Lóngxīng biānnián tōnglùn 隆興編年通論
Comprehensive Annalistic Treatise of the Lóngxīng Era
compiled by 祖琇 (Zǔxiù, fl. 1163–1164, 撰)
About the work
A Southern Sòng Buddhist universal history in twenty-nine juan, compiled by the Línjì 臨濟 Chán monk 祖琇 (Zǔxiù) and dated by the author’s preface to the early years of the Lóngxīng 隆興 reign-era of Emperor Xiàozōng 孝宗 (1163–1164). Preserved in the Xuzangjing (X75 no. 1512). The work is the first sustained attempt by a Chán-aligned author to write a year-by-year annalistic history of Chinese Buddhism, predating both 志磐’s Fózǔ tǒngjì (KR6r0012) and 念常’s Fózǔ lìdài tōngzài (KR6r0013). It survives slightly truncated in the Xuzangjing transmission.
Abstract
祖琇 was a Línjì Chán monk active in the lower Yangzi region in the mid-twelfth century. Two of his works survive: the present Lóngxīng biānnián tōnglùn and the Sēng bǎo zhèngxù zhuàn (KR6q0009 Sēng bǎo zhèng xù zhuàn, Authentic Continuation to the Saṃgha-Treasury Records), a continuation of 惠洪’s (Huìhóng) Chánlín sēng bǎo zhuàn. He is therefore one of the more historiographically active mid-Southern-Sòng Chán authors.
The Lóngxīng biānnián tōnglùn is structured as a year-by-year annalistic chronicle from the Hàn through the early Sòng, with Buddhist events inserted alongside the imperial annals. It is shorter and less encyclopaedic than the later KR6r0012 and KR6r0013, but 祖琇’s treatment of Chán transmission is more detailed than the corresponding sections of 費長房’s KR6r0011. The work covers from the Buddha’s life and the early Indian patriarchs through to the early Southern Sòng, breaking off shortly before the date of the preface.
The work was little circulated and was eventually preserved only in the Manji Xuzangjing reprint of the early twentieth century. It is an important early witness to the Chán historiographical project of locating Chinese Chán transmission within the wider chronological frame of Buddhist universal history.
Translations and research
- Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, Die Identität der buddhistischen Schulen (Wiesbaden, 1982) — discusses 祖琇’s work alongside the later universal histories.
- No complete Western-language translation located.
Links
- CBETA: X75n1512