Open Collections

Landry, Nelson

Database of Religious History (DRH)

The Ji shenzhou sanbao gantong lu 集神州三寶感通錄 is a collection of miracle tales completed in 664 by the Tang dynasty scholar monk Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667). Miracle tales record the accounts of monks, lay believers, patrons, of sacred places as well as religious objects, structures, and scriptures. These stories are didactic by nature, teaching of the supremacy of the Buddhist faith by recounting miraculous events related to acts of spreading the Teaching (hongfa 弘法) and defending Buddhism in the face of adversity (hufa 護法). After gathering sources for decades out in the field and in the libraries of the Ximing Monastery 西明寺, Chang’an, Daoxuan completed this text at the secluded Jingye Monastery 靜業寺 in the Zhongnan mountains near the capital. Daoxuan and Daoshi 道世 (d. 683) collaborated at Ximing, and many of the accounts that appear in the Record of Miracles, also appear in Daoshi’s great Buddhist encyclopedia, the Fayuan zhulin 法苑珠林 (A Forest of Pearls from the Dharma Garden). A quick glance at the sources used in the Record of Miracles reveals that the two primary outside sources used were the Mingxiang ji 冥祥記 (Records of Signs From the Unseen Realm; c.490) by Wang Yan 王琰 and the Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳 (Biographies of Eminent Monks; c.530) by Huijiao 慧皎—two foundational texts in the biography and miracle tale tradition. Additionally, Daoxuan was an assiduous recorder of Buddhist history who did not fail to read official sources, especially the court histories such as the Wei shu 魏書 (History of the Wei), the Liang shu 梁書 (History of the Liang), and the Zhou shu 周書 (History of the [Northern] Zhou). He also took from sources concerned with local history, often referring to geographical works, gazetteers as well as local records. The Record of Miracles is divided into five thematic sections distributed over three fascicles. These sections are (1) the miracles relating to Buddhist relics (Skt. śarīra) and the pagodas that mark their location (sheli biaota 舍利表塔) in the first fascicle; (2) the miracles relating to the discovery of numinous Buddhist images (lingxiang chuilong 靈像垂降) in the second fascicle; (3) finally, the miracles relating to holy monasteries (shengsi 聖寺), (4) numinous teachings (lingjiao 靈教), (5) and extraordinary monks (shenseng 神僧) in the third fascicle. The overarching themes of this text revolve around the tripartite classification of Buddhist religious life into different “Jewels” (Skt. triratna; Ch. sanbao 三寶), with separate sections of the text corresponding to separate aspects of the Three Jewels. Following this thematic schema, (1) the sections on relics, pagodas and images correspond to the buddhas; (2) the section on auspicious scriptures corresponds to the teachings; (3) the sections on holy monasteries and extraordinary monks correspond to the monastic community.

Other

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0422077

Non UBC

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/