Tiānshèng shìjiào zǒnglù 天聖釋教總錄
The Tiān-shèng Era General Catalog of Buddhist Teaching edited by 惟淨 (等編修)
About the work
A two-juan Northern Sòng official Buddhist canonical bibliography, compiled by Wéijìng 惟淨 and an imperial-translation-bureau team during the Tiānshèng 天聖 era (1023–1032) of Sòng Rénzōng 仁宗. The work documents the canonical state of the Sòng imperial canon as it stood after the Kāibǎo canon-printing project (971–983) and the subsequent decades of Sòng-period translation activity. Preserved in the Zhàochéng Jīncáng at A110 no. 1499.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the bibliographic register format:
□ Tripiṭaka Master An Shì-gāo translated. Héngshuǐ jīng 恒水經, 1 juan. Western Jìn Shì Fǎjù 法炬 translated. Běnxiāng yǐzhì jīng 本相倚致經, 1 juan. Tripiṭaka Master An Shì-gāo translated. □□□□
[The text continues with comprehensive bibliographic registration, organized in the standard Sòng-canonical order.]
Abstract
Authorship and date: composed by Wéijìng 惟淨 (DILA does not preserve a separate authority entry; the figure is otherwise documented as a senior late-10th / early-11th century imperial-translation-bureau monk at Tàipíngxìngguósì 太平興國寺 in Kāifēng) and a court team during the Tiānshèng era. notBefore = 1023, notAfter = 1031 (the bracket of the Tiānshèng era). Catalog dynasty 宋.
The work documents the canonical state in the early Sòng — particularly incorporating the substantial output of the early-Sòng imperial translation bureau that Sòng Tài-zōng 太宗 had established in 980 at Tài-píng-xìng-guó-sì under the leadership of Tiān-xī-zāi 天息災 (Devaśāntika), Fǎ-tiān 法天 (Dharmadeva), and Shī-hù 施護 (Dānapāla), and which continued operating through Wéi-jìng’s generation into the Rén-zōng reign.
The work is one of the principal early-Sòng canonical bibliographies documenting the foundational period of the Sòng-era Chinese Buddhist canon, immediately preceding the Liáo-canon and Goryeo-canon era. It incorporates new translations and reorganizes the canonical roster relative to the earlier Tang catalogs.
Translations and research
- Hé Méi 何梅, Lì-dài hàn-wén dà-zàng-jīng mù-lù xīn-kǎo (2014) — comprehensive treatment.
- Tāng Yòng-tóng 湯用彤 and Yáng Cèng-wén 楊曾文 on Sòng-period canonical-bibliographic tradition.
Other points of interest
The work’s preservation in the Zhàochéng Jīncáng (Liáo-Jīn-period canon-printing) rather than the mainstream Sòng-canonical line is one of the principal evidences of how Liáo-Jīn-period Chinese Buddhist canonical-printing preserved early-Sòng materials that were subsequently lost from the main Sòng-canonical transmission.
Links
- DILA authority: (no preserved authority entry for Wéijìng)
- CBETA: A110n1499
- Author: Wéijìng 惟淨 (Northern Sòng, fl. 1023–1031)
- Imperial sponsor: Sòng Rénzōng 仁宗 (r. 1022–1063)
- Translation-bureau context: Tàipíngxìngguósì translation bureau (founded 980)
- Predecessor: KR6s0098 Xù Zhēnyuán shìjiào lù of Héngān (945)
- Companion early-Sòng canonical bibliographies: KR6s0100 Dàzhōng xiángfú fǎbǎo lù, KR6s0101 Jǐngyòu xīnxiū fǎbǎo lù