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Buddhist Books (shijia lei 釋家類)

Jul 24, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Buddhist Books (shijia lei 釋家類) is a subcategory in traditional Chinese bibliographies and part of the category of Masters and Philosophers (zibu 子部). Compared to the Buddhist canon Tripitaka it includes only very few writings (only 13), mostly biographies, encyclopedias and literary writings by Chan Buddhists from the Song period 宋 (960-1279). The common feature of all Buddhist writings included in the reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 is that they were originary written in Chinese and not translated from Sanskrit. The most important are the apologetic treatise Hongmingji 弘明集 and the Chan treatise Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元.

Table 1. Buddhist books (shijia 釋家)
Part of Siku quanshu 四庫全書
Part of Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書
神僧傳 * Shensengzhuan (Jin) 釋法顯 Monk Faxian
弘明集 十四卷 Hongmingji (Liang) 釋僧祐 Monk Sengyou
廣弘明集 三十卷 Guang hongmingji (Tang) 釋道宣 Monk Daoxuan
法苑珠林 百二十卷 Fayuan zhulin (Tang) 釋道世 Monk Daoshi
牟子理惑論 * Mouzi lihuo lun (Han) 牟融 Mou Rong
金剛經 * Jingangjing (Jin) 鳩摩羅什 Kumarajiva (transl.)
妙法蓮花經 * Miaofa lianhua jing (Jin) 鳩摩羅什 Kumarajiva (transl.)
涅槃經 * Niepanjing (Liu-Song) 釋慧嚴 Monk Huiyan (transl.)
無量壽經 * Wuliangshou jing (Wei) 康僧鎧 Sanghavarman (transl.)
佛國記 FoguojiGeography (Jin) 釋法顯 Monk Faxian
洛陽伽藍記 Luoyang qielan jiGeography (Northern Wei) 楊衒之 Yang Xuanzhi
大唐西域記 Da-Tang xiyu jiGeography (Tang) 釋玄奘 Monk Xuanzang
心經 * Xinjing (Tang) 釋玄奘 Monk Xuanzang (transl.)
六祖壇經 (續修) Liuzu tanjing (Tanjing) (Tang) 釋惠能 Monk Huineng
比丘尼傳 四卷 (續修) Biqiuni zhuan (Liang) 釋寳唱 Monk Baochang
高僧傳 十三卷 (續修) Gaosengzhuan (Liang) 釋慧皎 Monk Huijiao
續高僧傳 三十一卷 (續修) Xu gaosengzhuan (Tang) 釋道宣 Monk Daoxuan
宋高僧傳 三十卷 Song gaosengzhuan (Song) 釋贊寧 Monk Zanning
補續高僧傳 三十一卷 (續修) Buxu gaosengzhuan (Ming) 釋明河 Monk Minghe
神僧傳 九卷 (續修) Shensengzhuan (Ming) 朱棣 Zhu Di (明成祖 Emperor Ming Chengzu)
(大)明高僧傳 八卷 (續修) (Da)-Ming gaosengzhuan (Ming) 釋如惺 Monk Ruxing
五燈會元 二十卷 Wudeng huiyuan (Song) 釋普濟 Monk Puji
* not included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目題要, nor the Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.