Yīqiè fó púsà míng jí 一切佛菩薩名集
Collected Names of All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas compiled by 德雲 Déyún (集), with editorial compilation by 非濁 Fēizhuó and a preface by 思孝 Sīxiào.
About the work
The Yīqiè fó púsà míng jí is a twenty-two-fascicle compilation of all the names of Buddhas and bodhisattvas found in the Buddhist canon, produced under the Liáo dynasty (907–1125) and preserved in the Fángshān shíjīng 房山石經 (Stone Sūtras of Fángshān) corpus. The catalog lists 德雲 as compiler (集). The text is preserved in the Fángshān shíjīng (the stone-engraved Buddhist canon maintained at Yúnjū-sì 雲居寺 outside Beijing), which was a major Liáo-era canonical project. The work systematically excerpts and compiles all Buddha and bodhisattva names from across the entire canon, organized alphabetically by the Qiānzì wén 千字文 indexing system (indicated by the header “一 勿字号” in the first fascicle).
Prefaces
The first fascicle opens with a preface titled 大藏教諸佛菩薩名号集序, written by the monk 思孝 of Hǎiyún-sì 海雲寺 on Juéhuā-dǎo 覺花島 by imperial command (奉詔撰). The preface eulogizes the Liáo emperor’s patronage of Buddhism and explains the dual program of Liáo Buddhist practice: dhāraṇī recitation (明呪) and Buddha/bodhisattva name recitation (名號). It states that the monk 非濁 of the Supreme Capital Línhuáng-fǔ 臨潢府 (the Liáo dynasty’s primary capital, modern Chìfēng, Inner Mongolia) compiled the name collection in 22 fascicles, extracting all names from the complete Tripiṭaka. A parallel 30-fascicle compilation of dhāraṇī was simultaneously produced by a lay official at Yànjīng 燕京 (Beijing). The emperor’s intent was to have subjects simultaneously practice dhāraṇī and Buddha-name recitation.
Abstract
The Yīqiè fó púsà míng jí represents the most comprehensive pre-modern Chinese catalogue of all Buddhist names — both Buddha-names and bodhisattva names — compiled from across the entire Chinese Tripiṭaka. Its compilation was a Liáo imperial project, coordinated by the court with the Fángshān stone-engraving project. The catalog’s attribution to 德雲 as compiler may refer to a senior monastic supervisor rather than the hands-on compiler 非濁 identified in the preface; the relationship between the two figures requires further investigation.
The Fángshān shíjīng in which this text is preserved is a monumental Liáo-era enterprise: stone engravings of Buddhist texts at Yúnjū-sì, initiated in the Suí dynasty and continued through the Táng, Five Dynasties, and Liáo. The Liáo court’s active patronage of the Fángshān project resulted in the inclusion of texts not in the Taishō or other printed canons, of which the present text is one.
Translations and research
- Heirman, Ann, and Stephan Peter Bumbacher (eds.). The Spread of Buddhism. Leiden: Brill, 2007. — Chapter on Liáo Buddhism discusses the Fángshān project.