国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

Manuscripts several cart-loads. News of the discovery having reached distant Lan-chou, specimens of the
locked up manuscripts were asked for from provincial headquarters. Ultimately orders were supposed to
in place of have come from the Viceroy of Kan-su to restore the whole of the find to its original place of
discovery. deposit. So now this strange hoard of undeciphered manuscripts was declared to be kept by the
Tao-shih behind the carefully locked door with which the hidden recess had been provided since
its first discovery.

Specimen In the absence of the priest it was impossible to pursue these preliminary inquiries further.
from find But I lost no time in visiting the alleged place of discovery. Fortunately, the young Ho-shang's
produced. spiritual guide, a Tibetan monk then also away on a begging tour, had borrowed one of the
manuscripts in order to give additional lustre to a little private chapel of his own that he had
improvised at his temporary abode in the tumble-down pilgrims' rest-house. The young monk was
persuaded by Chiang Ssŭ-yeh to bring us this specimen. It was a beautifully preserved roll of
paper about 10 inches high, and, when we unfolded it in front of the original hiding-place, proved
to be about 15 yards long. The paper, yellowish in tint, looked remarkably strong and fresh. But
in a climate so dry and in a carefully sheltered hiding-place it was impossible to judge age from
mere outward appearance, and with its fine texture and carefully smoothed surface it looked to me
decidedly old.

Manuscript Chiang Ssŭ-yeh had the same impression of the writing, which was very clear and showed
roll of excellent penmanship. It was, indeed, Chinese, and so beyond doubt was the language. But my
Buddhist learned secretary frankly acknowledged that on cursory reading he could not make out any connected
Sūtra text. sense in the text. This, however, soon found its explanation when, in frequently repeated formulas
read out by Chiang, I recogized such words as P'u-sa and p'o-lo-mi, the familiar Chinese transcripts
of Sanskrit Bodhisattva and paramitā. I knew how utterly strange the phraseology of Chinese
Buddhism is to the average literatus, and there could be no possible doubt about the text being
Buddhist even before Chiang Ssŭ-yeh, on the roll having been completely unfolded, had discovered
that it was described in the colophon as a ching 經, or Sūtra. Thus the rapid inspection of this
single specimen suggested that the reported great manuscript deposit might prove to be largely of
Buddhist character. At the same time the fact that the text was written on a roll, and not in the
'concertina' or book form which has prevailed in China ever since block printing became common
about the beginning of the Sung period (A.D. 960),¹ seemed to raise a strong presumption as to the
early date of the deposit. All further speculation had to be put off until I should secure access
to the whole of the hidden library. It was enough encouragement at the time to find its existence
confirmed.

Endeavours The thought of the great store of old manuscripts awaiting exploration drew me back to the
to gain Caves of the Thousand Buddhas with the strength of a hidden magnet. But by the time at which
access to my return to the site became possible I had learned enough of the local conditions of Tun-huang to
deposit. realize that there were good reasons for caution in my first endeavours to secure access to the
Tao-shih's jealously guarded treasures. The fact alone that the cave-temples, notwithstanding all
apparent decay, were still real places of worship 'in being' would, by every consideration of
prudence, impose obvious limitations upon my archaeological activity there. But what my sagacious
secretary had meanwhile gathered about the character and ways of the monk holding charge of that
ancient hidden store was a further warning to me to feel my way at first with discretion and studied
slowness. Chiang Ssŭ-yeh, however, had succeeded in inducing Wang Tao-shih to await my
arrival at the caves instead of starting at once, when the great annual fête there had concluded, on
one of his usual tours in the district to collect temple subscriptions, etc. It was encouraging, too,