Inscribing the Corpus: Scribal and Ritual Practice in the Material Culture of Dunhuang

Qualities of the written sign impact the process of parsing a text, of making it accessible for vision, contemplation, recitation, and memory. In this article, I approach the manuscript as a visual field ordered by the configuration, combination, and differentiation of marks. This approach considers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Numen
Main Author: Dachille, Rae (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2020]
In: Numen
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Dunhuang manuscripts / Materiality / Ritual / Scribe / Reader
RelBib Classification:BL Buddhism
KBM Asia
Further subjects:B Tibetan Buddhism
B Art History
B Buddhism
B manuscript culture
B ritual writing
B esoteric drawings
B scribal practice
B Dunhuang
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Qualities of the written sign impact the process of parsing a text, of making it accessible for vision, contemplation, recitation, and memory. In this article, I approach the manuscript as a visual field ordered by the configuration, combination, and differentiation of marks. This approach considers the particular challenges and potentialities that the space of the manuscript presents to a scribe as well as to a reader and how this blurs the boundaries between text and image. Through a case study of a Tibetan ritual manual, I illuminate the act of inscription as a technology with material, ritual, mnemonic, and pedagogical applications.
ISSN:1568-5276
Contains:Enthalten in: Numen
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341570