Page 100 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

which were in the Qianlong period preserved in
the imperial library; see the discussion of the
volumes of the Sutra of Perfection of Wisdom
of the Xuande period (1426-1435), sold in our
hong Kong rooms, 3rd april 2018, lot 101.
Buddhist sutras are canonical scriptures that
render the teachings of the Buddha, which were
brought over from India and then translated
in China. the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment,
also known as the Great Vaipulya (Corrective &
Expansive) Sutra on the Perfect Enlightenment
was a very popular and highly influential
scripture, although uncertainties exist
concerning its origin.
tang dynasty (618-907) texts list Buddhatrāta
of Jibin (Kashmir) as the translator of the text,
and as such he is also recorded in the present
volumes. Buddhatrāta is generally considered
to have been an Indian monk, who in the tang
dynasty brought Buddhist scriptures to China
and translated them. one text even gives
the exact date in the year 693, when he was
supposed to have completed this translation
in the White horse temple of Luoyang. Doubts
about the text’s authenticity were, however,
already raised in the early eighth century, and
it is now largely believed to be an early text of
Chinese origin. peter n. Gregory (Tsung-Mi
and the Sinification of Buddhism, honolulu,
2002 [1991], pp. 54ff.) concludes that this
sutra was current in Chan circles in or around
Luoyang during the reign of the empress
Wu (r. 690-705) and considers it one of the
apocryphal texts that played an important role
in the adaptation of Indian Buddhist concepts
into the Chinese cultural horizon, and thus
a significant work for the sinification of the
Buddhist doctrine. It was particularly influential
for Chan Buddhism and Zongmi (780-841), fifth
patriarch of the huayan and Chan schools and
one of the towering figures of tang dynasty
Buddhism, elevated it even above the revered
huayan sutra: “If you want to propagate
the truth, single out its quintessence, and
thoroughly penetrate the ultimate meaning, do
not revere the Hua-yen Sūtra above all others
… its principles become so confused within
its voluminous size that beginners become
distraught and have difficulty entering into it …
It is not as good as this scripture, whose single
fascicle can be entered immediately” (quoted
after Gregory, p. 54).
Being an imperially sponsored book project,
the present work was, naturally, executed to
the highest standards overall. the elegant
calligraphy of the Qianlong emperor is
impeccably executed, the characters superbly

98 SOTHEBY’S Important ChInese art