Jesus Sutras

The Jesus Sutras are early Chinese language manuscripts blending Taoist, Buddhist, and Christian teachings. They are connected with the 7th century mission of Alopen, a Church of the East bishop from Sassanian Mesopotamia. These manuscripts have been named Sutras only recently by western authors.

The manuscripts date from between 635 AD, the year of Alopen's arrival in China, and around 1000 AD when the cave at Mogao near Dunhuang in which the documents were discovered was sealed. By 2011 four of the manuscripts were known to be located in a private collection in Japan, while one was in Paris. Their language and content reflect varying levels of interaction with Chinese culture, including use of Buddhist and Taoist terminology.

The following list gives some approximate English titles for the various writings, and an indication of the present location of the manuscript where known. Scholars are still debating the best translation for many of the terms. Until a good modern edition appears, P. Y. Saeki remains the most convenient source for the Chinese texts.

The Xi'an Stele was erected in 781 to commemorate the propagation of the Da Qin Luminous Religion ("Da Qin" is the Chinese term for the Roman Empire), and covers the preceding 150 years of Christianity in China.

Martin Palmer recently claimed, on the basis of research conducted by scholars in the 1930s, that the Daqin Pagoda near Lou Guan Tai was part of a Da Qin monastery. Lou Guan Tai was the traditional site of Lao Tze's composition of the Tao Te Ching. Buried during a time of religious persecution in the 9th century, the stele was re-discovered in 1625 and is now on display in nearby Xi'an, the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty.

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