The "Stele from the Tomb of Xianyan "鮮演墓碑, which was discovered on the northern outskirts of the town of Lindong 林東鎮 at Balin Zuoqi 巴林左旗 in Inner Mongolia in 1986, records the achievements of Xianyan 鮮演, a scholar monk who was active in the court of Daozong of the Khitan (Liao). The value of this stele is particularly high given the paucity of historical source materials concerning scholar monks throughout the Khitan period, but despite this fact, it has not been studied in depth. Thus in this article I have examined the circumstance of scholar monks in the late Khitan through an analysis of the "Stele from the Tomb of Xianyan." Xianyan was summoned to the residential encampment 宿営地 of Daozong in the summer and winter each year, and was named chief lecturer of both the Shangjing Kailongsi 上京開龍寺 and Huanglongfu prefecture. Huanglonfu was situated in the valley of the Huntongjiang 混同江 along the route from the winter encampment, ㎞own as the Ousidian 藕絲淀, to the spring encampment. The title of chief lecturer of Huanglongfu indicates that Xianyan would accompany Daozong in his move from the winter to the spring encampment as was nomadic custom. The fact that Xianyan had the dual appointment of chief lecturer at both Shangjing Kailongsi and Huanglongfu indicates the special relationship of the scholar monk to the ruling class in the nomadic state that maintained an itinerant lifestyle throughout the year. For the Khitan, the winter and summer periods when government misters would gather to debate and make decisions at the nabo 捺鉢, the site of the royal pavilion, were particularly important. Daozong would summon scholar monks to the nabo in the summer encampment, the monks would then discuss the Buddhist dharma, and Daozong would recognize their scholarship, select their doctrinal positions to be published and disseminated, thus indicating the unified character of political authority and the dharma. For the scholar monks who had been invited this was an opportunity to display the fruits of their accumulated learning before Daozong and win the glory of having their works published under the authority of the state. Next, I address the correspondence of Uicheon (Yitian) 義天 from Goryeo (Gaoli) that is included in the Taegak kuksa munjip (Dajueguoshi waiji) 大覚国師外集 make clear the historical fact of the existence of a work by Xianyan that was presented by the Khitan bureaucrat Yelusiqi 耶律思斉 to Uicheon. Before the works of Xianyan were widely circulated in the Khitan state, Uicheon obtained this work and published it in Goryeo. Uicheon presented the printed book to the Khitan court, and it was then published as the work of Xianyan by the state publishing facilities (Yanjing Hongfasi yinjingyuan 燕京弘法寺印経院) on the order of Daozong, and that printed version was presented to Uicheon by Yelusiqi. Xianyan's work traveled from Khitan to Goryeo, and then from Goryeo to Khitan and back again to Goryeo from Khitan. This form of the circulation of Buddhist scripture between the two states of Khitan and Goryeo has not previously been recognized. The style of the circulation of Xianyan's work indicates the multifaceted form of the exchange of Buddhist culture between Khitan and Goryeo at this time and permits us to reconsider the role of Uicheon in that exchange.
