Erroneous Characters and Correction of Erroneous Characters

Dunhuang manuscripts are highly valued because they are not so far from ancient times and have not been proofread by the later generations, but there are often more text errors than those in block-printed editions. The commonly seen mistakes, such as error, detachment, derivation and disorder in the carving copies, are usually more serious in the hand-copied editions. However, compared with the engraved version, it is more convenient to correct errors in the manuscripts, so there are often texts or marks by the copyists to self-correct or by the circulators to modify. “Reading Heguanzi” by Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty says, "to get rid of the fallacy, there are thirty-five characters to correct the erroneous words, three to correct the disordered words, twenty-two to delete the duplicated words, and twelve to supplement the missing words”.