Changing Relations 29
As most of the temples existed before Tibetan rule, temple peasants were
already affiliated to their respective temples. A complete list of temple peas-
ants dates from 794 or 806.42 In this list, corvé, which had been carried out,
is recorded under some names of temple peasants. The list includes records
of corvé up to five years after its commencement. Apparently not only the
temples but also the Tibetan administration used these peasants. One of their
tasks was to guide temple peasants from Turfan to Guazhou—the seat of the
administration of the area; another was to guard prisoners. The professionals
among them (e.g. paper makers) were not ordered to corvé during this period.
Other tasks were to work for very high dignitaries of the clergy (Tib. mkhan
po, Chin. jiaoshou), both Tibetan or Chinese, or to accompany one of them to
Kuozhou (廓州, near Hualong in present day Qinghai Province). Although not
free to leave these peasants were responsible for their own livelihood and at
times even tilled land for commoners.43 They were affiliated to one particu-
lar temple and their transfer to another town must have been carried out on
behalf of an order by the Tibetan administration.
The concept that religious institutions were a bequest of the Tibetan
Emperor did not deter the people of Dunhuang from presenting donations
to the temples. Lists in Chinese of donated gifts are extant. Apart from cloth
and silk, precious items and robes are listed.44 P. 2912 includes a certificate
of a donation (Chin. shi 施) of Kang Xiuhua (康秀華). It gives the price for
a privately commissioned Mahāprajñāpārāmitāsūtra. The complete dona-
tion amounted to three silver plates weighing 35 liang (Chin. liang 兩), 100 shi
(Chin. shi 石) of wheat or barley, 50 shi of foxtail millet, and four jin (Chin.
jin 斤) of powder 45—paper, ink and writing had to be supplied by the scribe.
The next text in this manuscript is a text referring to the head of the clergy
(Chin. dujiaoshou) Zhang selling 28 liang (= 1,74 Chin. jin)46 white lead powder
for 228 shi wheat or barley.47 This shows on the one hand that donations of
42 S. 542 v 8: see Taenzer, Dunhuang Region during Tibetan Rule, 197 for a discussion of the
dates.
43 P. tib. 1112, an employment contract, is transliterated and translated in Taenzer, Dunhuang
Region during Tibetan Rule, 384.
44 For instance, P. 2567 is an account of donations received by the Liantai (蓮臺) temple
written in 793.
45 White lead powder (Chin. hufen 胡粉) is used for the production of cosmetic powder
(Trombert, “Dyeing”, 66).
46 16 liang = 1 jin = c. 1.5 Eng. lb = c. 0,68kg (Taenzer, Dunhuang Region during Tibetan Rule,
399). A shi is a measure of capacity for grain; it measured about 60 litres.
47 Citation of P. 2912 according to Zheng, “Buddhism,” 437.