後唐時期途經敦煌的赴印求法僧及相關史事=On the Historical Records Regarding Monks Going to India for Buddhist Scriptures in the Later Tang, and the Influence of these Pilgrimages on Dunhuang Buddhism
This paper re-transcribes and revises S. 5981 and six legal documents preserved in S. 529, and discusses the dates and activities of the monks traveling to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures as they stopped in Dunhuang. Among the pilgrims were such notable figures as ZHI Yan and GUI Wen, the authors of these manuscripts; this research includes a discussion of the social significance they and their companions had for the Buddhism and cultural development of Dunhuang in the Later Tang dynasty. The researchers point out that in the early years of the Later Tang, the formal interaction between Dunhuang and the central government had only recently been reestablished, and because of the long period of disconnection, the officials and common people in Shazhou were eager to communicate with the Central Plains. Monks like ZHI Yan who traveled from the Central Plains to India were highly esteemed in Dunhuang and became important messengers of cultural, social, and religious information during their pilgrimages.
