One thousand one hundred and eighteen chapters writing scrolls
Chapter 1,118: Scripture Scroll
"What does it smell like? Is it so weird?"
There was so much dust when he took out the bricks just now that Dr. Ren didn't bother to see if there was anything inside. Now that the hole has been opened, he suddenly shrugged his nose and smelled a strange smell.
"It's the smell of paper and ink..."
Zhuang Rui also smelled the smell, but unlike Dr. Ren who knew nothing, he already knew that the things hidden inside were scriptures, so it was easier to guess.
However, Zhuang Rui was also very shocked at this moment, because whether it was the archaeological excavation he had personally experienced or the excavation site records he had seen from the materials, basically all tombs or underground palaces were unearthed with...
It has become a consensus among archaeologists that it contains smelly or even poisonous gases.
But after pulling out the green bricks, there was only a faint smell of book paper and ink that filled the tip of Zhuang Rui's nose. There was no such rotten and unpleasant gas in the soil of the green bricks. This made Zhuang Rui have no idea about the paper inside.
The pledge book added a hint of expectation.
"That's right, it's the scent of paper and ink, this...this..."
Dr. Ren heard what Zhuang Rui said and felt the origin of the smell. His face was a little surprised. The discovery of paper cultural relics in the northwest region is of great significance.
You should know that in the northwest region, especially near Dunhuang, there is drought and little rain all year round, which is most conducive to the preservation of cultural relics. Most of the calligraphy and paintings of celebrities in good condition unearthed over the years are from these areas.
Unfortunately, due to geographical restrictions, there are far fewer ancient literati and romantics here than in Jiangnan and other areas, and there are relatively few cultural relics such as calligraphy and painting.
If the calligraphy and painting cultural relics in the Jiangnan Tomb were buried here, it is estimated that those precious calligraphy and paintings that only have records but no actual objects would be preserved.
"It's an ancient book. Let's be careful and open the hole a little wider. Xiao Jia, you guys put a mat on the ground and put on your gloves..."
After Dr. Ren was stunned for a moment, he immediately reacted, picked up a flashlight and shined it inside, with an excited look on his face.
This Buddha statue is seven or eight meters high, and even the base is three or four square meters in size. It is simply a small room inside. Under the illumination of a strong flashlight, stacks of neatly arranged books wrapped in oil paper appeared.
In front of Dr. Ren and Zhuang Rui.
Although this hole is big enough for a person to get in, it is still too small. If you take something out from inside, it may be damaged.
Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren worked hard for nearly half an hour, drilling a one-meter-high hole behind the Buddha statue. Since it was made of blue bricks, it didn't take much effort.
"Zhuang Rui, I'll go in, and you can follow me outside. Xiao Jia, come here too. When you pick up the book, you must be careful not to pinch it with your fingers, but hold it with your hands..."
Just by visual inspection, Dr. Ren also saw that these rare ancient books are at least hundreds of years old. Although the Dunhuang area has little rain and drought, it will not be affected by moisture and decay, but dryness will make the paper fragile, so he repeatedly explained
Several graduate students are not allowed to use their fingers to pick up books.
Under the illumination of Zhuang Rui's flashlight, Dr. Ren ducked into the belly of the Buddha statue with a low body. After Dr. Ren entered, Zhuang Rui placed the lamp at the entrance of the cave, and suddenly the inside of the Buddha statue became bright.
After Dr. Ren entered, he did not open the oil paper first, but stretched out his hand to wipe it on the oil paper, raised his hand and glanced at the light, and said: "It takes more time to put these objects in than to build the Buddha statue."
later……"
There is a thin layer of dust on the surface of the oil paper. Some friends may not understand why there is still dust in such a sealed place?
This principle is actually very simple. There are already dust particles in the air, and they are floating in the air. If it is a ventilated place, the dust will not stay in one place for too long, and naturally it will not accumulate.
If the air does not flow in a closed space, the dust slowly gathers and accumulates to form visible dust, which no longer floats in the air and covers the surface of the object.
Dr. Ren put on white gloves, stretched out his hand to test the weight of the book wrapped in oil paper, and shook his head helplessly. He couldn't hold it, so he could only open the oil paper and take it out bit by bit.
Taking a deep breath, Dr. Ren opened the top oil paper package, and a circular scroll about thirty centimeters long appeared in front of Dr. Ren's eyes.
The shafts of the scrolls are all made of wood, and the color looks a bit dull. The colors of the scrolls are also different shades, with some yellowing and blackening at the beginning and end. This is caused by the age.
"Brother Ren, please quickly open one and take a look. What era is this ancient book from?"
Zhuang Rui could see clearly from outside the Buddha statue. In fact, he didn't sleep well all night last night and had been speculating on the origin of these ancient scrolls. Now that it was time to reveal the answer, Zhuang Rui was also very excited.
"Okay, um..."
