敦煌=Dunhuang; 取經圖=“Searching for the Sutras” wall paintings; 大唐三藏取經詩話=The Poems and Lines of the Great Tang Sanzang Searching for the Sutras; 玄奘=Hsuanchuang; 水月觀音=Water-Moon Guanyin
The earliest discussion of “Searching for the Sutras” wall paintings in Dunhuang was made by the then Head of the Dunhuang Art Institute, Duan, Wen-jie in 1990. He found 6 paintings on this subject and he concluded that the main figures are Hsuanchuang, the monkey-escort, and the white horse. In addition, he attributes the paintings to a text “The Poems and Lines of the Great Tang Sanzang Searching for the Sutras." In 2009, Liu, Yu-quan argued that the image in Cave 29 is a generic portrayal of devotees paying homage to the Water-Moon Guanyin, rather than the story of Hsuanchuang. Therefore, Liu thought that there are only 5 images on Hsuanchuang’s journey to India in Dunhuang. Most scholars seemed to agree with Liu’s argument and only discussed 5 images regarding Hsuanchuang then after. However, my thorough research on these images reveals that there are actually 2 paintings in Cave 29 representing Hsuanchuang’s journey to India. Furthermore, the intertextual-and-imagery study confirms that there are at least 7 images picturing Hsuanchuang’s searching for Sutras in Dunhuang.
