Five Buddhist sutras in the National Palace Museum’s collection have been designated national treasures by the Ministry of Culture, the Taipei City-based museum said Aug. 14.
According to the NPM, the sacred texts comprise 108 cases containing the Kangxi Manuscript Kangyur in Gold Tibetan Script, also known as the Tibetan Dragon Sutra; 12 cases with the Qianlong Manuscript Kangyur in Gold Tibetan Script; 32 cases of the Kangyur in Manchu Script; and one case each of the Collection of Various Mantras and Sutras in red and black ink.
Completed in 1669, the TDS is a Tibetan-script translation of Buddhist canon consisting of sutras and monastic codes, written in gold ink on indigo paper and placed in wood boards painted with gold and pigment and inlaid with gems. Commissioned by the Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, grandmother of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the piece is the first of its kind in the dynasty and praised for its immense religious significance and unique artistic, cultural, historical and linguistic value.
The NPM said the Qianlong Manuscript Kangyur in Gold Tibetan Script and the Kangyur in Manchu Script were both completed during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), while the Collection of Various Mantras and Sutras was completed in 1674.
Among the national treasures, one of the TDS cases is on permanent display at the “Imprints of Buddhas: the Buddhist Art in the National Palace Museum Collection” exhibition at the NPM’s Southern Branch in Chiayi County. The Qianlong Manuscript Kangyur in Gold Tibetan Script and the Kangyur in Manchu Script are exhibited alternately every year and will be moved to a new wing of the Chiayi museum when it opens to the public at the end of 2027. (SFC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw