續貞元釋教錄 1.2

1.2

I have heard that when Kāśyapa Mātanga entered Han, the vocal teaching first spread to China; as time progressed into the sagely Tang, Sanskrit scriptures fully flourished across the oceanic storehouses. Furthermore, when our Emperor Xuanzong reigned over the realm, in the eighteenth year of Kaiyuan, the gengwu year, the śramaṇa Zhisheng of West Chongfu Monastery in the Western Capital compiled twenty fascicles of the Kaiyuan shijiao lu, designated as the Kaiyuan canon. Totaling the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras, vinayas, and śāstras, as well as the biographies and collections of the worthy and sagely, it was altogether 5,048 fascicles in 481 cases, and circulated widely in the world. Then four reigns elapsed—Xuanzong, Suzong, Daizong, and Dezong—reaching the tenth year of Zhenyuan under Emperor Dezong, the jiaxu year, spanning sixty-five years. During that period, seven foreign monks together translated and proclaimed, obtaining Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras, vinayas, and śāstras, as well as the vinaya texts translated by Yijing that were omitted from the Kaiyuan catalogue, together with the Da foming jing, separate biographies, and so forth, totaling 134 works in 299 fascicles. The śramaṇa Yuanzhao of Ximing Monastery in the Western Capital compiled three fascicles of the Xu Kaiyuan lu. Furthermore, in the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan, he received an imperial decree to compile thirty fascicles of the Zhenyuan shijiao lu, which together with the texts translated by the seven foreign monks and others made 332 fascicles in all. Combined with the preceding Kaiyuan canon, the grand total was 5,380 fascicles in 510 cases, designated as the Zhenyuan canon, proclaimed and circulated. Only since reaching south of the Yangtze, one or two works among them, although extant, had not yet been compiled into the canon. Recently, in the dingchou year of Tianyou, I, Hengan, arrived south of the Yangtze, visited famous mountains, and sought out spiritual friends. In the intervals of consulting teachers and examining the canonical scriptures, while discussing with fellow companions of the Way, I described the Zhenyuan canon. Thereupon, sincere personal aspiration arose within me, and I vowed to procure these scriptures to bring them back to the court, hoping to assist the imperial transformation and bring everlasting blessings to the realm. Secretly relying on the sagely court and looking up to the sovereign's sagacious power, in the second year of Shengyuan of the Great Tang, I traveled afar to pay homage to Mount Wutai. Returning through the region west of the Pass, I copied and transcribed the aforementioned sūtras, vinayas, and śāstras of the Zhenyuan canon. In the third year of Baoda of the Great Tang, I returned to the imperial court. It has now been 152 years since the jiaxu year of Zhenyuan. Soon after, I had the honor of receiving the gracious approval of His Majesty, the reigning Emperor, to transcribe and circulate them. An imperial decree was issued to the relevant authorities to permanently compile them into the canons, and further ordered Qiao Kuangshun, Grand Master for Closing Court, Acting Vice Director of the Bureau of Equipage in the Ministry of War, Drafter, Commandant of Fleet-as-clouds Cavalry, and recipient of the Purple Robe and Gold Fish Pouch, to compose a preface to be prefixed to the scriptures. This not only confers benefit upon a single era, but also serves as a ferry for a thousand ages. Furthermore, the Western Canon Cloister of Shengyuan Monastery below the imperial palace had previously acquired one work in ten fascicles of the Qianbo Manshushili jing, which was also translated by the Tripiṭaka master Vajrabodhi within the Zhenyuan record, but had been omitted and unrecorded in the Zhenyuan catalogue. Promptly setting forth the circumstances, I requested that it be included within this section and counted for circulation. In addition, one work in thirty fascicles of the Yiqiejing yuan pinci lu was outside the Zhenyuan canon, but is now also enumerated below. Moreover, one work in forty fascicles of Elder Li's Huayan lun was presented to the throne by the monk Mianchang in the second year of Shengyuan. Emperor Guangwen Suwu Xiaogao ordered the Vice Minister of Rites Sun Ji to compose a preface and compiled it into the canon. Excluding the number of scriptures in the Kaiyuan canon, the newly calculated total now comes to 140 works in 413 fascicles (including one fascicle of the continued catalogue of new scriptures), making 43 cases. The newly recorded scriptures, catalogues, and so forth are fully listed as follows (the fine details, duplicate single translations, and joint translations are all described in full in the thirty fascicles of the Zhenyuan shijiao lu).