Buddhist legends

Author: (Ming) Shi Baocheng
Translator: Li Kehe / Shi Kuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The vernacular translation of the woodblock print Complete Biography of Immortal Deities into a popular bilingual edition Chinese Immortals was published by Yuelu Press and immediately attracted widespread attention. As for the reasons, we believe that the combination of illustrations, bilingual Chinese-English text, vivid folk customs, and ancient-style binding may be the key to capturing readers' interest and academic attention. Its sister volume Legends of Buddhism was thus born. The compilation of this book primarily adopts the woodblock print edition of Origin of the Buddhist School from the 22nd year of the Conghua era (1486) of the Ming Dynasty, and all illustrations are also sourced from it. Additionally, references were made to works such as Biographies of Eminent Monks by Huijiao of the Liang Dynasty, Continuation of Biographies of Eminent Monks by Daoyuan of the Tang Dynasty, and Biographies of Eminent Monks of the Song Dynasty by Zanning of the Song Dynasty. Given that Buddhist technical terms are often unfamiliar to general readers, the English translation is particularly challenging. During the compilation, we generally focused on introducing the essence of the stories and strived for clarity and simplicity.