More than 90% of the Dunhuang Tibetan scriptures belong to the precious Han Buddhist scriptures. For a long time, our use of Dunhuang documents has mostly focused on non-Buddhist documents with a quantity of less than 10%. Through the interpretation of the documents, the gaps in historical books handed down from ancient times have been supplemented. In fact, the emphasis on the "missing" history has just become the driving force for the transformation of Dunhuang studies. When the supplementary historical value of non-Buddhist documents is squeezed out, "new materials" will become "old materials", and these very precious and valuable historical documents should be passed on and protected more.
China was accompanied by Korea, and the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of Buddhism at that time, which was also a key historical period to record the development of Buddhism in China. The ancient Yi language notes preserved in Dunhuang documents are important materials for studying the development and evolution of "Eight Cases". Thanks to the promotion of Dunhuang monks Tan Kuang and Fa Cheng, the only-knowing Sect, which had declined in the Central Plains, continued in Dunhuang and some documents of the only-knowing Sect were preserved. In the late Tang Dynasty, Dunhuang monks used their kindness to write Hundred Laws on Shu and Banknotes, which were even recognized by Beijing Dade and circulated in the mainland. Zen Buddhism flourished in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, but after the "Anshi Rebellion" and "Huichang Destroying Buddhism", a large number of early Zen literatures were lost. Some Zen works in Dunhuang documents in the 8th century are of great value to the study of early Zen history. In the Middle Ages, China people wrote suspected and forged scriptures, which were rejected by monks, so they could not enter Tibet, and few books were handed down from generation to generation. However, Dunhuang monks did not have the strict concept of doubt and apocrypha, so a large number of Chinese Buddhist scriptures were preserved.
Zhai Wen, Qin Liwen and Yi are all excellent classics that record the rituals of Buddhism in Han Dynasty and pass them on. It is also a vivid sample to study the evolution of Han Buddhism in China. Zhai Wen is a ritual text used by monks to do things for believers. Dunhuang Buddhist literature works, including proverbs, Buddhist songs and efficacious notes, are important materials for us to understand many important issues in the history of Buddhist literature. For example, P.2066 "Pure Land Five Meetings" contains rich pure land Buddhist songs, S.2679 "Nanzong Five Rings" and S.5567 "Twelve Points of Zen" are all Zen-style rhyming Buddhist songs. Some people preach the efficacy of a classic in Dunhuang manuscripts, such as "the merits of reciting the Diamond Sutra" (P.2094, etc. ); Others preach the merits of an act, such as "sensational Zhuang Yan Temple, Shi Jing, the great monk of the Tang Dynasty, who will ring the bell" (S.38 1 etc. ); There are also people who worship a Buddhist god or monk, such as "The Cause of Monks in Liushahe" (p. 2680). ). They are precious books that record the history of China and the study of Buddhism in Han Dynasty.
The important value of various precious Buddhist documents in Dunhuang in deepening the study of Buddhist history and expanding the history of books is self-evident, and it still needs the continuous attention and excavation of scholars from all walks of life.