A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka

This is a complete Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka, the Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan. It contains not only the titles of 1662 different works (of which 342, however, are miscellaneous works), but also the names of the authors and translators, together with their dates. The arrangement and classification of these works are the same as in the original Chinese Catalogue, i. E. N o. 1662. Notes taken from various sources are added under each title with their full references. A list of the principal authorities consulted by me will be found on p. Xxxii. Though I gladly and gratefully acknowledge the assistance received from my predecessors, there still remain such difficulties as were pointed out by the Rev. J. Summers in his Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese, Japanese, and Manchu books in the Library of the India Office, 1872 (p. Iv), when he says 'the title of a [chinese] hook is often untranslatable; the author's name is frequently out of sight, and has to be sought for in some obscure corner or work; the date of the publication is alike often doubtful, and in the case of Buddhist Literature the identification of the Chinese title with the Sanskrit original is sufficiently troublesom This quotation will to a certain extent explain the imperfection of my own work, for which I have to crave the indulgence of those who may use it.

My principal object in making this compilation has been to show the original, though it may be not quite scientific, arrangement Of this great Collection of our Sacred Canon, made in China under the Min dynasty, A. D. 1368 - 1644. A copy of the Japanese edition of this Chinese Collection, published in Japan in A. D. 1678 - 1681, is now in the Library of the India Office in London. 'it is this copy of the Sacred Books, ' says the Rev. S. Beal, that (in 1874) I requested His Excellency Iwakura Tomomi to procure for the India Ofiice Library. In 1875 the entire Tripitaka was received at the India Office, in fulfilment of the promise made by the Japanese Immediately after this, Mr. Beal prepared a Catalogue of the books for practical purposes which was completed in June 1876, within the time of six months 3.

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