New Sources and Perspectives on Asian Civilizations – Abstracts

Travelling Hindus in the Indian Ocean World (ca. 5th–15th century)

The motivations that led Hindus to traverse the Indian Ocean and face its dangers—piracy, shipwreck, disease, political disruptions—were many: trade, diplomacy, religious activities (including proselytising and pilgrimage), and, more rarely, military expeditions. While the spread of Hinduism and its associated practices can ultimately be traced to these maritime interactions, little contextual evidence exists on the individuals and social categories who were its vectors. Temples across Southeast Asia attest to the enduring impact of Hinduism beyond the subcontinent, but do not reveal who their builders were or from where they hailed. State records from kingdoms and empires in the Indian subcontinent, even those such as the Guptas that fostered maritime activities and extended their influence over coastal regions, only rarely mention state-sponsored overseas ventures.

Thus, despite clear evidence of the cultural influence exerted by “Indic” culture carried by Hindu individuals travelling across the eastern Indian Ocean, we remain largely in the dark as to who the primary social actors were—whether foreign (“Indian”) or local; whether traders, political elites, or learned Brahmins; whether cultural transfer proceeded mainly peacefully or occasionally involved military coercion; and whether we are dealing with substantial migrations or rather more restricted movements of a limited number of charismatic and influential individuals. Rather than adding to general theoretical debates on “Hindu influence” beyond the subcontinent, my paper refocuses attention on concrete instances of “travelling Hindus” by historically situating and contextualizing these social agents within the wider world of Maritime Asia. After a brief theoretical and historiographical background, it assembles and discusses data—however scant and often ambiguous—drawn from primary sources, whether legendary or narrative, or more strictly historical in character, that shed light on human agents of Hindu persuasion who left a trace in the history of transoceanic connectivity. Particular emphasis is placed on the mobility of such agents between South and Southeast Asia, with occasional excursions into East Asia, in order to nuance our understanding of how Hindu religious, ritual, and intellectual traditions circulated along the sea-lanes of the Indian Ocean World.

傳程棨《摹樓璹蠶織圖》中的蠶神圖像與雷法符圖研究
A Study of the Silkworm Deity Image and Thunder Rite Talismanic Script in the Attributed Cheng Qi’s Copy of Lou Shou’s Sericulture Paintings

This article presents an iconographic investigation of two previously insufficiently discussed images in the Copy of Lou Shou’s Sericulture Paintings attributed to Cheng Qi, now in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. The first is the image of the silkworm deity in the “Ritual Thanks” scene. Tracing the Buddhist and Daoist iconographic systems of the Song and Yuan dynasties, this study points out that the visual features of this silkworm deity—such as its multi-armed wrathful appearance, flaming hair shooting upward, axe-like attribute, and horse-mouth seal—coincide to a certain extent with images of Hayagrīva (the Horse-Headed King of Illumination). Meanwhile, the popular silkworm deity image of the Horse-Headed Mother shares the core iconographic feature of the “horse head” with Hayagrīva, providing a direct visual catalyst for the appropriation of pictorial schemata. Furthermore, the religious tradition of regarding the Horse-Heavenly Bodhisattva (Aśvaghoṣa) as the silkworm deity constitutes a deeper religious background. The second is a black human-shaped pattern in the upper left corner of the “Separating the Cocoons” scene, which has so far received no scholarly attention. This article identifies it for the first time as a Daoist thunder rite (leifa) talismanic script. Through comparison with Daoist canon texts such as the Daofa Huiyuan (Compendium of Daoist Rituals), it demonstrates that elements such as the circular halo, human shape, Southern Dipper six stars, and red seal are all typical components of the thunder rite talismanic system, reflecting sericulturists’ practical needs to address silkworm diseases and stabilize climatic conditions through Daoist rituals. The re-reading of these two images reveals that the Sericulture Paintings are not merely a documentary record of agricultural production but also a visual testament to the interweaving of Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religion during the Song and Yuan periods.

法施無盡：印度那爛陀寺供養機制初探
Non-Exhaustible Endowment for the Dharma: A Preliminary Study of the Support Mechanism at Nālandā Mahāvihāra

This paper shifts the research perspective from “Buddhist monasteries” to “monastic Buddhism,” using Nālandā Mahāvihāra as a micro-level case to illuminate the broader support mechanism of Indian Buddhist monasteries, with particular focus on the concept of “non-exhaustible endowment”. Drawing on epigraphic evidence, Vinaya texts, and Chinese pilgrims’ records, it finds that major donors supported monasteries through religious rituals, land grants, and cash investments, primarily in the form of landed property and gold and silver currency, which were designated as non-exhaustible endowments. Monasteries then engaged in agriculture, handicrafts, building industry, commerce, and lending, transforming static assets into a non-exhaustible cycle of capital that benefited both monastics and laity. Systems such as Yizhi (robe funds) and Gongfu zhi Zhuang (robe-providing estates) reveal mature financial services that not only liberated monks from economic constraints but also stimulated the cotton textile trade between India and China. The wealth possessed by monasteries was not static but perpetually engaged in a dynamic cycle of capital. Major Buddhist monasteries thus emerged as regional economic engines, which became the core value for continuous royal patronage as well as the key incentive for their violent destruction by Turkic Muslims. However, the transformation of the religious landscape and economic network in late medieval Bihār was not a simplistic process. Faced with a changing political and religious environment over time, Sufi saints, Jain followers, Shaiva ascetics and other religious communities each grounded in their own faiths, landholdings, commercial networks and educational systems, gradually displaced, restructured and dispersed the Buddhist monastery centered endowment mechanism, causing Buddhism to progressively lose its regional dominance as an institutionalized religion.

Chinese Poetry in the Light of Studies on Manuscript Cultures

The study mainly draws on three groups of sources: Dunhuang manuscripts and inscriptions on the walls of the Mogao caves from the Silk Roads, as well as poetic texts found on ceramic wares such as those on the Changsha kiln. These materials preserve similar versions of poems on distinct surfaces and in diverse formats, each now embedded in a new specific social and material context. Considered together, the poem versions on such different surfaces provide a basis for examining how texts circulated across media before their later fixation in standardised editions.

Methodologically, the paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, primarily combining perspectives from literary study and manuscript studies. It treats textual variation not as a problem to be resolved but as evidence of transmission and distinct contexts of usage. Rather than seeking to reconstruct a single authoritative version, it places different versions in relation to one another. The discussion proceeds through focused comparisons of how poems appear in different material forms, how they are adapted to those forms, and how such adaptations shape their presentation and reception.

By situating poetic texts within the environments in which they were produced and used, this study contributes to ongoing efforts to broaden the evidentiary base of Chinese literary history. It highlights the importance of material context in shaping textual form and meaning, and it emphasizes the plurality of poetic expression prior to canonical fixation.

At the same time, the paper engages with broader questions of cultural exchange along the Silk Road, where texts, objects, and practices changed across regions, communities and during the progress of time. It suggests that attention to manuscript and object-based evidence can refine our understanding of poetic transmission while complementing established philological approaches. In doing so, it offers a perspective that opens new avenues for the study of Chinese poetry within the wider framework of Asian civilizations.

亞洲文明網絡中的晚明出版文化：東亞印刷、地圖轉譯與知識流通（1550-1650）
Late Ming Publishing Culture in Asian Civilizational Networks: East Asian Printing, Cartographic Translation, and Knowledge Circulation, 1550–1650

The article centers on the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, daily-use encyclopedias, regional networks, and the circulation of maps in East Asia, and examines the place of late Ming publishing culture within Asian civilizational networks between 1550 and 1650. Rather than adopting a modernization narrative that implicitly takes Europe as the standard and treats the late Ming merely as the eve of the eastward transmission of Western learning, the article approaches the period from the perspective of East Asian cross-regional interaction and the long history of exchanges among Asian civilizations. It argues that the late Ming had already developed into a highly commercialized print world, one capable of translating, reorganizing, and redistributing knowledge.

Late Ming publishing culture functioned not only as an important mechanism for the social circulation of knowledge within China, but also as a crucial hub in the exchanges among Asian civilizations. By incorporating foreign geographical knowledge, textual forms, and visual resources into existing book-centered knowledge orders, and by mobilizing networks of booksellers, block carvers, merchants, and envoys, late Ming publishing helped reorganize knowledge across Asia. Accordingly, the study of Chinese civilization should not remain confined within the boundaries of the empire itself. It must be situated within the long-standing networks of Asian civilizations.

僧普潤與神龍末、開元初的政爭

東亞海上聖境建構的另一種想象——中世日本補陀洛淨土圖研究
Imagining Maritime Sacred Realms in East Asia: A Study of Potalaka Pure Land Images in Medieval Japan

This article examines images of the Pure Land of Potalaka produced in medieval Japan, roughly from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, and explores how visual representation participated in shaping conceptions of Avalokiteśvara’s sacred realm. Potalaka, known in Buddhist scriptures as the dwelling place of Avalokiteśvara, gradually acquired concrete spatial associations across East Asia. In medieval Japan, a group of Potalaka Pure Land images transformed Mount Potalaka from a background element in Buddhist painting into the central subject of the composition, appearing in paintings on miniature shrines, Buddhist hall murals, and hanging mandalas. By analyzing extant images together with Buddhist scriptures and medieval Japanese texts, this study considers their compositional features, spatial representation, and doctrinal background. It further asks whether these images present a vision of Potalaka distinct from actual sacred-site landscapes, and how they contributed to medieval Japanese imaginings of a Pure Land that could be reached.

“鬈髮胡兒”：——中古外來捲髮族羣藝術形象考察

Curly hair was long perceived as a prominent marker of exogenous ethnic groups hailing from beyond the Chinese borders. Consequently, inquiries into the nature of “curly hair” (juanfa) were often driven by curiosity regarding its origins—a pursuit that resembled a “descent of species” in its tendency to pivot toward questions of ethnogenesis and racial composition. Whether the trait of curly hair stems from “genetic inheritance” or “racial evolution” has remained an unresolved question. Nevertheless, the recurring depiction of figures with curly hair from these foreign ethnic groups across various artistic media during the Medieval period serves as tangible empirical evidence of real-world interactions. These representations, characterized by their intricate diversity, have emerged as an unavoidable subject in our research on the cultural interchanges between the Hu and the Han.

Drawing upon excavated archaeological iconography, this paper delineates the evolving typology of curly hair imagery across distinct historical periods and social strata. It further investigates the underlying intentions behind the sculptural and pictorial practices of medieval artisans. Through this analysis, the study aims to broaden the scientific horizons of ethnic history research and expand the vital boundaries of our understanding regarding the origins and interconnectedness of diverse ethnic groups.

江戶學者岡本保孝《晏子春秋筆錄》芻議：一種由互見文獻切入的先秦子書研究進路
A Preliminary Study of the Yanzi chunqiu bilu, A Japanese Manuscript Recording Okamoto Yasutaka’s Lectures: An Approach to Pre-Qin Masters Texts through Textual Parallels

《筆錄》所據底本，應屬明活字本或柯喬本系統，並注意日本翻刻黃之寀本天頭舊校的學術價值，廣泛吸收盧文弨、孫星衍、洪頤煊等清代學者成果，兼採澀江抽齋、東條弘、小川信成等江戶學者之說，且屢對前人觀點加以修正。其考證往往能在不疑處生疑，部分論斷先於俞樾、黃以周、孫詒讓等人提出，雖未及參閱《讀書雜志》，亦不乏與王念孫暗合之見，足見其眼光獨到、校訂精審。最具特色之處，在於結合上下文與同時代文獻語例，歸納先秦語用與修辭習慣，並逐章列舉與他書互見的條目，為《晏子春秋》提供了一種由互見文獻切入的研究進路，較吳則虞的〈晏子春秋重言重意篇目表〉早逾一世紀。可以說，這部《筆錄》對於豐富《晏子春秋》研究史及東亞漢學交流史，均具有不可忽視的學術價值。

A survey of the research history of the Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋 shows that systematic scholarly studies only began to emerge gradually after the Qing scholar Sun Xingyan completed his annotated and collated edition of the text. In contrast, related research by Japanese Edo-period scholars has long remained overlooked. Particularly noteworthy among them is the manuscript Yanzi chunqiu bilu (晏子春秋筆錄, hereafter Bilu), copied by Shioda Yōan 塩田揚庵 in 1832 and currently preserved at the Tohoku University Library, which consists of notes recording Okamoto Yasutaka’s 岡本保孝 lectures. Although repeatedly revised and not well structured, it represents a highly mature scholarly approach in textual criticism, the collation of variant readings and philological interpretation.

The Bilu, likely based on the Ming movable-type edition or the Keqiao edition, also recognizes the scholarly value of the marginalia preserved in Japanese reprints of Huang Zhicai’s edition. The work extensively incorporated previous scholarship by Chinese scholars such as Lu Wenchao, Sun Xingyan, and Hong Yixuan, while also drawing upon the opinions of Japanese scholars including Shibue Chūsai, Tōjō Kō, and Ogawa Nobushige, frequently revising their interpretations. Its philological exegesis often raises doubts precisely where previous scholars had seen none, and some of its conclusions even anticipated arguments that appear in the later works of Yu Yue, Huang Yizhou, and Sun Yirang. Although the author had no access to Wang Niansun’s Dushu zazhi 讀書雜志, a number of observations nevertheless coincide remarkably with Wang’s views, demonstrating both keen insight and meticulous textual criticism.

Most distinctive is its method of summarizing linguistic usage and rhetorical conventions through contextual analysis and contemporaneous examples, and systematically listing parallel passages in each section, thereby offering a research approach based on textual parallels to the Yanzi chunqiu more than a century earlier than Wu Zeyu (1962). It may therefore be inferred that the Bilu possesses considerable scholarly value both for enriching the research history of the Yanzi chunqiu and for advancing our understanding of the history of intellectual exchange in Sinology across East Asia.

不能旋轉轉輪藏的生成邏輯與歷史語境——以北京智化寺轉輪藏爲例
The Formation Logic and Historical Context of the Non-Rotating Revolving Bookcase — A Case Study of the One at Zhihua Temple in Beijing

Introduction
1. History and Layout of Zhihua Temple
2. Furnishings of the Repository Hall
3. Main Statues and Vairocana Buddha of the Repository Hall
4. Six Guardian Deities, Vajras and Bodhisattvas
5. The Non-Rotating Revolving Bookcase in Historical Documents and Physical Relics
6. Legends of the Self-Revolving Revolving Bookcase
7. Chan Implications of “Motionless yet Revolving”
Conclusion

乾隆朝官方修史活動所見“貳臣”“逆臣”觀念及對朝鮮王朝之影響
The Concepts of “Turncoat Ministers” and “Rebel Ministers” Reflected in Official Historiography of the Qianlong Reign and Their Influence on the Joseon Dynasty

As Qing rule became increasingly consolidated, Emperor Qianlong launched a series of official historiographical projects. He re-evaluated the moral integrity of officials who lived through the Ming-Qing transition to uphold ethical norms and promote moral education. Works including Records of Loyal Martyrs of the Former Dynasty, Biographies of Turncoat Ministers and Biographies of Rebel Ministers were compiled one after another.The concepts of “turncoat ministers” and “rebel ministers” originated from these books and were further elaborated in the corresponding chapters of Continued Comprehensive Records. Their definitions and connotations grew increasingly explicit and gradually permeated public ideology.The Joseon Dynasty paid close attention to this corpus of historical writings. Influenced by the ideas of “upholding the Zhou and cherishing the Ming” and the distinction between Hua and Yi, Korean scholars raised numerous doubts about these works. Despite widespread controversy over the books in Korea, Joseon’s notions of “turncoat ministers” and “rebel ministers” were subtly shaped by Qing discourse, and eventually converged with those of the Qing Dynasty.

Reconstructing the (Dharmic) Reconstruction of Rural China: Grassroots Buddhism and Cooperative Development Projects since 2013

The paper will start by providing background on my dissertation, Reconstructing the Rural: Peasant Organizations in a Chinese Movement for Alternative Development, highlighting aspects that relate to Buddhism. It will then summarize key findings from a few of the several dozen English and Chinese publications that have either engaged directly with my dissertation or presented research on cooperative rural development projects in China since the early 2010s. If time permits, this summary will include a critique of the limitations of this scholarship, which often misrepresents key goals of both my dissertation and the smallholder initiatives within the movement itself. Thirdly, the paper will introduce two current research projects, which combine a follow-up on the dissertation with my new interest in socially engaged Buddhism.

