J ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM

ページ 153

Publication of the Xixia Version of the Lotus Sutra fromthe Collection of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute ofOriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Foreword

Daisaku Ikeda

AS the eighth work in the Soka Gakkai’s Lotus Sutra Manuscript
Series, I am pleased to announce the publication of the Xixia Version of the Lotus Sutra from the Collection of the St. Petersburg Branchof the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,edited by Dr. Tatsuo Nishida, professor emeritus of Kyoto University, amember of the Japan Academy, and a leading authority on Xixia studies.
The present volume contains color facsimiles of the manuscripts andxylographs of the rare Xixia version of the Lotus Sutra. These wereshown earlier in the exhibition held in November 1998, at the Josei Toda
International Center in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The exhibition was entitled“The Lotus Sutra and Its World” and was sponsored jointly by theInstitute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP), of which I am the founder, andthe St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies.
These manuscripts and xylographs were among the various articles inthe possession of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental
Studies that were removed to the basement of the institute for safekeeping by a man and woman of the institute staff and preserved there during
the fierce 900-day assault by the Nazi Germany armies. In doing so,they gave admirable testimony to the fact that culture and humanism
will in the end triumph over the forces of violence and narrow nationalism.
Moreover, in the days following the collapse of the Soviet Union,
when the Russian economy was in a state of turmoil, Dr. Yuri A.
Petrosyan, the original director of the Institute; Dr. Evgenij I. Kychanov,the former director; Dr. Margarita I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya, whowas in charge of manuscripts; and the other members of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies did their best to ensure
the preservation of these most important cultural objects. Seeking nei153

J ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM154

ページ 154

FOREWORD

ther renown nor material gain, they surmounted untold obstacles inorder to do so.
I recall the words spoken by Dr. Kychanov as we viewed the exhibition “The Lotus Sutra and Its World” together. “Look at the writtenwords,” he said, speaking with great warmth. “Please look at the writtenwords!”“These are the words of the sutra in Sanskrit and other languages.
Through these words, how people must have opened up their hearts toone another! With that thought in mind, look long and carefully at thesewords and enjoy them!”Among the words he was speaking of were those of the Xixia versionof the Lotus Sutra. These words of the sutra, embodying the prayers ofthe various peoples whose languages were represented here, were alive.
They shone, they sang out, they called to others. They formed awhirlpool around the core of the universe, they mirrored in their form
the breaking waves of the great rhythm of the life force. They werewords endowed with spirit and vitality.
In order to guard and transmit these words, how many Buddhist
believers over the many centuries have undergone hardships and exerted
themselves to the fullest? And now, after surviving and enduring for allthat time, these words have at last been able to reach Japan, the far eastern end of the Silk Road, and come before all these people. How theymust dance with joy!
I first became interested in the Silk Road when I was barely into myteens and longed to know more about it. When my teacher began talking
about the Silk Road and I pictured this desert region, a storehouse ofcultural treasures but now devoid of inhabitants, I was filled with a senseof strangeness. From that time on, it became for me a land of dreams
and exotic imaginings.
The present Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series of publications may bedescribed as an attempt to trace the transmission of the Buddhist teachings and the spread of the Lotus Sutra as they passed along the Silk
Road. The earlier publication of the Sanskrit manuscripts of the sutra,
followed now by the Xixia version of the sutra, which represents theXixia state that dominated the region west of the Yellow River in latertimes, together present a deeply moving panorama.
The examples of the Xixia version of the Lotus Sutra that appear in
the present publication were discovered by a Russian, Col. P. K. Kozlov(1863–1935), in his explorations of the Buddhist stupas of Suburgan, anarcheological site in Khara-Khoto on the Silk Road. The explorations
took place during the period 1907–09. Some of the texts include illustra-J ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM

