Buddhist Stone Sutras in China: Shaanxi Province. Volume 2

This is the second bilingual (Chinese/English) volume of three on Buddhist stone sutras in Shaanxi. The volume presents the engravings on the west wall of the cave at Jinchuanwan, one of the most spectacular Buddhist caves in medieval China, built in the 660s by followers of the Three Levels School. The first contribution by Claudia Wenzel connects this cave to broader histories of various cave forms, the inclusion of colossal Buddhas in such sites, and the textual and conceptual world of the Three Levels movement. Two further articles study texts carved on the west wall: Petra Rosch indicates that the Jinchuanwan Sutra on the Seven Rosters of Buddha Names is part of a protean constellation of ritual texts transmitted in various forms, presenting several texts and sites with apparent relations to Jinchuanwan. Michael Radich investigates the Rajavavadaka-sutra, discussing how textual identity and genre were constructed and received in the period surrounding the creation of Jinchuanwan. For the first time both texts are also translated into English. Finally, Fan Bo studies the material dimensions of four inscriptions preserved at the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an, which similarly have connections to the Three Levels Teaching. The authors also transcribe all four texts carved on the west wall in eight registers, fully documenting them with photographs and rubbings. Besides the previously mentioned scriptures, additional texts are the Diamond Perfection of Wisdom Sutra and the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law. A table of selected variant characters carved inside the cave completes the volume.