The National Taiwan Library’s book hospital has recently completed repairing a set of Lotus Sutra (法華經) books donated by Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴) which are more than a century old.
National Taiwan Library director Tsao Tsui-ying (曹翠英) on June 7 said that the seven books of the Lotus Sutra are the Dharma Master’s “wisdom-life” (慧命) and represent the concept of “paper lasts for a thousand years” (紙壽千年) for cultural heritage to live on endlessly, a concept that the library cherishes.
The most important treasure is not a carefully crafted statue of Buddha made with white jade, nor is it a rare dharma-vessel handed down from generation to generation, but yellowed books of Buddhist scriptures — seven volumes of the Lotus Sutra printed in the Qing Dynasty, under the reign of Tongzhi Emperor (同治), who ruled between 1861 and 1875 — according to Cheng.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang.
They have been in her possession for more than half of her life and are the foundation of her determination to promote Buddhism, she said.
The seven volumes of the Lotus Sutra were printed more than a century ago, Cheng said, adding that she received them by chance from another person when she was in her 20s and before she became a monk.
The books have since been by her side, and she has studied them in countless silent nights in the past decades, she said.
The Lotus Sutra is said to contain the teachings of the Buddha during his final eight years of life.
After years of reading, the inner pages of the books have become broken and torn with many parts taped together, Cheng said, adding that even after she later stored them in a wooden box, the pages still weathered and became brittle.
Hsu Mei-wen (徐美文), a book restorer at the National Taiwan Library’s book hospital, was entrusted with the difficult task of restoring the books.
According to her study, the books were printed between 1864 and 1874 for Yongquan Temple in Fuzhou of China’s Fujian Province.
The abbot of the temple wanted a copy, but was short of funding, so they could only print one volume at a time, Hsu said.
The seven volumes owned by Cheng were gradually printed after several fundraising sessions over the course of a decade, she said.
Hsu and the restoration team said it was very difficult to repair the books, as there were many pieces of tape on inner pages, and removing the tape marks was a challenging job.
The team had spent two years to complete the restoration, she said.
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