開元釋教錄 1.2

1.2

The rise of catalogues is indeed that by which the genuine is distinguished from the spurious, right is clarified from wrong, the past and present of persons and eras are recorded, and the quantity of fascicles and works is demarcated. They gather what was lost and omitted and pare away redundancies and superfluities, desiring to make the coherent order of the correct teaching and the golden words properly arranged, raising the main outline and presenting the essentials so that they are clearly discernible. However, because the Dharma-gates are profound and the net of transformation is vast, as translations and transmissions succeeded one another through passing years and changing dynasties, texts repeatedly suffered scattering and destruction, and their fascicles and scrolls became irregular. Furthermore, there were eccentric individuals who occasionally added spurious texts, causing confusion and making it difficult to trace origins. Therefore, former worthies and Confucian sages composed such systematic catalogues; those surviving today are barely six or seven schools. Yet they still have not plumbed the roots and sources, and many omissions and deficiencies remain. I, Zhisheng, despite my mediocrity and shallowness, have long engaged in perusing and searching them, comparing and verifying similarities and differences, and pointing out merits and demerits to compile this multi-case work, hoping to avoid errors and discrepancies. I hope all wise persons will deign to examine it together.