Protection of the Bayeux Sutra of the Potala Palace in Tibet: From the Study of "Signal Vessels" to the Collection of Digital Information

　　China news agency, Lhasa, October 31 -

　　China News Agency reporter Jiang Feibo Zhao Lang

　　"From the number to the disease, the Potala Palace launched a comprehensive investigation of the Sanskrit Baye Scripture cultural relics since last May, and has achieved initial results." The news agency reporter said in an interview.

Data map: Potala Palace.

Photo by Jiang Feibo

　　Starting in 2019, Chinese officials plan to invest a total of 300 million yuan in special funds within 10 years to carry out the largest special work on the protection and utilization of ancient books and documents in the Potala Palace so far.

　　The Potala Palace is the place with the most existing Sanskrit Baye Sutras in China. According to statistics, there are a total of 465 letters of 29,380 pages, of which the pure Bayeux Sutra has a maximum of 22588 pages, followed by pure paper Sanskrit classics with 5,634 leaves and Bayeux mixed paper with 1,158 leaves. .

　　How to develop a protection plan?

Finding out the disease is the top priority.

Duoji Puncuo said: “There are about 20 types of diseases, and the occurrence rate of edge fiber delamination and warping, blank space cracks or incompleteness, and wrinkles is relatively high.”

　　Taking the edge fiber delamination and warping disease as an example, 220 of the 381 letters affected by the disease have edge fiber delamination and warping.

Because of the progressive nature of the disease, it can gradually evolve from fiber warping to edge fiber shedding.

　　It is worth mentioning that the occurrence rate of microbial diseases (bacterial damage, mildew) is low due to the influence of favorable climate factors in the plateau.

　　Taking 387 letters of the Bayeux as the survey object, the project team developed a disease occurrence classification table, a disease classification list, and a disease grade list according to the situation of the disease.

　　Duoji Puncuo said that in the more than a year since the project was launched, the project team has also completed the investigation of the research status of the Bay Leaf Sutra production materials, technology, protection and restoration technology at home and abroad, and completed the "Bay Leaf Sutra Production Process and Material Literature Review" "A Literature Review on the Causes of Diseases of the Leaf Chronicles" and the "Code Rules for the Potala Palace's Bay Leaf Sutra Cultural Relics" (Draft for Solicitation of Comments), drafted the "Basic Requirements for the Cataloging of Bay Leaf Sutras of the Potala Palace" (Draft for Comments).

　　In addition, trial scanning of hyperspectral data and acquisition of high-definition digital images have been carried out.

　　“The Bayeux Scriptures in the Potala Palace’s collection include most of the contents of the second sect of Buddhism, and there are also a lot of general or general studies.” Duoji Puncuo believes that the catalogue is systematically organized and compiled. The Bayeux Scriptures in the Dala Palace collection can reveal the specific process of the spread, development and Tibetanization of Buddhism-based South Asian subcontinent civilization in China. It is an important symbol and concrete manifestation of the sinicization of Buddhism.

　　Dorje Phuntsok said that the compilation and research of the Bayeux Sutra in Tibet started early in the world. Since the beginning of the last century, foreign scholars have conducted more in-depth and systematic studies on the Bayeux Sutra in Tibet.

The project team also reviewed the protection and research status of the Bayeux Scriptures in Tibet in China.

Since the 1960s, the central government has centralized preservation of precious cultural relics in Tibet, including the Bayeux.

　　He stated that the project needs to use the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English language and material advantages as the basis and guarantee for the advancement, and will realize the comprehensive collation of the Bayeux Sutra collected in the Potala Palace and the detailed catalog of each Bayeux Sutra.

Comprehensively grasp the overall information of the Bayeux Sutra of the Potala Palace, take multi-text results as the form advantage, take the sample base as the content advantage, connect with the international academic paradigm, and master China's right to speak in the study of the global Bayeux Sutra.

　　"From the perspective of the cycle, the completed work is only a small part of the entire project." Duoji Phuntsok said that in the next phase, the project team will complete the digital archiving of all Bayeux cultural relics (basic information database construction), and carry out Traditional craft research work such as leaf sutra making, of course, there are also the most difficult tasks, such as researching and formulating cleaning, bayonet fiber dislocation and homing, surrounding reinforcement (fixing edge), softening (partial or entire page), and uncovering local adhesion Wait for the workflow and carry out experimental repairs.

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