Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren (Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3)
This volume is the third part of a complete transcription of the famous 14th century inscriptions at Juyong Pass (Juyong guan 居庸關) north of Beijing, one of the passes where the Ming would later build their Great Wall. The creation of the original inscription was commissioned in 1342-1345 by the Mongol rulers of China. Buddhist sutras and ‘Records of Merit’ (related to the construction of this monument) were inscribed inside an enormous vaulted portal. These are written in Chinese, Mongolian (written in the Tibetan-based and Mongol-promoted universal Phagspa alphabet), Sanskrit (written in the Mongol-promoted Lantsa script), Tibetan, Tangut, and Uyghur. The fact that this multilingual masterpiece was restored during the Ming (1440s) and—as manifested by this item—copied in the Qing, suggests that later empires claimed authority over the Mongol heritage and incorporated it into their own tradition.
Contents
The contents are divided into three "volumes" (in the sense of separate physical objects). "Volumes" 1 and 2 are equivalent to one ben 本 each: each of them is a zhe 摺 (document folded in accordion form). "Volume" 3, however, is one tao 套 (case) containing 4 ben in the form of thread-bound volumes. Therefore the item contains all six "parts" of one set of Juyongguan inscriptions, each of these six "parts" (2 accordion-folded, 4 thread-bound) related to one language/script.
It contains two different text genres which alternate in a specific fashion. Dharanis (Buddhist chants, or longer and more complex mantras) constitute the first text genre, namely, the 'Dharani of the Tathagata Heart' and the 'Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown'. Each dharani text is written in large characters. ‘Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda’ (in two parts) constitute the second text genre. Each Record of Merit is written in small characters.
Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, tian 居庸關碑六種書天 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 1]
Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, di 居庸關碑六種書地 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 2]
Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren 居庸關碑六種書人 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 3]
Note that each front cover repeats the ‘work’ title (Juyongguan bei liu 居庸關碑六種書) and adds one character to specify the volume, namely tian 天, di 地, and ren 人, respectively (literally ‘Heaven, Earth, People’). These characters are used in the sense of ‘volume 1, 2, 3’, corresponding to the more regular volume-numbering style shang 上, zhong 中, xia 下 (literally ‘Above, Middle, Below’).
Regarding the actual physical structure of the monument, the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts (both read left to right) are placed together along the top of the walls (Sanskrit above and Tibetan below). The Uyghur and Phagspa texts (both read top-to-bottom, running left to right) were placed together on the left side of the walls, and the Chinese and Tangut texts (both read top-to-bottom, running right to left) were placed together on the right side of the walls, with the result that the texts read from the two edges going inwards and meeting in the middle. See the diagram inserted with volume 3 for the layout of all texts.
For more information on the construction and history of the physical structure see this Wikipedia entry: Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass and 2011 blog post by Andrew West: Cloud Platform at Juyongguan.
Contents (Vol. 3)
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Phagspa script, alternating with Mongolian language Records of Merit. The Phagspa text is read from top to bottom and runs left to right and the pages are bound left to right. This is the start of ben (volume) 3 of 6 volumes (i.e., the first of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Mongolian language Record of Merit (first part), written in Phagspa script
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Phagspa script
Mongolian language Record of Merit (second part), written in Phagspa script
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Uyghur script, alternating with Uyghur language Records of Merit. The Uyghur text is read from top to bottom and runs left to right. This is the start of ben (volume) 4 of 6 volumes (i.e., the second of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box). Although the Uyghur text is read from left to right the pages in this ben have been mistakenly rebound right to left so the text is out of order.
Uyghur language Record of Merit (first part)
Uyghur Colophon at the end of the small text on the West Wall. Unfortunately it is damaged, and only the era name Zhizheng survives: at the bottom of the 3rd column from the right one can see či čing (i.e. Zhizheng) after the punctuation mark
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Uyghur script
Uyghur language Record (second part)
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Chinese script, alternating with Chinese language summary of the dharani and Records of Merit. The Chinese text is read from top to bottom and runs right to left and the pages are bound right to left. This is the start of ben (volume) 5 of 6 volumes (i.e., the third of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Chinese summary of the first dharani
Colophon: The last two columns of the text (on the left) read: 至正五年歲次，乙酉九月，吉日，西蜀成都寶積寺僧德成書. Translation: “Written by the monk Decheng 德成 from the Temple of Accumulated Treasures (Baoji si 寶積寺), in [the city of] Chengdu of [the province of] Shu 蜀 (i.e. Sichuan Province), on an auspicious day (jiri 吉日) of the ninth month of the fifth year of the Zhizheng era.” That would be the year 1345 CE. Note that this monk named Decheng presumably wrote only the Chinese parts, there might be similar colophons in the other languages/scripts.
