Dàzhōng xiángfú fǎbǎo lù (juan 3 – juan 20) 大中祥符法寶錄(第3卷-第20卷)
The Dà-zhōng-xiáng-fú-Era Catalog of Dharma-Treasures (juan 3 – juan 20 only) edited by 楊億 (等編修)
About the work
A fragmentary Northern Sòng official Buddhist canonical bibliography surviving in juan 3 through juan 20 only — preserved in the Zhàochéng Jīncáng at A111 no. 1501. The work was an imperially-commissioned project of the Dàzhōngxiángfú 大中祥符 era (1008–1016) of Sòng Zhēnzōng 真宗, with the editorial team led by the famous Sòng literatus Yáng Yì 楊億 (974–1020) — the principal court-literary figure of the early Sòng and one of the great late-tenth / early-eleventh-century Chinese poets. The work documents the canonical translation activity of the Sòng imperial translation bureau through the early Xiángfú era.
Prefaces
The text has no preserved auto-preface (the lost juan 1–2 likely contained the prefatory matter).
Abstract
Authorship and date: composed by Yáng Yì 楊億 (974–1020, zì Dànián 大年, the principal court-literary figure of the early Sòng and the leading exponent of the Xīkūntǐ 西崑體 court-literary style) and a court team during the Dàzhōngxiángfú era. The work is conventionally dated to Xiángfú 4–6 (1011–1013). notBefore = 1011, notAfter = 1013. Catalog dynasty 宋.
The work is one of the principal early-Sòng official canonical bibliographies documenting the imperial translation-bureau output, with Yáng Yì’s editorial direction giving it unusual literary distinction among canonical bibliographies (which were typically produced by canonical scholar-monks rather than by leading court literati). The collaboration of a senior court literary figure with the imperial translation bureau on a Buddhist canonical project reflects the deep early-Sòng literary-elite engagement with Buddhist canonical scholarship.
The fragmentary state precludes detailed reconstruction of the original scope. Its preservation only via the Zhàochéng Jīncáng parallels KR6s0099 and KR6s0095 in the principal Liáo-Jīn-canon recovery of otherwise-lost Sòng materials.
Translations and research
- Hé Méi 何梅, Lì-dài hàn-wén dà-zàng-jīng mù-lù xīn-kǎo (2014).
- Pamela Crossley and the modern Sòng intellectual-history tradition for Yáng Yì’s broader career.
Other points of interest
Yáng Yì 楊億 was one of the most prominent court literati of the early Sòng, famous for his role in the Cèfǔ yuánguī 冊府元龜 (the great Sòng imperial encyclopedia, 1005–1013) editorial project and as the leading exponent of the Xīkūntǐ poetic style. His editorial direction of this canonical-Buddhist project is one of the principal pre-modern Chinese cases of a court literary luminary undertaking direct editorial work on a canonical-Buddhist project — making the Dàzhōng xiángfú fǎbǎo lù a particularly culturally distinguished Buddhist bibliographic monument.
Links
- DILA authority: (no preserved authority entry; Yáng Yì appears in CBDB)
- CBETA: A111n1501
- Editor: Yáng Yì 楊億 (974–1020), leading early-Sòng court literatus
- Imperial sponsor: Sòng Zhēnzōng 真宗 (r. 997–1022)
- Era: Dàzhōngxiángfú 大中祥符 (1008–1016)
- Predecessor: KR6s0099 Tiānshèng shìjiào zǒnglù
- Successor: KR6s0101 Jǐngyòu xīnxiū fǎbǎo lù