Tun-huang

1. Reading books

 Many people enjoy manga, anime, game, YouTube and so on.
But reading books is also fun for many people.
Reading books is meeting someone who wrote them beyond time and space.

2. Tun-huang

 Tun-huang is a novel by Yasushi Inoue.
・Tun-huang (New York Review Books Classics) (English Edition) (Amazon)

I love this novel.
In the story, the main character decides, moves and acts according to his passion.

Humans can't resist fate, and the stream of times has been flushing the fates of people.
But sometimes, people determin according to their passion, and they open a new way and get a new destiny.

3. Study for money

 The main character is clever, but unfortunately he failed the examination to become a high official of the government.
If he passed the exam, he would succeed as a high official.
That was a crucial failure, but it became a turning point of his life.

He lost his purpose and plan, so he was empty.
He went to the market and met the woman.
A new and very different passion got inside him at that time.

The woman from the new country in China's westernmost frontier, Tangut script and Western Xia.

4. Tangut script and Buddhism

 He became a soldier of Western Xia.
He is clever, so his boss send him to the capital city to let him learn Tangut script.
He learned Tangut script, so he completed his new purpose.
He retuned the army, and he became the military staff.

He got interested in Buddhism.
Because he had worried about his life.
He had looked the deaths of many people.
Many people in China's westernmost frontier believed Buddhism in those days.

5. The worth of knowledge

 Western Xia would attack Tun-huang, so people in Tun-huang was running away.
But some monks were studying Buddhist Scriptures.
The main character asked them the reason.
They answered.

"Buddhist Scriptures which we have read are very few. There are a lot of them which we haven't read. We haven't even opened some of them yet. - We want to read."

The main character was very impressed.
He failed the exam, stoped studying to become an official, and he has fought to live.
In the stream of times, he has determined according to his passion, opened a new way and got a new destiny.

He determined to hide Buddhist Scriptures in the caves.
He don't need any money, status or glory.
Maybe he intuitively understood the worths of the Buddhist Scriptures.

6. Dunhuang manuscripts

 They are Dunhuang manuscripts.
It's a fiction made by Yasushi Inoue.
He also failed exam, and went to war.
He experienced a lot of troubles, so he could write this beautiful story.

This story is a fiction, but it's asking us the question.
'What are you struggling with the exam or study for? For who?'
'Have you ever had the passion which would change your life?'

The worth of study comes from human curiosity.
The truth is often simple and beautiful.

The things which we have studied are very few. There are many things which we don't know. We haven't even opened many books yet. - We want to know.

- To read this article in Japanese