Chapter 678 Kaiyuan Daozang

Christie's and Sotheby's are transliterated. Because Hong Kong used to be a British colony, in many cases, Hong Kong still continues some foreign names.

Both Sotheby's and Christie's are chain operations. They not only set up branches in the local area, but also developed transnational auction business. Relying on chain operation mechanisms and means, they quickly occupied a large share of the world auction market.

A statistic as of the end of the last century shows that Sotheby's has chain auction houses or offices in 39 countries and regions and 109 cities around the world, while Christie's has chain auction houses or offices in 46 countries or regions and 34 cities around the world.

It can be said that Sotheby's and Christie's two major auction houses are worthy of being the hegemon of the international art auction market. Even people like Ye Tian, who have nothing to do with the auction house, have heard their names.

"Ye Tian, I don't know much about Taoist classics. This time, there is a batch of scriptures to be photographed. You can see if they are useful. If they are useful, I will definitely help you shoot them!"

Some things that have been bought with a lot of money in the past few times have no effect on Ye Tian. Tang Wenyuan is an old-fashioned businessman. Although he may not be distressed about money, he is unwilling to spend money again.

After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian looked away from the catalogue, looked up and said with a smile, "Lao Tang, you can sort out the numbers for the expenses taken in the past few times, and I'll ask Xiaotian to call you later."

"Don't, didn't you hit me in the face?"

As soon as he heard Ye Tian's words, Tang Wenyuan suddenly stared at his eyes, and at the same time, he also regretted that he had done so much. Ye Tian can take a picture if he needs it. His health is far from being measured by this amount of money.

"Lao Tang, I don't need this little money. Please help me find this news. Even if it's the rent here, I can't let you pay for shopping."

Ye Tian laughed when he heard the words, not long ago. Song Weilan gave him a card with 100 million dollars in it, but Song Weilan was afraid that her son would give her all the money. I didn't use it, so I set aside 100 million US dollars.

Coupled with the 4.5 billion dollars lent to his mother, Ye Tian is very confident now. He didn't pay attention to 100 million Hong Kong dollars at all.

"All right, needless to say, I'll get it, and I still have to pay the money."

Seeing that Tang Wenyuan still wanted to explain, Ye Tian waved his hand, and his eyes were suddenly attracted by a page in the catalogue, "Lao Tang, is this the scripture you are talking about?"

Although Christie's is also a large auction house with a history of one or two hundred years, it was founded 22 years later than Sotheby's. The limelight is slightly inferior to it.

The competition between the two companies in the market is very fierce. Even the auction catalogue used for publicity is also beautifully printed. Under the corresponding auction list, there are enlarged recent photos.

Ye Tian's eyes at this time. I was attracted by a group of photos. This is a three-volume fan-shaped linear book. The paper is yellowed, and there are traces of moths in the corners. The appearance is not very good.

But on the cover of the book at the top, there are four words "Kaiyuan Dao Zang" written on it. Under these four words, there are two small words "Dongzhen". After seeing these, Ye Tian's eyes suddenly could no longer move away from the top.

The so-called "Tao Zang", in fact, like the "Shu Zang" inherited in Ye Tian's mind, is a collection of Taoist scriptures. It is a large-scale Taoist series that arranges many classics according to a certain compilation intention, collection scope and organizational structure, including the Taoist books Since the beginning of Taoist classics.

From the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Taoist Catalogue of the Three Caves compiled by Lu Xiujing in 471 A.D. is the earliest prototype of the Taoist Collection.

The formal integration of Taoist books began in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, the Song, Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties have edited the Taoist Collection, and the Qing Dynasty has compiled the Taoist Collection.

The content of the Taoist collection is very complicated, including a large number of Taoist classics, essays, scientific precepts, runes, spells, rituals, praises, Gongguanshanzhi, immortals and Taoist biographies, etc.

In addition, it also includes hundreds of works, some of which are ancient books that have been lost outside the Taoist collection, and many works about ancient Chinese science and technology, such as books on medical health care, works on internal and external elixirs, works on astronomical calendars, etc.

In fact, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also compiled books such as "Outside the Book of Tibet", "Dunhuang Taoist Collection", "Chinese Taoist Collection" and so on. Ye Tian has read all of them during this period.

However, what disappoints him is that the content of these modern Taoist Tibetan classics is ordinary and no different from ordinary Taoist scriptures. The so-called monasticism in it is far from the inheritance in his mind.

But Ye Tian knows that the "Kaiyuan Dazang" in this photo is far from comparable to the modern "Dao Zang", because it is the first Taoist collection in the history of Chinese Taoism.

Tang Xuanzong ascended to the throne, and Shi Chongxuan and more than 40 others wrote "All Taoist Sutras and Meanings". On this basis, he sent envoys in Kaiyuan to search for Taoist scriptures everywhere, and added the original collection in Beijing to compile and compile the "Tibet".

