The Devatasutra,a vevy short Buddhist text(ony one volume includes 601 Chi-nese characters),was translated into Chinese by Xuanzang in 647A.D.Generallyspeaking,it is classificated into Mahayana text,but in this paper,the author proves thatit is really a Hinayana text based on its forms, content and concerned historical back-ground of Buddhism in China.According to author’s investigation,more than 20 manuscripts of the sutra and 3manuscripst of the commentaries of the sutra can be seen in the collections of Dun-huang,moreover,38 sets of the illustrations of the sutra can be found from Dunhuangmurals.Among the illustrations of the Devatasutra,these of cave nos.143 and 5 are i-dentified by the author for the first time.It should be noted that 3 pieces of inscriptionsdrafts of Devatasutra illustration in Dunhuang MSs.are found by the author.One ofthem is suitalble for the mural of Mogao Cave no.454 while other two also were copiedaccording to the layout of the illustration of the sutra.It is an interesting and new dis-Covery.
