SUTRAS SAVED BY SOLDIERS
Researchers are piecing together the incredible history of an ancient Buddhist canon rescued from Japanese invaders. Wang Kaihao reports.
It was a legendary military mission that saved priceless treasures from destruction and looting. Chinese soldiers’ bravery during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) preserved the 900year-old Buddhist canon, the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka.
The largely intact texts — the most-extensive surviving printed works of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) — are one of the National Library of China’s four main collections.
The Beijing library revealed the findings of a July investigation into the scriptures’ hidden history last week.
An expert panel journeyed through six cities in northern Shanxi province to piece together the puzzle of the texts’ legacy. They pored over local archives, visited relevant sites and conducted interviews.
The precious Buddhist canon was originally collected by the Guangsheng Temple in Zhaocheng county (today’s Hongdong county) in Shanxi.
It remained there for centuries until it was rediscovered in 1933 by a high-ranking, visiting monk. It took its current name at that time.
Monks had placed it in a sealed part of the temple tower.
Occupying Japanese forces visited the temple on the pretense of attending a ritual and tried to open the tower to steal the sutras in 1942.
The Eight Route Army led by the Communist Party of China sneaked through the Japanese blockade and spirited away the texts a night before the ritual. The soldiers stored the scriptures in coal mines and caves when Japanese forces scoured the area later.
Li Wanli is the son of the late Li Weilue, the commander who orchestrated the rescue operation.
He has collected historical files related to the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka for about 30 years and joined the NLC’s recent Shanxi expedition.
“Revolutionary pioneers sacrificed much to safeguard cultural relics,” Li told last week’s seminar at the NLC.
“Preserving a country’s culture is as important as defending homelands against invaders. Saving the canon from enemy hands is just like winning a great battlefield victory.”
His team visited the Guangsheng Temple and surrounding villages, and filmed interviews with about 20 elderly people with firsthand knowledge about the operation.
He describes the recent expedition as another “rescue mission”, since many people relevant to the event have died. The team discovered vestiges in the bases of Buddha statues where the scriptures where hidden, confirming interviewees’ recollections.
“We also learned many obscure details about the rescue,” Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka