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Protecting the Dharma through Calligraphy in Tang China
A Study of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu 集王聖教序 The Preface to the Buddhist Scriptures Engraved on Stone in Wang Xizhi’s Collated Characters
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Protecting the Dharma through Calligraphy in Tang China: A Study of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu 集王聖教序 The Preface to the Buddhist Scriptures Engraved on Stone in Wang Xizhi’s Collated Characters
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Book Description
This is a study of the earliest and finest collated inscription in the history of Chinese calligraphy, the Ji Wang shengjiao xu 集王聖教序 (Preface to the Sacred Teaching Scriptures Translated by Xuanzang in Wang Xizhi’s Collated Characters), which was erected on January 1, 673. The stele records the two texts written by the Tang emperors Taizong (599–649) and Gaozong (628–683) in honor of the monk Xuanzang (d. 664) and the Buddhist scripture Xin jing (Heart Sutra), collated in the semi-cursive characters of the great master of Chinese calligraphy, Wang Xizhi (303–361). It is thus a Buddhist inscription that combines Buddhist authority, political power, and artistic charm in one single monument. The present book reconstructs the multifaceted context in which the stele was devised, aiming at highlighting the specific role calligraphy played in the propagation and protection of Buddhism in medieval China.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
Buddhism and Calligraphy in Medieval China
CHAPTER TWO
Wang Xizhi’s Calligraphy and the Semi-cursive Script (Xingshu 行書)
CHAPTER THREE
The Ji Wang shengjiao xu and Its Texts
CHAPTER FOUR
The Context of the Erection of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
CHAPTER FIVE
A History of the Location of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
CHAPTER SIX
The Collation of Wang Xizhi’s Characters for the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Carving of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Shape and the Calligraphy of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
CONCLUSION
APPENDICES
Appendix I: Transcription and Translation of the Ji Wang shengjiao xu
Appendix II: A Survey of Collated Inscriptions in Wang Xizhi’s Characters
TABLES
FACSIMILE
Complete Reproduction of Mitsui Ji Wang 1 (Folios 1-36)
BIBLIOGRAPHY, GLOSSARY, AND INDEX
Bibliography
Glossary of Calligraphic Terms
General Index
Author(s)
Biography
Pietro De Laurentis was born in southern Italy and studied Sinology at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” where he received his Ph.D. in East Asian Studies in 2007. He was trained in Chinese philology and Chinese calligraphy, theoretical and practical, in Hangzhou, Tianjin, and Shanghai. From 2010 to 2016 he was Research Fellow at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” where he taught Literary Chinese and Modern Chinese. He is currently visiting professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.