The Chinese used wooden blocks
to print Buddhist writings by hand on scrolls. Chinese writer Fenzhi
mentioned in his writings Yuan Xian San Ji that woodblocks were used to
print Buddhist scripture during the Zhenguan years (627-649 A.D.).
The
oldest known surviving woodblock-printed work is a Buddhist scripture of
the Chinese Wu Zetian period (684-705 A.D.) discovered in 1906 in
Tubofan in the Xinjiang province of China. Printing is considered one of
the four great inventions of China; the other being the compass,
gunpowder and paper.
While there are no surviving examples of the
Chinese printing presses of the 11th Century, the oldest surviving dated
printed book on record is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, dated 11 May 868
AD. Park Gi Tae from VANK (Voluntary Agency Network of Korea)
contributed as follows: The Jikjia Buddhist doctrinal book called
Jikjisimcheyojeol or “Jikji in short form is the oldest book made by
metalloid type. It had been made in 1377, 78 years earlier than “the
Bible in 48 lines” made by Gutenberg. However, recent excavations at a
Korean pagoda have unearthed a Buddhist woodblock text even older than
the Daimond-Sutra.
Source: interestingtopics.net
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