Abstract This paper discusses the academic research value of the Avata?saka-sūtra scroll recently acquired by the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou, also called Wenrunge. Based on the postscripts attached to the manuscript, it is known that the manuscript originated from Dunhuang library of Mogao Cave. Through a survey of Dunhuang’s Avata?saka-sūtra texts, the handwriting style and format of the Wenrunge version show significant similarities with other Dunhuang Avata?saka-sūtra manuscripts of Jin translations, confirming the manuscripts as a genuine Dunhuang work.From the perspective of the manuscript itself, it is transcribed by the same scribe as BD00985, Ebo (鄂博) No. 4, and the Japanese Yurinkan collection, all dedicated by Upāsikā community. Through similar colophons, it can be identified as a manuscript from the Kaihuang Period of the Sui Dynasty. This scribe’s version of the Avata?saka-sūtra is found in 13 known Dunhuang manuscripts (10 pieces when combined), including BD11652+BD12146 (volume 17), the Wenrunge edition (volume 21), BD00985 (volume 22), BD10217+BD15675 (volume 29), BD11110 (volume 29), Ebo No. 4 (volume 29), the Kyoto University Museum edition (volume 31), Toru Haneda No.589-25/26 (volume 41), BD14825CC (volume 41), and the Kyoto Yurinkan edition (volume 47). A comparison of the common characters among these texts, such as suo (所), de (得), mie (灭), zi (子), zhu (诸) and others, reveals similar handwriting, and that they also share the same layout format (all featuring black silk columns, similar line spacing, character spacing, and font size), with a comparable writing style (clerical script style) and a close paper height. Aside from the one collected in the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou, the others are preserved in various institutions, such as the National Library of China, Hubei Provincial Museum, Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto Fujii Yurinkan, and Osaka Kyōu Shoyā, reflecting the complex process of the dispersal of manuscript materials from the Dunhuang library over the past century.From the perspective of volume division of the manuscripts, most of the Jin translations of the Avata?saka-sūtra found in Dunhuang texts are the Fifty-volume Avata?saka-sūtra, preserving an early form of the sutra’s transmission. The Avata?saka-sūtra held in the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou is also of this type. This article compares the volumes of the Avata?saka-sūtra transcribed by the same scribe and discusses the instability of volumes division during the period of the Sui Dynasty, particularly in relation to the series of manuscripts by Yuan Jingzi, which were also copied in the Sui Dynasty. The conclusion drawn is that although the Jin translation of the Avata?saka-sūtra under discussion is in a fifty-volume format, some of its divisions differ from those of the mainstream fifty-volume Avata?saka-sūtra. We believe that this group of manuscripts is closer to the Imperial Household Agency Library editions, rather than the mainstream Zhonghua Tripitaka.From the postscript attached to the manuscript, the writings of the three renowned connoisseurs, Zhang Daqian, Ye Gongchuo, and Wu Hufan, hold both artistic and academic value. All of them determined the manuscript to be from the Early Tang Period, and their dating is quite accurate. Among them, Ye Gongchuo’s postscript is particularly important in that it provides insights into how scholars of that time dating manuscripts through calligraphy and characters, and reveals the delivery process of the manuscript. Besides the “Mr Renyu” mentioned in the postscript, this manuscript was also previously collected by Aili Garden, whose owner was a female Buddhist who supported the development of the Huayan School. The acquisition of this Avata?saka-sūtra, created in the Upāsikā community, by Aili Garden may not be coincidental. Finally, correspondence between Ye Gongchuo and his friends from the same period indicates that the transfer of Dunhuang manuscripts during those tumultuous times was not easy. The survival of this Avata?saka-sūtra manuscript to this day is indeed fortunate.
Fu Jisi. A Study of the New Collection of Avata?saka-sūtra at National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou[J]. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2024, 54(11): 29-42.
2024, Vol. 54 
