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FOR THE MERIT OF
THE XUANDE EMPEROR
REGINA KRAHL
In Buddhist belief, the copying and propagation of Buddhist According to Bu xu gaoseng zhuan [Supplement to further
Sutras – like the commissioning of Buddhist images – is biographies of eminent monks], compiled in the late
considered a meritorious deed, a way for believers to Ming dynasty by the Chinese monk Tairu Minghe (1588-
accumulate blessings for their ancestors as well as for 1640/41), the eminent monk Huijin (1355-1436), Patriarch
themselves and to cultivate virtues. When such deeds are of the Huayan School, who had been made Grand National
performed by an Emperor, the resulting works are inevitably Preceptor by the Xuande Emperor, was invited to the capital
of the highest standard in terms of the materials used and the to lecture to the public and was entrusted with the task of
artists and craftsmen employed. These two sets of albums copying four sets of Buddhist Sutras in golden script: the
from the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Sutra of Perfection of Ratnakuta (or Maharatnakuta) Sutra, the Parinirvana (or
(Transcendent) Wisdom, executed to imperial order, can Arya-Mahaparinirvana) Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra and the
be ranked among the nest book projects ever undertaken Prajnaparamita Sutra (see the exposé by Liu Guowei below).
in China. Their illuminations represent imperial works of art Of this original group of four imperially commissioned
on a par with the best imperial lacquerwares and porcelains Buddhist Sutras, two are remaining in the National Palace
of the early Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Commissioned by Museum, Taipei: the Ratnakuta, or Jewel Assembly Sutra,
the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426-1435), apparently in the 5th consisting of 120 albums, and the Parinirvana, or Nirvana
year of his reign, in 1430, they reect the breathtaking level Sutra, comprising 40 albums plus 2 volumes of appendices;
of imperially sponsored artefacts in the rst decades of the see the exhibition catalogue Yuan cang Zang chuan fojiao
fteenth century.
wenwu/Om-mani-padme-hum: Tibetan Buddhist Art in the
Buddhist Sutras are canonical scriptures that render the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2015, cat. nos III-1 and III-8
teachings of the Buddha, which had been taken over from (gs 1 and 2). Both these Sutras in Taipei have prefaces
India and translated. Their copying and propagation was dated to the 5th year of Xuande, 1430. In the Qing dynasty
considered a meritorious practice. The Xuande Emperor (1644-1911) the two Sutras were incorporated into the Kangxi
continued many of the pious deeds and sponsorship projects Kangyur, a collection of translations of Buddha’s teachings,
for Tibetan Buddhist orders, which his grandfather, the assembled in the 8th year of the Kangxi reign, 1669. In 1793,
Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424), had energetically engaged in. they were included in a court catalogue of the Qianlong
Imperial workshops produced some of the nest thangkas, Emperor’s goat-brain paper Sutras and bear seals of the
gilt-bronze sculptures and porcelains for ritual use in the two Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795).
periods, to direct imperial order.
32 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
