China News Service, Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, September 3 (Reporter Sun Zifa) In ancient China, what kind of plant-based diet did the monks in the temples in the Western Regions have? What are the uses of plant resources related to Buddhist culture?
Jiang Hongen, a professor at the School of Humanities at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chen Yi, an associate researcher at the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, conducted research on the plant remains of the Subash Buddhist Temple in Kuqa, Xinjiang. They found that during the Jin and Tang Dynasties, the food crop combination of the monks at the Subash Buddhist Temple was mainly millet and wheat, supplemented by highland barley. In terms of fruits and dried fruits, grapes have an absolute advantage, followed by peaches, apricots and dates, followed by Elaeagnus angustifolia and melon. Wild fruits include sea buckthorn and white thorns.
The 8th China Frontier Archeology Academic Symposium was held in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from September 2 to 3. Professor Jiang Hongen made the above remarks while sharing archaeological results at the Xinjiang branch of the symposium and being interviewed during the meeting.
He said that the Subash Buddhist Temple is located at the southern foot of the Chaltag Mountain in Kuqa City, Aksu Region, Xinjiang, with an altitude of 1,250 to 1,280 meters.
As an important Buddhist architectural complex in the ancient Kucha area at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the Subashi Buddhist Temple is the largest, most complete, and oldest preserved Buddhist architectural site in the ancient Western Regions. It is also a testament to the ancient Kucha area on the Silk Road as the center for the spread of Buddhism in the Western Regions.
The Subashi Buddhist Temple was used from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the 13th century, with the Jin and Tang Dynasties being its heyday. Thanks to the extreme local drought conditions, an arid preservation environment is provided for organic archaeological remains such as plant remains, and the plant remains are relatively intact.
Jiang Hongen pointed out that when the archaeological team excavated the East Temple site of Subash Buddhist Temple in Kuqa in 2023, they obtained a batch of plant resource utilization and its relationship with Buddhism through targeted sampling, small bucket flotation and screening methods. They mainly found three food crops, millet, wheat and highland barley; seven types of horticultural crops including dates, grapes, walnuts and peaches; one type of cash crop, flax; one type of landscape plant, including Platycladus arborvitae; and nine types of weeds, including barnyard grass and top feather chrysanthemum.
Among them, as offerings to Buddhist temples, a total of 10 plant remains were found in the Buddhist temple ruins, including two food crops, wheat and highland barley, and seven types of fruits, including peaches, apricots, dates, Elaeagnus, walnuts, grapes and melons. According to the "Monthly Dendrobium Dou Account Calendar of a Temple in Gaochang" unearthed in Turpan, wheat and dates can be used as offerings to the Buddha.
Cash crop flax can be divided into three different types: oil, fiber and both oil and fiber; the properties of flax published by Subashi Buddhist Temple need further study. This is an early record of flax in China, and it also represents a potential economic source for monasteries.
According to the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, the Kingdom of Kucha "produces grapes, pomegranates, pears, pomegranates, peaches, and apricots." It can be seen that grapes, peaches, apricots and other fruits should be grown locally in Kucha.
Jiang Hongen said that the rich plant remains show that the plant food structure of the monks in the Subashi Buddhist Temple during the Jin and Tang Dynasties was diversified; fruits and dried fruits may not only be food for the monks, but also offerings to the Buddha, and they are also the main part of the temple economy.
At the same time, the rich plant remains reflect the monks of the Subashi Buddhist Temple during the Jin and Tang Dynasties who had a high level of knowledge about plants; the discovery of the landscape plant Platycladus orientalis provides physical evidence for the monks’ aesthetic needs for the solemn and solemn atmosphere of the Buddhist temple during the Jin and Tang Dynasties.