However, according to relevant records, in the last five dynasties of the Tang Dynasty, these precious classics were destroyed by swordsmen, and no one could see the truth in later generations.

"Lao Tang, are there only three books in this batch of auction? Where did they come from?

After seeing this photo, Ye Tian can no longer calm down, because "Kaiyuan Daozang", also known as "Three Caves Qionggang", is divided into 36 parts of three holes, that is, twelve parts of Dongzhen, Dongxuan and Dongshen.

The scriptures said by the Dongzhen Tianbaojun are Mahayana, the scriptures said by the Dongxuan Lingbaojun are the middle multiplication, and the scriptures said by the Dongshen Shenbaojun are the Hinayana.

The people corresponding to the three caves are Yuanshi Tianzun, Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun and Taiqing Moral Tianzun, who are the ancestors of Taoism Sanqing.

In ancient times, the Dongzhen Sutra has the method of flying up and feathering in the daytime, but it has not been passed down. No one knows whether it is true or not.

So after Ye Tian saw the word "hole truth", his eyes suddenly turned red. What he needed most at this time was to practice skills, and the realm of refining the god and returning to the virtual world, which is not far from the feather to become an immortal, which can correspond to the cave scriptures.

"I heard that there are six volumes in total, and these three volumes are for publicity purposes."

Seeing Ye Tian's anxious look, Tang Wenyuan smiled and said, "I also inquired about their source. They were collected from the descendants of an English family. It seems that it's called... What's Stan. That man is an archaeologist!"

Knowing that Ye Tian was worried about this kind of thing, Tang Wenyuan really found someone to inquire about it, but he was old and had a bad memory. After thinking about it for a long time, he didn't remember the person's name.

"British, archaeologist?"

After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian showed a sneer on his face, "I know, the Englishman you mentioned is called Stein, fart archaeologist, that man is a robber!"

"Yes, it's Stein." Tang Wenyuan nodded, and then asked strangely, "Why is he a robber?"

Ye Tian shook his head and asked without answering, "Do you know where this scroll is?"

"I don't know, are there still few objects flowing out in our country in the past hundred years?"

Tang Wenyuan disapproved of Ye Tian's words, because a large number of cultural relics are smuggled into Hong Kong every year. To be honest, most of the bronzes he collects are bought from these channels.

"Alas, if I guess correctly, this "Kaiyuan Daozang" should have flowed out of Dunhuang. This Stein is the first person to steal Tibetan scripture relics from Dunhuang!"

Ye Tian sighed. In modern times, the two religion of Buddhism and Taoism were in decline. Of course, there were many factors, but the loss of the classics was undoubtedly the biggest blow to the two religion.

The theft of Dunhuang cultural relics is the most painful among the people of the two religion. After hearing about this in the 1920s, Li Shanyuan rushed to Dunhuang specially, but most of the scriptures there have been lost, and he gritted his teeth.

And in 1906, in the name of archaeology, from Wang Daoren, the guardian of Dunhuang Tibetan Sutra Cave at that time, only used four horseshoe silver to deceive 24 boxes of sutra scrolls and 5 boxes of carefully wrapped silk paintings and embroidered works of art.

In 1914, when Stein came to China for the third archaeological "exploration", he came to Dunhuang again and obtained five large boxes of writing books through Wang Taoist priests.

Although most of the documents had been transported by the Bohe Expedition, the Otani Expedition and the Beijing Government at that time, most of what Stan had already taken out and transferred to a safe place to hide. As a result, Stein became the person who obtained the most documents from the Tibetan scriptures.

So as soon as Ye Tian heard the word Stan, he naturally knew the origin of Kaiyuan Daozang.

Although most of the books hidden in the Dunhuang Sutra Cave are Buddhist classics, there are also many Taoist scriptures, especially in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which is the best period for the development of Dunhuang. Only the scriptures preserved here have not been burned by the war of all dynasties.

Although most of Stein's cultural relics stolen from China are now stored in the British Museum, he has obtained too many scriptures. Presumably, these were entrusted to Christie's for auction after his descendants saw the popularity of Chinese art.

"Ye Tian, don't worry, I will definitely take a picture of these six books for you!" Seeing that Ye Tian attached so much importance to it, Tang Wenyuan patted his chest.

"Is the auction tomorrow? Lao Tang, you should have an invitation in your hand, right?

Ye Tian's eyes moved away from the album and looked at Tang Wenyuan and said, "I'm going to participate in this auction tomorrow. Lao Tang, I can't trust you. These things can no longer fall into the hands of others!"

Not to mention that these volumes of "Kaiyuan Dao Zang" are likely to have the cultivation skills that Ye Tian needs, just for the sake of the master's wishes, and we can't let them continue to be lost abroad.

And Ye Tian has been lying in bed during this period, but he has been suffocated. After getting up and walking today, he feels in a good state, and he also wants to go out for a walk... The second update, in order not to be at the end of the list, please recommend tickets. It is updated every day. Please support Xiangshi

. ( To be continued) RQ