After Dr. Ren opened his mouth and said "Okay", he immediately closed his mouth and said hum, because the moist air he breathed out would have an impact on the scrolls in front of him.
"This...this, how...how is it possible?"
Dr. Ren picked up a scroll, carefully spread it out four to five centimeters, looked at it under the light, and immediately opened his mouth, completely forgetting the original intention of protecting the scroll.
"Brother Ren, what's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui felt a little strange when he saw Dr. Ren's appearance. His senior brother was considered well-informed, so how could he be shocked by a volume of ancient books?
"call……"
After Dr. Ren heard Zhuang Rui's words, he immediately reacted and quickly closed his mouth tightly. After closing the scroll, he carefully walked sideways to the entrance of the cave and breathed loudly.
"Zhuang Rui, look at it, this...how is this possible?"
When he handed the scroll to Zhuang Rui, the shock on Dr. Ren's face had not faded. It was obvious that the contents of the scroll had a great impact on him.
""Tai Chi Zuo Xian Gong Asks the Sutra", Brother Ren, this is a Taoist sutra, what's wrong?"
After Zhuang Rui opened the scroll, a line of vertical words appeared in front of him. Although Zhuang Rui had no research on Buddhism and Taoism, he saw the name of this scripture and knew that it should be a Taoist scripture.
Dr. Ren waved his hand and said angrily: "Who said it's not a Taoist scripture? Look at this font..."
"Font?"
Zhuang Rui was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then looked at the open scroll in his hand, his eyes gradually brightened, "This...is this a hand-written scripture scroll?!"
The so-called sutra writing, that is, the name for copying and writing Buddhist scriptures, started around the first and second centuries BC, that is, the era of early Buddhism in India. Among them, Sanskrit was used in India to write, and Sanskrit and Hu dialects were used in the Western Regions. Ceylon
They wrote the classics in Pali language.
Later, after Taoism became popular, the term "scripture" was also used by Taoism. As long as the scriptures were manually copied and copied, they were given this title. When printing technology was not yet developed, writing scriptures actually had the meaning and merit of spreading and spreading.
.
As mentioned in the mythical story Journey to the West, the Tang Monk obtained scriptures. In fact, in actual events, most of the scriptures that Tang Xuanzang brought back from the Western Regions were handwritten copies. As for the scrolls that wrote the scriptures, they became known to the world only after a hundred years.
What happened after the Dunhuang Scripture Cave was discovered years ago.
Almost all the ancient scriptures unearthed from the Dunhuang Scripture Cave were handwritten and copied. Since there were very few handwritten scriptures left before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the script scrolls have almost become synonymous with the documents unearthed in Dunhuang.
Zhuang Rui's reaction was not slow. After going through the origin of the scriptures in his mind, he immediately asked: "Brother Ren, this...could this be the Dunhuang book collection?"
"I...I don't know either. This volume of "Tai Chi Zuo Xian Gong Asking Sutra" is copied in regular script. Look, there are seventeen characters in each line. The top, bottom and between lines are marked with light ink silk bars.
The difference should be the style of the Sui Dynasty..."
Dr. Ren took the scripture from Zhuang Rui, looked at it again, dated the scroll, and then said: "Almost all the scriptures before the Ming and Qing Dynasties came from Dunhuang. I think...it is almost the same as Dunhuang.
It’s part of the literature…”
Although he made the inference, Dr. Ren could not figure out why the Dunhuang documents had been published for hundreds of years, and the known ancient scrolls had also been lost in various countries around the world. Why would such a scroll appear here again?
?
And judging from the current situation, it is estimated that not only the objects in his hands, but also the objects tightly wrapped in oil paper inside the Buddha statue, are probably ancient scriptures like this.
"Why do you think so much? Didn't Brother Mengzi say that more than a hundred years ago, a Taoist priest from Dunhuang once came here, and maybe it was the Taoist Wang who hid it..."
Zhuang Rui didn't know that what he said casually was actually something that had happened in history. These scriptures were indeed hidden by Taoist Wang.
At the beginning of the last century, Taoist Wang had a good relationship with the abbot of this ancient temple. After discovering the Dunhuang Scripture Cave, he transported a batch of more than 30,000 scriptures here. However, he did not expect that a few years later, that person would
Before the ceremony, the host invited Taoist Wang to come here.
At that time, the host wanted to return these scriptures to Taoist Wang, but at that time, Taoist Wang sought help from everywhere in order to protect the Dunhuang heritage, but failed. There were still more than 50,000 scriptures in Dunhuang and he didn't know what to do with them. Of course, he didn't have the heart to deal with them.
The scriptures are scrolled.
In addition, the desertification around the temple was already serious at that time, and transportation was also a big problem. After much thought, we decided to hide these scriptures in the temple.
Nearly a hundred years later, the people who knew these secrets have long since passed away. If Zhuang Rui and others had not come here by mistake, I am afraid these precious Dunhuang documents would have been buried for who knows how many years?
