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appeal to the authority of scripture, and the high moral tone of their scriptures was a decisive factor in securing imperial permission to preach Christianity in China. It is understandable that, presented by Reuben with a summary of the Christian message, the imperial authorities should have approved, or perhaps even suggested themselves, the term 'teaching of the scriptures' for the strange western religion. In 638 the term ching-chiao, 'teaching of the scriptures', is found in an imperial decree as the official Chinese term for Christianity.
T'ai-tsung's decree of 638 was issued in response to the arrival of Reuben in Ch'ang-an, and gave permission for the Nestorians to establish a monastery in the capital. The decree has been preserved in the Tang hui-yao, an important collection of documents of the T'ang dynasty, and reads as follows:
Truth can be recognised, whatever its name: wisdom can be discerned, whoever its possessor. Every region has its appropriate religion, which by its imperceptible influence benefits the inhabitants. The virtuous Persian monk Reuben (A-lo-pen) has come to our high capital from afar with the 'teaching of the scriptures' (ching-chiao). We have carefully examined this teaching, and find it mysterious, admirable, and tranquil; we have studied its principles, and are satisfied that they lay stress on the essentials of life. Its language is spare and elegant, and its thought is coherent. It is clearly a helpful doctrine: let it be admitted to our empire. Let a monastery be built in our capital by the appropriate board in the I-ning ward, and let twenty-one monks be appointed there.
The term 'teaching of the scriptures' also occurs in another imperial decree made over a century later, in 745, by the emperor Hsüan-tsung. This decree has also been preserved in the T'ang hui-yao, and reads as follows:
"The ninth month of the fourth year of the T'ien-pao period. The Persian 'teaching of the scriptures' (ching-chiao) originated in Syria (Ta-ch'in). Long ago this teaching was brought here and has been practised in China. When the monasteries were first built, we called