| Summary: | This thesis explores changes in the content and material culture of a group of scriptures known as the Foshuo fumu enzhong jing 佛說父母恩重經 (the Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Profoundness of Parents’ Kindness) during the Tang (618–907) and Northern Song (960–1127) dynasties, examining their relationship to the broader development of Buddhist beliefs and Confucian and other pre-existing non-Buddhist ideas, such as filial piety and ancestor worship. In contrast to previous philological studies that sought to identify the various versions of this scripture and determine the textual origins of its composition, this thesis pays special attention to the objects on which the scriptures are written and inscribed, such as stelae and manuscripts. By giving serious consideration to their inscriptions, material forms, and physical locations against the socio-political backdrop that encouraged their production, this project addresses questions of the uses of the stelae and manuscripts by ordinary, largely unrecorded people in rural localities of Shandong and Dunhuang and the purposes of their patronage.
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