Introduction

The Fozu tongji 佛祖統紀 (T 2035, Comprehensive History of the Buddhist Patriarchs) is a massive work of Buddhist historiography composed by the Southern Song monk Zhipan 志磐 (ca. 1220–1275). The present translation project, which is intended to have three volumes, refers to a part of the Fozu tongji entitled “Fayun tongsai zhi” 法運通塞志 (Monograph on Success and Obstructions in the Spread of the ). The “Fayun tongsai zhi,” covering Fozu tongji, juan 34–48, is an annalistic chronicle of in . It goes through Chinese history dynasty by dynasty, ruler by ruler, and year by year, list- ing events following the chronological order. With the present project I intend to offer a complete translation of the “Fayun tongsai zhi.” In the present vol- ume, I translate the first five juan (i.e. Fozu tongji, juan 34–38), which contain the annals referring to the in China from the time of the birth of the Buddha in the 26th year of King Zhao of Zhou 周昭王 to the end of the Nanbeichao period. In the second volume I will translate the next four juan of the “Fayun tongsai zhi” (i.e. Fozu tongji, juan 39–42), which have previously been translated by Jan Yün-hua,1 and refer to the history of Buddhism from the Sui dynasty to the end of the Wudai period. In the third volume I will translate the remaining six juan of the “Fayun tongsai zhi” (i.e. Fozu tongji, juan 43–48), which refer to the history of Buddhism in the Song dynasty up to the year 1236, the third year of the duanping 端平 era of the Southern Song emperor Lizong 理宗. With regard to the overall textual structure of the “Fayun tongsai zhi,” it needs to be explained that apart from the main text, the work contains sup- plements, commentary passages, and annotations. Supplements are enhance- ments added to the main text in the end of some of the juan: In the end of juan 35 we find the supplements for juan 34 and 35. In the end of juan 36 there are supplements again. In the end of juan 37 there are no supplements. In the end of juan 38 there is a supplement, which is however excluded from the transla- tion, as it repeats things that have previously already been said. Shi Daofa 釋 道法 has published a modern edition of the Fozu tongji, which integrates the supplements into the annalistic display fitting them in wherever they chrono- logically belong.2 In the present translation project I do however not follow this

1 Jan Yün-hua, A Chronicle of Buddhism in China, 581–960A.D.: Translations from Monk Chih- P’an’s Fo-Tsu-T’ung-Chi (Santiniketan: Visva Bharati, 1966). 2 Shi Daofa 釋道法, Fozu tongji xiaozhu 佛祖統紀校注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2012).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004396494_002 2 introduction approach. Instead I translate the text of the “Fayun tongsai zhi” as it appears in the Taishō. Commentary passages are designed to provide further informa- tion on a subject of an entry in the main text or also on a subject of an entry in a supplement. They therefore appear subsequent to the entry they refer to, and are in the present translation project presented as indented to the text of this entry. Annotations appear within the main text, within supplements and within commentary passages. They are of very different content. Those that carry important information are in the present translation project translated in footnotes to the relevant passage. It is however also seen that annotations run to great length pointing out the Chinese equivalents of certain terms and explaining their original meaning. Since today this sort of information is easily accessible, such annotations are excluded from the translation presented in the current translation project. The main intention of the “Fayun tongsai zhi” is to present a positive image of Buddhism in China, and to demonstrate that the presence of Buddhism at all times brought blessings, created miracles, and was of advantage to the country. This intention was common to Chinese Buddhist historiography since its begin- nings in Nanbeichao times. To the Chinese saṃgha, Buddhist historiographic writing was a means of making Buddhism prevail in the face of anti-Buddhist agitation. The charges brought up against Buddhism were manifold. Rather than listing them exhaustively, I would like to point to one essential charge, which in particular was predestined for counters from Buddhist historiogra- phy. Confucian scholars claimed that in the Chinese antiquity the Confucian sages (shengren, 聖人) established the ideal state of “great peace” (taiping, 太 平), which was regarded as the source of all teachings worth being studied. To Confucian scholars Buddhism, as a teaching from the lands of the “barbar- ians,” was not based on this ancient Chinese wisdom treasury and was there- fore seen as an unwelcome defilement of the Chinese high culture. Reacting to this Confucian understanding, Chinese Buddhist historiographic literature seeks to introduce a counter-concept, allowing the presence of Buddhism in China to appear in a more favorable light. Part of the strategy Chinese Bud- dhist historiography employed in this context was to implant Buddhism into the Chinese antiquity, which made Buddhism appear as part of the wisdom treasury associated with that age.3 As an expression of this strategy, the history of Buddhism in China presented in the “Fayun tongsai zhi” begins right with the Buddha. According to a tradition deeply rooted in Chinese Buddhist historiog-

3 Thomas Jülch, der Apologetik: die Mission des buddhistischen Tang-Mönchs Falin (München: Utz, 2014), vol. 1, 78–85.