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Chinese script
Chinese language Record of Merit (complete)
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Tangut script, alternating with Tangut language summary of the dharani and Records of Merit. The Tangut text is read from top to bottom and runs right to left and the pages are bound right to left. This is the start of ben (volume) 6 of 6 volumes (i.e., the fourth of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Tangut summary of first dharani
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Tangut script
Tangut language Record of Merit (complete), written in Tangut
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Classmark: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3
- Title: Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren
- Alternative Title(s): 居庸關碑六種書人; Translated title: Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 3; Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼; Translated title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart; Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼; Translated title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown; Translated title: Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda
- Date of Creation: 19th century (Qing)
- Associated Person(s): Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913
- Extent: 1套 (4本) (368 x 350 mm).
- Binding:
The case (tao 套) is covered in blue fabric and labelled with the title "居庸關碑六種書人" (Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren). The 4 ben are thread-bound volumes with plain paper covers.
- Additions:
Volume 3 contains an insert that was certainly created by a 19th century European sinologist (who does not clearly distinguish between languages and the scripts used to write them). Two Western scholars in China who were interested in these inscriptions during the 1870s (both of them British Protestant missionaries) were Alexander Wylie and Joseph Edkins. Wylie always spelled Uyghur as "Ouigour", whereas Edkins always spelled it "Wigur" (which is a very unusual spelling). We may therefore suspect that this schematic diagram of the layout of the inscriptions (with "Wigur") was made by Edkins during the 1860s or 1870s.
Wylie mentions that he made copies of the lower four inscriptions in 1867, but was unable to make copies of the Sanskrit and Tibetan inscriptions as they were too high up. Edkins, however, later gave him tracings of the Sanskrit and Tibetan parts, so the Sanskrit and Tibetan volumes at the JRL may be the tracings given by Edkins to Wylie or else they may be another copy of the tracings sent directly from Edkins to Lord Lindsay (Edkins was Lindsay's agent in China from 1865-1869). This may explain the different format of the Sanskrit and Tibetan volumes compared with the third volume containing the other four languages/scripts.
Note also that the Tangut script (created shortly after the year 1000 CE) is mistaken for Jurchen script which was invented about one century later than Tangut and is less complex. The two scripts can hardly be confused if one has a basic familiarity with both of them. Jurchen is called “Nüchïh” in the insert, from the Chinese term Nüzhen 女真. This is a common mistake made in the late 19th and early 20th century when both the Tangut and Jurchen scripts were still laregly unknown to Western researchers. Due to the presence of this mistake, it can be assumed that the insert was created before 1896, the year Wilhelm Grube published his groundbreaking work on the decipherment of Jurchen (Die Sprache und Schrift der Jučen). This would correspond to the hypothesis summarised above that this schematic diagram was made by Edkins during the 1860s or 1870s.
- Acquisition: Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. Bequeathed by Rylands to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
- Date of Acquisition: 1901
- Data Source(s): Description based on Zheng Yaying and John B.W. Deane, Handlist of the Chinese Collections in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (1991), revised and expanded by Johannes S. Lotze, Julianne Simpson and Andrew West.
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Classmark: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3
- Title: Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren
- Alternative Title(s): 居庸關碑六種書人; Translated title: Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 3; Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼; Translated title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart; Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼; Translated title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown; Translated title: Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda
- Date of Creation: 19th century (Qing)
- Associated Person(s): Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913
- Extent: 1套 (4本) (368 x 350 mm).
- Binding:
The case (tao 套) is covered in blue fabric and labelled with the title "居庸關碑六種書人" (Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren). The 4 ben are thread-bound volumes with plain paper covers.
- Additions:
Volume 3 contains an insert that was certainly created by a 19th century European sinologist (who does not clearly distinguish between languages and the scripts used to write them). Two Western scholars in China who were interested in these inscriptions during the 1870s (both of them British Protestant missionaries) were Alexander Wylie and Joseph Edkins. Wylie always spelled Uyghur as "Ouigour", whereas Edkins always spelled it "Wigur" (which is a very unusual spelling). We may therefore suspect that this schematic diagram of the layout of the inscriptions (with "Wigur") was made by Edkins during the 1860s or 1870s.
Wylie mentions that he made copies of the lower four inscriptions in 1867, but was unable to make copies of the Sanskrit and Tibetan inscriptions as they were too high up. Edkins, however, later gave him tracings of the Sanskrit and Tibetan parts, so the Sanskrit and Tibetan volumes at the JRL may be the tracings given by Edkins to Wylie or else they may be another copy of the tracings sent directly from Edkins to Lord Lindsay (Edkins was Lindsay's agent in China from 1865-1869). This may explain the different format of the Sanskrit and Tibetan volumes compared with the third volume containing the other four languages/scripts.
Note also that the Tangut script (created shortly after the year 1000 CE) is mistaken for Jurchen script which was invented about one century later than Tangut and is less complex. The two scripts can hardly be confused if one has a basic familiarity with both of them. Jurchen is called “Nüchïh” in the insert, from the Chinese term Nüzhen 女真. This is a common mistake made in the late 19th and early 20th century when both the Tangut and Jurchen scripts were still laregly unknown to Western researchers. Due to the presence of this mistake, it can be assumed that the insert was created before 1896, the year Wilhelm Grube published his groundbreaking work on the decipherment of Jurchen (Die Sprache und Schrift der Jučen). This would correspond to the hypothesis summarised above that this schematic diagram was made by Edkins during the 1860s or 1870s.
