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The Jingjiao Documents ( zh, t=景教經典, p=Jǐngjiào jīngdiǎn; also known as the Nestorian Documents or the Jesus Sutras) are a collection of
Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...
texts connected with the 7th-century mission of Alopen, a
Church of the East The Church of the East ( ) or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church, the Chaldean Church or the Nestorian Church, is one of three major branches o ...
bishop from Sassanian Mesopotamia, and the 8th-century monk
Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...
. The manuscripts date from between 635, the year of Alopen's arrival in China, and around 1000, when the cave at Mogao near
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
in which the documents were discovered was sealed. By 2011, four of the manuscripts were known to be in a private collection in Japan, while one was in Paris. Their language and content reflect varying levels of interaction with Chinese culture, including use of
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and
Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
terminology.


Terminology

There is no agreed upon name for the collection of texts as a whole. The Japanese scholar P. Y. Saeki described them as the "Nestorian Documents," which has continued to be used. More recent scholars have moved away from the language of "Nestorian" and simply use the Chinese term, describing them as "Jingjiao Documents." Sinologist Martin Palmer has attempted to describe these collectively as ''
sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...
s'' to connect the documents to Buddhism, given their tendency to use Buddhist terminology. But this is partly related to the names of a subset of the Jingjiao texts which bear the character ''jing'' (). While it is often used to translate into Chinese the Buddhist idea of a sutra, Palmer explains that the character actually means "sacred literature." The character is also used to speak about "classical texts," such as the Confucian
Four Books and Five Classics The Four Books and Five Classics are authoritative and important books associated with Confucianism, written before 300 BC. They are traditionally believed to have been either written, edited or commented by Confucius or one of his disciples. S ...
(), and in the modern rendering for the Bible, ''Shengjing'' (). Many of the Jingjiao texts do not use ''jing'' but ''lun'' (), which carries a different meaning of "discourse" or "treatise."


List of texts

The following list gives some approximate English titles for the various writings and an indication of the present location of the manuscript where known. Scholars are still debating the best translation for many of the terms.


Doctrinal texts

#''Discourse on the One God, Part Three'' (一神論巻第三; Yī shén lùn juǎn dì sān), once known as the Tomioka manuscript; now held in Osaka, Japan, by Kyōu Shooku library, Tonkō-Hikyū Collection, manuscript no. 460. It includes the following three texts: ##''Discourse on Almsgiving of the World-Honored One, Part Three'' (世尊布施論第三; Shìzūn bùshī lùn dì sān). ##''Discourse on the Oneness of Heaven'' (一天論第一; Yītiān lùn dì yī). ##''Parable, Part Two'' (喻第二; Yù dì èr). #''Sutra on the Origin of Origins'' (大秦景教宣元本經; Dàqín jǐng jiào xuānyuán běn jīng); now held in Osaka, Japan, by Kyōu Shooku library, Tonkō-Hikyū Collection, manuscript no. 431. An inscribed pillar discovered in
Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...
in 2006, the Nestorian pillar of Luoyang, supplements the incomplete version from
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
. Kojima manuscript B (大秦景教宣元至本經, Dàqín jǐng jiào xuānyuán zhi běn jīng, last known to be in the Dōshisha University library, Kyoto, in 1963) was at one time thought to be the conclusion of this work; see below ref. to Kazuo Enoki, p. 68. #'' Sutra of Hearing the Messiah'' (序聽迷詩所經; Xùtīng míshīsuǒ jīng); once known as the Takakusu manuscript; now held in Osaka, Japan, by Kyōu Shooku library, Tonkō-Hikyū Collection, manuscript no. 459.


