Early period In India, the
early Buddhist teachings were collected into canons called
tripiṭaka (‘three baskets’; Chin. 三藏 sānzàng ‘three stores’ or ‘three repositories’). Most canons contained sūtras (discourses of the Buddha, 經 jīng), monastic rule texts (vinaya; 律 lǜ); and scholastic treatises (abhidharma; 阿毘曇 āpítán or 阿毗達磨 āpídámó). Initially these sources were transmitted orally but later they were written down into various manuscript collections. Each of the
Indian Buddhist schools had their own canon, which could differ significantly from that of other schools and be in different languages (
prakrits like
Gandhari and
Pali, as well as classic
Sanskrit and
Hybrid Sanskrit). Some schools had extra pitakas or divisions, including a
Dharani Pitaka, or
Bodhisattva Pitakas. According to Guangchang Fang, the history of the Chinese Buddhist Canon can be divided into four main periods: the handwriting era (from the Han up to the 10th century) which was also the era of intense translation effort, the era of
woodblock printing (beginning in the Song dynasty with the Kaibao edition of the 10th century), the era of modern
printing, and the
digital era. transporting Buddhist scriptures to China The first Chinese translations of Buddhist texts appeared during the later Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Ming (r. 58–75 ce). The first sutra to be translated is said to be the
Sutra of Forty-two Sections (四十二章經 sìshíèr zhāng jīng). Later figures were native Chinese who traveled to India and studied Sanskrit texts there, like
Faxian (法顯, c. 337–422 ce) and
Xuanzang (玄奘, 602–664 ce). Most translators who produced significant translations did not work alone, making use of teams of translators and scribes. Thus, the texts of the Chinese canon were translated by various figures from different source texts (in different forms of Sanskrit and prakrit). This process happened over several centuries and thus the various texts of the Chinese canon reflect different translation styles and philosophies. Jiang Wu writes that "for about a thousand years, translating, cataloging, and digesting these texts became a paramount task for Chinese Buddhists." From the Han to the Song dynasty era, many translations were made and made new texts were also composed in China. During the
Eastern Jin and the
Sui Dynasties, the earliest canons were compiled using
manuscripts. Alongside the study, translation and copying of these numerous texts, Chinese Buddhists spent much time organizing, classifying and cataloguing them. In this effort, Chinese Buddhists were also influenced by the work of Confucian cataloging, especially the work of
Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE). A key milestone in the organization of the canon was the compilation of the
Kaiyuan Catalogue (Kāiyuán Shìjiàolù, 開元釋教錄,
Kaiyuan Era Record of Buddhist Teachings, Taishō Tripitaka No. 2154) during the
Tang dynasty by the monk
Zhisheng (699-740). This Kaiyuan set of core texts became the defining feature of the Chinese Buddhist canon. Any collection that did not include these was not considered a complete canon. However, many monasteries or temples who could not afford to maintain a full set would keep a “Small Canon” (xiaozang 小藏), which consisted of the essential Mahayana scriptures found within the canon. These are the Mahayana sutras contained in the first four sections of the canon: Prajñaparamita, Ratnakuta, Avatamsaka and Nirvana sections).
The print era Sutra'', in folded according style The developments of the early manuscript canons influenced the compilation of the first printed canon (the
Kaibao Canon) during the
Song dynasty. The Kaibao was completed in 983 and comprised 130,000 woodblocks, organized according to the Kaiyuan catalogue. After the Song, the manuscript canons gradually disappeared and were replaced by printed canons. However, the practice of
hand copying sutras remained an important religious practice, some figures famously copied sutras by hand in their own blood. Sutra copying was also retained as an elite art form that made use of ink mixed with gold and silver powder and produced richly decorated manuscripts. Temples also had special cabinets produced for storing canonical texts. These huge cabinets were called "tripitaka cabinets" and were of different designs. Some were built into the walls of a library, others were revolving repositories (lunzang 輪藏) that could be turned to easily access different texts. In the following one thousand years of Chinese Buddhist history, fifteen further editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon were constructed. Half of these were royal editions, supported by the
Imperial Court, while other canons were made through the efforts of laypersons and monastics. Monks, literati and even commoners also supported the copying and printing of the canon to a lesser extent, sometimes doing the copying themselves as a devotional practice or providing funds for a single page or a single block to be carved. The production and printing of the Chinese canon often relied on extensive administrative offices which supervised the project. Editions sponsored by the state were often produced by a specific government printing agency. During the
Ming, this was called the scripture factory (jingchang 經廠) and it was run by eunuchs. Furthermore, at the local level, various administrative agencies also oversaw the transfer of an imperial canon to a Buddhist monastery. In the Ming, this process was handled by the
Ministry of Rites. The process relied on numerous types of staff, including "the sponsors, supporters, chief fund raisers, assistant fund raisers, chief monks to manage the canon, chief monks to manage the print blocks, collators and proofreaders, carvers, and printing workers." Yet another common practice was the circumambulation around the canon stored in a Tripitaka Hall which was accompanied by chanting. == Language ==