Dharani Sutra (Informally called the "Leifengta Sutra")

The printed inscription preceding this small sutra's frontispiece states that "the Prince of Wu-Yue, Qian Shu [Qian Hongshu], had 84,000 copies of this sutra printed in 975 for placement in the Xiguan brick pagoda." In fact, this and a large quantity of virtually identical sutras were found in the remains of the crypt of a tenth-century brick pagoda that collapsed on 25 September 1924--a pagoda that has been known at least since the eighteenth century as the Leifengta, or Thunder-Peak Pagoda. A devout Buddhist, Qian Hongshu had the pagoda built in 975 near West Lake in present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang province; in addition, he commissioned the production of numerous printed sutras and other religious items with which to provision the pagoda's crypt. This scroll probably functioned more as a charm than as a strictly religious text; hence the Sanskrit name "dharani sutra," which means "charm text." Although the Chinese likely began to print with woodblocks in the sixth or seventh century, few examples of such early printing remain; in fact, this late tenth-century sutra ranks amongst the oldest specimens of Chinese printing in the United States. The frontispiece depicts the Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal before an altar; two bodhisattvas--or possibly disciples--flank the Buddha, who faces the sutra text, which he presumably is preaching. A pagoda, a temple building, and several other figures complete the composition.