Chapter 1119 – Scripture Writing Scroll

“What’s that smell? So strange?”

Just now when he took out the bricks the dust was flying, Dr. Ren didn’t bother to see if there was anything inside, and now that he had opened the hole, he immediately shrugged his nose and smelled a strange smell.

“It’s the smell of paper and ink.”

Zhuang Rui also smelled that smell, but unlike Dr. Ren who knew nothing about it, he already knew that the things hidden inside were scriptures, so it was easier to guess.

But at this moment, Zhuang Rui’s heart was also very shocked, because whether it was the archaeological excavation that he had personally experienced, or the excavation site records that he had seen more from the information, basically all the tombs or dungeons that were unearthed were always accompanied by unpleasant or even poisonous gases, which had already become the consensus of the archaeologists.

But when extracted after the bricks, filled with Zhuang Rui nose, only a faint flavor of the book and paper ink flavor bricks in the soil, all without the kind of rotten and unpleasant gas, which makes Zhuang Rui for the inside of those paper books and a hint of more expectations.

“That’s right, it’s the scent of paper and ink, this …… this ……”

Dr. Ren heard Zhuang Rui say this, he also felt the origin of this smell, his face was a little shocked, the discovery of paper artifacts in the Northwest, this is very significant.

To know, in the northwest region, especially near Dunhuang, perennial drought and little rain, the most conducive to the preservation of cultural relics, over the years unearthed some of the celebrity paintings and calligraphy in good condition, most of them are in these areas.

Unfortunately, due to geographical constraints, here in ancient times, compared to the literati, the elegant and elegant people, the flirt compared to areas such as Jiangnan to be a lot less, calligraphy and painting artifacts are also relatively few.

If those calligraphy and painting artifacts in the Jiangnan Catacombs are buried here, it is estimated that those precious calligraphy and paintings that are only recorded but not in kind can be preserved.

“It’s ancient scriptures, let’s be careful and open the hole a little wider, Xiao Jia, you guys put mats on the ground and put your gloves on.”

After Dr. Ren froze for a moment, he immediately reacted, picked up the torch and shone it inside, a look of excitement on his face.

This Buddha statue was as high as seven or eight meters, even the base was three or four square meters in size, inside it was simply a small room, and under the light of the strong flashlight, stacks and stacks of books wrapped in greaseproof paper and neatly arranged appeared in front of Dr. Ren and Zhuang Rui’s eyes.

Now the hole was big enough for a person to drill into, but it still seemed too small, and if something was taken outwards from inside, it might be damaged.

Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren were busy for almost half an hour more, opening a hole more than a meter high behind the Buddha statue, and since it was plastered with green bricks, it didn’t take much effort.

“Zhuang Rui, I’ll go in, you follow outside, Xiao Jia, you come over as well, when holding the book you must pay attention, don’t pinch it with your fingers, use your hands to cup it.”

Just by visual inspection, Dr. Ren can also see that the age of these ancient books is at least hundreds of years above, although Dunhuang area has little rain and drought, it will not be damp and decay, but dryness will make the paper become fragile, so this is why he repeatedly explained that a few graduate trainees must not use their fingers to hold the books.

Under the light of Zhuang Rui’s flashlight, Dr. Ren shortened his body and drilled into the belly of the Buddha statue, and when Dr. Ren went in, Zhuang Rui placed the lamp at the entrance of the cave, and suddenly the interior of the Buddha statue was bright.

After Dr. Ren went in, he didn’t open the oil paper first, but reached out and wiped his hand on top of the oil paper, lifted his hand to the light and said, “The time when these objects were placed in, it is estimated to be a bit later than the time when the Buddha statue was built.”

On the surface of the oil paper, there is a thin layer of dust, some friends may not understand, why such a sealed place, there will still be the appearance of dust?

This principle is actually very simple, there are dust particles in the air, they would have been floating in the air, if it is a ventilated place, the dust will not stay in one place for too long, and naturally it will not accumulate.

If in a closed space, the air does not flow, the dust slowly gathered, piled up to form a visible dust, no longer floating in the air, covering the surface of the object.

Dr. Ren put on the white gloves, reached out to try the weight of this oil paper wrapped books, helplessly shook his head, this thing he can not hold, or can only unwrap the oil paper a little bit out.

Deeply inhaled a breath, Dr. Ren will be the uppermost layer of a tarpaulin package to open, a volume of about thirty centimeters long round scroll, appeared in front of Dr. Ren’s eyes.

The scroll’s shafts were all made of wood, and their colors appeared a bit dull, and the color of the scroll was also of different shades, and the head and tail were both a bit yellowed and blackened, which was caused by the long age.

“Brother Ren, quickly open one to see, in the end what age is the ancient book?”

Zhuang Rui outside the Buddha statue is also see really well, in fact, he did not sleep well all night yesterday, has been guessing the origin of these ancient scrolls, now to the time to unveil the answer to the mystery, Zhuang Rui’s mood is also very excited.

“Okay, well ……”

Dr. Ren opened his mouth and replied “good”, immediately closed his mouth and hmmm, because this mouth breathing out the air humidity, will have an impact on these scrolls in front of him.

