Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the Chinese mind became preoccupied with a concept of the afterlife that persists into modern times. To be reborn, the deceased must successfully negotiate passage through ten courts of law, each ruled by a magistrate or king. The pains of transition from death to rebirth can be alleviated by the intercession of the living with contributions to the Buddhist church and bribes of spirit money. The cosmology, morality, and rituals of the ten kings are described for the first time in surviving sources in an illustrated text, The Scripture on the Ten Kings, which is here translated for the first time.
目次
Frontmatter I Contents VII Illustrations IX Preface XI Abbreviations and Conventions XIX 1. Introduction 1
PART ONE: TRACES OF THE TEN KINGS 2. Memorial Rites 20 3. Artistic Representations 31 4. Other Manifestations 48 5. Origin Legends 62 6. The Making of the Ten Kings 76
PART TWO: PRODUCTION OF THE SCRIPTURE 7. Scrolls 88 8. Booklets 93 9. Chai Feng-ta, in Memory of His Wife 102 10. An Old Man of Eighty-five 121 11. Miao-fu, a Troubled Nun 128 12. On Behalf of One Old Plowing Ox and Others 133 13. Received and Upheld by Bhiksu Tao-chen 138 14. The Making of The Scripture on the Ten Kings 152
PART THREE: TEXT 15. Language and Genre 166 16. The Bureaucracy 171 17. Translation 196
Appendixes 221 Glossary 251 Bibliography 269 Index 325 Index of Manuscripts and Cave Inscriptions 338
