Han Yu: “Memorial on the Buddha’s Bones”

Glossary

• Hou Jing general who seized the Liang throne; he was soon deposed by a Liang prince and attempted to flee but was killed by his own partisans.
• Middle Kingdom Chinese name for China
• Way of the ancient sages in this context, the teachings on which Confucius and his followers based the ethical and philosophical system now known as Confucianism
• Your Imperial Majesty Emperor Xianzong
• Your servant Han Yu, poet and classical prose stylist who was also a member of the Chinese civil service