- Acquisition: Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. Bequeathed by Rylands to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
- Date of Acquisition: 1901
- Data Source(s): Description based on Zheng Yaying and John B.W. Deane, Handlist of the Chinese Collections in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (1991), revised and expanded by Johannes S. Lotze, Julianne Simpson and Andrew West.
- Title: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3 Mongolian
- Abstract:
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Phagspa script, alternating with Mongolian language Records of Merit. The Phagspa text is read from top to bottom and runs left to right and the pages are bound left to right. This is the start of ben (volume) 3 of 6 volumes (i.e., the first of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Sanskrit language dharani (first part), in Phagspa script
Mongolian language Record of Merit (first part), written in Phagspa script
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), in Phagspa script
Mongolian language Record of Merit (second part), written in Phagspa script - Title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart in Phagspa script
- Alternative Title(s): Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Phagspa script
- Title: Mongolian language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (part 1), written in Phagspa script
- Language(s): Mongolian in Phagspa script
- Title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown in Phagspa script
- Alternative Title(s): Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Phagspa script
- Title: Mongolian language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (part 2), written in Phagspa script
- Language(s): Mongolian in Phagspa script
- Title: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3 Uyghur
- Abstract:
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Uyghur script, alternating with Uyghur language Records of Merit. The Uyghur text is read from top to bottom and runs left to right. This is the start of ben (volume) 4 of 6 volumes (i.e., the second of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box). Although the Uyghur text is read from left to right the pages in this ben have been mistakenly rebound right to left so the text is out of order.
Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Uyghur script
Uyghur language Record of Merit (first part)
Uyghur Colophon at the end of the small text on the West Wall. Unfortunately it is damaged, and only the era name Zhizheng survives: at the bottom of the 3rd column from the right one can see či čing (i.e. Zhizheng) after the punctuation mark
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Uyghur script
Uyghur language Record (second part) - Title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart in Uyghur script
- Alternative Title(s): Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Uyghur script
- Title: Uyghur language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (part 1), written in Uyghur script
- Language(s): Uyghur
- Title: Uyghur colophon
- Language(s): Uyghur
- Title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown in Uyghur script
- Alternative Title(s): Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Uyghur script
- Title: Uyghur language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (part 2), written in Uyghur script
- Language(s): Uyghur
- Title: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3 Chinese
- Abstract:
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Chinese script, alternating with Chinese language summary of the dharani and Records of Merit. The Chinese text is read from top to bottom and runs right to left and the pages are bound right to left. This is the start of ben (volume) 5 of 6 volumes (i.e., the third of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Chinese script
Chinese summary of the first dharani
Colophon: The last two columns of the text (on the left) read: 至正五年歲次，乙酉九月，吉日，西蜀成都寶積寺僧德成書. Translation: “Written by the monk Decheng 德成 from the Temple of Accumulated Treasures (Baoji si 寶積寺), in [the city of] Chengdu of [the province of] Shu 蜀 (i.e. Sichuan Province), on an auspicious day (jiri 吉日) of the ninth month of the fifth year of the Zhizheng era.” That would be the year 1345 CE. Note that this monk named Decheng presumably wrote only the Chinese parts, there might be similar colophons in the other languages/scripts.
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Chinese script
Chinese language Record of Merit (complete) - Title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart in Chinese script
- Alternative Title(s): Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Chinese script
- Title: Chinese language summary of the Dharani of the Tathagata Heart
- Language(s): Chinese
- Title: Chinese language colophon
- Language(s): Chinese
- Title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown in Chinese script
- Alternative Title(s): Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Chinese script
- Title: Chinese language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (complete), written in Chinese script
- Language(s): Chinese
- Title: Chinese Crawford 415 Vol. 3 Tangut
- Abstract:
Two Sanskrit language dharanis written in Tangut script, alternating with Tangut language summary of the dharani and Records of Merit. The Tangut text is read from top to bottom and runs right to left and the pages are bound right to left. This is the start of ben (volume) 6 of 6 volumes (i.e., the fourth of the 4 thread-bound volumes in the box).
Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Tangut script
Tangut summary of first dharani
Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Tangut script
Tangut language Record of Merit (complete), written in Tangut - Title: Dharani of the Tathagata Heart in Tangut script
- Alternative Title(s): Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī; Rúláixīn Tuóluóní; 如來心陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Tangut script
- Title: Tangut language summary of the Dharani of the Tathagata Heart
- Language(s): Tangut
- Title: Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown in Tangut script
- Alternative Title(s): Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī; Fódǐng Zūnshèng Tuóluóní; 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼
- Language(s): Sanskrit in Tangut script
- Title: Tangut language Record of Merits in the Construction of the Pagoda (complete), written in Tangut script
- Language(s): Tangut
