BuddhistRoad Paper 5.1 "On Meditation Caves and Cave-dwelling Ascetics in Dunhuang, 9th to 13th Centuries"

This essay discusses cave-dwelling ascetic monks in Dunhuang from the 9th to 13th centuries. First, I provide a brief and general presentation of cave-dwelling monks in Buddhism, followed by a more specific discussion of the phenomena in Chinese Buddhism. Then, I give a critical review of current Chinese Mainland scholarly positions on cave-dwelling monks and ‘meditation caves’ in Dunhuang, followed by an analysis of the primary sources, and lastly, a survey of archaeological data that has emerged in the past two decades regarding the residential caves in the Northern Section of the Mogao Caves.

Chinese Translation

本文讨论了9至13世纪敦煌禅窟的苦行僧. 笔者首先概述了在佛教传统中于洞窟中修行的僧人, 进而更为具体的讨论了汉传佛教中的禅窟. 随后, 对目前中国大陆学者对敦煌的禅窟及苦行僧的研究进展进行了批判性的回顾并分析了一些基本材料, 最后对莫高窟北区禅窟过去20年中出现的相关考古资料进行了探究.