Sutra, to commemorate his parents. Instead of hiring a scribe to copy the sutra he used the new technology of printing, pioneered in China centuries before it appeared in the west. Sheets of thin paper on which the text had been written were stuck face down with water on to a rectangle of fine-grained jujube or pear wood. The spaces between the characters were cut out, leaving the characters in high relief. The woodblocks were inked and yellow dyed paper placed over the inked area and pressed down using a dry roller. Another woodblock was carved using a detailed scene of the Buddha surrounded by worshippers.
In the bottom left sits Subhuti, a monk asking questions of Buddha, on his prayer mat, his shoes carefully placed beside him. The seventeen panels of paper were eventually glued together forming a roll over 17 feet long. In its day, at the end of the first millennium AD, this was the latest technology, just as paper had been an important technical achievement at the beginning of the first millennium. Now the single extant copy of the sutra is an exemplar of traditional Chinese culture and a priceless object of international significance – the earliest dated printed book in the world.
As evidence about the past manuscripts are very useful as they literally 'speak' to us, unlike other objects such as pottery or tools. From this material we can learn much about the language, religion and culture of the people they represent.
Look at the Diamond Sutra (The Oldest Printed 'Book') through the link to the British Library website below and consider these questions.
What is a sutra?
Why is this item called the Diamond Sutra?
What do we learn about the way the manuscript was constructed?
What are we told about the principles of Buddhism?
What would be the equivalent of this 'new technology' today – how do we communicate our ideas and beliefs – have things changed so much?