One of these current studies concerns an agroecological collective in the outskirts of Chengdu, where I conducted participant observation during multiple visits from 2009 to 2012, using it as one of the four main case studies in my dissertation. Several prominent members of the collective are devout Buddhists, their faith being both a major source of motivation for the project and a point of attraction for external activists who came to help with the project, one of whom later became a nun at a Tibetan monastery elsewhere in Sichuan, another returning to her village to start her own agroecological project. I have maintained contact with some of these research subjects, and this June I will visit the village to catch up with them and see what has changed, this time asking more questions oriented toward their faith and their observations about socially engaged Buddhism in contemporary China more broadly.

The other current study expands beyond the scope of my dissertation to address cooperative agroecological tourism in a Tibetan township in Western Sichuan. I visited this township in 2009, conducting preliminary research on its alternative approach to the tourist industry, but decided to exclude ethnic minority sites from my four main case studies in order to simplify the points of comparison, and to make sure I could understand the language of everyday conversations during participant observation. Now, my new interest in Tibetan Buddhism and my corresponding study of Tibetan language has posed this township as a site for research. I have contacted three Tibetan residents, including two monks and one lay participant in the tourism project, and they are helping me to set up accommodations and introductions to other potential research subjects before my visit in June.

After conducting this new round of research, writing the paper, presenting it at the conference in July, and then developing it into an article for publication, I will assess the possibilities for further research on the role of Buddhism in experiments with cooperative rural development in twenty-first century China. Meanwhile, my translation of Su Bai’s book on the archaeology of Tibetan monasteries (as part of the One Thousand Books in One Century translation project), and my readings on Tibetan history and religion that accompany this work, will provide helpful background for the social context of such experiments. This conference is the perfect impetus for me to move forward with my research, and a rare opportunity to receive feedback from other scholars from a broad variety of backgrounds and specializations.

黑水城出土藏文寫本Dx178研究
A Study on the Tibetan Manuscript Dx178 Unearthed from Khara-Khoto

The Tibetan manuscript Dx178 (Дх. Тиб. 178) unearthed from Khara-Khoto is a crucial document for studying the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in the Western Regions from the late 12th to the early 13th century. Russian scholar A. V. Zorin corrected the previous error where it was misidentified as a Dunhuang manuscript, confirming its provenance from Khara-Khoto and dating it to the Western Xia period. Written in a scroll format, the manuscript is copied on both sides in archaic Tibetan cursive script. It consists of a compilation of Buddhist ritual texts, including sadhanas (practice methods) and rituals centered on Mahakala, Simhamukha (the Lion-faced Dakini), and Vajrapani, some of which are not found in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (Kangyur and Tengyur). Furthermore, the manuscript contains works by the 12th-century Tibetan yogi Galo Lotsawa. Subsequent studies have revealed a close connection between this manuscript and the Chinese-language text Sadhana and Rituals of Mahakala (Dahei Qiuxiu Bing Zuofa), also found in Khara-Khoto. Dx178 holds profound academic value for reconstructing the history of Tibetan Buddhism in the Hexi Corridor during the Western Xia and Mongol-Yuan periods, as well as tracking the circulation and evolution of Esoteric ritual literature.

Tea, Horses, and Frontier Exchange: The Political Economy of the Tea–Horse Road in Southwestern China and Tibet
茶葉、馬匹與邊境貿易：中國西南和西藏茶馬古道的政治經濟學

Drawing extensively upon a wide array of sources—including official dynastic histories such as the  History of Song(宋史) and the Extended Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government（续资治通鉴长编）, local gazetteers such as the A Comprehensive Record of Affairs in Yunnan（滇事总录）, and modern scholarly research, this paper conducts an in-depth examination of the developmental trajectory of the tea-horse trade during the Song Dynasty, as well as its impact on the Tea-Horse Road.The article further examines how state monopolies, transportation infrastructure, and logistical administration contributed to the expansion of the Sichuan–Tibet route while simultaneously generating fiscal burdens, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and social tensions. At the same time, the study highlights the comparatively decentralized nature of the Yunnan–Tibet route, where local powers such as the Mu clan of Lijiang played essential roles in organizing caravan trade and maintaining frontier stability.

The article also analyzes the broader political economy of the Tea–Horse Road through the lens of ecological complementarity, comparative advantage, and transaction-cost reduction. Commercial innovations such as Jiaozi (交子), the world’s earliest paper currency, emerged directly from the logistical demands of frontier trade. Ultimately, this study posits that the Tea-Horse Road established a unique model of frontier economic integration, one that closely interconnected diverse ecological zones with disparate political entities to form a cross-regional commercial system of enduring vitality. Far from being a dispensable periphery within the Eurasian trade network, the Tea-Horse Road exerted a profound influence on the economic, political, and cultural development of southwestern China and the entire Himalayan region.

本文將茶馬古道視爲一個複雜的區域間經濟交流體系，自唐代起連接了中國西南地區、西藏、內亞以及南亞部分地區。本文並非將茶馬古道僅僅視爲茶葉和馬匹貿易的通道，而是將其視爲一個多層次的商業和政治網絡，其形成受到國家機構、地方精英和生態環境的共同影響。通過分析川藏和滇藏兩條路線的歷史發展，本文闡明瞭茶馬貿易如何源於農業區和牧區互補的經濟需求。四川和雲南出產的茶葉成爲藏族社會不可或缺的資源，而藏馬則因其軍事用途而備受中國曆代王朝的重視，尤其是在宋代。

本文廣泛借鑑了包括《宋史》和《續資治通鑑長編》等官方史書、《滇事總錄》等地方誌以及現代學術研究在內的多種史料，深入探討了宋代茶馬貿易的發展軌跡及其對茶馬古道的影響。文章進一步分析了國家壟斷、交通基礎設施和後勤管理如何促進川藏路線的擴張，同時也造成了財政負擔、官僚效率低下和社會矛盾。此外，本文還強調了滇藏路線相對分散的特點，麗江木氏等地方勢力在組織商隊貿易和維護邊疆穩定方面發揮了至關重要的作用。

本文還從生態互補性、比較優勢和交易成本降低的角度分析了茶馬古道的更廣泛的政治經濟學。諸如交子（世界上最早的紙幣）等商業創新，直接源於邊疆貿易的物流需求。最終，本文認爲茶馬古道建立了一種獨特的邊疆經濟一體化模式，將不同的生態區域和政治實體緊密聯繫起來，形成了一個充滿活力的跨區域商業體系。茶馬古道遠非歐亞貿易網絡中可有可無的邊緣地帶，而是對中國西南地區乃至整個喜馬拉雅地區的經濟、政治和文化發展產生了深遠的影響。

套疊的靈塔：朝陽北塔宗教體系研究
Stacked Lingta: A Study on the Religious System of Chaoyang North Pagoda

The image system of Chaoyang North Pagoda systematically reflects the Buddhist beliefs of the ruling class during the Liao Dynasty, representing a fusion of diverse cultural elements. The pagoda’s exterior features a composite of Vajrayana’s Four Directions Buddhas and the Three Bodies of Dharma, Sutra, and Transformation, embodying a Buddhist framework dominated by Huayan philosophy with Vajrayana teachings as its complement—a trend consistent with the prevailing Buddhist ideologies of the Liao era. The five-tiered relic urns within the celestial palace and the three-dimensional mandala in the underground chamber not only symbolize rebirth in the Western Pure Land but also depict a multidimensional Buddhist worldview. The simultaneous presence of true, shadow, and Dharma body relics showcases the distinctive relic burial system and the harmonious integration of exoteric and esoteric Buddhist practices. The vertically aligned square passages create a unique Sumeru mountain configuration.

Pearl Roundel Motif in China: Reexamining Origins and Development through Overlooked Evidence
中國聯珠紋樣的起源與發展再探：基於被忽視材料

Particular attention is given to materials dating from the Han to Jin period, which have often been neglected in earlier scholarship. These examples fill the supposed chronological gap and call into question the long-held view that the motif disappeared from Chinese visual culture before being reintroduced through Central Asian influence. In addition, the paper reassesses the assumption that pearl roundels were exclusively centrally positioned in early Chinese ornament. Through close visual and comparative analysis, it shows that peripheral and framing uses of the motif were already established in earlier periods and persisted across time.

Reconsidering Aurel Stein’s qualified reservations regarding a Persian origin, the study further examines whether enclosed figural types—such as birds with ribbons and winged horses—have indigenous precedents and symbolic associations in China. By integrating neglected materials with a critical reassessment of inherited assumptions, the paper argues that the pearl roundel motif should be understood not as a purely imported form, but as the product of both long-term local development and selective intercultural exchange.

By foregrounding new evidence and revisiting established interpretations, this study contributes to broader discussions of artistic transmission across Asia, highlighting the need for more nuanced and evidence-based approaches to cultural interaction.

本文綜合考察中國考古、圖像與文獻材料，重新審視聯珠紋的起源與發展。該紋樣雖常被視爲薩珊波斯的產物，但這一觀點多以後漢至隋前中國缺乏相關紋樣實例爲前提。本文彙集青銅器、畫像磚、瓦當、紡織品、瓷器、銅鏡及佛教藝術等材料，尤其關注漢至晉時長期被忽視的實例，指出所謂“時間斷層”並不成立，並提示該紋樣自馬家窯文化至隋代在中國語境中持續發展的脈絡。同時，通過細緻的視覺分析與比較研究，本文指出，聯珠紋作爲邊飾或邊框的用法早已確立，並長期延續。

此外，本文重新評估了斯坦因對聯珠紋波斯起源說的保留態度，並進一步探討綏帶鳥、翼馬等聯珠紋中典型的動物圖像在中國可能存在的本土先例及其象徵意涵。綜合上述分析，本文主張，聯珠紋並非簡單的外來紋飾，而是本土傳統與選擇性跨文化交流共同塑造的結果。

通過呈現新證據並重審既有解釋框架，本文爲更廣泛的亞洲藝術傳播討論提供了新視角，並強調以實證爲基礎，以審慎細緻的方式理解文化互動。

也談墓葬圖像的“平城模式”——從東北亞墓室壁畫出發的再討論
On the “Pingcheng Mode” of Funerary Imagery: A Reconsideration from Northeast Asian Tomb Murals

A considerable number of image-bearing tombs from the Northern Wei Pingcheng period have been discovered in the Pingcheng region (Datong). Although limited in quantity, their media are diverse, including mural paintings, wooden coffins, and house-shaped stone funerary furnishings. These images display strong consistency in both subject matter and composition: centered on portraits of the tomb occupant, they are accompanied by scenes of banquets, music and dance, hunting, and processions, while incorporating decorative motifs such as landscapes and screens, as well as Buddhist elements. Through the reconfiguration of earlier visual traditions, they formed a cross-media funerary image system that may be termed the “Pingcheng mode.”

This mode was influenced not only by mural traditions from Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Goguryeo in Northeast Asia, but also by pictorial traditions inherited from Hexi and other regions since the Han and Jin periods. In particular, the combination of tomb-occupant portraits and procession scenes, together with the symmetrical placement of images on the main wall, shows close connections with Northeast Asian mural tombs and may even suggest the transmission of shared painting models. During the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi periods, the centrality of the tomb-occupant portrait became further institutionalized, while scenes of daily life gradually disappeared. Overall, the Pingcheng mode reflects the cultural integration, ethnic interaction, and broader social transformation that accompanied the Northern Wei unification of northern China.

佛教器物的政治：北宋與平安朝廷的“貢賜”及其意義
The Politics of Buddhist Artifacts: Tribute and Bestowal Between Heian and Northern Song

During the Northern Song period, the gifting of Buddhist artifacts frequently appeared in Sino-Japanese exchanges. Although Japan had established a self-centered order with their emperor at its core and tended toward isolation, the Heian imperial court, led by the Fujiwara regents, actively dispatched monks to Song China and requested Buddhist artifacts. Although these monks were not official envoys, they reflected a trend toward diversified diplomacy in Japan. The Song court recognized the close ties between these monks and the Japanese rulers and used the bestowal of Buddhist artifacts to encourage them to convey messages to the Japanese court, urging Japan to send formal tribute missions and incorporating this into its broader diplomatic strategy. Under the “Chanyuan Treaty System”, Buddhism served as a shared cultural foundation for transregional interaction in East Asia. By collecting and bestowing Buddhist artifacts, the Song Dynasty proclaimed its orthodox status within the Buddhist world and enhanced its diplomatic influence. However, the Heian court, upon receiving these artifacts, repurposed them to construct their own divine authority and vision of a “Land of Buddha’s Kingdom”. Thus, the very same set of Buddhist artifacts carried vastly different symbolic meanings and functions in the Northern Song-Heian diplomatic interactions.

雲岡石窟西區景觀變遷研究
A Study on the Landscape Changes in the Western Area of Yungang Grottoes

This study focuses on the western section of the Yungang Grottoes and investigates the formation and transformation of its monastic landscape from the Northern Wei to the Liao–Jin periods through the integration of textual records and recent archaeological discoveries. Moving beyond the traditional emphasis on cave sculpture and iconography, the research adopts a holistic perspective of the cave monastery to reconstruct the spatial relationships among caves, front structures, and mountaintop monasteries. The study argues that construction in the western section began during the Heping era of the Northern Wei, with cave excavation and surface monasteries developed simultaneously under strong Gandhāran influence. The mountaintop monastery may have been completed earlier than some of the caves and likely served as an important center for monastic practice and scripture translation. By reconstructing the changing landscape of the site, this study seeks to supplement existing research on the overall layout of the Yungang cave monastery and provide a new perspective for the study of early Chinese Buddhist cave temples.

被聆聽的都城：北京鐘樓的歷史聲景與空間想象（1740-1930）
The Heard Capital: Historical Soundscapes and Spatial Imagination around Beijing’s Bell Tower, 1740–1930

既有研究多將鐘樓視爲帝都禮制與空間規劃的關鍵節點，聚焦其在中軸線建設、城市佈局及權力秩序建構中的象徵作用。然而，普通城市居民如何聆聽、體驗鐘聲，並通過對鐘聲的描述與記憶重新想象城市空間，則長期未獲足夠關注。法國學者Alexandre Vincent提出的“歷史聲景”概念爲從“被規劃的城市史”轉向“被感知的城市史”提供了有效路徑。他認爲，歷史學家關注的並非已經消失的聲音本身，而是歷史文獻中留存的聲音事件之“再現”（representation），即某些聲音如何被處於特定社會文化背景中的聆聽者感知、理解和記錄。這一視角不僅提供了以聲音理解歷史的新維度，也提示到常見文獻中仍潛藏着關於過去聆聽經驗的“新材料”。

基於碑刻、檔案、竹枝詞、報刊與民間傳說等文獻，本文梳理了乾隆、嘉慶、清末及二十世紀三十年代四個時期圍繞北京鐘樓形成的聲音事件及其歷史記憶，以書寫一種被聆聽的鐘樓史。研究發現，鐘樓之聲並不只被解讀爲城市時序和皇權的象徵。對於不同社會文化背景的人而言，鐘聲更是一種能突破既有空間與社會邊界的聲音符號。通過對鐘聲的感知與再現，人們不斷想象和討論如何跨越城內與城外、都城與帝國、官方與民間，乃至聖俗與生死等多重界限。這些鐘聲事件的“再現”實際上反映了1740至1930年代北京居民在聽覺上想象和重構都城空間結構的多樣嘗試。

在此基礎上，本文進一步反思“歷史聲景”作爲概念工具的理論潛能。北京鐘樓的案例表明，聲音空間未必服從視覺景觀的空間邏輯。鐘樓作爲建築具有明確穩定的位置，而鐘聲的傳播、感知與再現卻能突破視覺所塑造的空間邊界，在聽覺經驗中生成新的空間關聯。因此，對歷史學家而言，聲景不僅是過去聲音環境的再現，也不應被簡單理解爲可聆聽的“地景”，它更是一種通過感知經驗不斷組織、擴展和重構空間關係的歷史過程。本文希望展示聲音史研究如何爲北京城市史提供新的觀察角度，同時也爲“歷史聲景”概念的進一步發展提供來自中國材料的反思。

This paper explores the methodological potential of the concept of the historical soundscape for reconstructing the auditory history of China’s imperial capital through a case study of Beijing’s Bell Tower.

