As we all know, Wang is an out-and-out Taoist, and the Mogao Grottoes are Buddhist shrines and have always been places where Buddhists have been active. However, this is how the world plays tricks on people. It happened that a Taoist priest was arranged in a Buddhist cave to let the disciples of the old gentleman on the throne work for Sakyamuni. This arrangement is really strange and weird. What is even more puzzling is that I don't know whether what Taoist Wang did moved the Buddha or was an unintentional arrangement, but the secret in the Buddha cave was discovered by a Taoist, and strange things happened to strange people, which produced dramatic results.
The time for Taoist Wang to enter the Mogao Grottoes is about 1892. At that time, he was nearly 40 years old, and he saw that the sacred cave was deserted, broken and severely damaged by natural and man-made disasters. A strong sense of mission made him consciously and voluntarily undertake the important task of "patron saint". He ran around trying to persuade him to raise money and save it to clean up the accumulated sand in the cave. It took nearly two years to clean up the accumulated sand in Cave 16 alone. On May 26th, 26th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1June 22nd, 900), Wang unveiled the secret of the Tibetan Sutra Cave. The epitaph of Taoist King reads: "There is a hole in the sand wall, which seems to have light. When the wall was broken, there was a small hole that suddenly opened. There are thousands of books of Tang Scriptures and many antiques in it. Those who see it are mostly strange things, and those who smell it are sacred things. "
The Taoist king found that there was both inevitability and contingency in the cave of Tibetan scriptures. It is necessary because he went into the cave, hired someone to clean up the silt accumulated in the cave for many years, and did a lot of concrete work in a down-to-earth manner. Only by removing the silt can the entrance of the Sutra Cave be revealed. It's a coincidence that the Taoist king didn't look for anything in the mud-cleared cave, but to protect the cave. Finding the Tibetan sutra cave was completely accidental.
It can be said that no matter who discovered the Tibetan Sutra Cave, it was a contribution and a great discovery. Because the discovery of the Tibetan Sutra Cave indicates the emergence of Dunhuang studies. Wang's discovery of the Sutra Cave also contributed. As for some people who say that we should look for it in a certain era, it is purely subjective wishful thinking. Imagine what would happen if the world Tibetan scriptures cave was discovered in the "ten-year catastrophe"
Facts have proved that people pay attention to the Mogao Grottoes because of the discovery of the Tibetan Sutra Cave, so a special protection agency was established in the 1940s. Otherwise, the protection of the Mogao Grottoes will be delayed for many years and the losses will be incalculable.
After the discovery of the Tibetan Sutra Cave, Taoist Wang did his best and did everything that should be done. He walked fifty miles on foot first, and rushed to the county seat to find Yan Ze, the county magistrate of Dunhuang, and presented two volumes of scriptures taken out of the Tibetan Sutra Cave. The purpose of the Taoist king is clear, that is, to attract the attention of this official. It's a pity that the magistrate named Yan is ignorant and only treats these two volumes of scriptures as two yellow waste papers. The Taoist king had to hit a wall and return.
1902, that is, the third year of the discovery of the Tibetan Sutra Cave, a new magistrate Zonghan Wang came to Dunhuang. Wang Zhi Xian is a grave digger, who has a good knowledge of epigraphy. The Taoist King pinned his hopes on this learned magistrate, hoping that he could solve the problem of protecting the Tibetan Sutra Cave. The Taoist king once again boarded the "Sanbao Hall" and reported the situation of the Tibetan Sutra Cave to Wang Zhifu. Wang Zhi Xian immediately took a group of people to visit the Mogao Grottoes, and conveniently picked up several volumes of scriptures to take away. It's a pity that the fairy only left a word to let Wang Daochang stay where he was and look at the Tibetan Sutra Cave. Never again.
