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Buddhist Literature

Sources: Chinese Canon

From the first century onwards the available Buddhist texts were systematically translated into Chinese, not as an authoritative collection of texts, but in function of the works that arrived from India, and as a series of consensual canonically recognized books.

There is no solid structure, but several distinct translation levels can be distinguished:

In a first period (1st until 4th century) we find mostly transliterations (see before under languages) and we notice the search for identification with Taoist terminology.
In the second very productive period (6th-7th century) there is the search for a very precise Chinese rendering of texts. Translation becomes a teamwork, the goal is optimal accuracy yet easily readable texts.
In a third period, ranging from the T’ang through Sung Dynasties, we see more liberal translations and a certain ‘loss’ of the Indian character of the texts. This is also the period of the so-called apocrypha.

The redaction of the “Canon” follows the leading principles of every publisher (i.e. according to preference, availability or novelty). The first edition is published in 581 CE. Although the traditional name of Tripitaka (Ch.: san-tsang) is adopted, the term no longer applies to a strict division. The various schools use their own divisions or sort the texts according to their doctrinal value (e.g. the Critical Division of Chih-I), which led to the formation of various ‘cycles’ that conform more or less to the Sanskrit cycles:

The Wisdom cycle comprises mostly of Prajñaparamita sutras. Besides the aforementioned titles we also find:

· Astadasasahasrika-prajñaparamita sutra: PPS in 80.000 verses

· Mahaprajñaparamita sutra: PPS in 100.000 verses

· Vimalakirti-nirdesa sutra: “Talks with Vimalakirti”, especially important for the position of the layperson.

The Mahavaipulya cycle of “Extended Discourses” comprises sutras of a large size or collections of sutras centering around a central theme. Besides the Lotus Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra (which also exists in Sanskrit), we find:

· Mahaparinirvana sutra: “Sutra of the Great Entry into Nirvana”

· Avatamsaka sutra: “Garland Sutra” or “Flower wreath Sutra”

Both of these sutras had a great influence on the evolution of Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan.

The Pure Land cycle contains 215 titles, all centered around non-historical Buddha’s or Bodhisattva’s, such as Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha), Maitreya (Future Buddha), Avalokitesvara (Bodhisattva of Compassion), Ksitigarbha, and most important Amitabha. Concerning this last Buddha 3 titles are traditionally important:

· Sukhavativyuha sutra: both in a long and a short version; and

· Amitayurdhyana sutra: “Meditation Sutra”, which is regarded by some as a Chinese apocryphal work.

The Vinaya part of the Chinese canon contains 86 texts of various Hinayana schools.

Remarkable also is the presence of 572 tantric texts, some of which are not found in Tibetan.

The part that is dedicated to the Abhidharma Pitaka is mostly based on authors (commentators – sastra-writers). The texts are not attributed to the Buddha. This Chinese Abhidharma (A-p’i-ta-mo) is not closed. The section consists of:

· Texts translated from Sanskrit

· Texts from Chinese Sastra-writers, and in the recent Taisho-edition:

· Texts from Japanese Sastra-writers.

As far as the contents are concerned we notice a big difference in the Chinese Abhidharma: commentaries, sub-commentaries, biographies, bibliographies and catalogues, polemic writings, travel documentaries, poems, dictionaries and lexicons, even texts from non-Buddhist teachings (a.o. texts of the Vaisesika, Samkhya, Manicheist, Nestorian,…).

The Chinese Tripitaka has been published several times since the T’ang-dynasty. The most recent edition (1924-1929) is the Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo, in 55 volumes, with appendixes up until 1934 (in total 100 volumes). This edition contains 13.512 ‘chuan’ (fascicles), some in more than one version. The text volume is about 120 times the size of the Bible (Old and New Testament).