Friday, April 29, 2016

The Fate of the Buddhist Canon during the Korean War

宋版佛经《普宁藏》
Pages of Puning Canon from an auction site


I mentioned I was doing research at China National Library and found fragments of Puning Canon 普寧藏 discovered in Famen Temple 法門寺 in Fufeng by Feng Dian'an 馮奠安. Some of fragments were used by local students for calligraphy and they wrote on the back of the pages. One of the scripture is fascicle 23 of Abhidharma-kośa 阿毗達摩俱舍論卷23分. The Qianziwen 千字文 character number is ya 雅, volume number 4 (四). Number 2( 二) was carved as well but I don't remember what it means. We also have a character jian  堅, which might be the name of the carver for the block. On the back you have a few scrambles and graffiti from students. Clearly they were written during the Korean war. I sent a request for photographing but was denied by the library leadership, citing possible bad political influence. I understand. Here are my notes:

On the back 背面
Quan Zizhi became a teaching assistant. “權自治當了助教”
Zhao Qiugui also became a teaching assistant. “趙秋奎也當了助教”

We students do not want these stuff. These things all mean superstitions. “我們同學不要這樣的東西,這樣的東西都是迷信的義意。”

Resisting US and Assisting Korea. “抗美援朝”

Burn this with fire. “用火燒去這”

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