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The Sanjiao soushen daquan 三教搜神大全 "Whole book on searching the deities of the Three Teachings", whole title Sanjiao zuanliu soushen daquan 三教源流搜神大全 "Whole book on searching the deities of the complete history of the Three Teachings", is a collection of illustrations of different popular deities and immortals. The author of the 7 juan "scrolls" long book from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) is not known. Some scholars wonder whether Sanjiao soushen daquan is not an alternative title of the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) book Soushen guangji 搜神廣記, a kind of extension to the famous Soushenji 搜神記 from the Jin period 晉 (265-420). The books assembles 120 pictures of the most common deities and holies venerated in Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Each picture is accompanied by a detailed description, including the name and various titles of canonization, as well as a biography or pseudo-biography of the person. The Confucian part begins with Confucius 孔子, the Buddhist part with a picture of Sakymuni, the Buddha, and the Daoist part with an illustration of Laozi 老子. Durign the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) Ye Dehui 葉德輝 printed the book which had, until then, only been available in a manuscript form. It is included in the reprint series Likan congshu 麗偘叢書 (麗侃叢書).
Source: Gu Cunyun 古存云 (1988). "Shenxian zhuanji 神仙傳記", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zongjiao 宗教, pp. 350-351. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
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