PILGRIMAGE IN TANGUT XIA: STUDY OF TANGUT EPIGRAPHY FROM DUNHUANG AND TANGUT WOODBLOCK PRINTS FROM BEZEKLIK

This dissertation aims to examine the pilgrimage activities of the Tanguts in the 11th–13th centuries in the Gansu Corridor, based on the research of the two corpora of Tangut received textual materials – Buddhist inscriptions that pilgrims left on the walls of the Buddhist cave complexes of Mogao and Yulin and the fragments of Tangut Buddhist texts excavated from Bezeklik. Chapter 1 introduces various manifestations of pilgrimage and articulates features of Buddhist pilgrimage in multiple regions in Asia. Chapter 2 displays the historical and religious characteristics of Mount Wutai and the greater Dunhuang area, which played a crucial role in the establishment and development of Tangut Buddhism. It also discusses various external factors (Uyghur monks) that influenced the propagation of Buddhism among the Tanguts. In Chapter 3, I analyze the remained Tangut inscriptions from Mogao and Yulin caves and interpret them within corresponding historical and religious contexts. Based on the comparative research of the inscriptions, I argue the existence of a unified “inscriptional discourse” in the greater Dunhuang area in the 10th to 13th centuries. Chapter 4 discusses codicological and contextual features of a corpus of Tangut Buddhist woodblock prints from Bezeklik caves. In the end, the dissertation provides an English translation of 22 inscriptions and 12 pieces of Tangut woodblock prints.