Chinese : Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren

Chinese

<p style='text-align: justify;'>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.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'><b>Contents</b></p><p style='text-align: justify;'>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, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR-00415-003/197'>is one tao 套 (case) containing 4 ben in the form of thread-bound volumes</a>. 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.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>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.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'><div><br /><a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR-00415-001'>Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, tian 居庸關碑六種書天 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 1]</a><br /><a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR-00415-002'>Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, di 居庸關碑六種書地 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 2]</a><br /><a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR-00415-003'>Juyongguan bei liu zhong shu, ren 居庸關碑六種書人 [Six Scripts of the Juyong Pass Inscription, Vol. 3]</a><br /></div><br /></p><p style='text-align: justify;'>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’).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>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 <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR-00415-003/193'>diagram inserted with volume 3</a> for the layout of all texts.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>For more information on the construction and history of the physical structure see this Wikipedia entry: <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Platform_at_Juyong_Pass'>Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass</a> and 2011 blog post by Andrew West: <a target='_blank' class='externalLink uom-purple' href='https://www.babelstone.co.uk/BabelDiary/2011/08/cloud-platform-at-juyongguan.html'>Cloud Platform at Juyongguan</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'><b>Contents (Vol. 3)</b></p><p style='text-align: justify;'>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).</p><div><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(4);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Phagspa script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(16);return false;'>Mongolian language Record of Merit (first part), written in Phagspa script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(22);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Phagspa script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(36);return false;'>Mongolian language Record of Merit (second part), written in Phagspa script</a><br /></div><br /><p style='text-align: justify;'>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.</p><div><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(44);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Uyghur script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(60);return false;'>Uyghur language Record of Merit (first part)</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(62);return false;'>Uyghur Colophon</a> 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<br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(64);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Uyghur script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(80);return false;'>Uyghur language Record (second part)</a><br /></div><br /><p style='text-align: justify;'>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).</p><div><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(88);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Chinese script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(100);return false;'>Chinese summary of the first dharani</a><br />Colophon: <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(105);return false;'>The last two columns of the text (on the left) read</a>: 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.<br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(106);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Chinese script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(120);return false;'>Chinese language Record of Merit (complete)</a><br /></div><br /><p style='text-align: justify;'>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).</p><div><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(130);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (first part), written in Tangut script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(152);return false;'>Tangut summary of first dharani</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(158);return false;'>Sanskrit language dharani (second part), written in Tangut script</a><br /><a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(180);return false;'>Tangut language Record of Merit (complete), written in Tangut</a><br /></div><br />