揭示雪域高原佛教文明诸多殊胜之缘起
首次披露西藏神秘圣物地下掘藏所得宝书
本书是有史以来第一本翻译成汉文出版的西藏特有的神秘圣物——“地下掘藏所的宝书”。
本书系西藏佛教文明第一宝贵史料，是雪域民族神秘历史记载的“水之源”、“木之本”。千百年来一直密不示人。它在藏区“广为人知而鲜为人见”。直到第十世班禅大师额尔德尼·确吉坚赞亲自过问，本书才从甘肃拉卜楞的高墙深院中抹去尘封，得以重见天日，故极其稀有珍贵。

In early medieval China hundreds of Buddhist miracle texts were circulated, inaugurating a trend that would continue for centuries. Each tale recounted extraordinary events involving Chinese persons and places—events seen as verifying claims made in Buddhist scriptures, demonstrating the reality of karmic retribution, or confirming the efficacy of Buddhist devotional practices. Robert Ford Campany, one of North America’s preeminent scholars of Chinese religion, presents in this volume the first complete, annotated translation, with in-depth commentary, of the largest extant collection of miracle tales from the early medieval period, Wang Yan’s Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm, compiled around 490 C.E.
In addition to the translation, Campany provides a substantial study of the text and its author in their historical and religious settings. He shows how these lively tales helped integrate Buddhism into Chinese society at the same time that they served as platforms for religious contestation and persuasion. Campany offers a nuanced, clear methodological discussion of how such narratives, being products of social memory, may be read as valuable evidence for the history of religion and culture.
Readers interested in Buddhism; historians of Chinese religions, culture, society, and literature; scholars of comparative religion: All will find Signs from the Unseen Realm a stimulating and rich contribution to scholarship.