ページ 155

FOREWORD

155

tions depicting the customs and life style of the Tangut people who
founded the Xixia state, giving us some idea of their distinctive types ofclothing and hair style. At the same time, they reveal the extent to which
the Xixia people revered and familiarized themselves with the Lotus
Sutra.
At the end of one of the sutra scrolls, I am told, are written thesewords: “It is our wish that the benefits acquired hereby may be bestowed
on all living beings and that we and they together may attain Buddhahood.” The prayer reflects the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, which
enjoins us to seek happiness for others as well as for ourselves.
The Xixia people, who for a time governed the area where Dunhuang
is situated, followed the Buddhist teachings and lived in harmony withthe other peoples of the region. They also showed respect for people ofother cultures. Within the region under their control lived Turkish followers of Nestorian Christianity, as well as believers in the Islamic faith.
In this sense, we might say, the Xixia people were pioneers in the realmof intercultural dialogue.
I first heard of the Xixia people when I was in my late teens. Througha book entitled TØyØgaku no hanashi or Talks on East Asian Studies byDr. JuntarØ Ishihama (1888–1968), I learned how the author joined witha young Russian scholar whom he had met through the Osaka ForeignLanguages School (the present day Osaka University of Foreign Studies) in studying the Xixia language. I was much impressed by theauthor’s vivid description of their undertaking. This same Dr. Ishihama
in time guided the editor of the present volume, Dr. Nishida, in his studies of the Xixia language.
The young Russian scholar who participated with Dr. Ishihama in thestudy of the Xixia language was Nikolai Aleksandrovich Nevsky (1892–1937). He came to Japan first in 1913, returned to Russia, and then camea second time. In order to pursue his studies of early Japanese culture,
he traveled from one end of the country to the other, diligently applying
himself to research in Japanese folklore. He also attended the regularmeetings of the KyØdokai, an academic group centering around leading
intellectuals of modern Japan such as InazØ Nitobe (1862–1933) andKunio Yanagita (1875–1962) who devoted themselves to the study ofJapanese local institutions, customs, and oral traditions.
On the evening of January 12, 1916, a meeting of the KyØdokai washeld at the home of Dr. Nitobe in today’s Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo. There
the young man Nevsky met a geographer and elementary school principal who, as a nongovernmental scholar, was engaged in the study ofpedagogical methods. This was none other than TsunesaburØ Makiguchi

J ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM156

ページ 156

FOREWORD(1871–1944), the founder and first president of the Soka Gakkai.
Later Mr. Nevsky became a teacher of Russian at the recently founded Osaka Foreign Languages School. There he became acquainted withDr. Ishihama, who urged him to take up the study of the Xixia language,a suggestion that changed the whole course of his life as a scholar.
In 1929 Mr. Nevsky, hoping to further his efforts to master the Xixia
language, returned to Russia, where materials for such study were plentiful. But he fell victim to the purges of the Stalin era and died in 1937.
Mr. V. M. Tityanov, who was imprisoned together with him, recalls
how Nevsky used to worry about what would become of the Xixia dictionary that he, Nevsky, was in the process of compiling. He remembers
him saying, “I have finally found the key to deciphering the written
characters of the Tangut (Xixia) language. ... Up to now I have written
quite a few articles on Tangut culture, but I don’t know if there is anyone who can bring my work to completion. I’ve lived an honest life, yetI can’t help deeply regretting that I have not been able to finish mywork!” [Ay Khanum (the letters of V. M. Tityanov), TØkai Daigaku
shuppankai, 2001.]
Now Mr. Nevsky’s hopes have at last been fulfilled. The work that hebegan was in time taken over by Dr. Kychanov, the former director ofthe St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, and others,
and their intellectual efforts have brought to realization Mr. Nevsky’s
ambitious dreams. Dr. Kychanov has devoted his whole life to Xixia
studies. Over half a century has passed since in his student days he firstheard Mr. Nevsky’s name. After ten years of diligent and exacting labor,
he published his Statutes of the Xixia State: The Revised and Newly
Endorsed Code for the Designation of the Reign, Celestial Prosperity(Tian sheng 天盛 (1149–69)). And, following a plan worked out jointly
by himself and Dr. Nishida, he and the members of the Department ofLinguistics of Kyoto University have pooled their efforts to publish acatalogue of Buddhist texts in the Xixia language. Continuing theirresearch, they are now hard at work on a Xixia-Russian-EnglishChinese dictionary.
Viewing the present jointly-sponsored publication of the Xixia version of the Lotus Sutra, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of affinity
with those whose cooperation made it possible, the editor, Dr. Nishida,and Dr. Kychanov, the participating party on the Russian side.
I keep calling to mind the impressive words of Dr. Kychanov regarding the Lotus Sutra: “The Lotus Sutra is a scripture on the ideology ofpeace, one that teaches us to treat all persons with empathy and compassion. My hope is that this compassionate heart of the Lotus Sutra will beJ ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM

ページ 157

FOREWORD

157

disseminated throughout the world.”
I am of the same mind. And for nearly half a century I have traveled
the world over and carried out countless dialogues in order to spreadabroad this “heart of the Lotus Sutra.”The doctrine of the dignity and equality of all human beings taught in
the Lotus Sutra is one of universal value, transcending boundaries oftime and space. I hope that through the present series of publications ofLotus Sutra manuscripts the message of the sutra, a call to bring happiness to persons everywhere, will continue to spread over an ever wider
area.
October 2, 2004
*This article is reprinted from the Xixia Version of the Lotus Sutra
from the Collection of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Tokyo: Soka Gakkai,2005)