“This …… this, how …… how is it possible ah?”

Dr. Ren picked up a scroll, carefully spread it out by four or five centimeters, came together with the light to take a look, and at that moment, his mouth opened wide, completely forgetting the original intention of protecting the scroll.

“Brother Ren, what’s wrong?”

Zhuang Rui saw Dr. Ren’s appearance, his heart was a little strange, this senior brother of his is also considered to be knowledgeable, how could he be shocked by a scroll of ancient books?

“Hoo……”

Dr. Ren reacted instantly after hearing Zhuang Rui’s words, and hurriedly closed his mouth tightly, and after closing the scroll, he carefully sidled up to the cave entrance and gasped loudly.

“Zhuang Rui, take a look! This …… how is this possible ah?”

The awe-inspiring glory on Dr. Ren’s face hadn’t yet faded when he handed the scroll to Zhuang Rui, and it was clear that the contents of the scroll had caused him a great shock.

“Taiji Zuo Xian Gong Invitation Scripture, Brother Ren, this is a Taoist scripture! What’s wrong?”

After Zhuang Rui opened the scroll, a line of vertical characters appeared in front of him, although Zhuang Rui didn’t have any research on both Buddhism and Taoism, but seeing the name of this scripture, he knew that this should be a Taoist scripture.

Dr. Ren waved his hand and said in a good-natured manner, “Who says it’s not a Taoist scripture! Look at this font.”

“Font?”

Zhuang Rui froze for a moment at his words, then looked toward the open scroll in his hand, and his eyes gradually brightened, “This …… is a hand-copied scripture writing scroll?”

The so-called scripture writing, that is, transcription of the name of the writing of the Buddha’s text, about the first and second centuries BC, that is, the era of the early Indian Buddhism, which, India is written in Sanskrit, the western region of the place of Sanskrit, Hu language and use, Ceylon and other specialized in Pali language writing classics.

Later, after the prevalence of Taoism, the title of the scripture was also used, as long as it is manually handwritten transcription of the scriptures, are crowned with this name, in the printing press is not yet developed, writing the scriptures actually has the meaning of the circulation of the propaganda and merit.

Like the mythical story of the Journey to the West said the Tang Monk to get the scriptures, in fact, in the real events, Tang Xuanzang brought back from the Western region of the scriptures, most of which is the handwritten copy, as for the writing of the scripture scrolls known to the world, it is in a hundred years ago, after the discovery of the Cave of the Sutras in Dunhuang things.

Dunhuang caves unearthed by the ancient scriptures, almost all of them are manually handwritten transcription, due to the Ming and Qing dynasties before the handwritten scriptures left behind very few, so write the scripture scrolls, almost become Dunhuang unearthed literature synonymous with it.

Zhuang Rui’s reaction is not slow, will write the origin of the scriptures in the brain after a circle, immediately opened his mouth and asked, “Brother Ren, this …… this could be the Dunhuang collection?”

“I …… I don’t know, this volume of Taiji Zuo Xian Gong Invitation Scripture was copied in regular script, look at it, this is seventeen characters in each line, the upper and lower and between the lines are differentiated with a light ink silk bar to give a distinction, it should be the style of the Sui Dynasty.”

Dr. Ren took Zhuang Rui’s hands of writing scriptures, and measured some, gave this scroll broken age, and then said, “Before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, almost all of the writing scriptures, almost all of them come from Dunhuang, I see …… eight or nine is not bad is part of the Dunhuang literature.”

Although made an inference, but Dr. Ren how can not understand, Dunhuang literature has been out for up to a hundred years, and those known ancient scrolls of the scriptures, are also lost in various countries around the world, why would there be such a volume of scriptures here?

And according to the current situation, it is estimated that not only their own hands, this Buddha was wrapped tightly in oil paper objects, I’m afraid that this is the ancient scrolls of the scriptures.

“What’s the point of thinking so much? Didn’t Brother Mangzi say? More than a hundred years ago, there was once a Taoist priest from Dunhuang who came here, maybe it was that Taoist priest Wang who hid it!”

Zhuang Rui did not know, he casually uttered such a sentence, but it was really something that had happened in history, these scriptures, indeed, were hidden by Taoist priest Wang back then.

At the beginning of the last century, Wang Daoshi and the presiding officer of this ancient temple befriended, after discovering the Dunhuang Cave of Scriptures, a batch of about 30,000 scriptures were transported here, just didn’t expect that after a few years, that presiding officer invited Wang Daoshi to come here again before he sat down.

At that time, the host wanted to return these scriptures to Wang Daoshi, but at that time, Wang Daoshi unsuccessfully asked for help to protect the Dunhuang heritage, in Dunhuang, there are still more than 50,000 volumes of scriptures do not know how to dispose of, of course, did not have the heart to deal with these scrolls.

Coupled with the desertification around the temple has been more serious, transportation is also a big problem, think about paying again and again, or decided to hide these scriptures in the temple.

After nearly a hundred years, the people who knew these secrets have long since passed away, if not Zhuang Rui and others came here by mistake, I’m afraid that these precious Dunhuang literature, still do not know how many years will be buried?