《五公经》:存世谶书的早期样本

The Sutra of the Five Lords(Wugong Jing):Early Copy of Existing Prophecy

《大圣五公经》是残唐五代时期编写的谶书,但现存最早的印本只出自19世纪末期。最近发现了一部13世纪中叶的西夏文译本,反映了该书的早期面貌。通过对比可知,500余年后的通行汉文本经过了后人的大幅增补和改动,其中的佛教因素并非原作固有,而是民间宗教流传过程中不断适应世俗观念的产物。

The Sutra of the Five Lords is a prophecy written in the period between the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties;however,the earliest transcript found was printed in the late 19 th century.Recently,a Tangut translation of the Sutra dating back to the middle of the 13 th century was found;it shows the early features of the Sutra.Compared with the commonly circulated Chinese copies which are 500 years younger,the newly found one was significantly supplemented and modified by later generations.The Buddhism-related contents were not in the Sutra originally but were added during the spreading of folklore religions to adapt to secular senses.