Lìcháo shìshì zījiàn 歷朝釋氏資鑑
Mirror for Reference of the Śākyans Through the Successive Dynasties
compiled by 熙仲 (Xīzhòng, fl. 1336, 集)
About the work
A Yuán-dynasty Buddhist universal history in twelve juan, compiled by the monk 熙仲 (Xīzhòng) and dated by his preface to 1336 (Yuán Zhìyuán 至元 2 of the second Zhìyuán reign-period). The title — zījiàn 資鑑 (“mirror for reference”) — places the work in the same Confucian-historiographical lineage as 本覺’s KR6r0020, i.e. as a Buddhist analogue to the Zīzhì tōngjiàn of 司馬光. Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing (X76 no. 1517).
Abstract
熙仲’s preface explains that he undertook the compilation because the existing universal Buddhist histories — including 志磐’s KR6r0012, 本覺’s KR6r0020, and 祖琇’s KR6r0017 — had become difficult to consult and inconsistent in their chronological coverage. His own twelve-juan work follows a strict year-by-year annalistic scheme, drawing imperial annals from the standard histories and inserting Buddhist events alongside.
The work covers from the Hàn through the early Yuán. Like 本覺’s earlier Tōngjiàn, it adopts a relatively even-handed treatment of the Buddhist schools without obvious Tiāntái, Chán, or Pure Land bias. Its principal value is as a comparative source for events covered also by KR6r0012, KR6r0013, and KR6r0014: where these works disagree, 熙仲’s independent compilation provides a fourth witness.
熙仲 himself is little documented beyond his preface. He was a Yuán-period monk active in the southern Buddhist establishment.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located. The work appears in surveys of Yuán Buddhist historiography (e.g. Schmidt-Glintzer 1982) but has not received a dedicated study or translation.
Links
- CBETA: X76n1517