Pelliot Dunhuang painting via International Dunhuang Project (IDP)
Speaker: Hao Chunwen (Capital Normal University)
Date: 20 November 2025
Abstract: This talk gives an overview of recent thinking on the typology and structure of the liturgical texts found among the Dunhuang manuscripts. I propose dividing the thousands of liturgical texts found at Dunhuang into two main categories: liturgical protocols (zhaiyi 齋儀) and liturgies (zhaiwen 齋文). Liturgical protocols (sometimes called “written protocols,” shuyi 書儀) were used as references for drafting liturgies. Liturgies, written up on the basis of these liturgical protocols, were functional documents that were read aloud at all kinds of ritual gatherings. We can also divide the structure of the liturgies into five parts: the “opening” (haotou 號頭), “exaltation of virtues” (tande 歎德), “liturgical purpose” (zhaiyi 齋意), “ritual area” (daochang 道場), and “adornment” (zhuangyan 莊嚴). This structure is roughly applicable to liturgical protocols and liturgies with all manner of content, including hymns of praise, apotropaic rituals, healing rites, and mourning rites, though there are of course many variations in the specific arrangement and sequence of the parts. This talk will also touch on the commonly used term “prayer texts” (yuanwen 願文). I will suggest that this is a specific kind of liturgical text and that the term cannot be used as a blanket reference to the broader category of “liturgical text.”
About the speaker: Hao Chunwen is a Professor at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China. He is a leading scholar of Dunhuang studies, Chinese Buddhism, and medieval Chinese history. Among his many publications are the monographs Zhonggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu 中古時期社邑研究 (2019), Tang houqi Wudai Song chu Dunhuang sengni de shenghuo fangshi 唐後期五代宋初敦煌僧尼的生活方式 (1998), and Ershi shiji de Dunhuangxue 二十世紀的敦煌學 (2006). During his stay in Cambridge in autumn 2025, Prof Hao intends to work on his current project “The Indigenization of Buddhism in China: A Historical Study of Commentaries on the Diamond Sūtra, Lotus Sūtra, and Vimalakīrti Sūtra among the Dunhuang Manuscripts (Ca. 500-1000).”
“Book Culture in Buddhism and Beyond” Lecture Series:
This lecture series, launched in Michaelmas Term 2023, features talks on writing and publishing in the Buddhist tradition and in related religious and cultural spheres. Lectures in this series offer insights into the various ways in which writing and printing has been shaping Buddhism, as well as the multifaceted impact of Buddhism on book culture in East Asia, past, present, and future.
This lecture series is organised by Dr Noga Ganany (ng462@cam.ac.uk) in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge with the generous support of the Glorisun Global Network
