@article{THESIS,
      recid = {7534},
      author = {Chan, Ling},
      title = {Manuscripts of the Jade-like Models: A Case Study of a  Liturgical Anthology from Dunhuang },
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {Ph.D.},
      address = {2023-08},
      number = {THESIS},
      pages = {164},
      abstract = {The Jade[-like Models for use in] Zhai Rituals is an  anthology of Buddhist liturgical models preserved in a  group of eighth to tenth century manuscripts from the  excavated Dunhuang corpus. This work, which contains a  distinctive organization scheme and a comprehensive  collection of modular components in a variety of themes, is  significant to the current understanding of liturgies  performed in the widespread zhai rituals in Middle Period  China, a nebulous genre of texts which survive only rarely  in transmitted material dating from this period. This  dissertation aims to contextualize the Jade-like Models  through combined codicological and textual analyses of this  group of manuscripts, to paint a fuller picture of the  production, circulation, and usage of liturgies, liturgical  models, and model anthologies in Chinese manuscript  culture. 

The earliest extant Jade-like Models was likely  compiled by a religious specialist affiliated with local  authorities based in the Liangzhou region before the  mid-eight century. In the following two centuries, while  versions of the work continued to circulate in the Dunhuang  region with a consistent selection and arrangement,  religious specialists were also actively recombining and  editing models to produce specialized anthologies in more  variable formats to suit different needs and preferences.  These processes were possibly encouraged by the layers of  modular structure inherent in liturgies and also the heavy  focus of model anthologies on descriptive parallel prose,  especially descriptions of individuals acting as donors or  primary ritual subjects and depictions of desired ritual  outcomes, over effective and functional elements crucial to  performed liturgies. Instances of parallels discovered  between the Jade-like Models and other established genres  including administrative documents, commemorative texts,  and court literature, indicate that Buddhist liturgies may  have assimilated compositions created for other purposes.  These findings illustrate the fluidity of production and  transmission of literary and religious knowledge in Middle  Period China, and highlight the value of manuscripts as  individual material and textual objects for fruitful  investigation. },
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/7534},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.7534},
}