Liturgical texts

#''Da Qin Hymn of Perfection of the Three Majesties'' (大秦景教三威蒙度讚; Dàqín jǐng jiào sān wēi méng dù zàn); now held in Paris, Bib. Nat., Collection Pelliot chinois, no. 3847. #''Let Us Praise'' or ''Venerable Books'' (尊經; Zūn jīng), a list of sacred books followed by a short note; contained in the above manuscript in Paris, Bib. Nat., Collection Pelliot, chinois no. 3847. #''The Sutra of Ultimate and Mysterious Happiness'' (志玄安樂經; Zhìxuán ānlè jīng); now held in Osaka, Japan, by Kyōu Shooku library, Tonkō-Hikyū Collection, manuscript no. 13. #''Da Qin Hymn to the Transfiguration of the Great Holy One'' (大秦景教大聖通真歸法讚; Dàqín jǐng jiào dàshèng tōng zhēn guī fǎ zàn). Kojima manuscript A. This manuscript was stolen in Tianjin, China, in 1945 and its whereabouts are now unknown. This manuscript and Kojima manuscript B are suspected of being modern forgeries; see below ref. to Lin & Rong.


The Xi'an Stele

The
Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
Stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
was erected in 781 to commemorate the propagation of the Da Qin Luminous Religion (" Da Qin" is the Chinese term for the Roman Empire), and covers the preceding 150 years of Christianity in China. Palmer recently claimed, on the basis of research conducted by scholars in the 1930s, that the Daqin Pagoda near Lou Guan Tai was part of a Da Qin monastery. Lou Guan Tai was the traditional site of Lao Tze's composition of the
Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated por ...
. Buried during a time of religious persecution in the 9th century, the stele was re-discovered in 1625 and is now on display in nearby Xi'an, the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty.


See also

*
Church of the East in China The Church of the East (also known as the Nestorian Church) was a Christian organization with a presence in China during two periods: first from the 7th through the 10th century in the Tang dynasty, when it was known as ''Jingjiao'' ( zh, t=景� ...
* Daqin Pagoda * Xi'an Stele


References


Further reading

*A.C. Moule, ''Christianity in China Before the Year 1550'', (1930) London. * P. Y. Saeki, ''The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China'', (1937) Academy of Oriental Culture, Tokyo: Tokyo Institute, second edition, 1951. Contains the Chinese texts with English translations. *Kazuo Enoki, "The Nestorian Christianism in China in mediaeval times according to recent historical and archaeological Researches", in ''Problemi Attuali de Scienza e di Cultura'', 62, ''Atti del convegno internazionale sul tema : l'Oriente cristiano nella storia della civiltà'' (Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1964), 45–81. *W. Lin & X. Rong, “Doubts Concerning the Authenticity of Two Nestorian Chinese Documents Unearthed at Dunhuang from the Li’s Collection.” China Archaeology and Art Digest Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1996), 5–14. * Martin Palmer, ''The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity'' (2001), Wellspring/Ballantine, . Texts translated by Palmer, Eva Wong, and L. Rong Rong. *Li Tang, ''A Study of the History of Nestorian Christianity in China and Its Literature in Chinese: Together With a New English Translation of the Dunhuang Nestorian Documents'' (2002), Peter Lang Publishing, 2003 paperback: . A fresh scholarly translation by a Chinese academic, with historical background and critical linguistic commentary on the texts. *
Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...
and Ray Riegert (editors) ''The Lost Sutras of Jesus: Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of the Xian Monks'' (2003), Seastone, . Texts translated by John Babcock. * Christoph Baumer, ''The Church of the East, an Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity'' (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006). *David Wilmshurst, ''The Martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East'', (2011) London. *Alexis Balmont, ''Le christianisme chinois du haut Moyen Âge. Recherche historique, philologique et théologique des textes chrétiens chinois du VIIe au Xe siècle'', (2025) Paris . Includes a critical edition, annotated and introduced, together with a French translation of all texts today accessible.


External links

*The original texts: ** (Sutra of Hearing the Messiah ) ** (Hymn of Perfection of the Three Majesties) *
冯其庸文:《大秦景教宣元至本经》全经的现世及其他
(Feng Wen: Sutra on the Origin of Origins)

(A survey of Chinese mainland landscape teaching in the past 20 years (1982–2002)) {{Church of the East in China 1st-millennium manuscripts Christian terminology Church of the East in Gansu 7th-century Christian texts Nestorian texts Manuscript collections Chinese manuscripts