Changing Relations 27
2.2 Religious Institutions
2.2.1 The Temples with their Property
The religious institutions of Dunhuang were predominantly Buddhist estab-
lishments. The organisation of the religious realm of Guazhou (Tib. Kva cu
lha ris)31 was regulated corresponding to the administration of the lay people.
It was probably subdivided into the religious realm of Shazhou (沙洲), a desig-
nation of Dunhang.32 In the manuscripts only the term ‘religious realm’ (Tib.
lha ris) occurs. This term encompassed the temples of Dunhuang, their peas-
ants, lands, granaries, livestock, farming and kitchen utensils. The religious
and administrative head of such a religious realm was designated in Tibetan a
mkhan po chen po, and in Chinese a dujiaoshou (都教授).33 Each monastery
was lead by a triumvirate: the dean (Chin. shangzuo 上座 or zhangzuo 長座),
the abbot (Tib. sgo mngan (?), Chin. sizhu 寺主) and the general surveyor (Tib.
gzhi ’dzin, Chin. Duweina 都維那). The latter was responsible for bookkeep-
ing. Just as in the administration of the lay people the Tibetan government
gradually introduced their rules. For instance from a certain date onwards, the
registration of the possessions of a temple (peasants, grain and livestock) had
to be carried out every seven years and written in quadruplicate: one of which
was to be kept, one presented to the Emperor, and the other two were to be
sent to government offices.34
The granaries of the temples lent out grain to commoners, monks and tem-
ple peasants alike. Although they did not charge interest—this only accrued
when the grain was not paid back in time—the amount borrowed was small.
Only occasionally were the temple peasants so hard pressed so that they had
Tokyo, Department of Literature] 5 (1981): 9, 14; and Taenzer, Dunhuang Region during
Tibetan Rule, 286 for a transliteration and translation.
31 The Tibetan term lha ris literally means ‘divine region’. It has also been translated as
‘ecclesiastical estate’. But as it refers to the properties of a particular temple, as in the
manuscript Or. 8210/S. 7133 (Takeuchi, Contracts, text 25B), and as it is used in the admin-
istraton of the religious institutions and their property in general to refer to an area as
well (such as Guazhou ‘the great administrative official of the religious realm of Guazhou’
(Tib. Kva cu gyi mngan chen), P. tib. 997 the translation ‘religious realm’ is preferred.
32 As the title Dafan Shazhou shimen dujiaoshou 大蕃沙洲釋門都教授 (Head of the
Buddhist Community of Shazhou in Great Tibet, according to Trombert, Crédit, 64)
appears in P. 4660, it is likely that the religious realm of Shazhou had its own head of
clergy (Chin. dujiaoshou) and forthwith was distinct from the religious realm of Guazhou.
33 The title/post was called under Tibetan rule in Chinese dujiaoshou. Before and after
Tibetan rule the Chinese term dusengtong, overall ruler of the Buddhist monks, was in
use. It is forthwith translated as ‘head of the clergy’.
34 P. tib. 997.