The Textual Evolution of Early Scripture Engraving and Writing and Its Linguistic and Philological Value
LIU Zheng1, ZHENG Zhen-feng2
1. School of Culture and Communication, Hebei University of Economics and Trade, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050061; 2. School of Literature, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050024
Abstract：The activities of carving scriptures in China began during the Northern Dynasty, mainly concentrated in the area of Ye capital. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a large number of Dunhuang scriptures and Fangshan stone scriptures emerged. The following findings can be obtained from the comparison of the Northern Dynasty scriptures and the engraved Tripitaka. In the early days, the carving and writing of scriptures presented a basic appearance of simple sentences, simple wording, and a variety of borrowed characters, while the carving of the Ye capital in the Northern Dynasty showed the characteristics of using ancient characters. In the later development of Buddhist scriptures, there has been a language evolution dominated by adding and changing words. The changed words are mostly synonyms, with few phenomena of adding or subtracting sentences or omitting words. Occasionally, errors and omissions are found; The evolution of transliterated words also supports the changes in medieval phonetics; In the evolution of Buddhist scripture copying, borrowed characters are often changed to original characters, and the phenomenon of some borrowed characters not being changed can be seen as the continuity of Buddhist scripture copying. The quantitative analysis of the differences between the early Buddhist scriptures and the engraved Tripitaka further indicates that differences between early scripture carving and writing, as well as the popular version of the Da Zheng Zang, can often be confirmed in other versions of the Da Zheng Zang,. In a word, early scripture carving and writing are often consistent, thus promoting the disclosure of the original translation of Buddhist scriptures. Early scripture carving and writing can supplement and correct the materials of Buddhist scriptures that have been passed down, and the two mutually confirm each other, which is a sufficient practice of the “dual evidence method”. Early scripture engraving and writing have irreplaceable academic value in philology, edition studies, language and writing studies.
刘征, 郑振峰. 早期刻经、写经的文本流变及其语言文字学价值[J]. 《深圳大学学报》（人文社科版）, 2023, 40(3): 35-42.
LIU Zheng, ZHENG Zhen-feng. The Textual Evolution of Early Scripture Engraving and Writing and Its Linguistic and Philological Value. , 2023, 40(3): 35-42.
2023, Vol. 40 
粤公网安备44030502007936号