The Benji jing and the Anle jing: Reflections on two Daoist and Christian manuscripts from Turfan and Dunhuang
In Turfan, numerous Christian manuscripts have been discovered. Recent scholarship has joined and identified some Syriac fragments. The verso sides of several Syeriac Christian fragments were written in Chinese and could be identified as the fragments from chapter three of one of the most popular Da...
| Published in: | Studies in Chinese Religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2015
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| In: |
Studies in Chinese Religions
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Turfan texts
/ Liu, Jinxi 560-640, Benji jing
/ Jingjing, Zhixuan anle jing
/ Taoism
/ Interfaith dialogue
/ Christianity
/ History 600-700
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AX Inter-religious relations BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations HH Archaeology KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages KBM Asia TF Early Middle Ages |
| Further subjects: | B
Church of the East
B the Anle jing B the Benji jing B Chang’an B Daoism B Tang Dynasty |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In Turfan, numerous Christian manuscripts have been discovered. Recent scholarship has joined and identified some Syriac fragments. The verso sides of several Syeriac Christian fragments were written in Chinese and could be identified as the fragments from chapter three of one of the most popular Daoist texts in the Tang dynasty, the Taixuan zhenyi Benji jing. The newly identified fragments provide new opportunity in comparing different versions of this Daoist text popular in the Tang and Song dynasties, since it was cited in the Song encyclopedia Taiping yulan. While doing a comparison between the Daoist text Benji jing and the Christian text Zhixuan anle jing, it is striking that they shared a set of same vocabulary and metaphors in developing their religious thoughts respectively. For instance, ‘true nature’ was used in both texts. In Daoist text it refers to the Dao-nature, yet in Christian text it means the divinity. Further study reveals that the Daoist temple where the Benji jing was formed was very close to the Christian church in Chang’an, the capital city of Tang China. It seems that the Daoist community and the Christian community mutually knew each other. |
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| ISSN: | 2372-9996 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in Chinese Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2015.1087515 |