Copyright © 1997, The British Library Board
British Library, Or. 8210/P.2.
Jin gang ban ruo bo luo mi jing. (The Sanskrit Vajracchedika-prajnaparamitasutra,
translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva.) The Diamond Sutra of AD
868.
Frontispiece (detail), showing the Buddha preaching to his
aged disciple Subhuti Click
for a close up.
This scroll was found in 1907 by the archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel
Stein in a walled-up cave at the 'Caves
of the Thousand Buddhas', near Dunhuang, in North-West China.
It was one of a small number of printed items among many thousands
of manuscripts, comprising a library which must have been sealed
up in about AD 1000. Although not the earliest example of blockprinting,
it is the earliest which bears an actual date. The colophon, at
the inner end, reads: `Reverently [caused to be] made for universal
free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the
13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [i.e. 11th May,
AD 868]'.
Frontispiece (detail), showing image and text Click
for a close up.
The technique of blockprinting had been known in the Far East for
well over 100 years by 868, and the quality of this illustration
makes it clear that the blockcutter had a considerable period of
experience and skill behind him. It is not known where the printing
was carried out, although Sichuan, in south-west China, is known
to have been a centre of printing activity at this time.
Turn the pages of the Diamond Sutra online
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