Dūnhuáng Biànwénjí Xīnshū 敦煌變文集新書
New Collection of Dunhuang Transformation Texts
About the work
A modern scholarly edition of the corpus of biànwén 變文 (transformation texts) discovered among the manuscripts sealed in Dunhuang Cave 17 (Mogao Grottoes 莫高窟, closed ca. 1002 CE). The individual biànwén texts date from the late Tang through the Five Dynasties period (9th–10th centuries). The title “新書” (xīnshū, “new compilation”) refers to the revised 20th-century scholarly edition compiled by 周紹良 Zhōu Shàoliáng and others, building on the foundational 1957 Dūnhuáng biànwén jí 敦煌變文集 by 王重民 Wáng Zhòngmín and colleagues. The Kanripo catalog assigns the dynasty as “五代” (Five Dynasties), reflecting the period of the texts’ composition/copying. The catalog also cross-references KR4k0001.
Prefaces
The Kanripo edition preserves the editorial preface (xù 序) of the 20th-century compilers outlining their editorial methodology, selection criteria, and manuscript sources across collections in Paris (Bibliothèque nationale), London (British Library, formerly British Museum), Beijing, and Dunhuang itself.
Abstract
Biànwén 變文 (transformation texts) were a Chinese vernacular literary genre combining prose narrative and verse in alternating sections, associated with Buddhist-themed picture-recitation performances (biànxiàng biànwén 變相變文) at Tang-dynasty monasteries and popular entertainment venues. The term biàn 變 likely derives from the Chinese translation of Sanskrit vikurvita (miraculous transformation), and the texts characteristically narrate miraculous episodes from Buddhist scripture or secular history.
Victor Mair’s foundational study (Painting and Performance, 1988) established that the biànwén originated in Indian illustrated-narrative traditions brought to China via Central Asian Buddhist monasteries. The corpus encompasses approximately 78 items, of which the most frequently studied include: the Wéimójié suǒshuō jīng biànwén 維摩詰所說經變文 (based on the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra), the Miùqiān biànwén 目連變文 (on Maudgalyāyana’s rescue of his mother from hell, crucial for understanding the Yúlán-pén festival), and secular narratives such as the Zhāng Yǐcháo biànwén 張議潮變文 (on the Tang military hero Zhāng Yǐcháo).
The biànwén corpus is central to understanding: (1) the development of Chinese vernacular literature from Tang oral performance to Song and later print fiction; (2) the role of Buddhism in promoting vernacular literacy; (3) the prosimetric (shuōchàng 說唱) tradition linking Tang performance to Song zhuāngběn and later dramatic genres.
Translations and research
- Wáng Zhòngmín 王重民 et al., eds. 1957. Dūnhuáng biànwén jí 敦煌變文集. Rénmín wénxué. Foundational edition.
- Huáng Zhēng 黄征 and Zhāng Yǒngquán 张涌泉, eds. 1997. Dūnhuáng biànwén jiǎozhù 敦煌变文校注. Zhōnghuá (cited by Wilkinson §27642). Most authoritative critical edition.
- Mair, Victor H. 1988. Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis. University of Hawaii Press. Fundamental study of the genre.
- Waley, Arthur. 1960. Ballads and Stories from Tunhuang. Allen and Unwin. English translations of selected pieces.
- Mair, Victor H., ed. 1994. The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature. Columbia UP — includes biànwén translations.
Other points of interest
The Dunhuang manuscripts were sealed in Cave 17 ca. 1002 CE and discovered in 1900 by the monk Wang Yuanlu 王圓籙. The bulk of the collection was subsequently acquired by Stein and Pelliot for British and French national libraries respectively, with a smaller number remaining in Beijing. The biànwén texts are distributed across all three collections.
Links
- Wikidata: Dunhuang manuscripts