Dunhuang Manuscript: The Great Nirvana Sutra

Author: Jiang Bing, Lu Dading, et al. (editors)
Publisher: Xiling Press
Publication Date: 2004-02-01
Features: The Dunhuang unearthed manuscript, the 15th volume of the Great Nirvana Sutra, is now stored in the Dunhuang Academy and is cataloged as [Dunyansanliu]. It was included in Dunhuang Manuscripts from Gansu in September 1999. The original scroll is mostly complete except for missing characters in the upper part of the first line and two damaged sections from the 7th to the 10th lines. Made of white hemp paper, it consists of twenty-two joined copies of scripture paper, with clearly visible seams on the scroll surface. The height of the paper is 25 cm, the frame height is 19.5 cm, the total length of the twenty-two sheets is 843.2 cm, and it contains 518 lines, with 17 characters per line. The scroll has a black ink ( ) with a width of 1.52 cm. The ink is dark and fresh. This scroll demonstrates the transitional features from clerical script to regular script, exhibiting both the strong brushwork of clerical script and the prominent techniques of regular script. The characters are elegant, round, and expansive, showcasing excellent calligraphic qualities, astonishingly resembling the style of Su Dongpo, a great calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. As an authentic paper and ink manuscript, it preserves the calligraphic style of 1,500 years ago with meticulous accuracy, a feat difficult to achieve in contemporaneous stone inscriptions, and provides a reliable reference for the true form of [Wei script] calligraphy.