Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Found | Dunhuang Mogao library cave (discovered 1900) |
| Number | P.2512 (Pelliot number) |
| Period | Early Tang manuscript |
| Contents | The three schools’ star classics, the twenty-eight mansions, star divination |
| Present location | Bibliothèque nationale de France |
What the “three schools” are
Ancient star-official lore had three main schools, those of Shi Shen, Gan De and Wuxian. Their star lists differed,
and later catalogues used all three together, distinguishing them by colour or mark.
The total number of star-officials given in the “Treatise on Astronomy” of the Sui shu is that of the three schools combined.
What the manuscript contains
P.2512 copies the star classics of the three schools together with the twenty-eight mansions, the field-allocation system and astrological texts; it is among the longer astronomical manuscripts from Dunhuang.
Written in the early Tang, it can be used to collate later transmitted versions.
Value
The library cave preserved the actual face of books from the Six Dynasties to the early Tang.
Very few astronomical manuscripts survive outside it; P.2512 provides a middle link in the transmission of the ancient star classics,
taking up from the Gan-Shi line and joining on to the star books of Tang and Song.
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.