Existing scholarship has primarily approached the Bell Tower as a key element of imperial ritual and urban planning, emphasizing its role within Beijing’s central axis and its function in articulating political authority and spatial order. Far less attention has been paid to how ordinary residents heard, experienced, and remembered its bell chimes, and how such auditory experiences shaped alternative understandings of urban space. The concept of the historical soundscape, developed by French historian Alexandre Vincent, offers a way to shift attention from the history of the planned city to that of the perceived city. Rather than attempting to recover lost sounds, Vincent encourages historians to examine representations of sonic events preserved in historical sources—that is, how sounds were perceived, interpreted, and recorded by historically situated listeners. This approach not only opens new perspectives on the sensory past but also reveals previously overlooked evidence embedded in familiar texts.

Drawing on stele inscriptions, archival records, popular verse, newspapers, and folklore, this paper examines a series of sonic events and memories associated with the Bell Tower during the Qianlong, Jiaqing, late Qing, and Republican periods. It argues that the bell chimes were understood not only as symbols of imperial authority and urban order, but also as sounds capable of transcending established spatial and social boundaries. Through their representations of the bell, listeners continually imagined connections across multiple divides: between the inner and outer city, the capital and the empire, official and popular spheres, and even the sacred and the profane, the living and the dead. These sonic representations reveal how Beijing residents reimagined and reconstructed the spatial structure of the capital through auditory experience between 1740 and 1930.

Building on this case study, the paper further reflects on the theoretical implications of the historical soundscape. The Bell Tower demonstrates that auditory space does not necessarily conform to the spatial logic of visual landscapes. While the tower occupied a fixed location, the transmission, perception, and representation of its sounds repeatedly exceeded visual and physical boundaries, generating new forms of spatial association. Historical soundscapes, therefore, are not simply representations of past acoustic environments or “audible landscapes.” Rather, they are historical processes through which sonic experience organizes, expands, and reconfigures spatial relations. By bringing late imperial Chinese materials into dialogue with contemporary sound studies, this paper seeks both to offer a new perspective on the urban history of Beijing and to contribute to broader debates on the conceptual possibilities of the historical soundscape.

絲路文明視域下敦煌農耕文化與遊牧文化交融共生——以敦煌壁畫爲中心
The Integration and Coexistence of Agricultural Culture and Nomadic Culture in Dunhuang from the Perspective of the Silk Road Civilization: A Study Centered on Dunhuang Murals

1. 綠洲農牧發展的自然地理環境
2. 農牧生產方式的社會基礎（行政建置與移民遷徙）
3. 中原農耕思想及生產技術方式西傳

二、敦煌壁畫中農耕文化視覺呈現與圖像敘事

1. 石窟壁畫中農耕圖分佈規律
2. 石窟壁畫中農耕文化符號呈現
3. 石窟壁畫中農耕圖景的敘事邏輯

三、敦煌壁畫中游牧騎射文化視覺呈現與圖像敘事

1. 遊牧騎射傳統技藝與圖像生成
2. 敦煌壁畫中騎射圖景的敘事邏輯
3. 胡服騎射圖像與胡漢文化交融

四、兩類圖像反映出農耕與遊牧民族文化的交融共生

I. Background of the Coexistence of Agricultural and Pastoral Cultures in Dunhuang within the Silk Road Civilization

1. The natural geographical environment conducive to oasis-based agricultural and pastoral development
2. The social foundations of agricultural and pastoral production methods (administrative structures and migration patterns)
3. The westward dissemination of Central Plains agricultural concepts and production techniques

II. Visual Representation and Narrative Framework of Agricultural Culture in Dunhuang Murals 1. Distribution patterns of agricultural scenes in cave murals 2. Presentation of agricultural cultural symbols in murals 3. Narrative logic of agricultural imagery in murals

III. Visual Representation and Narrative Framework of Nomadic Horseback Archery Culture in Dunhuang Murals 1. Traditional nomadic horseback archery techniques and their visual representation 2. Narrative logic of horseback archery scenes in murals 3. Images of Hu-style clothing and horseback archery reflecting cultural integration between Hu peoples and Han Chinese

IV. The two types of images reflect the integration and coexistence of agricultural and nomadic cultures.

從新見海外迴歸北齊粟特石棺牀看佛祆造像技藝之融合
On the Artistic Integration of Buddhist and Zoroastrian Iconography: A Study of Newly Repatriated Northern Qi Sogdian Stone Biad Beds from Overseas

In May 2023, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York, USA, repatriated two long-looted painted front panels of Sogdian stone biad beds. Scholars including Rong Xinjiang, Annette Juliano and Zhang Qingjie have successively interpreted the pictorial motifs. Combined with the typological features of extant Northern Dynasties Sogdian stone burial wares in China, they dated the two panels to the Northern Qi Dynasty. One of the panels bears striking similarities to contemporary Buddhist sculptures from Ye City in both iconography and carving techniques. Through pictorial analysis and documentary evidence, this paper argues that three thematic motifs and one carving technique presented on this Northern Qi panel derive from the Buddhist sculptural traditions of Ye City. The findings not only corroborate the provenance of the stone panel, but also offer new perspectives for research on the integration of Buddhism and Zoroastrianism in the late Northern Dynasties.

王世充降唐及其家族成員遭際
The Surrender of Wang Shichong and the Destiny of His Lineage

After Wang Shichong’s surrender, most of his Zheng territory quickly submitted to the Tang, but Xiangyang襄阳 held out for over two months under Dou Lu Bao豆卢褒. The Collected Records of the Three Jewels’ Miraculous Manifestations 《集神州三宝感通录》supplies key details of this siege via the monk Xian, filling a gap in conventional historiography.Although Li Yuan李淵 had commuted their death sentence to exile in Shu, Wang Shichong王世充 and his brother Wang Shiyun王世恽 were murdered by Dugu Xiude独孤修德in private revenge. Later, Wang Xuanying王玄应、 and Wang Shiwei王世伟allegedly plotted rebellion en route, leading to the execution of more than twenty Wang clan members by family-relation. Even those secretly ordained by the monk Fa Gai法该were not spared.Most female kin were consigned to the Tang palace and Li Shimin’s household, including Wang Xuanying’s crown princess Wei Nizi (later Zhaorong) and her cousin Wei Gui韦珪. Compared to other surrendering regional regimes, the Wang family suffered a far more turbulent fate.

吐谷渾外交政策轉向與西域交通拓展
The Transformation of Tuyuhun’s Foreign Policy and the Expansion of Transportation to the Western Regions

During the early Northern and Southern Dynasties period, the Western Xianbei Tuyuhun tribe expanded further into the Western Regions due to its developmental needs and continuous pressure from the Northern Wei dynasty. As the Northern Wei’s influence grew during this era, it focused on expanding into the Hexi Corridor, the Hehuang region, and the Western Regions, making the Tuyuhun one of its primary targets. Confronted with the dual strategic pressures from both Southern and Northern regimes, the Tuyuhun’s foreign policy underwent significant changes during the leadership transitions of Mu Liyan and Shi Yin. The Tuyuhun extended its reach to regions such as Shanshan, Qiemo, and Khotan in the Western Regions, establishing a balance of power with the Hephthalite and Rouran that collectively curbed the Northern Wei’s advance into these areas. This development positively contributed to the smooth operation and growth of the Silk Road routes in the Western Regions. The Tuyuhun’s expansion also facilitated enhanced transportation networks and intensified material and cultural exchanges with the surrounding territories.

右繞與供養：巴爾胡特佛塔的禮儀空間與圖像研究
Circumambulation and Offering: A Study of Ritual Space and Imagery at the Bharhut Stupa

此外，石欄柱頂的凹槽與塔門內側的壁龕表明佛塔設有夜間照明設施，燈盞沿石欄環繞佈置，使佛塔在夜間成爲“自發光”的聖物，明暗交替的光影效果不僅引導着繞行者的步伐節奏，也爲夜間繞塔提供了視覺條件。這一燈光佈局雖未見於早期佛經記載，卻與後來燈供養經典的論述形成呼應，表明燈光在右繞禮儀中的使用先於其文本化表述。

三、圖像中的右繞與供養表現
巴爾胡特佛塔的浮雕圖像系統性地表現了右繞與供養的各種形式。右繞圖像中，繞塔者以右肩朝向塔身，姿態包括合掌、俯身與站立禮拜，其身份涵蓋僧俗男女。供養圖像則包括散花（飛天的散花姿態）、奏樂（鼓、笛、鈸、螺等樂器與樂師形象）以及合掌禮拜等多樣化表現形式。
尤爲值得注意的是佛塔基座邊緣的一排右手掌印浮雕，這些掌印以右手掌印代表禮拜者，以一排連續的掌印暗示無數信衆的持續供養。所有圖像均沿右繞道順時針編排，圖像的分佈規律與繞行方向保持一致，使繞行者在行進過程中自然而然地依次觀看浮雕內容。在無佛像時期，巴爾胡特的圖像表現採用了象徵手法，以法輪、菩提樹、佛塔和足印代表佛陀，繞行佛塔即被視爲見佛，供養佛塔即等同於供養佛陀。

這些圖像證據的年代早於相關佛經文獻的成書時間，爲右繞禮儀的實際存在形態提供了比文本更爲直接的史證。

四、建築、圖像與燈光的協同作用及結論
巴爾胡特佛塔的建築空間、圖像表現與燈光佈局三者相互配合，共同將右繞這一身體行爲轉化爲具有宗教意義的實踐活動。建築空間通過雙層繞道結構、石欄邊界、踏道與塔門的便右性設計，引導信衆以規範的姿態和方向進入並繞行；燈光佈局使夜間繞塔成爲可能，以明暗交替的節奏引導步伐；圖像表現則通過繞塔者、散花、掌印、奏樂等畫面，將右繞禮儀的抽象規範轉化爲可見的視覺範例。

三者協同作用，繞行者在物理空間中沿右繞道前行，在視覺引導中觀看順時針編排的供養圖像，在光影交替中體驗夜間繞塔的特殊氛圍，最終在身體、視覺與環境的共同作用下，獲得“右繞即是供養”的宗教體驗。

從學術史的角度看，巴爾胡特佛塔的物質證據早於相關佛經文獻，因此不應以後期文本作爲解讀前期圖像的唯一依據，而應將建築與圖像視爲獨立於文本的原始史料。巴爾胡特佛塔作爲現存最早系統表現右繞與供養的佛教遺址，爲研究早期佛教禮儀的起源、形態與演變提供了不可替代的考古學與藝術史材料。

I. The Brahmanical Origins of Circumambulation and Its Buddhist Transformation

Circumambulation as a religious ritual was not an original creation of Buddhism but can be traced back to Vedic and Brahmanical traditions. In the Brahmanical ritual system, directional orientation carried clear symbolic meanings: right circumambulation (with the right shoulder facing the sacred object) represented the solar path, life, and auspiciousness, whereas left circumambulation was associated with death, ancestral rites, and polluted spaces. Buddhism inherited this cognitive framework of “direction equals value” but executed a critical spatial transposition—where Brahmans performed left circumambulation around funerary mounds (viewed as impure), Buddhists performed right circumambulation around stupas (viewed as sacred objects). This transformation is clearly documented in the Four Part Vinaya: “A visiting monk passed by a stupa on the left side. The guardian spirit of the stupa became angry. The Buddha said: One should not pass by on the left; one should circumambulate the stupa on the right.” The systematic scriptural discourses on the merit of right circumambulation (such as the Sūtra on the Merit of Right-Circumambulating the Stupa and the Bodhisattva-birth Sūtra) are largely later compilations, dating after the construction and carving of the Bharhut Stupa (2nd–1st centuries BCE). Thus, these texts do not record the “origin” of the circumambulation ritual but rather represent the codification and merit-endowment of existing practices. The Bharhut Stupa, as the earliest extant Buddhist site to systematically depict right circumambulation, provides architectural and pictorial evidence that is older than the relevant Buddhist scriptures, offering indispensable material sources for studying the early forms of the circumambulation ritual.

II. Ritual Space and Lighting Design at the Bharhut Stupa

The architectural form of the Bharhut Stupa embodies a clear “right-favoring” design principle. The stupa stands approximately 20.1 meters high with a base diameter of about 20.7 meters. The railing consists of eighty stone pillars approximately 2.7 meters high, forming a clear spatial enclosure with a diameter of 26.8 meters. The stupa features a two-tier circumambulatory structure: the inner path, located between the railing and the stupa body, measures approximately 3.2 meters in width and served as the primary ritual space for right circumambulation; the outer area beyond the railing may have functioned as an auxiliary passage or a provision for later expansion, inviting comparison with the two-tier structure at the Great Stupa of Sanchi, which includes both a ground-level railing path and an elevated terrace path. The railing functions as a boundary with multiple meanings: it is a physical enclosure, a demarcation separating sacred space from secular space, and a visual control mechanism—its height restricts the circumambulator’s line of sight, creating a difference between the view inward toward the stupa body and the limited view outward. The four gateways are positioned at the cardinal directions, symbolizing the cosmic order. The orientation of the gateways and the alignment of the processional paths collectively guide worshippers to enter with their right shoulders facing the stupa, naturally establishing the starting point for right circumambulation upon entry. Furthermore, grooves atop the railing pillars and niches inside the gateways indicate that the stupa was equipped with nighttime illumination. Lamps placed along the railing created a halo of light surrounding the stupa, transforming it into a “self-luminous” sacred object at night. The alternating pattern of light and shadow not only guided the rhythm of circumambulators’ footsteps but also provided visual conditions for nighttime circumambulation. Although this lighting arrangement is not recorded in early Buddhist scriptures, it later corresponds with the lamp-offering narratives in canonical texts, suggesting that the use of lighting in circumambulation rituals preceded its textual formulation.

III. Pictorial Representations of Circumambulation and Offering

The relief sculptures at the Bharhut Stupa systematically depict various forms of circumambulation and offering. In the circumambulation imagery, worshippers are shown with their right shoulders facing the stupa, assuming postures of añjali (palms joined), bowing, and standing reverently, with their identities spanning both monks and laity, male and female. Offering imagery encompasses diverse forms: flower scattering (shown through celestial figures scattering blossoms), music (depictions of drums, flutes, cymbals, and conch shells alongside musicians), and añjali. Particularly noteworthy is a single row of right-hand prints carved along the edge of the stupa’s base. These handprints represent worshippers through the imprint of the hand, with a continuous row of handprints suggesting the ongoing offerings of countless devotees. All imagery is arranged in a clockwise sequence along the circumambulatory path, with the distribution of images consistent with the direction of circumambulation, allowing worshippers to naturally view the reliefs in succession as they proceed. During the aniconic period, Bharhut’s pictorial program employed symbolic devices—the dharma wheel representing the Buddha’s teaching, the bodhi tree representing his enlightenment, the stupa representing his parinirvāṇa, and footprints representing his presence. Within this symbolic system, to circumambulate the stupa was to see the Buddha, and to offer to the stupa was to offer to the Buddha himself. These pictorial materials predate the relevant Buddhist scriptures and thus provide more direct historical evidence for the actual practice of right circumambulation than do textual sources.

IV. The Synergy of Architecture, Imagery, and Lighting, and Conclusions

At the Bharhut Stupa, architecture, pictorial representation, and lighting work in concert to transform the physical act of right circumambulation into a religiously significant practice. The architectural space—through its two-tier circumambulatory structure, the boundary function of the railing, and the right-favoring design of the processional paths and gateways—guides worshippers to enter and circumambulate with the proper posture and direction. The lighting design enables nighttime circumambulation and guides the pace of footsteps through alternating light and shadow. The pictorial representation—through images of circumambulators, flower scatterers, handprints, and musicians—translates the abstract norms of the circumambulation ritual into visible visual exemplars. The synergistic result is that the circumambulator, progressing along the circumambulatory path in physical space, viewing clockwise-arranged offering imagery through visual guidance, and experiencing the special atmosphere of nighttime circumambulation through alternating light and shadow, ultimately attains—through the combined effects of body, vision, and environment—the religious realization that “circumambulation is offering.” From a historiographical perspective, the material evidence from the Bharhut Stupa predates the relevant Buddhist scriptures; therefore, later texts should not be used as the sole interpretive framework for earlier pictorial materials. Rather, architecture and imagery should be treated as primary historical sources independent of texts. As the earliest extant Buddhist site to systematically depict both circumambulation and offering, the Bharhut Stupa provides indispensable archaeological and art-historical materials for studying the origins, forms, and development of early Buddhist ritual.