Looking for Wang magistrate of a county twice failed, but he was still unwilling. So he picked out two boxes of scriptures from the cave of Tibetan scriptures and drove the donkey to Suzhou (Jiuquan). He camped out in the wind, single-handedly, and at the risk of gorging, he trudged more than 800 miles to reach his destination and found the pavilions at that time. Dongda Ting is a learned man. He looked carefully, but did not estimate the value of these cultural relics, nor did he consider how to protect the Tibetan scriptures. He just glanced at it from the perspective of calligraphy appreciation, and finally came to the conclusion that the words on the scroll were not as good as his calligraphy, that's all.
Wang Daochang's repeated earnestly asking for help is casting pearls before swine.
A few years later, Ye, an epigrapher studying politics in Gansu, learned about the Tibetan Sutra Cave and became interested in it. He asked for some antiquities through Wang Zhi County, but the purpose was to enrich the book Yu Shi he was writing. Ye said in the book "The Stone of Language": "I sent a statue of Guanyin in Shuiyue, which influenced Song Gande for six years and wrote two volumes of scriptures and two volumes of Brahma. Gu Zhuo's brushwork is really the style of the Tang Dynasty, and it is no different from Japanese nautical books. " It can be seen that Ye's appraisal of the antiquities in the Sutra Pavilion is very correct. It's a pity that he didn't make up his mind to take effective protective measures for the Sutra Cave. It was not until 1904 that the provincial government ordered the Dunhuang checkpoint to be preserved in situ. This decision, in the original words of Rainbow Zhixian, is to shirk responsibility. Without thinking about it, Wang dared to write a secret letter to Lafayette in the Qing Dynasty. However, when the Qing Dynasty was in turmoil, it was impossible for officials living in the Qing Palace to care about such "small things". Wang's hope is like a mud cow entering the sea, and there is no news.
When Stan first came to the Mogao Grottoes in 1907, the Taoist King had already spent another seven spring and autumn periods in the Tibetan Sutra Cave. During these seven years, except for some books taken away by officials, Taoist Wang kept a close watch on the Tibetan Sutra Cave, and almost no paper was lost. However, in order to see the Tibetan Sutra Cave that he looked forward to day and night, he tried many ways to get close to Taoist Wang, but Taoist Wang avoided it, leaving him helpless. Later, when he learned that Wang admired Tang Xuanzang very much, he disguised himself as a disciple of Tang Xuanzang and lied to the king that he came along the road of Tang Xuanzang's learning from the scriptures. This move is very clever, and their thoughts are communicated through religious beliefs. The difference is that Wang is a sincere believer, but this is obviously just to defraud the Tibetan scriptures. Stein once described: "Taoist worships Xuanzang, and the paintings on the newly-built veranda opposite the cave temple have obvious evidence, all of which are ridiculous legends ... I told Taoist Wang about my worship of Xuanzang in my limited Chinese and how I followed his footsteps through mountains and deserts from India, and he was obviously moved by me." "that morning, a door to the stone house with treasures was opened ... the papers were piled tightly on the floor, about ten feet high." "The Taoist priest was enlightened by me and enthusiastically moved out the paper in bundles." However, this time, Sri Lanka exchanged 24 boxes of suicide notes and paintings and 5 boxes of other cultural relics for 200 taels of silver. However, it took more than 1 year to transport these treasures to the British Museum in London. But in Daimon Masaru, China, nobody asked.
According to the analysis, Taoist Wang sold the scriptures to Sri Lanka for three reasons. First, in the past seven years, he turned to the government for help many times and reported it step by step, but no one asked, which made him disheartened. Second, in order to realize his ambition, he cleaned the cave, built three floors and set up a wooden bridge. Thirdly, Tang Xuanzang communicated their thoughts, and Stein's spirit of pursuing career touched him. Therefore, although his thoughts are extremely contradictory and he is extremely unwilling for foreigners to take these cultural relics away, he has to give in under helpless circumstances.
