Great Dharani Sutra of Pure Light
composition: probableauthorship: traditional
witness: the scroll recovered from Seokgatap pagoda, Bulguksa, sealed 751
A woodblock-printed scroll sealed inside a stone pagoda is among the earliest surviving printed texts anywhere, recovered intact after twelve centuries.
- a secure terminus from the sealed archaeological context
- woodblock printing in practical use decades before the earliest dated book
- place of printing disputed between Silla and Tang China
- survival owed entirely to deliberate deposit and sealing
The scroll was found in 1966 inside the Seokgatap pagoda at Bulguksa, sealed when the pagoda was completed in 751 and so datable to before that year. It is printed from wood blocks on mulberry paper. Whether it was printed in Silla or in Tang China is disputed, partly on the evidence of characters used only during Wu Zetian's reign. Either way it establishes that woodblock printing was in practical use in East Asia well before the earliest dated printed book.
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