Gǔjīn yìjīng tú jì 古今譯經圖紀
A Pictorial Record of Sūtra-Translators Past and Present by 靖邁 (撰)
About the work
A four-juan Tang-period Buddhist translator-historiographical compendium, compiled by Jìng-mài 靖邁 (DILA A001833 — entry not preserved beyond a stub; active mid-7th c.), then translation-bureau śramaṇa at Dà-cí’ēn-sì 大慈恩寺 (the imperial monastery of Xuán-zàng’s translation bureau in Cháng-ān). The byline reads 大唐翻經沙門釋靖邁撰 (“Composed by the Tang translation-śramaṇa Shì Jìng-mài”). The work is the principal Tang-period biographical compendium of canonical translators — providing systematic biographies of the major Indian and Chinese translators of canonical Buddhist texts from Kāśyapa Mātaṅga 迦葉摩騰 (= Kāśyapa Mātaṅga, the legendary first translator of the Hàn dynasty, ca. 67) through to the contemporary Tang translators. Preserved at T55 no. 2151.
Prefaces
The text opens with the byline followed immediately by the historical narrative:
Composed by the Tang translation-śramaṇa Shì Jìng-mài.
HòuHàn Liúshì dū Luòyáng 後漢劉氏都洛陽 (Latter Hàn, the Liú clan capital at Luòyáng):
Only the filial-bright emperor [Míng-dì 明帝, r. 57–75 CE]: in Yǒng-píng 永平 3 (= 60 CE), the year gēng-shēn — the emperor dreamed of a golden person, with the sun-and-moon light at his head, flying-and-coming into the palace courtyard. The Imperial-Above asked the various ministers. The Tài-shǐ Fù Yì 太史傅毅 replied, saying: “I have heard that in the Western Regions there is a deity called the Buddha. What Your Majesty dreamed is surely this.” Reaching the year Yǒng-píng 7 (= 64 CE), the year jiǎ-zǐ: the emperor commanded Lángzhōng Cài Yǐn 郎中蔡愔, Zhōng-láng-jiāng Qín Jǐng 中郎將秦景, Bó-shì Wáng Zūn 博士王遵, etc. — eighteen persons in all — to seek westward for the Buddhist law. Yǐn and the others reached the country of India. They invited Kāśyapa Mātaṅga 迦葉摩騰 [and] Zhú-fǎ-lán 竺法蘭 to come back together…
[The text continues with biographical entries for each successive translator, organized chronologically by dynasty.]
Abstract
Authorship and date: composed by Jìngmài at Dàcí’ēnsì in Chángān during his association with Xuánzàng’s translation bureau (645 Xuánzàng’s return to Chángān; 664 Xuánzàng’s death). notBefore = 645, notAfter = 664. Catalog dynasty 唐.
The work is the principal Tang-period biographical compendium specifically of canonical translators — distinct from the more general gāosēng zhuàn 高僧傳 monastic-biographical tradition (which covers both translators and Chinese-monastic figures). The 4-juan structure organizes biographies chronologically by dynasty (Hàn, Wèi, Wú, Western Jìn, Eastern Jìn, Sòng, Qí, Liáng, Northern Wèi, Sūi, Tang), giving each translator a brief but substantive entry covering native country, translation activity, principal canonical works, and historical context.
The work was originally inscribed (per the byline-tradition’s “tú jì” 圖紀 — “pictorial record”) on the walls of the translation hall of Dàcí’ēnsì as a series of portraits of the translators with accompanying biographical text. The text-only extract preserved at T55 no. 2151 is what survives of this originally bidimensional mural-and-text documentary monument — a unique pre-modern Chinese Buddhist artistic-historiographical artifact.
The work was subsequently supplemented by Zhìshēng’s 智昇 single-juan Xù gǔjīn yìjīng tú jì 續古今譯經圖紀 (KR6s0091, T2152, 730), which adds Tang-period translators after Jìngmài’s cutoff.
Translations and research
- Tāng Yòng-tóng 湯用彤, Hàn Wèi liǎng-Jìn Nán-běi-cháo fó-jiào shǐ + Suí Táng fó-jiào shǐ-gǎo.
- Hé Méi 何梅, Lì-dài hàn-wén dà-zàng-jīng mù-lù xīn-kǎo (2014).
- Funayama Tōru 船山徹, Butten wa dou kanyaku sareta no ka.
Other points of interest
The work’s origin as a mural-portrait-and-text monument in Dàcí’ēnsì makes it a unique pre-modern Chinese Buddhist artistic-historiographical artifact — paralleling the Jízhìsì 祇支寺 portrait-traditions of Indian Buddhist sthāvira iconography but applied to Chinese-Buddhist translator-biographical content. The fact that the text-component survives in the canon while the original mural-portraits do not reflects the typical pre-modern Chinese pattern of textual-survival outpacing artistic-monument-survival.
Links
- DILA authority: (Jìngmài 靖邁 has no full DILA authority record)
- CBETA: T55n2151
- Author: Jìng-mài 靖邁 (Tang, mid-7th c.), translation-bureau śramaṇa at Dà-cí’ēn-sì
- Original location: Dàcí’ēnsì 大慈恩寺 (Xuánzàng’s translation-bureau monastery)
- Successor: KR6s0091 Xù gǔjīn yìjīng tú jì of Zhìshēng (730)