It stands to reason that Stein's departure should attract the attention of Chinese people, especially the official attention. However, China officials don't care. The official attitude made Wang Daochang feel more at ease about selling the cultural relics in the Tibetan Sutra Cave at will. Pelliot, a French sinologist, came to Mogao Grottoes in 1908 and sold more than 6,000 manuscripts of Taoist Wang. Because both Herb and He are proficient in Chinese, the paper he chose is more valuable. When Herb transported these cultural relics to France, he framed some of his papers in Beijing and exhibited them in the Six Kingdoms Hotel. 19 14, Stan came to Dunhuang again, sold more than 600 volumes of Taoist Wang, and filled five boxes. During this period, Japan's Ju Ruichao, Yoshikawa Koichiro, Russia's Odenburg, and the United States' Warner bought different quantities of scriptures from the Mogao Grottoes. These people have never been restricted from doing so. At that time, groups of foreign scholars came to the Mogao Grottoes not far from Wan Li to explore treasures, but I don't know where all the scholars in China went.
China people's self-esteem is naturally hurt by the Dunhuang suicide note scattered abroad, which is a loss from the perspective of national interests. However, we should also see that the papers on Dunhuang studies scattered abroad have been collected by museums and libraries in various countries and have been properly protected without any damage. However, there is another phenomenon in China. Before Stan arrived at 1907, no matter how Wang Daochang shouted, no one paid attention. When Stein publicized Dunhuang cultural relics to the whole world, the officials of the current dynasty realized its important value, but they did not consider how to protect it, but tried to steal it for themselves. Therefore, theft became a common practice for a time, and the loss of Dunhuang suicide notes was serious. Some people ask for officials, some sell money, and some enrich themselves. It can be said that this is the biggest disaster since the Dunhuang examination paper was discovered. 19 10 The Qing government decided to transport all the existing Dunhuang documents to Beijing for preservation. Almost everywhere was stolen during the transportation. Even in the "Ten-year Catastrophe", bundles of scrolls were copied in Dunhuang, and their whereabouts can be imagined. The loss of a large number of Tibetan scriptures once made Wang feel very sad because he found the Tibetan scriptures cave. Over the years, during his custody, there has never been a large number of things lost for no reason. The official was so plundered and greedy that he felt great indignation. Therefore, when Stan went to the Mogao Grottoes for the second time in 19 14, Wang made a thought-provoking remark. Stan's archaeology of the western regions is described as follows: "When it comes to the damage caused by the government's handling of his favorite Chinese papers, he expressed regret that he didn't have the courage and courage at that time. He listened to Mr. Jiang and charged me a large sum of money to collect the whole book. After being harassed by the government, he was very scared and hid his Chinese notebook, which he thought was particularly precious, in another safe place. " In Wang's view, he would rather sell all the newspapers to Stan and keep them intact, or keep them for himself than let them suffer. Wang has his own views on who protected the Dunhuang examination paper and who damaged it.
It has a history of one hundred years since 1900 was discovered. Taoist Wang has guarded the Mogao Grottoes for more than 30 years, and devoted his whole life to the holy land that does not belong to him. It has been 67 years since his death. Today, the Mogao Grottoes are thriving, and Dunhuang studies are spread all over the world. According to the precepts of Taoism, a Taoist should not build a stupa after his death, and the stupa is only a patent of Buddhism. However, the Taoist king entered the Buddhist grottoes and did as the Romans did. His disciples and grandchildren built the highest and largest tower in the Mogao Grottoes for him, and his achievements were recorded in the epitaph. When we saw this earthen tower standing high on the land of Buddha, we felt unspeakable feelings in our hearts. I hope everyone can face up to that period of history and have a fair evaluation of Wang Daotu to comfort his soul in heaven. Wang is an ordinary local, but his life experience is not ordinary. He is illiterate. In life, he not only has frequent contact with ordinary people, but also deals with officials of different classes. Unusually, when dealing with famous scholars such as Stein and Boccio, he was neither arrogant nor obedient, which was really not easy. As a person, mistakes are inevitable, but in any case, we can't judge a person with such extreme words as good or bad. Work is work, too much. Distinguish between right and wrong. Wang is a very ordinary person, and we can't look at him with a perfect standard. If we look at historical issues from a historical perspective, we may get an objective and fair evaluation.