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Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏記集

Mar 3, 2026 © Ulrich Theobald

Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏記集, also called Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏集記, Sanzang jiji 三藏集記, Chu sanzang ji 出三藏記, Sengyou lu 僧祐錄 or Youlu 祐錄 "[Seng]you's records", is the oldest surviving book catalogue of Buddhist writings compiled in the Liang empire 梁 (502-557) by the monk Sengyou 僧祐 (445-518). It was compiled as based on an earlier catalogue, Daoan's 道安 Zongli zhongjing mulu 綜理眾經目錄 from from Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) which is known as Anlu 安錄 "[Dao]an's records".

Sengyou's book, with a length of 15 juan, is divided into the following parts: Zhuanyuan lu 撰緣記 (ch. 1) records the origins of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka and the circumstances surrounding the translation of scriptures, with 5 entries. It consists of five essays. Quanming lu 銓名錄 (ch. 2-5) catalogues newly compiled sutras, vinaya texts (monastic rules), and treatises, as well as variant translations, anonymous translations, and scriptures of doubtful or spurious authenticity, totalling 2,162 works in 4,328 juan. The part Zongjing lu 總經序 (juan 6-12) contains 120 scripture prefaces and postfaces, including accounts of scripture translation, scripture prefaces, and the sequence of scriptural commentaries. Finally, the section Shulie lu 述列傳 (juan 13-15) presents 32 biographies of thirty-two monks, both Chinese and foreign, who were engaged in translating scriptures and composing Buddhist works.

The catalogue exerted significant influence both in its own time and in later periods, and has long been highly valued by the Buddhist scholarly community and researchers in Buddhist studies.

After Dao'an's catalogue was lost, Sengyou's work preserved the original form of the Anlu. Moreover, its sections preserve the earliest body of materials on scripture translation and monastic biographies in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Its principal shortcoming lies in the fact that it does not distinguish Buddhist scriptures into Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna categories, nor does it arrange them according to the Tripiṭaka sequence of sutra, vinaya, and treatise.

The Chu sanzang jiji was already recorded in the catalogue Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 compiled by Fajing 法經 of the Sui period 隋 (581-618). From the Kaibao Tripitaka 開寶藏 of the Song period 宋 (960-1279) onward, it was included in successive editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon, with the sole exception of the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) Dragon Tripitaka (Longzang 龍藏). Extant editions include the Manji zokuzōkyō 卍續藏經 and the Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經.

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