Fǎyuàn Zhūlín Xiàozhù (Complete 6 Volumes)

Author: (Tang) Shi Daoshi, edited by Zhou Shuji and Su Jinren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-12-01
Features:
Fayuan Zhulin, written by Shi Daoshi of the Tang Dynasty. The eminent monk of the Song Dynasty, Fu Shi Daoshi, highly praised this book. He described it as "gathering the essence of Wenquan, sniffing the fragrance of Daixi's peony, and compiling them into categories, totaling one hundred chapters. Scholars can easily grasp the key points. It took ten years to complete and was circulated throughout the world. This book was completed in the first year of Zongzhang in the Tang Dynasty (668) and was first recorded in Da Tang Neidian Lu by Daoxuan in Volume 5. It was included in the Buddhist canon during the Song Dynasty. The Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing canons were all in 100 volumes, except for the Jiaoyu Canon, which was revised to 120 volumes. The Siku Catalog and the Complete Collection of Four Treasuries were both based on the Jiaoyu Canon. However, the ancient copies did not match the volume count, and the chapter order was chaotic, with continuous leaves, disintegrated chapters, and segments scattered, making it difficult to search. During the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty, the Jiang family of Changshu's Yan Garden published a revised version, restoring it to 100 volumes. Jiang Ming'en, known as Yan Garden Master, was originally the magistrate of Qian County in Shandong. In the first year of Xisi (1821), he was exiled for an incident, and his concubine Dong Shu decided to publish this book. She corrected errors and restored the original 100 volumes. The details are found in the preface to the reprinted Fayuan Zhulin and the postscript to the reprinted edition. The current annotations are based on this edition. This book is in the form of a classified encyclopedia. The citations include sources, identifying them as coming from specific scriptures, decrees, or works. For those heard or seen but without recorded sources, it is clearly stated based on the observations of a certain person. The sources are well-documented, not fictional, and highly consistent with historical methods. As a result, since its inclusion in the Siku Catalog, Qing Dynasty scholars have particularly valued this book, and many bibliographies of various collections have recorded it.