古代晚期歐亞珍珠貿易中的跨區域互動與生態地緣考察
Geopolitics and Environmental History of the Eurasian Pearl Trade in Late Antiquity

In the Eurasian trade of Late Antiquity (ca. 3rd–8th centuries), pearls were not merely luxury goods but critical resources for the Roman-Byzantine Empire, driven by a “cultural imperative” and “political motivation.” Previous scholarship has often characterized Sassanid Persia merely as a transit conduit in East-West trade, thereby obscuring its geopolitical agency as a major power. Using the Eurasian pearl trade as a lens, and drawing on both archaeological findings from the Persian Gulf and historical records from East and West, this article argues that the Sassanid Empire established a hub status in the Eurasian trade order by enforcing a monopoly at the source in the Persian Gulf and controlling trade routes along the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, the study compares the geopolitical strategies employed by Rome-Byzantium and ancient China to acquire scarce resources under differing natural endowments. Faced with a domestic scarcity and Sassanid trade barriers, Rome-Byzantium attempted to open new routes through diplomatic alliances but was ultimately thwarted by geographical constraints. In contrast, ancient China, leveraging the resource advantages of the Beibu Gulf, established a state-controlled supply model based on direct extraction. This comparison illustrates how environmental differences led to the divergent historical trajectories of Rome-Byzantium’s “external sourcing” versus China’s “internal extraction,” providing a new environmental history perspective on the geo-economic logic and human-ecological relations of ancient empires.

從東亞到世界：《佛祖統紀》百年研究史平議
From East Asia to the World: A Critical Review of a Century of Scholarship on the Fozu Tongji

論文擬重點討論二十世紀以來歐美學界對《統紀》的英譯與研究情況。所依據的重要材料有：一、冉雲華博士學位論文Vicissitudes of Buddhism in China：A Critical Study of Fo-Tsu-Tung-Chi by Chih-Pan；二、施寒微專著Die Identität der buddhistischen Schulen und die Kompilation buddhistischer Universalgeschichten in China。兩書均深受歐洲漢學傳統的影響，是《統紀》研究的重要成果。然而，兩部著作在國內鮮有流傳，其獨特的學術史價值長期被忽略。

Prior to the modern era, scholars frequently criticized the Fozu Tongji (hereafter referred to as the Tongji) due to sectarian biases and political ideologies. However, following the influx of Western learning and the ensuing transformation of Chinese scholarship, the Tongji became a primary source for the study of Buddhist history, leading to a significant elevation of its academic status. This paper focuses on the research history of this work both in China and abroad over the past century. By examining the scholarly approaches of Chinese academics such as Lü Cheng and Chen Yuan, alongside overseas Sinologists like Takao Giken, Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, and Jan Yun-hua, this study traces the work’s origins and development to reveal the transition of modern Buddhist studies from a traditional canonical paradigm to a modern historiographical paradigm.

The paper intends to focus on the English translations and scholarship regarding the Tongji within Western academia since the 20th century. The primary materials analyzed include: 1) Jan Yun-hua’s doctoral dissertation, Vicissitudes of Buddhism in China: A Critical Study of Fo-Tsu-Tung-Chi by Chih-Pan; and 2) Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer’s monograph, Die Identität der buddhistischen Schulen und die Kompilation buddhistischer Universalgeschichten in China. Both works are deeply rooted in the European Sinological tradition and represent major achievements in the study of the Tongji. Nevertheless, these two works have seen limited circulation in China, and their unique academic value has long been overlooked.

同源與異流：14世紀末至15世紀中朝吉禮祭器的跨區域互動
Common Origins, Divergent Materialities: Ritual Vessel Systems in Ming China and Chosŏn Korea, Late Fourteenth to Fifteenth Centuries

From the late fourteenth to the fifteenth century, during the formative period of the Ming dynasty and the Chosŏn dynasty, both states shared a ritual tradition centered on the Three Rites classics and the ritual norms established since the Tang and Song periods within the framework of the Sinocentric tributary order. Nevertheless, they gradually developed different ritual vessel systems and material practices, reflecting the ways in which ritual norms were reinterpreted, translated, and materialized during their cross-regional transmission.

In the Ming dynasty, Confucian scholar-officials compiled the Da Ming Jili (Collected Rituals of the Great Ming) with reference to ancient rites in an attempt to establish an ideal ritual system. In practice, however, these prescriptions were never fully implemented. Instead, Ming ritual vessels increasingly took on the appearance of everyday porcelain wares, with bowls and dishes being used in place of traditional ritual forms such as bian, dou, fu, and gui.

After Chosŏn’s request for ritual manuals from the Ming court was rejected, the dynasty compiled the Sejong sillok orye (Annals of King Sejong) and later the Gukjo oryeui (Five Rites of State) under the principle of “following local customs” (cong qi ben su). Through these texts, Chosŏn established its own ritual vessel system while attempting to maintain consistency between ritual illustrations and actual production through institutions such as the “model prototype” system.During the early fifteenth century, Chosŏn Buncheong ritual wares generally followed the bronze-inspired forms depicted in ritual illustrations, demonstrating a strong tendency toward archaism. Yet factors such as the limitations of ceramic material, the diversity of design prototypes, and differences in artisans’ technical skills and interpretations produced discrepancies between ritual images and actual objects. At the same time, these processes also encouraged the development of distinctly ceramic characteristics in Buncheong ritual vessels.

The differences between the Ming and Chosŏn ritual vessel systems were therefore not merely formal distinctions, but material manifestations of the tributary order itself. As the “Huaxia” cultural center, the Ming court actively transformed older ritual vessel forms, whereas Chosŏn, while not simply imitating the Ming model, selectively reorganized ritual vessel combinations in accordance with its status as a tributary state. Chosŏn also absorbed and transformed elements of Ming ancestral shrine rituals and bestowed ritual objects through its own sokje (customary rites).This study argues that although ritual institutions underwent multiple processes of translation and reconstruction through the interaction of institutions, images, and material objects during their cross-regional transmission and materialization, such “dislocations” were ultimately the result of adaptive mechanisms internal to the Confucian ritual tradition itself.

毒龍致病：《續高僧傳·釋法順傳》的疾病書寫研究
Poisonous-Dragon Affliction: A Study of Illness Writing in the “Biography of Shi Fashun” in the Xu gaoseng zhuan

In Daoxuan’s 道宣 Xu gaoseng zhuan 續高僧傳 (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), juan 25, in the “Gantong” 感通 section and the biography of Shi Fashun 釋法順, there is an account of Dushun 杜順, the first patriarch of the Huayan 華嚴 school, subduing a poisonous dragon and healing a sick monk. Taking this episode as its central case, this paper examines how Daoxuan uses an illness narrative to connect Buddhism, Chinese indigenous medical conceptions, and the cosmology of ganying 感應, thereby constructing the sacred image of an eminent monk. The first part analyzes the cause of illness and asks how the “poisonous dragon” 毒龍, a motif derived from Buddhism, becomes an agent of disease. The second part examines mei 魅 as a mode of affliction and zhangli yinxie 瘴癘淫邪 as a category of illness, showing how Daoxuan’s account of disease causation draws upon the resources of Chinese indigenous medicine. The third part analyzes the method of healing, namely the cosmology of ganying embodied in the phrase yinde suo gan 阴德所感, “moved by hidden virtue.” Under the influence of Western hagiographical studies, scholars have discussed the nature of medieval Chinese biographies of eminent monks and the methods by which they should be studied. Through a close reading of this case, this paper seeks to uncover the more complex textual features of the Xu gaoseng zhuan.

中文史料所見丘就卻之後的貴霜王
The Successor After Kujula Kadphises in Chinese Historical Record

At the end of the first century CE, the two great empires of the Eastern Han and the Kushans once had an opportunity to establish a political marriage alliance. Yet when the Kushan envoys reached the Western Regions, Ban Chao sent them back and rejected the Kushan request for marriage. This incident subsequently triggered a war between the Eastern Han and the Kushans in the Western Regions. Although this may be regarded as a major diplomatic event between the two great powers on either side of the Pamirs, modern scholarship has focused almost exclusively on the Kushan military incursion into the Western Regions. In fact, behind this war lie many important historical clues that remain to be explored. The extant Chinese sources not only allow us to discern Kushan policy toward the Western Regions at the time, but also provide rare evidence for determining the terminus post quem for the death of Kujula Kadphises, the founding ruler of the Kushan Empire, as well as for reconstructing the changes in Kushan internal politics after his death. These sources may also offer important clues for interpreting the enigma of the “Soter Megas” in Kushan history.

國家圖書館藏宋刻本《大方廣佛華嚴經》的文獻價值及其影響
The Documentary Value and Influence of the Song-dynasty Block-printed Edition of Avatamsaka Sutra Preserved in the National Library of China

北宋建國期「天下」的重構與山水錶象: 江南佛教圈的人際網絡與南方出身官僚及宦官在都城的「神聖景觀」建構
Reconstructing Tianxia through Landscape: Jiangnan Buddhist Networks and Southern-Born Officials’ Reimagining of Sacred Landscapes in the Capital during the Early Northern Song

關於北宋在都城開封匯聚佛教文物、並利用五代十國以來既有勢力的象徵（icon）進而鞏固統治，相關研究已有豐富的累積。在這一過程中，更可觀察到，北宋不僅將各地的人才與文物收為己有，亦將山水景觀圖像（即領土內多樣之景觀）匯聚於都城之趨勢。本文旨在探討江南佛教聖地與都城開封山水畫製作之間的關聯。

筆者此前嘗試透過以下三個視角，探討江南的畫家及其景觀意象如何被都城體系所吸納與轉化：一、吳越出身的燕文貴在宦官劉承規庇護下進入開封並晉升為宮廷畫家的經歷，二、南唐僧侶巨然在宰相蘇易簡起用下受聘參與玉堂壁畫製作的過程，三、南方出身者眾多的「屋木門」畫家於都城進行的文理融合實踐。

基於上述成果，本文著眼於體現各地名山圖像彙聚的《御製秘藏詮》（高麗模刻本、京都南禪寺藏）等繪畫資料，以及同時期的地圖繪製相關史料。本文的分析脈絡主要有二：一為由蘇易簡受太宗之命所主導的「三教合一」政策，二為兼任翰林館編修、並與文人官僚進行深度知識交流的吳越國出身高僧贊寧等的人際網絡。在此基礎上，本文進而探討江南「名山」所具備的山岳形象之神聖性與地理性，藉此說明在統一王朝的都城功能中，該形象如何被再詮釋為彰顯國家正統性的視覺表象。

The Northern Song (960–1127) has been hailed as the golden age of Chinese landscape painting. The age of dynastic consolidation marked a critical moment when landscape imagery became established as a visual symbol of the state. Conventional scholarship has largely attributed this development to the personal leadership and cultural vision of the emperor. Yet in practice, the administration of artistic projects in the early Northern Song capital of Kaifeng was carried out by networks of officials and eunuchs. In executing the emperor’s will, these figures simultaneously encoded their own religious backgrounds and regional cultural identities into the works of the court painters they patronized.

Extensive research has demonstrated how the early Northern Song consolidated its rule by concentrating Buddhist cultural relics in Kaifeng and appropriating icons from the regional regimes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Crucially, this process involved not only the appropriation of regional talents and artifacts, but also the concentration of diverse landscape images from across the realm in the capital. This paper examines the relationship between sacred Buddhist sites in Jiangnan and the production of landscape imagery in Kaifeng during the early Northern Song.

Building on my previous studies of the Wuyue (呉越)-born painter Yan Wengui (燕文貴)’s rise to court patronage under the eunuch Liu Chenggui (劉承規), the Southern Tang (南唐) monk-painter Juran (巨然)’s participation in the Yutang (玉堂) mural project under the sponsorship of the chief councillor Su Yijian (蘇易簡), and the integration of literary and technical modes of knowledge among predominantly southern-born painters of the Architectural Painting Academy (Wumu-men, 屋木門), this paper investigates how Jiangnan painters and their associated landscape imagery were absorbed into and transformed by the cultural institutions of the capital.

Drawing upon pictorial materials such as the Yuzhi Mizang Quan (御製秘藏詮), preserved in a Goryeo-printed edition at Nanzen-ji (南禅寺) in Kyoto, which brings together images of celebrated mountains from across the empire, as well as contemporary cartographic sources, this paper further examines the interpersonal networks surrounding Su Yijian’s (蘇易簡) implementation of Emperor Taizong’s policy of the harmonization of the Three Teachings. Particular attention is given to the activities of the Wuyue monk Zanning (贊寧), who served as a compiler at the Hanlin Academy and engaged in close intellectual exchanges with scholar-officials.

Through these materials and networks, this paper argues that the sacred and geographical qualities embodied in the imagery of Jiangnan’s famous mountains were reinterpreted within the political and spatial framework of the unified dynasty’s capital, where they came to function as visual expressions of imperial legitimacy and of a reconstructed vision of tianxia.

Care for the Compatriots on the Maritime Silk Road: New Sources and Lived Experiences of the Chinese Diaspora in the Solomon Islands

The research highlights how the PRC government cultivates the diaspora by positioning itself as a “Motherland” (zǔguó) that transcends territory and legal citizenship. Beyond textual analysis, the paper incorporates eight months of longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in 2024 and 2026. By interviewing some of the original protagonists of the 2006 chronicle, the study compares state-sponsored narratives of centeredness with the lived experiences of survivors 20 years later. This interdisciplinary approach combines historiography, translation, textual analysis and ethnography to provide an emic commentary on how Asian civilizational influence is constructed and received at its Pacific periphery.

新出唐墓誌與李德裕相關問題研究
A Study on Newly Discovered Tang Dynasty Epitaphs and Issues Related to Li Deyu

Forbidden Ferment: Sura and the Moral Imagination of Early Buddhism

Drawing on the Vinaya Piṭaka, the Aṅguttara Nikāya, and early commentarial literature, the paper analyses how intoxication is framed as a threat to mindfulness and ethical discernment. It further investigates substances such as betel and tobacco, which occupied an ambiguous position within monastic practice, to demonstrate how boundaries of prohibition were negotiated in practice. This tension reveals that the fifth precept functioned less as a fixed rule and more as a principle oriented toward the preservation of awareness.

By situating sura at the intersection of material consumption and mental discipline, the paper contributes to ongoing discussions on Buddhist ethics by reframing sobriety as an epistemic and ethical state. This approach highlights the centrality of mental regulation in early Buddhist moral thought and challenges readings that interpret the precept primarily in social or legal terms.

“百衲衣”碑刻的文明史：北京法源寺唐代《無垢淨光寶塔頌》的磨刻與王權意識
The Civilizational History of the “Patchwork” Stele: The Recarving of the Tang-Dynasty Ode to the Stainless Pure Light Pagoda at Beijing’s Fayuan Temple and the Consciousness of Royal Power

The Tang-dynasty stele Ode to the Stainless Pure Light Pagoda (Ch. Wugou Jingguang Baota Song), now preserved at Beijing’s Fayuan Temple, was originally erected on the 15th day of the 11th lunar month in the second year of the Zhide era (757 CE) under Emperor Suzong of Tang. It was a wall-mounted inscription belonging to the Stainless Pure Light Pagoda built by Shi Siming to the southwest of Minzhong Temple in Youzhou. From the perspective of Asian civilizational history, this article analyzes the so-called “patchwork” stele within three interrelated frameworks: (1) taking the physical recarving of the stele’s surface as an object of “textual archaeology,” it reconstructs the process and political logic behind the alteration of the reign title from An Lushan’s “Shengwu” to Emperor Suzong’s “Zhide”; (2) using the translation and transmission of the Stainless Pure Light Great Dhāraṇī Sūtra as a clue, it reveals that the Fayuan Temple stele constitutes a northern node in the East Asian Buddhist network of “sūtra – pagoda – royal power”; (3) taking Shi Siming’s renaming of Youzhou Kaiyuan Temple as “Shuntian Temple” as a point of departure, it demonstrates how separatist regimes appropriated Buddhist discourse on royal power to construct their own symbols of legitimacy. The layered and overwritten characters on the stele are not merely evidence of Shi Siming’s personal fickleness; rather, they are textual proof of how the Buddhist concept of royal power was repeatedly appropriated, effaced, and reshaped in politically volatile regions of Asian history. This stele serves as a concrete case study of the broader Asian civilizational phenomenon in which Buddhism, as a transregional civilizational form, was mobilized to construct political legitimacy.

