Upasakasila Sutra - Fascicle 6

CHINA; Northern Liang Kingdom

This undated remnant of a hand-copied sutra has calligraphy within black ink column grid lines, and includes approximately 17 characters in each line. The fragment is from the 6th fascicle of the Upasakasila Sutra, wherein the last section of the “Chapter on Five Precepts” and the front portion of the “Chapter on the Perfection of Moral Discipline” are scripted in about 300 characters. A similar piece from the same sutra was cataloged in Luo Zhenyu’s Shades of Ink of the Han and Jin Dynasties, although it was from the end of the sutra. An epilogue to the fragment documented in Luo’s book shows that the sutra was copied during the Northern Liang Kingdom (397–439). Luo’s reference further notes that the Upasakasila Sutra notation is written in a similar style as another Northern Liang inscription, Stele of Juqu Anzhou’s Temple Construction.
The calligraphy on the sutra fragment closely resembles the clerical cursive script of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), but with an emphasis on clerical script and a direct, unrestrained style. The sutra copy marks the period of transition when clerical script developed towards regular script in the history of Chinese calligraphy. It is considered an important source of research for Chinese text characters.