Zhòngjīng mùlù 眾經目錄
The Catalog of the Various Sutras (the Jìngtài 靜泰 Zhòngjīng mùlù) by 靜泰 (撰)
About the work
A five-juan early Tang Buddhist canonical catalog by Jìngtài 靜泰 (active mid-7th c.), the third in the Suí-Tang catalog series after KR6s0085 (Fǎjīng, 594) and KR6s0086 (Yànzōng, 602). Compiled at Dōngjīng Dàjìngàisì 東京大敬愛寺 (= the Dàjìngàisì in the Tang Eastern Capital Luòyáng) under the early Tang court. The byline reads 釋靜泰撰 (“Composed by Shì Jìngtài”). Preserved at T55 no. 2148.
Prefaces
The text opens with the Zhòngjīng mùlù xù 眾經目錄序. In paraphrase:
Now: writing-graphs are the liberation true-place. Marking the lineage of the non-dual; name and phrase weighed against the prajñā dark-screen — opening the only-one road. Therefore the dharma-books gallop in volumes — the hundred-million-fold same in text. To the ultimate the teaching drives its tracks — the chiliocosm-around the same in carriage-tracks. The jade-box, flower-titled: brilliantly emerging in the heavenly city. The golden-tablet, jeweled-words: shining-and-manifesting in the dragon-city.
From the sad cloud westward arising — the kindness-fluid eastward flying — gradually obvious in the Zhōu stars, finally great-bright in the Hàn sun. Mátaṅga 蘭騰 [Kāśyapa Mātaṅga] flourished as the first to sing; Zhú-Shī 竺什 [Kumārajīva] joyously continued his footsteps. So the three vehicles drew in the reins…
[The preface continues with elaborate doctrinal-historical framing.]
Abstract
Authorship and date: composed by Jìngtài 靜泰 (DILA A001836; lifedates not preserved, active mid-7th c.) at Dàjìngàisì 大敬愛寺 in the Tang Eastern Capital. The work draws on and updates Yànzōng’s catalog KR6s0086 for the early Tang situation — incorporating new translations from Xuánzàng’s 玄奘 imperial translation bureau (Xuánzàng’s translation activity was at its peak ca. 645–664). The composition is conventionally dated 663–666 (after Xuánzàng’s death in 664 but before his catalog was fully integrated). notBefore = 663, notAfter = 666. Catalog dynasty 唐.
The work is the immediate Tang successor to the Suí Zhòngjīng mùlù tradition, providing an updated bibliographic snapshot incorporating the substantial Tang-period new translations into the canonical bibliographic structure established by Fǎjīng and Yànzōng. The 5-juan structure parallels Yànzōng’s catalog — Jìngtài’s work is best understood as a revised and expanded edition of the Yànzōng catalog adapted for early Tang circumstances.
The work’s bibliographic significance was however soon superseded: subsequent Tang-period canonical catalogs (the DàTáng nèidiǎn lù 大唐內典錄 of Dàoxuān 道宣, T2149, 664; the Dàzhōu kāndìng zhòngjīng mùlù of 695; and ultimately the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù of Zhìshēng, T2154, 730) replaced it as the canonical Tang bibliographic standard.
Translations and research
See KR6s0085. Specific to Jìng-tài’s catalog:
- Hé Méi 何梅, Lì-dài hàn-wén dà-zàng-jīng mù-lù xīn-kǎo (2014) — comprehensive treatment.
- Tāng Yòng-tóng 湯用彤, Suí Táng fó-jiào shǐ-gǎo.
Other points of interest
The persistent re-issuing of canonical catalogs through the Suí-Tang transition — Fǎjīng (594) → Yànzōng (602) → Jìngtài (663–666) → Dàoxuān (664) → 695 → Zhìshēng (730), all in less than 150 years — reflects the rapidly-expanding state of the Chinese Buddhist canon under successive imperial translation-bureau projects. Each new catalog had to incorporate substantial new translation outputs — a bibliographic-administrative challenge that drove the development of the Chinese Buddhist canonical-bibliographic tradition into one of the most sophisticated pre-modern bibliographic genres.
Links
- DILA authority: A001836 (靜泰)
- CBETA: T55n2148
- Author: Jìngtài 靜泰 (Tang, mid-7th c.), Dàjìngàisì cataloger
- Predecessor: KR6s0086 Zhòngjīng mùlù of Yànzōng (602)
- Subsequent Tang catalogs: Dàoxuān DàTáng nèidiǎn lù (T2149, 664), Zhìshēng Kāiyuán shìjiào lù (T2154, 730)
- Dazangthings date evidence (660): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/