Beyond Iconographic Transmission: Pictorial Exposition and Soteriological Knowledge Production in Dunhuang Cave 275
圖像傳播之外：敦煌莫⾼窟第275窟的圖像倫說與救度論知識的⽣成

對絲綢之路東部⽹絡的佛教藝術的研究長期以來側重於識別和分類在不同⽂化區域間流傳的圖像程式。本⽂提出另⼀種分析框架，認爲沿這些路線傳播的不僅是視覺形式，更包括解讀能⼒。這⼀過程通過當地特定的⽅式——即通過圖像⽣成宗教知識——⽽得以實現。本⽂以敦煌莫⾼窟第275窟（北涼，約五世紀中葉）爲中⼼，論證該洞窟作爲圖像論說⽽發揮作⽤。通過觀者在各個圖像場景間的序列性移動，在空間上展現佈施與禪定波羅蜜的修⾏過程，從⽽引導往⽣到彌勒兜率天。這⼀視覺-理論實踐受到涼州地區佛教⽂化的深刻影響。曇無讖和沮渠京聲的譯經活動在該地區創造了獨特的⽂本環境，洞窟壁畫不僅呼應這⼀⽂本傳統，更進⼀步展開和闡發其思想內涵。由此可見，第275 窟壁畫產⽣了佛經⽂本之外的救度論知識。這種擴展性的視覺表述⽅式隨後在中古時期傳入中原北⽅，成爲中世紀早期北⽅佛教美術傳統的重要範例。

安世高學派研究
Research on the An Shigao School

安世高學派既是佛教初傳入中土時佛教成功本土化、中國化的階段性證明，也是對於當時漢傳佛教形成之初的具體歷史情況的展現。

The “An Shigao School” was a Buddhist school active from the mid-3rd century to the late 4th century in the Eastern Wu region of the Three Kingdoms period. This school was led by Kang Senghui and took as its objects of study the scriptural systems of An Shigao and Zhi Loujiachen–Zhi Qian.

According to literary sources, Dao An should have heard of this school, but he did not belong to it. Moreover, it is highly likely that by Dao An’s time, the “An Shigao School” no longer had any surviving disciples.

The An Shigao School serves both as a phased testament to the successful localization and Sinicization of Buddhism during its initial transmission to China, and as a manifestation of the specific historical circumstances at the time of early Chinese Buddhist formation.

“道士撫足”？——陝北宋金石窟涅槃圖像中撫足者身份的變化及其邊地語境
“A Daoist at the Buddha’s Feet?”: Changes in the Identities of Figures at the Buddha’s Feet in Song–Jin Nirvana Images from the Cave Temples of Northern Shaanxi and Their Frontier Context

本文以陝北宋金石窟涅槃圖像爲中心，結合墓葬、塔龕等相關圖像材料，通過類型學比較、圖像學分析及文獻對讀等方法，對撫足者形象的類型構成、分佈特徵及其變化過程進行系統考察。文章首先梳理傳統涅槃圖像中大迦葉撫足圖式的形成及其象徵意義；其次對陝北地區撫足者形象進行分類比較，討論非僧侶形象的出現及其與醫者、道裝人物等視覺傳統之間的關係；最後將這一現象置於宋夏、金夏長期對峙的邊地社會語境中，考察其與地方信仰需求、死亡觀念及宗教互動之間的關聯。

本文認爲，陝北宋金石窟中撫足者形象的多樣化並非偶然現象，而是邊地社會背景下涅槃圖像地方化發展的重要表現。通過對這一特殊圖像現象的考察，可進一步深化對宋金時期北方佛教圖像傳播、區域信仰實踐及佛道關係的認識。

Nirvana imagery is one of the most important themes in Buddhist art. Within this visual tradition, the figure positioned at the Buddha’s feet has long been identified as Mahākāśyapa (大迦叶), whose act of attending to the Buddha’s feet is generally interpreted as symbolizing the transmission of the Dharma and the legitimacy of the Buddhist community. In recent years, scholars such as Zhao Xiaoxing, through their studies of Western Xia, Song, Liao, and Jin materials, have suggested that some of these figures should instead be identified as Jīvaka (耆婆), the Buddha’s physician. This interpretation challenges the long-standing assumption that the figure at the Buddha’s feet was invariably Mahākāśyapa (大迦叶). Existing scholarship, however, has largely focused on questions of iconographic identification, while paying comparatively little attention to the regional distribution of these alternative representations and the broader social contexts in which such changes occurred.

Focusing on Nirvana images in the Song–Jin cave temples of northern Shaanxi, this study incorporates related visual materials from tombs, pagoda shrines, and other media. Through typological comparison, iconographic analysis, and textual investigation, it systematically examines the types, distribution patterns, and transformations of the figures at the Buddha’s feet. The paper first traces the formation and symbolic significance of the Mahākāśyapa (大迦叶) motif in the traditional Nirvana iconographic program. It then classifies and compares the various types of foot-attending figures found in northern Shaanxi, paying particular attention to the emergence of non-monastic representations and their possible connections with visual traditions associated with physicians and Daoist figures. Finally, these developments are examined within the frontier context of the prolonged Song–Xia and Jin–Xia confrontations, with particular attention to their relationship to local religious needs, attitudes toward death, and interactions between Buddhist and Daoist traditions.

This study argues that the diversification of the figures at the Buddha’s feet in the Song–Jin cave temples of northern Shaanxi was not accidental, but rather reflects the localized development of Nirvana imagery within a frontier society. By investigating this distinctive iconographic phenomenon, the paper seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the transmission of Buddhist imagery, regional devotional practices, and Buddhist–Daoist interactions in northern China during the Song and Jin periods.

中國佛教新文獻的再發掘是否可行？：以西園寺所藏《預定目錄》爲契機
Is the rediscovery of new Chinese Buddhist texts feasible? Taking the “Yuding Mulu” in the Xiyuan Temple as a Starting Point

The Taishō Revised Tripitaka is an indispensable resource for contemporary Buddhist studies. Its influence transcends language, faith and geographical boundaries, and it is a significant contribution to human civilisation. However, a recently published article from Xiyuan Temple in Suzhou, titled Dazheng Xinxiu Dazangjing Ji Kanfen Yilan, reveals that the ‘Continuation’ section (from volume 56 onwards) underwent significant alterations during the compilation process, as evidenced by this catalogue. While this change is certainly noteworthy, an even more intriguing question is whether the texts recorded in the original catalogue, which are not included in the current edition of the Taishō Tripitaka, actually exist and, if so, where they might be found.

What did Eisai 栄西 and Shunjō 俊芿 bring back from China? Chan, the precepts and the Japanese transplantation of Song Buddhism

While the reception and legacy of these two masters differs to a large extent, their trainings and motivations to cross over to Song China share striking similarities. Both spent their formative years in the Tendai tradition and were well-versed in both exoteric and esoteric teachings, and both seem to have been motivated to direct their attention towards the Chinese continent due to their dissatisfaction with the state of monastic discipline at Japanese temples. During and after their stays in China, they maintained a keen interest in esoteric Buddhism, despite the fact that this Buddhist orientation was in decline at Song temples; and they were drawn to new developments in continental Buddhism, which led them to establish monastic and personal relationships with prominent figures from the Tiantai, Vinaya, and Chan spheres. While the specific weight they placed on each of these elements varies, they shared an open, inclusive approach to Buddhism that eschewed the rigid sectarian focus of much modern Japanese Buddhology, a fact that has distorted their legacies: Eisai is primarily seen as an early supporter of Chan in Japan, but recent discoveries at various Japanese temples have revealed that he continued to place great emphasis on esoteric Buddhism throughout his life; while Shunjō, because his approach and activities encompassed Tiantai, Chan, Vinaya, Pure Land and esotericism, has proved harder to pin down in sectarian terms, and his legacy today is narrowly associated with Sennyūji.

Eisai and Shunjō, however, despite differences in terms of reception and posthumous fame, played important roles in bringing Southern Song Buddhism to Japan, not only in terms of doctrinal studies on crucial aspects such as meditation and the precepts; they also contributed to bringing the material culture of Southern Song Buddhist temples to places such as Hakata, where a vibrant community of Chinese monks, merchants and expats was active; Kyoto, the capital and main cultural center; and Kamakura, an ascendant urban center where the shogunate was established by the Minamoto family in the second half of twelfth century. To fully understand and contextualize their contributions, one has to look beyond the predominantly doctrinal approaches that have long characterized Buddhist studies, and incorporate perspectives from archaeology and art history. In fact, Eisai and Shunjō both founded, rebuilt and refashioned temples following the models they had witnessed in the Jiangnan region, for instance bringing back to Japan the Monks’ Hall (sōdō 僧堂), a successor to the refectory (jikidō 食堂), which at Japanese temples had largely fallen into disuse; and they both brought to Japan artistic formats that would prove extremely influential in later history, for instance the use of portraits (chinzō 頂相) of masters. These

innovations, still often misunderstood as part and parcel of Chan Buddhism, should more properly be understood as attempts to bring the latest trends in terms of monastic discipline, etiquette and ritual implements to Japan. Shunjō’s case makes this clear: some of the earliest attested specimens of masters’ portraits and so-called “Zen-style” calligraphy (bokuseki 墨蹟), for example, are found at Sennyūji, which was not a Zen temple. In Eisai’s case, his association with Zen, which was reinforced by later sectarian biographical accounts, has obfuscated the diverse forms of Buddhism he practiced and promoted, first and foremost esotericism, and has distorted the reception of some of his writings, for instance Kissa Yōjōki 喫茶養生記 (Record of nourishing life by drinking tea), which was later seen as a precursor of the strong connection between Zen and tea that would develop in the following centuries, despite being a text of a markedly different tenor.

By highlighting some of the important ways in which the contributions of Shunjō and Eisai to Japanese Buddhism have been twisted, misinterpreted and neglected, this talk emphasizes the important role that they played in shaping and promoting the transregional and cross-cultural interactions between early medieval Japan and Southern Song China. Rather than promoting a single, specific approach to Buddhism, Eisai and Shunjō, in their own personal and idiosyncratic ways, attempted to systematically transplant to Japan the monastic environment they had experienced in Hangzhou and surroundings, an undertaking that spanned ideas, language, material culture, and personal networks.

Recentering Civilization: Redirecting the Civilized–Barbarian Divide in Qing China and Chosŏn Korea

Drawing on corpus-based collocational analysis of Qing imperial records (Shilu, Dayi juemi lu) and Chosŏn court annals (Wangjo Sillok), the study examines how barbarian terminology was applied across text types and reign periods.

In the Qing case, the Yongzheng emperor redefined yi (夷) as a geographically determined, morally neutral category, bringing the Manchus under hua (華) and removing any basis for labeling Qing rule as “barbarian” governance. In the Shilu, barbarian terminology is systematically redirected toward southwestern peoples, Central Asian Muslims, and Europeans, but not toward Manchus. The Qing did not abolish the siyi framework; they recentered it from above.

The Chosŏn case presents the mirror image. After the crisis of 1636, the court accepted Qing suzerainty while maintaining a neo-Confucian vision of Chosŏn as a civilizational center. In the Sillok, formal diplomatic records maintain neutral Manchu terminology, while private memorials continue to employ terms such as hulu (胡虜). Under the Sojunghwa (小中華) ideology, barbarian vocabulary was redirected toward the Japanese. Chosŏn thus claimed the civilized center not by challenging Qing authority, but by relocating the barbarian label onto other groups.

Taken together, these cases show that “barbarian” is not an ethnic label but a structural position, appropriated by non-Chinese polities for their own political ends.

《法顯傳》絲路南道蔥嶺段研究——以於麾、竭叉爲中心

The location of the countries of Yuhui and Jiesha in The Biography of Faxian remains unresolved. This paper integrates previous research, documentary evidence, and field survey findings to conduct a comprehensive examination from perspectives such as geographical orientation, cultivation conditions, transportation routes, travel duration, religious beliefs, and climate and produce. It concludes that Yuhui should be identified as present-day Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County (Tashkurgan County) in Xinjiang, while Jiesha corresponds to Chitral in present-day Pakistan. Additionally, it reconstructs Faxian’s journey through the Congling Mountains—the conventional route along the southern Silk Road’s Congling segment from Yecheng and Kashgar via Tashkurgan County to the north of South Asia during the Wei-Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties period. This study aims to advance research on Faxian’s westward journey for Buddhist scriptures and the circumstances of the countries along the southern Silk Road’s Congling region.

Ritual Rain Control and the Performance of Political Authority on the Silk Roads

信仰的流轉：宋元之際江南地區摩利支天信仰佛道融合及東傳日本研究
The Transmission of Faith: A Study on the Integration of Buddhist and Taoist Elements in the Belief of Marici in the Jiangnan Region during the Song-Yuan Period and Its Eastward Spread to Japan

The belief in Marici 摩利支天 originated in India and was introduced to China through translated Buddhist scriptures. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, it underwent a profound process of localization, becoming an important lens for observing the integration of Buddhism and Taoism as well as Chinese-Japanese cultural exchange. Marici was originally an Indian folk deity, renowned for her divine power of “walking before the sun and remaining invisible to protect her followers.” From the Tang dynasty onward, scriptures such as the Marici Sūtra laid the foundation for her cult. Her iconography, featuring a “golden pig with a swarm of pigs surrounding her,” resonated strongly with the Chinese legend of the “transformation of the Northern Dipper into pigs.” During the Tang and Song dynasties, Marici gradually merged with the Taoist goddess Doumu 斗姆. The Jiangnan region was the core area for the dissemination of Marici belief during the Song-Yuan period. After the Southern Song court moved south, Marici was fashioned into a guardian deity of the state. A dedicated hall was established by imperial decree at Zhongtianzhu Temple 中天竺寺 in Hangzhou, making it a center of the cult. Statues from that time exhibit the syncretic features of “three faces and eight arms, with the left face bearing a pig-like appearance.” This belief was later transmitted to Japan by Chan monks, where Marici was revered by the samurai class due to her power of invisibility and protection from enemies. The journey of Marici belief — from an Indian esoteric Buddhist deity, to a hybrid Buddhist-Taoist divinity, and its subsequent eastward spread to Japan — clearly demonstrates the interactive mechanisms of Buddhist-Taoist synthesis. It also highlights the characteristics of Chinese-Japanese cultural exchange during the Song-Yuan period, mediated by Chan monks and carried by religious beliefs, serving as a classic case in the history of East Asian cultural exchange.

唐初期遼東三國封爵考
A Study of the Investiture Titles Granted to the Three Kingdoms of Liaodong in the Early Tang Dynasty

This paper reexamines the nature of the titles conferred by the Tang dynasty upon the Three Kingdoms of Liaodong—Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla—in the seventh year of the Wude era (624). Chinese historical sources, including the Old Book of Tang (Jiu Tangshu), New Book of Tang (Xin Tangshu), and Zizhi Tongjian, consistently record that the rulers of the three kingdoms were invested with the title of Commandery Prince (junwang). In contrast, Korean sources such as the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Jeolyo generally describe them as Commandery Dukes (jungong), revealing a significant discrepancy between the two traditions. By examining the epitaph of Buyeo Yung, the investiture system from the Northern and Southern Dynasties through the Sui and Tang periods, and the textual transmission of the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Jeolyo, this study argues that the titles originally granted by Emperor Gaozu of Tang in 624 were those of Commandery Duke rather than Commandery Prince. The title of Commandery Prince appears to have emerged only after changes in the noble ranking system during the Zhenguan era. Furthermore, the paper suggests that the references to Commandery Prince in Chinese historical records were likely the result of retrospective revisions made during the compilation of imperial chronicles and official histories in the Zhenguan period, while similar references found in extant editions of the Samguk Sagi may reflect later alterations introduced through textual transmission and printing. Therefore, the actual titles conferred upon the Three Kingdoms of Liaodong by the Tang court in 624 should be understood as Commandery Duke rather than Commandery Prince.

