Introduction: Dunhuang and Education—The Missing Piece

Abstract

Since the discovery of Library Cave in Dunhuang in 1900, the Dunhuang Study has become an international phenomenon with fast-expanding research in multiple fields from archeology, history, art, Buddhism, and religion to language, foreign relations, ethnicity, culture, and agriculture, to name a few. However, only a few studies discussed Dunhuang from educational perspectives and none examined Dunhuang systematically from the educational lenses systematically and inclusively. This chapter addresses this gap in Dunhuang study. By using the Dunhuang frescoes, scriptures, classics texts, and other artifacts, this chapter argues that Dunhuang’s roots, purposes, essence, and significance are entirely and primarily educational. The reexamination of Dunhuang in its educational light from over a thousand years of teaching, learning, and living provides profound and powerful insights for our contemporary education in the global context and provides an illuminating direction for our future.