Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Premodern Flows in Postmodern China

2003; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0097700402250738

1552-6836

Sara L.M. Davis,

China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance

At this time, word arrived that the Lord Buddha had descended from the heavens to live among people, and that he had brought with him good fortune, wisdom, and a written alphabet. Thereupon, everyone went to the Lord Buddha to request the written alphabet. The different ethnic groups each took their own tools for preserving the alphabet: Hans took paper, Tais took palm leaves, and Akhas took buffalo hides.' They followed the same route, climbing mountains and fording rivers, traveling many months and years before they finally arrived at the sacred mountain where the Lord Buddha preached to the people. Together they kneeled before the Lord Buddha and requested the alphabet. The Lord Buddha wrote the same alphabet on the paper, palm leaves, and buffalo hides. As the people returned, they swam across rivers. The currents were strong and rapid, the waves surged to and fro, the paper brought by the Hans was soaked through, and the letters on the paper changed to resemble bird scratches; [as for] the buffalo hides the Akha had brought, because they got hungry along the way, they [the Akha] roasted and ate the buffalo hides. Only the letters that were carved on the palm leaves, which were not affected when wet and could not be roasted and eaten, preserved the form of the alphabet given by the Lord