Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang)

Compiled by Wang PuPresented AD 961, from two earlier compilations made under the Tang

A collection of Tang dynasty edicts and administrative records arranged by subject. Chapter 49 preserves the edict of 638 that licensed the teaching of the monk Aluoben and the edict of 745 that renamed the “Persian monasteries”.

The Tang Huiyao gathers documents of the Tang court under headings such as rites, offices, taxes and religious houses. Wang Pu presented it to the Song throne in 961, but it joins two compilations made under the Tang itself, the first covering the dynasty down to 779, so that the edicts it quotes come from the dynasty’s own records.

Under the heading “Da Qin monasteries” in chapter 49 it gives two edicts. The first, dated to the seventh month of the twelfth year of Zhenguan (638), says that the Persian monk Aluoben has brought scriptures and teaching from afar to the capital, finds the teaching beneficial, and orders a monastery built in the Yining ward with twenty-one monks. The second, of the ninth month of the fourth year of Tianbao (745), says that the Persian teaching came originally from Da Qin and orders the “Persian monasteries” of the two capitals and the provinces renamed accordingly. It is a witness from outside the Christian community to what the Xi’an Stele reports.

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