Deciphering broken Chinese characters on broken piece #10788 of the Huayan Shijing ( 華 嚴 石 經 )

Abstract

This study successfully deciphered four severely damaged Chinese characters inscribed on broken piece #10788 of The Huayan Shijing. The fragmentary condition of all four characters necessitated the development of innovative analytical approaches combining traditional palaeographic methods with systematic textual analysis. Through comparative morphological study and contextual verification against the canonical Huayanjing text, the characters were identified as 彼, 夜, 三 and 藐, respectively. This research demonstrates the potential for recovering textual content from extensively damaged historical inscriptions and contributes to the broader restoration efforts of this important cultural heritage collection.