明代宮廷預製寫經與供養——從中國藝術研究院藏《佛頂心大陀羅尼經》寫本出發
Prefabricated Sutra Offering in the Ming Court: A Case Study of the Sūtra Fo Ding Xin Da Tuo Luo Ni Manuscript in the Chinese Academy of Arts Collection

中古時期已有依供養人需求定製、預製佛經的做法，並形成成熟商業體系；明代民間刻本《佛頂心經》即工坊預製商品。而皇室之“預製”無關便利與牟利，是一種符合身份的特供。明初宮廷預製宗教器物多用於宗教外交，如賜予藏地領袖的鎏金銅佛，系宮廷批量造作、象徵皇權與懷柔政策的聖物。與之相對，宮廷《佛頂心經》則爲對內供奉的聖物。

作爲觀音信仰產物，《佛頂心經》因靈驗獲得廣泛影響；明廷使用亦多與後宮求嗣佑子相關。現存宮廷寫本或刻本無使用者題名，但據紀年推考，多與皇子的出生和撫育有關。通過對明代史實的梳理以及對實物的使用條件的分析，明廷重視此經，直接原因是皇室子嗣稀少且夭折率高；爲護佑幼嗣，經典的正統性不再重要。宮廷祈願不止關乎母子安危，更指向皇權，核心是“母以子貴”的權力博弈。明代後宮儲位之爭激烈，書寫、印造、供養、禮拜具救度護佑之力的《佛頂心經》，成爲后妃的信仰依憑。藝研院本即此類實踐之產物。

The Sūtra Fo Ding Xin Da Tuo Luo Ni was compiled around the mid-Tang and is classified as an apocryphal scripture. The earliest extant copy is a late Tang-Five Dynasties Dunhuang manuscript in the French National Library. While printed sūtras dominated the Song and Ming dynasties, manuscript copying persisted; golden-character copies, made with precious materials, epitomized imperial production. Four Ming-period golden-character copies of the Sūtra survive, one held by the Chinese Academy of Arts. This paper examines why a popular folk apocrypha became highly valued and mass-produced in the Ming court.

By the Tang dynasty, sūtras were customized or prefabricated for patrons, supported by a commercial workshop system. Ming printed Sūtra Fo Ding Xin Da Tuo Luo Ni editions were commercial prefabrications. For the imperial house, however, prefabrication was not for convenience or profit but a privileged provision befitting imperial status. Early Ming imperial religious artifacts served diplomatic purposes, such as gilt-bronze Buddha statues sent to Tibetan leaders: standardized imperial products embodying both sacredness and imperial authority, instruments of dynastic appeasement. In contrast, the court’s Sūtra Fo Ding Xin Da Tuo Luo Ni copies were sacred objects for internal veneration.

Rooted in Avalokiteshvara devotion, the sūtra’s reputation for miraculous efficacy underpinned its wide influence; Ming court use centered on consorts’ prayers for heirs and divine protection. Extant imperial copies lack patron names, but dating links them closely to imperial births and nurture. Historical and material evidence confirm the immediate cause: scarce imperial heirs and high infant mortality. With succession at stake, doctrinal orthodoxy was irrelevant. Court prayers concerned not only maternal and infant welfare but imperial power, pivoting on the power struggle of status through sons. Rivalry over succession permeated the Ming harem. Writing, printing, enshrining, and worshipping the Sūtra Fo Ding Xin Da Tuo Luo Ni became a core devotional practice for empresses and consorts. The Chinese Academy of Arts manuscript is a direct product of such practices.

名承唐制，心奉金輪：渤海國名號中的王權建構
Inheriting the system of the Tang Dynasty and revering the golden wheel: The construction of kingship in the name of the Bohai Kingdom

King Daein-mu of the Bohai Kingdom, supported by the theories of Confucianism and Buddhism, constructed the ritualization and sanctification of feudal kingship through the title system, while responding to the practical needs of shaping the national image and legitimizing his personal throne.

炳靈寺169窟法顯與曇摩毗供養像再考——兼論題記、圖像風格與窟內時層疊加
Reconsideration of the Donor Portraits of Faxian and Dharmavibha in Cave 169 at Bingling Temple: Also on the Inscriptions, Artistic Style, and Stratigraphic Superimposition within the Cave

The donor inscriptions naming monks such as “Dharmavibha” and “Faxian” found in Niches 6 and 12 of Cave 169 at Bingling Temple have long been a key issue in the study of Western Qin Buddhism and the chronological staging of the grottoes. However, their identities and chronological attributions remain subjects of scholarly debate. Therefore, it is of great significance to conduct a comprehensive examination of these two groups of monastic images by integrating the inscription dated to the Hongyuan era in Niche 6, the stylistic features of the donor images in Niche 12, the calligraphic characteristics of the captions, and relevant textual records.

Through textual and visual analysis, the “National Preceptor and Great Chan Master Dharmavibha” in Niche 6 can be identified as Tanwupi, the Western Qin meditation master recorded in the Biographies of Eminent Monks. In contrast, the “image donated by Faxian” in Niche 12 demonstrates features of later addition in terms of pictorial style, calligraphy, and the reference to the place name “Hengzhou.” It should therefore not be identified with Faxian, the author of the Foguo Ji (Record of Buddhist Kingdoms), but rather as a depiction of a later monk bearing the same name, added after the eighteenth year of the Taihe era of the Northern Wei.

These findings suggest that Cave 169 at Bingling Temple was not a closed and unified program completed at one time, but rather a dynamic sacred space shaped through continuous layering, repainting, and reinterpretation across different historical periods.

Living or Dead? Reexamining the Function of Early Buddhist Caves in Dunhuang, Kucha, and Bamiyan

This study will adopt a multifaceted methodological approach, encompassing the examination of inscriptions, architecture, iconography, and archaeology, to elucidate the complex nature of ancient religious environments. There are four critical indicators of the motivations behind the caves’ construction and their subsequent utilization: the inscriptions left by the creators and benefactors of the caves— rendered in Chinese within Dunhuang and in Tocharian and Sanskrit within Kucha; the architectural influences, notably Bamiyan’s borrowings from Sasanian assembly halls and Dunhuang’s from Chinese burial practices; the thematic content of the murals, which reflects aspirations towards enlightenment in Bamiyan and Kucha, and the Pure Land as a posthumous realm in Dunhuang; and the presence, or notable absence, of archaeological discoveries related to monastic life in proximity to these sites.

Through this interdisciplinary lens, the investigation expects to demonstrate a varied spectrum of functions across the sites: the caves in Kucha and Bamiyan were likely pivotal for religious and monastic activities, whereas those in Dunhuang appear to have been primarily used as sepulchral sanctuaries, intended to secure auspicious rebirths for deceased kin. This diversity in usage challenges the prevailing homogeneous narrative surrounding the evolution of Buddhist cave temples across these distinct regions.

本研究旨在重新審視7世紀以前敦煌、龜茲和巴米揚石窟的功能。儘管學界對這些石窟的圖像內容已有大量分析，但其建造的深層動機仍有待進一步研究。本研究通過新視角，挑戰了傳統觀點——即這些石窟主要用於僧侶禪修。

研究將採用多學科的方法，結合銘文、建築、圖像學和考古學證據，來揭示古代宗教環境的複雜面貌。以下四項關鍵指標有助於理解石窟的建造動機及其後續使用方式：第一，供養人題記（敦煌爲漢文，龜茲爲吐火羅文和梵文）；第二，建築元素（巴米揚借鑑了薩珊王朝的集會廳，敦煌則融合了中國墓葬傳統）；第三，壁畫內容（巴米揚和龜茲的壁畫體現了對覺悟的追求，而敦煌的壁畫則強調淨土作爲死後往生的境界）；第四，這些石窟周邊是否發現有與僧侶生活相關的考古遺存。

通過跨學科視角，本研究將揭示不同遺址在功能上的多樣性：龜茲和巴米揚的石窟很可能主要用於僧團修行，而敦煌的一些早期石窟更像是“祠堂”，旨在爲逝去的親人祈求往生善道。這種功能上的差異，挑戰了目前對這些不同地區佛教石窟寺演變所流行的單一敘事。

Computational Codicology via Thermal Diffusion: Visualizing Material Anomalies in Lanten Religious Manuscripts
基於熱傳導模型的計算古籍學：可視化藍靛瑤宗教手稿中的物質異常

藍靛瑤（Kim Mun／Lanten）的救度亡靈儀式以家庭為單位頻繁舉辦，其所用的秘語手稿不僅僅是供閱讀的文獻，也是被反覆握持、翻閱、念誦的儀式法器。由於秘語由可重排的小單元組合而成、一場儀式不必念完全部，且此類手稿極少外傳、使用者幾乎僅限儀式專家，頁面間的物質狀態天生不均勻，而這種不均勻有可能保留了某些秘語單元被實際選用、高頻操演的線索。本文以一部十九世紀 Kim Mun《齋短（亡）秘語》手稿為個案，借助一套基於熱傳導機制的視覺模型（vHeat）對全本頁面進行篩查。該流程僅利用既有數字化掃描、無須二次接觸實體手稿，其作用是篩出值得人工細讀的高關注（中心）區域，而不判定這些區域的性質；模型只能標示某處存在物質異常，至於異常源於折痕、污損、添改抑或使用，仍須研究者結合肉眼觀察與文本、儀式脈絡逐一定性。在排除頁面邊緣與內部紅色印章等來源後，全本中浮現出一段連續的高中心響應序列。經人工細讀，本文將其暫定地對應到齋短亡儀式的某一誦念段落，並論證這段連續的物質痕跡較可能源於師公道公對該秘語單元的整段、高頻操演，而非偶然。本研究借此表明，使用痕跡分析不必侷限於博物館所藏的、已不再使用的歷史文獻，也能讀取一部至今仍在儀式中流通、以俗字寫成的手稿所累積的操演痕跡，而將異常詮釋為使用痕跡的關鍵一步，始終落在人文研究者身上。

藏敦煌文獻BD16554《天寶敦煌郡圖經》考釋
A Critical Study and Annotation of the Dunhuang Manuscript BD16554 Tianbao Dunhuang Jun Tujing Preserved at the National Library of China

The Dunhuang manuscript BD16554, catalogued as Dizhi (Geographical Treatise) in the collection of the National Library of China, is in fact a fragmentary scroll of the Dunhuang Jun Tujing compiled during the Tianbao reign period (742–756). In terms of content, this gazetteer inherits from S.2593V, Shazhou Tujing Juan Di Yi; however, its administrative nomenclature has been updated to the prefectural system, employing designations such as Dunhuang Prefecture and the Wuwei Commandery-Protectorate . Its record stating that Dunhuang Prefecture “was under the jurisdiction of the Wuwei Commandery-Protectorate” serves to supplement and correct the abbreviated and misplaced accounts preserved in transmitted historical texts, furnishing crucial evidence for re-examining the administrative subordination of the Hexi region during the early Tang period. The identification of BD16554 further bridges the gap between the Shazhou Tujing of the Wu Zhou and Kaiyuan periods (ca. 690–741) and the Shazhou Dudufu Tujing  compiled after the Yongtai era , thereby completing the Tianbao segment in the textual lineage. Moreover, it demonstrates that the early Tang administration of Shazhou had, to a considerable extent, faithfully implemented the institutional mandate of compiling illustrated gazetteers once every three years , and that the method of compilation primarily involved partial revision and updating based on existing manuscripts rather than comprehensive recompilation.

“軍事地方化”：南漢立國前夜嶺南地域社會的動向
“Military Localization”: The Social Transformation of Lingnan on the Eve of the Founding of the Southern Han

In the early and middle Tang periods, the court’s efforts to extend its authority over Lingnan were constrained by environmental conditions and therefore achieved only limited results. After the An Lushan Rebellion, the military defense of Lingnan became increasingly dependent on local strongmen. Yet the court continued to suppress these groups, leaving them with few channels for stable incorporation into the imperial order and causing them to alternate between submission and rebellion.

A turning point came with the outbreak of the Annan war during the Xiantong period. Faced with mounting military pressure and fiscal costs, the court was compelled to rely more heavily on local strongmen and to integrate them through the military governorship system. Because of irreconcilable conflicts over power-sharing, neither the northern troops sent south under this system nor Huang Chao’s forces were able to gain the support of Lingnan’s local elites. By contrast, the Liu family occupied a distinctive structural position: it was both rooted in local strongman society and embedded in the Lingnan military regime. This dual identity gave the family a unique opportunity to seize power through legitimate political channels.

As a result, late Tang Lingnan followed a trajectory distinct from that of many other regions. Its distinctiveness lay not in a different political logic, but in the later integration of local forces into the military governorship system. Once external military institutions and indigenous military forces were successfully combined, Lingnan acquired the basis for regional state-building. In essence, the founding of the Southern Han followed the same political process as that of the other Ten Kingdoms regimes.

澳門、南澳島與亞洲海域航路：以明清中日海圖、航海志爲中心的考察
Macau, Nan’ao Island, and Asian Maritime Routes: A Study Centered on Sino-Japanese Nautical Charts and Maritime Records from the Ming and Qing Dynasties

15世紀末伊比利亞人開啓了探索東方的大航海時代，隨着亞洲航路的不斷開闢，至18世紀中葉，全球貿易網絡形成且趨於穩定。這一時期，亞洲的主要港口（如月港、長崎、澳門、廣州、香港、上海、新加坡、曼谷等）在近海航路或遠洋長途航路的連接下組成了跨國界的海域網絡，通過商品及白銀的流通、移民及僑批的流動等緊密交織在一起。與此同時，該時期一些海島型外港和內河港口作爲次級港口或再次級港口，也在亞洲海域圈的經貿交流中發揮了重要作用。

本稿以毗鄰南海、連通東海的廣東沿岸及近海地區作爲觀察場域，選取該區域三個層級的港口：海港型都市澳門、海島型外港南澳島、內河港口石歧港，通過綜合梳理中日文獻《耶魯航海圖》、“章巽航海圖”、《御朱印船航海圖》、《元和航海記》中的航路信息、航海情報，同時活用澳門科技大學“全球地圖中的澳門”地圖數據庫的相關資料，一則在微觀層面釐清南澳島與東南亞港市間的航路信息，以及在日本航線上澳門與南澳島的連結，藉此對次級港口在亞洲海域航路中發揮的功能進行分析。二則在理論層面初步探討不同層級的港口在亞洲海域圈的經貿交流中所發揮的互動和功能互補。

初步認爲，南澳在16世紀末-17世紀初是葡萄牙人澳門—日本貿易路線和荷蘭人臺灣—日本—東南亞三角貿易路線上的重要中轉港，該時期伴隨着東亞與東南亞地區海上貿易的高度活躍，南澳島至菲律賓呂宋間形成了航貿易路。如果從功能和規模上將澳門諸港定義爲主要港口，南澳爲次級海島港，則石歧港爲再次級的內河港口，前二者具有貿易港市和交易據點的功能，後者則發揮了物資補充的作用，使主要港口和次級港口間物資的持續流動成爲可能。

Port activities in Asian history research and their functions within maritime trade networks hold significant importance for re-examining the economic conditions and cultural exchanges of the Asian region from an ocean-centric global history perspective. Currently, macro- and theoretical-level research focuses on the functions of major seaport cities such as Macau, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Nagasaki, and Naha in Ryukyu: namely, promoting a more diversified and expansive mutual linkage between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. In addition to exploring the specific trade conditions of the aforementioned port cities, micro-level research has also paid attention to the maritime activities of secondary-scale island outports (such as Shuangyu and Penghu) and inland river ports (such as Yuegang). Overall, however, previous studies have not paid sufficient attention to ports with trade functions other than the major port cities, particularly lacking specific discussions on their roles in the Asian maritime trade network.

At the end of the 15th century, Iberians initiated the Age of Discovery by exploring the East, and with the continuous opening of Asian shipping routes, a global trade network was formed and stabilized by the mid-18th century. During this period, major ports in Asia (such as Yuegang, Nagasaki, Macau, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Bangkok) were connected by coastal or long-distance transoceanic routes to form a transnational maritime network, closely interwoven through the circulation of goods and silver, as well as the flow of migrants and overseas remittances (qiaopi). At the same time, certain island outports and inland river ports of this period, functioning as secondary or tertiary ports, also played an important role in the economic and trade exchanges of the Asian maritime sphere.

Taking the Guangdong coastal and offshore areas—which border the South China Sea and connect to the East China Sea—as the field of observation, this paper selects three levels of ports in this region: the seaport city of Macau, the island outport of Nan’ao, and the inland river port of Shiqi. By comprehensively reviewing shipping routes and maritime intelligence in Sino-Japanese documents such as the Yale Nautical Chart, the Zhang Xun Nautical Chart, the Red Seal Ship Nautical Chart, and the Genna Kaijoki (Genna Maritime Records), while utilizing relevant materials from the Macau University of Science and Technology’s “Macau in the Global Map” database, this study has two main objectives. First, at the micro-level, it aims to clarify the shipping route information between Nan’ao Island and Southeast Asian port cities, as well as the connection between Macau and Nan’ao Island on the Japan route, thereby analyzing the functions of secondary ports in Asian maritime routes. Second, at the theoretical level, it preliminarily explores the interaction and functional complementarity of different port tiers in the economic and trade exchanges of the Asian maritime sphere.

