The third volume on the inscriptions carved in cave chapels at the Grove of the Reclining Buddha (Wofoyuan) in Anyue County, Sichuan, presents the earliest and central section of the precinct. Cave 46, which boasts a unique architecture, contains eight sutras carved in their entirety or in parts, and two dhāraṇī spells. As in former volumes, all engravings are fully reproduced in detailed high quality photographs of the cave walls and of ink rubbings. The texts are transcribed for the first time, with a scholarly apparatus noting textual variants and variant characters in the calligraphy. Essays highlight the significance of particular text versions and point out unexpected insights in this treasure store of texts.
They are: Jingtai’s Catalog of All Canonical Scriptures (T#2148; essay by Stefano Zacchetti); scroll 22 of the Great Parinirvāṇa Sutra (T#374); the apocryphal Sutra on the Wisdom Stored in the Ocean of Buddha-nature (T#2885; essay by Chen Frederick Shih-Chung); the Diamond Sutra (T#235); the Sutra of the Glorious Buddha Crown Dhāraṇī and the Spell of the Glorious Buddha Crown Dhāraṇī (T#967; essay by Manuel Sassmann and Tsai Suey-Ling); the apocryphal Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Perfection of Wisdom in the Sutras (essay by Ryan Richard Overbey and English translation); the Amitābha Sutra (T#366; essay by Claudia Wenzel); the Spell Spoken by Buddha Amitābha (T#369; essay by Tsai Suey-ling and Claudia Wenzel). An essay by Martin Bemmann is dedicated to an exquisitely carved life-prolonging banner and its ritual uses. Lothar Ledderose introduces the volume. The book is in Chinese and English throughout.