Manichaean scholars examining two Chinese scrolls

The ''Xiabuzan'' ( zh, 下部讚) is a Chinese Manichaean hymn scroll found by British archaeologist

Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...

in the

Mogao Grottoes The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. It contains a series of hymns used in religious ceremonies. It is currently held at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, where it is catalogued as number S.2659.

Introduction

The first volume of the manuscript is slightly incomplete, and the content is written in the form of poetry. Among them, there are 1254 sentences of seven-character poems, and a few four-character and five-character poems. According to Lin Wushu's research, these hymns were translated from a Middle Iranian language, rather than original by the

Manichaeans Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

. Many of the contents are dedicated to the

Yishu ''Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art'' is the first English-language journal specializing in Chinese art and culture. Each bi-monthly issue features scholarly essays on topical issues, interviews with artists and curators, conference proce ...

(Jesus), and the hymn to the highest deity of Manichaeism.

In the 'Praise Jesus' text

After Manichaeism was introduced into China, because the image of Jesus was quite unfamiliar to Chinese culture, missionaries combined it with Buddhist imagery, called Jesus Buddha, and made him a model of great mercy and relief. Therefore, believers wrote in the following excerpt from the hymn "Praise Jesus Text", which is like a Buddhist scripture in the Chinese Manichaean hymn scroll.

References

External links

{{Manichaeism footer Chinese Manichaeism Manichaean texts

Introduction

In the 'Praise Jesus' text

See also

References

External links