Preliminary findings suggest that in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Nan’ao was a crucial transit port on the Portuguese Macau–Japan trade route and the Dutch Taiwan–Japan–Southeast Asia triangular trade route. During this period, accompanied by highly active maritime trade in East and Southeast Asia, a commercial shipping route was formed between Nan’ao Island and Luzon in the Philippines. If ports like Macau are defined as major ports based on function and scale, and Nan’ao as a secondary island port, then Shiqi serves as a tertiary inland river port. The former two function as trade port cities and transaction hubs, while the latter plays a supplementary role in supplying materials, enabling the continuous flow of resources between major and secondary ports.

文本與歷史的互構——東亞三國《春秋論》闡釋學研究
The Mutual Constitution of Text and History: A Hermeneutic Study of Chunqiu Lun in Three East Asian Countries

1. 文本場域：經傳張力（經與傳、傳與傳之間的矛盾）
2. 歷史語境：
   政治：重構大一統、君臣禮法（回應五代亂局）
   科舉：策論取士推動經論文體成熟
   學術：古文運動，文以載道，舍傳求經

二、歐陽修《春秋論》的闡釋學建構

• 原則：尊經貶傳、求實責情

1. 魯隱公攝政：駁三傳“攝位”說，隱公爲實君
2. 趙盾弒君：駁“爲法受惡”，趙盾實弒
3. 許止弒君：駁“不嘗藥”小過，實爲弒君

• 以經爲綱，結合史實人情，服務宋代強化君權、整肅綱紀的需要

三、朝鮮《春秋論》：黨爭辯經與性理重釋

• 歷史語境：黨爭激化、性理學庸俗化、實學興起、“小中華”意識

1. 李瀷（實學）：繼承歐陽修“舍傳從經”，以考據修正“闕疑”說,逾年即位禮制
2. 金龜柱（性理學、南人黨）：反對歐陽修,經傳互補、諱筆原則
3. 任守幹：贊同歐陽修對弒君案的批判,抨擊黨爭附會經義

• 本土化特徵：① 朱子學義理框架內對話；② 實學考據方法補正義理

四、日本《春秋論》：書法辨義與君臣倫理重構

• 歷史語境：幕藩體制、非絕對化君臣關係、“下克上”傳統

1. 巽世大（朱子學、陽明學）：辨正“攝”與“讓國”;名實相符，反對附會
2. 大典顯常（禪僧）：

• 區分“書法之法”與“司寇之法”。獨有觀點：弒失道之君爲誅獨夫；援引孟子，重構君臣雙向倫理
• 特徵：更重書法概念辨析與義理邏輯，突破君權絕對性預設

結論：經典闡釋的跨文化機制

• 經典的開放性：文本未完成性，政治功能的跨時空適應性
• 闡釋的歷史性：前見由時代、政治、文化塑造，回應各自現實需求
• 東亞《春秋論》的集體創作：多元闡釋而不失核心價值（正名分、明禮法）

I. The Hermeneutic Basis of Chunqiu Lun: Textual Field and Historical Context

1. Textual Field: Tensions between the Classic and the Commentaries (contradictions between Classic and commentaries, and among the three commentaries themselves)
2. Historical Context:

•    Political: Reconstructing grand unification, ruler-minister ritual order (responding to the chaos of the Five Dynasties)
•    Examination System: Policy essay selection promoting the maturation of the jinglun (classical essay) genre
•    Academic: Ancient Prose Movement, wen yi zai dao (literature as vehicle of the Way), abandoning the commentaries to seek the Classic

II. The Hermeneutic Construction of Ouyang Xiu’s Chunqiu Lun

• Principle: Honoring the Classic, debasing the commentaries; seeking facts and weighing human emotions

1. Duke Yin of Lu Acting as Regent: Refuting the three commentaries’ “regency” theory – Duke Yin was a true ruler
2. Zhao Dun Assassinating the Ruler: Refuting “bearing guilt for the law” – Zhao Dun indeed assassinated the ruler
3. Xu Zhizi (Prince Zhi of Xu) Assassinating the Ruler: Refuting the minor fault of “not tasting the medicine” – it was actual assassination

• Using the Classic as the standard, combined with historical facts and human sentiment, serving the Song dynasty’s need to strengthen monarchical power and rectify state discipline

III. Joseon’s Chunqiu Lun: Factional Disputes over the Classics and Neo-Confucian Reinterpretation

• Historical Context: Intensified factional strife, vulgarization of Neo-Confucianism, rise of Practical Learning (Sirhak), “Little China” consciousness

1. Yi Ik (Sirhak): Inheriting Ouyang Xiu’s “abandon the commentaries to seek the Classic,” amending the “principle of suspension of judgment” through textual criticism → ritual system of ascending the throne after the year’s end
2. Kim Gui-ju (Neo-Confucianism, Southerners faction): Opposing Ouyang Xiu → complementarity of Classic and commentaries, principle of concealment out of state dignity
3. Im Su-gan: Endorsing Ouyang Xiu’s critique of the assassination cases → attacking factional appropriation of the Classics

• Localized features: ① Dialogue within the doctrinal framework of Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism; ② Supplementing principle with Sirhak’s evidential methods

IV. Japan’s Chunqiu Lun: Distinguishing Calligraphic Principles and Reconstructing Ruler-Minister Ethics

• Historical Context: Shogunate–domain (bakuhan) system, non-absolute ruler-minister relations, “gekokujō” (the lower overriding the upper) tradition

1. Tatsumi Seidai (Zhu Xi and Yangming studies): Distinguishing “regency” from “ceding the state” → correspondence between name and reality, opposing forced interpretations
2. Daiken Jōkō (Zen monk):

• Differentiating “the principle of calligraphy” from “the principle of the minister of justice.” Unique view: Assassinating a lost and unworthy ruler is killing a despot – invoking Mencius, reconstructing bilateral ruler-minister ethics
• Characteristic: Greater emphasis on conceptual distinction of calligraphic principles and inner logic, breaking through the presupposition of absolute monarchical power

Conclusion: Cross-Cultural Mechanism of Classical Exegesis

• Openness of the Classic: textual incompleteness, cross-temporal/spatial adaptability of political functions
• Historicity of Interpretation: Prejudices shaped by era, politics, and culture, responding to respective practical needs
• Collective creation of Chunqiu Lun in East Asia: Pluralistic interpretations without losing core values (rectifying names and clarifying ritual order)

LÜ Bo, Duo, Yunnan University
呂多, 雲南大學

《影印宋磧砂藏經》配補情況探析——以民國時期雲南省立昆華圖書館藏《磧砂藏》爲中心
An Analysis of the Supplements to the Photographic Edition of the Qishazang: The Case of the Yunnan Provincial Kunhua Library

王閩建國與中古晚期佛教王權觀念的流播The Path of Min’s Founding and the Spread of the Buddhist Concept of Royal Power in the the late middle ancient times

After the Huang Chao Rebellion, migrants from Jianghuai settled in Fujian, creating a dualistic native-settler society. Under Wang Chao’s rule, Buddhism was employed to ease tensions, weaken local elites, and strengthen authority—a policy sustained throughout the Min Kingdom.By the mid-Min period, as the ruling class localized, Wang Yanjun turned to local shamanism to support his imperial claim. Later, Wang Yanxi revived Buddhist narratives to reinforce royal power.The Min Kingdom’s reliance on Buddhism, Daoism, and shamanism highlights a legitimacy crisis common among southern regimes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era. Unlike northern regimes, which could suppress Buddhism, southern rulers lacked Tang imperial legitimacy and turned to religion for political support.Min’s Buddhist development reflects the expansion of medieval Buddhist kingship to China’s southern periphery. This marked the geographical limit of Buddhism’s politicization, paving the way for its later secularization.

誰的“希臘式佛教藝術”？20世紀10年代亞洲學者對佛教藝術的自我捍衛

Tracing the classical tradition of the Hellenistic world has been considered a crucial starting point for European academia in understanding Asian Buddhist art. In the latter half of the 19th century, British scholars coined the term “Greco-Buddhist art” to describe Gandharan art. This inquiry into Indian Buddhist art, premised upon the perspective of the dissemination of Hellenistic artistic styles, did indeed spark sustained interest within the European academic community, thereby promoting the continuity of academic discussion. However, it is undeniable that this approach is a product of a Eurocentric view. Facing a situation in which the recognition of Hellenistic styles was prioritized while indigenous Asian aesthetics were marginalized, Asian scholars of the 1910s, such as Okakura Tenshin and Ananda Coomaraswamy, dedicated themselves to re-examining the interconnections within Asian Buddhist art, thereby offering a more accurate perspective on its cultural affiliations and inherent value. In this sense, they facilitated the gradual emancipation of this study from the dominant European discourse, then progressively establishing a new art historical narrative framework grounded in the return of Asian art itself.

“七聖刀”與祆教關係再探——兼論“七聖刀幻術俑”與“血社火”民俗
A Further Inquiry into the Link between Qishengdao (七聖刀) and Zoroastrianism: Also on the Qishengdao Illusion Figurines and the Folk Custom Xueshehuo (血社火)

Qishengdao (七聖刀) performances were first recorded in Dongjingmenghualu (東京夢華錄) as one of the various military entertainments in the Northern Song Dynasty. Combined with documents such as Yijianzhi (夷堅志), it can be confirmed that Qishengdao is associated with Zoroastrianism. Its performance content does not depict the Seven Divine Beings in Zoroastrianism, but rather the mortal struggle between the benevolent and evil deities in the religion’s philosophy, a theme fully elaborated in the Avesta. Qishengdao did not evolve from the medieval ritual Xiaxianshen (下祆神), as the two differ distinctly in form and content. The violence in Xiaxianshen was directed inward toward the practitioners themselves, while that in Qishengdao was inflicted upon others. The former emerged from the integration of Central Asian folk sorcery and Zoroastrianism, whereas the latter gradually transformed from a religious rite into theatrical and recreational entertainment.Qishengdao performances reflect the folk popularization of Zoroastrianism from the Song Dynasty onward. Nevertheless, the figurines newly designated by some scholars as Qishengdao Illusion Figurines cannot be proven to be related to Qishengdao performances. In addition, Xueshehuo (血社火), a folk custom prevalent in the Guanzhong (關中) region of Shaanxi (陝西) Province, derives directly from the blood makeup techniques in traditional folk operas, and bears only limited connections to Qishengdao, Xiaxianshen and Zoroastrianism.

從帝王靈光到佛陀妙相：古代亞洲王權與佛教藝術中的火焰肩補論
From Imperial Radiance to Buddhist Icon: A Supplementary Study on Flaming Shoulders in Asian Politics and Buddhist Art

Flaming shoulders emerged as a visual and cultural motif symbolizing divine authority in ancient Asian political and religious art, becoming prominent on Kushan royal coinage under Vima Kadphises to legitimize rulership. This motif inspired Gandharan Buddhist artists to develop flame-shouldered Buddha imagery, later refined in Kapisa and China as a core feature of East Asian Buddhist art. Previous studies have focused on the origin, symbolism, and evolution of flaming shoulders in China but lack detailed analysis of their genesis in Gandhara, stylistic codification in Kapisa, and transmission timeline to China. This study systematically examines flaming shoulders on Kushan coins, identifies key factors in their transition from royal to Buddhist iconography, and argues that flame-shouldered Buddhas originated during the reign of Huvishka. By integrating recent archaeological discoveries and dated materials, the development of Kapisa’s flame-shouldered Buddha imagery is periodized into four stages. During the reign of Vasudeva I (c. 200 CE), this iconography became standardized in Kapisha, transcending specific themes and regional constraints, and later spread eastward to China by the late 3rd century CE during the Western Jin dynasty.

法藏、澄觀與晉唐新舊《華嚴經》的校勘Fazang, Chengguan, and the Collation of Jin and Tang Avataṃsaka Sūtra Translations

The Goryeo Second Revised Canon, the Fuzhou Canon, the Sixi Canon, and the Puning Canon all contain varying collation notes regarding the Jin-dynasty translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. The archetype of these canons ultimately traces back to the revised edition of the Sixty-Fascicle Avatamsaka Sutra, which was originally translated by Divākara during the Tang dynasty and subsequently collated and amended by Fazang in his revision of the Entry into the Realm of Reality (Gandavyuha).

Furthermore, the Northern Song standalone edition of the Eighty-Fascicle Avatamsaka Sutra and the Goryeo Second Revised Canon preserve collation notes from Chengguan’s textual criticism of the Eighty-Fascicle Avatamsaka Sutra. However, these corrections were not directly incorporated into the original text at that time. It was not until the compilation of the Yuan-dynasty Puning Canon that the lacunae were finally filled based on Chengguan’s collation achievements.

The active participation of Huayan commentators Fazang and Chengguan in the modification and standardization of Avatamsaka Sutra editions serves as empirical evidence that the canonical texts in the Buddhist canon were indeed altered based on later exegetical commentaries.

基於梵藏漢對勘的《中論·觀業品》研究
A Study of the Karmaparīkṣā Chapter of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā : Based on a Comparative Analysis of the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese Sources

《中論·觀業品》對部派佛教流行的幾種業報觀作了總結概述，並進行論難，堅決否定傾向於實在論或者實有論的業果觀，基於空性指出業果真實不虛，但並非自性真實。相反，作者、作、業等皆是依緣而起，緣起而生。從真諦來看，業果自性本空，從俗諦來看，緣起假有。《觀業品》的業報觀將因果從“實體性存在”的桎梏中解放出來，置於“緣起性空”邏輯下重新解釋，引發了一場佛教因果理論的認識論革命。

Multi-lingual comparative studies of parallel texts are essential for understanding Buddhist thought, especially for abstruse works like the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK). Focusing on the Karmaparīkṣā (Chapter on the Examination of Action), this article examines Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese sources alongside their commentaries to clarify the chapter’s central doctrines, identify subtle textual and doctrinal variations across translations, and explore the historical and hermeneutical factors behind these differences. It also traces how translators and commentators adapted and elaborated upon the text, revealing traces of Buddhism’s Sinicization, localization, and contemporization. The Karmaparīkṣā critiques several Hinayānic theories of karma that tend toward realism or substantialism. On the basis of emptiness (śūnyatā), Nāgārjuna argues that while karmic cause and effect are not false, they are not substantially real. Rather, the agent, action, and result arise dependently, namely, they come into being through dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). From the ultimate perspective (paramārthasatya), karma and its fruition are empty of intrinsic nature; from the conventional perspective (saṃvṛtisatya), they exist as dependently arisen provisional designations. By liberating causality from the shackles of “substantial existence” and reinterpreting it within the frame work of “emptiness of dependent origination,” the Karmaparīkṣā initiates an epistemological revolution in the Buddhist theory of causality.

袁枚《子不語》中的佛教思想與“異端”
The Xingling School on Foxes and Ghosts: Buddhist Thought and “Heresy” in Yuan Mei’s Zi buyu

Zi buyu, though compiled by Yuan Mei, contains many stories that can be traced back to their original sources. However, Yuan Mei made substantial adaptations and refinements, and his own mindset remains apparent in these stories. Previous studies on biji xiaoshuo of the Qing dynasty often praise Liaozhai zhiyi and Yuewei caotang biji from the Kangxi and Qianlong eras, while Zi buyu has often been regarded by many as absurd and merely a playful work. This paper, divided into two parts, provides a more in-depth exploration of Buddhist ideas and “heresy” in Zi buyu. The first part mainly discusses the “heresy” in Yuan Mei’s behavior and thoughts, as well as his attitude towards Buddhism. Yuan Mei resigned and withdrew from official life in his thirties. His poetics of xingling, emphasizing self-expression, exalts hedonism, rejects pseudo-Daoxue, and displays both a critical and appreciative attitude towards Buddhism. He did not believe in divination, but was more fascinated by the accidental and the uncertain. The second part delves into the thematical focus of revenge as a result of karmic cause and effect in Zi buyu, through which Yuan Mei criticized the imperial examination and Confucianism, advocated for women’s liberation, and even justified indulgence in sensual pleasures. Although it may seem absurd for a proponent of xingling to discuss foxes and ghosts, this actually reflects how Yuan Mei, under the political pressures of the Qianlong’s reign, used discussions of uncertainties to express his skeptical and rebellious spirit in a time when intellectuals faced widespread repression. This is exactly why Zi buyu has endured to this day, despite being controversial.

