Sòng Zhēnzōng 宋真宗 (personal name Zhào Héng 趙恆, originally Zhào Déchāng 趙德昌; CBDB 9003; lived 968–1022, reigned 997–1022) was the third emperor of the Northern Sòng. The son of Tàizōng 太宗, he is best known politically for the Chányuān Treaty 澶淵之盟 of 1004 with the Khitan Liáo, which secured a long peace at the price of annual silk-and-silver indemnities, and for the elaborate Heavenly Texts 天書 cult and the FēngShàn 封禪 sacrifices on Mount Tài (1008), which were intended to legitimise the dynasty against Liáo prestige but became a byword for ritual extravagance. His reign saw the consolidation of the Sòng examination state and important developments in the printing and circulation of the canonical texts.
In Buddhist history, Zhēnzōng was a major imperial patron of the Translation Bureau (譯經院 / 譯經三藏院 Yìjīngyuàn) at Kāifēng’s Tàipíngxīngguósì 太平興國寺, founded by his father in 982 and continuing through his own reign under 施護, 法天, 天息災, 法賢, and 惟淨. Zhēnzōng personally composed Buddhist prefaces (the Shèngjiào xù 聖教序 in continuation of his father’s tradition) and is credited with the Zhù sìshí’èrzhāng jīng 註四十二章經 (KR6i0484 / T39 No. 1794), an imperial commentary on the legendary “Sūtra in Forty-Two Sections” — a text whose composition reflects both the emperor’s personal piety and the official Sòng promotion of the Sìshí’èrzhāng jīng as the foundational Buddhist scripture of China. His reign also saw the carving of imperial canons (the Qìdān zàng 契丹藏 in Liáo and the Kāibǎo zàng 開寶藏 in Sòng), in which he and his court played an active sponsoring role.