鮮卑燒物葬俗的歷史敘述——兼論新羅文武王死後的“西國式”葬制
Historical Narratives of the Xianbei Cremation Burial Custom: With a Discussion of the “Western-Style” Funerary Practice after the Death of King Munmu of Silla

新羅文武王遺詔中“依西國式，以火燒葬”一語，長期以來被視爲仿效印度佛教火葬之舉，並被納入“佛教國家化”或“王權佛教化”的解釋框架。然而，這一通行解釋實際上建立在兩個未經充分論證的前提之上：其一，將“西國”直接等同於印度；其二，將“燒葬”簡單理解爲焚屍火葬，而未區分燒物送葬的可能性。若這兩個前提成立基礎不穩，則關於文武王葬制性質的既有理解，亦有重新檢討之必要。本文通過中古語義史梳理與制度史比較，指出“西國”在統一新羅時期主要指向唐朝政治—文化體系，而非佛教地理意義上的印度世界。在此基礎上，結合唐代葬制史料與新羅考古材料，區分了焚屍與燒物兩種不同禮儀結構。文章藉此揭示，中古東亞禮制並非簡單的族羣對立，而是在不斷的接觸與重構中形成新的文化認同。

This article examines the continuation of the Xianbei custom of burning funerary objects and its transformation in ritual significance from the Northern Dynasties through the Sui–Tang period, based on archaeological materials and transmitted texts. Previous scholarship has largely interpreted these phenomena within the framework of “Sinicization” versus “barbarization,” assuming that the tradition of burning funerary objects should theoretically have disappeared, or at least come into conflict with the advance of Sinicization policies. However, the persistent presence of burn traces in tombs indicates that the practice did not cease. At the same time, transmitted sources demonstrate that it was gradually reinterpreted in social practice, incorporated into what came to be regarded during the Tang period as “Han custom,” and expanded from funerary practice into sacrificial ritual. It was not until the Song period that the practice was consciously separated from “Han culture” and subjected to criticism.

The phrase “following the custom of the Western Kingdoms, cremate by fire” (yi Xiguoshi, yi huoshao zang) in the testamentary edict of King Munmu of Silla has long been understood as an imitation of Indian Buddhist cremation and has commonly been interpreted within the framework of the “nationalization of Buddhism” or the “Buddhicization of kingship.” Yet this prevailing interpretation rests upon two insufficiently examined assumptions: first, that the term “Western Kingdoms” directly referred to India; and second, that “burning burial” necessarily denoted cremation of the corpse itself, without considering the possibility of a funerary rite centered on the burning of grave goods. If these assumptions are unstable, then existing understandings of King Munmu’s funerary system likewise require reconsideration.

Through an analysis grounded in medieval semantic history and comparative institutional history, this study argues that during the period of Unified Silla, the term “Western Kingdoms” primarily referred to the Tang political and cultural order rather than to the Buddhist geographical conception of India. On this basis, and through comparison with Tang funerary records and Silla archaeological evidence, the article distinguishes between two distinct ritual structures: cremation of the body and the burning of funerary objects. In doing so, it demonstrates that ritual systems in medieval East Asia cannot be reduced to a simple opposition between ethnic traditions, but instead emerged through continuous processes of cultural contact, reinterpretation, and reconstruction.

唐代特殊的中央僧官：以高祖、武后和中宗時期的“十大德”爲中心
An Exceptional Category of Central Monastic Officials in the Tang Dynasty: A Study of the Ten Bhadantas during the Reigns of Gaozu, Empress Wu, and Zhongzong

In most periods of the Tang dynasty, central monastic officials were typically appointed from among government officials, while Buddhist monks could only serve as the Three Monastic Superintendents in the Buddhist state monasteries at the local level. However, during the reigns of Gaozu, Empress Wu, and Zhongzong, a distinct group of monastic officials known as the ten bhadantas—entirely composed of Buddhist monks—emerged as central monastic officials in exceptional political contexts, overseeing Buddhist affairs throughout the empire. Gaozu’s ten bhadantas were a temporary appointment, yet they constituted a centralized monastic administrative structure and institutional power center at the national level in Chang’an, tasked with supervising Buddhist affairs and monasteries across the empire. This arrangement provided substantial religious support and political guarantee at a time when religious policy remained unsettled and national governance was unstable during the early years of the Tang dynasty. It helped the newly established regime overcome the difficulties of managing religious affairs in its formative period. Under Empress Wu, the ten bhadantas of the Dabiankongsi chapel offered powerful Buddhist theoretical support for her seizure of the Tang throne and the consolidation of the Wu-Zhou regime. They contributed to the sacralization, authorization, and legitimization of secular imperial power through appeals to heavenly mandate or Buddhist prophecy, thereby securing the reverence and acknowledgment of both monastic and lay communities. During Zhongzong’s reign, the ten bhadantas of the Linguang chapel aided him in leveraging Buddhism to expand his political influence and vigorously cultivating support from both monastic and lay Buddhist adherents within the government and across society, thereby consolidating his rule. Based on the above, this indicates that the ten bhadantas, a special institutional formation in the Tang dynasty characterized by the functions and status of central monastic officials, exemplified a complex and tension-filled model of state–saṃgha relations. This model vividly reflected the ongoing historical process in which Buddhism was increasingly sinicized and secularized.

龜茲樂舞與隋唐燕樂中的龜茲樂——以龜茲石窟壁畫爲中心
The Music and Dance of Kucha and Kucha Music in the Banquet Music of the Sui and Tang Dynasties: Centered on the Murals of the Kucha Grottoes

Kucha, situated at the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains along the northern rim of the Tarim Basin, served as a vital junction on the northern route of the Silk Road, and its music and dance culture achieved renown through the celebrated description that “its orchestras and performing arts excelled above all other states.” Drawing upon music and dance imagery from the cave murals of the Kucha region as core material, this study employs an interdisciplinary methodology integrating iconography, musicology, archaeology, and history to systematically investigate the typology of musical instruments, configurations of musicians, forms of music and dance, and the historical process of eastward transmission and integration of Kucha music into the court banquet music (yan yue) system of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Through systematic analysis of instrument combinations depicted in the imagery, the evolution can be divided into three major phases: the formative period (ca. 3rd century), the flourishing period (ca. 4th–7th centuries), and the transformative period (ca. 8th–9th centuries), with the second phase further subdivided into early and late sub-periods. The musician imagery encompasses multiple types including Gandharvas, flying apsaras, celestial palace musicians, and donor musicians, with the dual systems of heavenly music and secular music developing in parallel. The eastward transmission of Kucha music from the Western Regions underwent successive transformations through “Western Kucha,” “Northern Qi Kucha,” and “Sinicized Kucha” as documented in historical texts, with newly excavated archaeological materials from the late Northern Dynasties period providing concrete evidence for tracing these developmental trajectories. This process reflects a cross-cultural transmission mechanism of “selective adoption,” “localized adaptation,” and “systematic reconstruction” within Silk Road musical and cultural exchange, thereby illuminating the pivotal role of Kucha music as a bridge connecting Eastern and Western musical cultures within the framework of Silk Road transcultural interaction.

新發現東漢蟬紋搖錢樹幹佛像、十六國金通禪定菩薩的鑑定與研究
Identification and Study of a Newly Discovered Eastern Han Buddha Image on a Cicada-Patterned Money Tree Trunk and a Sixteen Kingdoms Gilt-Bronze Meditating Bodhisattva

Recently, the author acquired two significant artifacts of early Buddhist art. The first is an Eastern Han dynasty Buddha image situated on a cicada-patterned money tree trunk, discovered in Sanyuan, Shaanxi province. It is highly similar to two examples excavated in Zhongxian, Chongqing, serving as a representative case of the syncretism between the Daoist belief in ascending to immortality and early Buddhism.

The second artifact, discovered in Hebei province, is a gilt-bronze meditating Bodhisattva statue, marking the first time a Bodhisattva of this specific typology has been introduced to the academic community. The figure is characterized by a crown, the dhyana mudra (meditation gesture), a draped shawl, and a double-dragon necklace—features that bear a striking resemblance to Gandharan meditating Maitreya Bodhisattvas. Concurrently, its artistic style and casting techniques closely align with typical gilt-bronze Buddhist statues of the Sixteen Kingdoms, confirming it as a product of that period.

These two figures represent rare and important recent discoveries in early Buddhist art, holding profound significance for the study of the historical relationship between Buddhism and Daoism, as well as the localization of Buddhism within China.

西藏帶柄銅鏡相關問題再探
Revisiting the Bronze Mirrors with Handles from Xizang

Bronze mirrors with handles represent a highly distinctive category of archaeological remains from the early Metal Age in Xizang. Since their initial discovery in the stone-chamber tombs at Qugong, these artifacts have generated considerable scholarly discussion; however, issues regarding their dating and places of origin remain unresolved. In recent years, a significant number of new finds have been reported in the western regions of Xizang and along the Lhasa Valley, providing fresh evidence for a re-examination of these mirrors and related issues. Building upon previous scholarship, this paper systematically reviews the available archaeological data and revisits key issues concerning these mirrors, including their typology, chronology, spatial and temporal distribution, developmental sequence, and places of origin. It further examines the historical implications of these artifacts for understanding East–West cultural interaction along the early Plateau Silk Road, as well as the exchange and integration of diverse ethnic groups. This study also provides concrete material evidence for deepening our understanding of the historical formation of the Chinese national community.

文本、儀式與空間：《摩訶僧祇律》與高昌-北庭地面佛寺的營建
Text, Ritual, and Space: The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya and the Construction of Ground Buddhist Temples in Gaochang and Beiting

Gaochang and Beiting are geographically adjacent and share similar historical and cultural backgrounds. Their Buddhist sites also exhibit discernible spatial patterns. The main features include: major temples are located on elevated terrain with an axisymmetric plan featuring a front hall and rear stupa. The central pillar (塔柱) — the core of the temple — is square or rectangular, with a stepped, tapered base or platform. Niches housing Buddhist images are carved into the pillar, surrounded by a cloverleaf-shaped ambulatory. The grotto forms were modeled after those in Kucha. Urban temples complemented surrounding cave shrines and interacted with secular buildings and major transportation routes. These spatial characteristics are largely consistent with the regulations in the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya and were also influenced by Central Asian and Indian religious architectural traditions.

唐代佛教譯場典籍的域外傳播機制——以空海《御請來目錄》所載新譯經爲中心
The Overseas Dissemination Mechanism of  Texts from Tang Buddhist Translation Centers：Focusing on Newly Translated Scriptures Recorded in Kūkai’s Goshōrai Mokuroku（《御请来目录》）

三、《御請來目錄》所見新譯經的篩選與接收
對目錄著錄進行文本分析，統計《御請來目錄》中唐代“新譯”與舊譯的比例，重點考察空海對貞元、元和年間最新譯出經典的收錄情況。結合空海“翰墨難載，更假圖畫開示不悟”的觀念，分析目錄中經典與法器（如金剛盤、五鈷鈴）、圖像（曼荼羅）的配套請回現象。這揭示了唐代譯場典籍傳播並非單純的文本流動，而是“經、像、器”一體化的立體傳播。
此外，考察空海在目錄中對中土新出而日本未傳經典的特別標註，這種對“未傳”與“已傳”的甄別體現了域外求法僧對唐代譯場最新動態的捕捉與主動篩選。

四、唐代譯場典籍的域外傳播路徑與機制
梳理空海在長安期間（特別是在西明寺等地）與唐代譯場高僧（如般若三藏等）之交際，論證“師承關係”是譯場典籍能夠突破官方限制、流向域外的關鍵渠道。分析《御請來目錄》中記載的經卷形態（如卷軸裝、數量），探討唐代寫本在長距離海運中的保存與流轉方式。闡述空海如何通過《御請來目錄》的呈獻，將原本屬於個人求法的譯場典籍，轉化爲日本國家認可的官方藏書（東寺寶藏），實現了新譯經從“私請”到“官藏”的轉變，立了唐代新譯經在日本的合法地位。

五、結語
唐代譯場典籍在東亞特別是日本的傳播，是一個由“文本生產（譯場）——人際傳遞（留學僧私請）——圖文接收（目錄中的佛像等）——國家收藏（官藏）”構成的完整鏈條，不僅保存了大量唐代譯場的珍貴記錄，更標誌着唐代佛教文化通過譯場這一樞紐，實現了向東亞鄰國的深度輻射與在地化重構。

1. Research Background
Tang Buddhist translation centers functioned not merely as institutions for rendering Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, but also as core driving forces behind the formation of the East Asian Buddhist cultural sphere. Existing scholarship has largely centered on internal institutional divisions and translation techniques within these centers. Microscopic empirical research remains insufficient regarding the dissemination mechanism whereby finished translated scriptures (“new translations”) crossed geographical borders to be received, screened and canonized overseas, particularly in Japan. As the most eminent monk among the Eight Japanese Tang Pilgrims, Kūkai submitted the Goshōrai Mokuroku to the Japanese imperial court after his homecoming. Its entries on newly finished Tang translations constitute firsthand documentation for the eastward transmission of Esoteric Buddhism and serve as an ideal source to trace how texts from Tang translation centers spread abroad.

Combining philology and the history of the book, this paper takes the Goshōrai Mokuroku as its core source. By cross-referencing historical records of Tang translation bureaus and Kūkai’s inventory of acquired scriptures, it maps the material and intellectual network that carried newly translated texts from Chang’an’s translation centers to Tō-ji Temple in Japan.

2. Production and Textual Features of “New Translations” from Tang Translation Centers
Royal translation hubs centered at Daxingshan Temple and Qinglong Temple in the mid‑late Tang adopted a standardized institutional framework supported by specialized posts such as literary polishers and doctrinal verifiers, yielding rigorously regulated newly translated scripture editions. Meanwhile, the core focus of translation underwent a remarkable shift: from early dominance of exoteric treatises toward a balanced production of both exoteric and esoteric texts, with Esoteric Buddhism gradually taking precedence. Led by master translators including Amoghavajra, these later workshops produced a substantial corpus of esoteric works that form the bulk of Tang “new translations”.

By sorting the attested translators, compilation dates and textual categories of newly translated scriptures listed in the Goshōrai Mokuroku, this study intends to identify which varieties of new translations Kūkai deliberately prioritized and collected, further explore the inherent linkage between textual production norms of mid‑late Tang translation centers and the collecting inclinations of overseas pilgrim monks, and endeavor to unpack the textual drivers fueling the eastward crosssea spread of Tang Esoteric scriptures.

3. Screening and Reception of New Translations as Reflected in the Goshōrai Mokuroku.
Through textual analysis and quantitative comparison of newly translated versus older scriptures listed in the catalogue, this part focuses on texts freshly produced during the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe reigns. Rooted in Kūkai’s insight that Written words cannot fully convey esoteric truth; paintings are needed to enlighten the uninitiated, it examines his synchronized procurement of scriptures, ritual implements (such as vajra plates and five-pronged vajra bells) and mandala paintings. This evidence proves the transmission of Tang translation-center materials was never a mere circulation of written texts, but an integrated three-dimensional transfer combining scriptures, icons and ritual paraphernalia.

Special marginal notations marking texts newly compiled in China yet previously unknown in Japan further demonstrate Kūkai’s deliberate discrimination between imported and locally available scriptures, reflecting active screening by foreign pilgrims who closely tracked the latest textual output of Tang translation centers.

4. Overseas Transmission Routes and Mechanisms of Texts from Tang Translation Centers
This part reconstructs Kūkai’s academic connections with leading monastic translators such as Prajñā during his sojourn in Chang’an, chiefly at Ximing Temple. It argues master-disciple lineage constituted the critical channel enabling restricted canonical texts to bypass official limitations and flow out of China. Based on physical clues preserved in the catalogue (e.g. scroll format and manuscript quantity), it explores how hand-copied Tang texts survived long-distance maritime transport. By formally presenting the Goshōrai Mokuroku to the Japanese throne, Kūkai transformed privately acquired esoteric manuscripts into officially sanctioned imperial collections housed at Tō-ji Temple, shifting these scriptures from personal pilgrimage acquisitions to state-owned canonical holdings and securing their legitimate status within Japan’s religious system.

5. Conclusion
The cross-border spread of texts from Tang translation centers into East Asia, primarily Japan, formed a complete transmission chain: text production at translation centers → private acquisition by resident foreign monastics → integrated reception of texts and icons recorded in catalogues → preservation as official state collections. This transmission preserved numerous otherwise lost Tang translation records and exemplifies how Tang Buddhist civilization, via translation hubs, achieved profound cultural outreach and localized restructuring across East Asian neighboring polities.