Though the traditional Tripitaka is favorable to preserve, it may not be convenient for people of modern times to read. And in terms of the compilation of the Tripitaka, while many photocopied editions are still in circulation, there are other important editions like: 《崇宁藏》the Chongningzang、《毗卢藏》the Piluzang、《资福藏》 the Zifuzang、《普宁藏》 the Puningzang、《永乐南藏》the Yongle Nanzang, etc have not been photocopied and opened to the public. Most editions of the Tripitaka of the past generations are now cultural relics, especially those of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Some are extinct, (for example: 《开宝藏》 the Kaibaozang、《契丹藏》 the Qidanzang), some are rare unique and fragmentary editions (《赵城藏》the Zhaochengzang is the only unique edition in the world.), and the rest are lost and kept overseas, (《崇宁藏》the Chongningzang、《毗卢藏》the Piluzang are kept in Japan.) While the unabridged printed editions of Tripitaka of Ming and Qing dynasties are preserved well in mainland China, the circulation is quite limited and these editions of Tripitaka are monastic offerings/treasures of the Buddhist communities. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Japanese Buddhist monks initiated a campaign to re-edit the 《万字续藏》the Wangzi Xuzang and the《大正藏》the Taisho Tripitaka, these two editions were frequently used among the Buddhist and academic communities. During the republic of China, 《频伽藏》the Pinjiazang and《普慧藏》the Puhuizang ( printed in a movable type and arranged in a lead tablets) have been published. From that time on, China has not witnessed the large-scale official activities of compiling the Tripitaka. In the 1930s, the 《碛砂藏》the Qishazang of the Song dynasty was discovered at the 开元Kaiyuan and 卧龙 Wolong temple in Xian city, this discovery aroused Chinese Buddhist scholars’ enthusiasm in compiling and researching the Tripitaka. In the following years, 《影印宋碛砂版大藏经》(Photocopied edition of the Qishazang of the Song dynasty) was published by Shanghai Buddhist monks and lay practitioners. Meanwhile, 《赵城藏》the Zhaochengzang was discovered in Shanxi province and 《宋藏遗珍》 the Songzang Yizhen was edited and photocopied from 《赵城藏》the Zhaochengzang. 蒋唯心 Jiang Weixin, a disciple of the renowned Buddhist scholar 欧阳渐 Ou Yangjian, issued an article entitled 《金藏雕印始末考》(on the process of the printing of the Jinzang.) In the 1950s, a project of re-editing 《中华藏》 the Chinese Tripitaka was first put forward by a scholar named 蔡运辰Cai Yunchen from Taiwan island. In 1956, the committee of compiling and editing the Chinese Tripitaka was established in Taiwan and 26 years later (1982) the Taiwanese edition of the Chinese Tripitaka was published. In the beginning of the 1960s, Buddhist monks from mainland China also proposed a project of re-editing the Chinese Tripitaka and Mr. Lu Cheng 吕澄wrote a book entitled 《新编汉文大藏经目录》(The index of the new edition of the Chinese Tripitaka), but the Cultural Revolution occurred and this project was not carried out.

After making a comprehensive observation on different editions of the Tripitaka from both home and abroad, one can notice that all these editions have some flaws such as: fragmentary collection, disarranging typesetting, etc and are not ideal editions.

2. The propagation and translation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka

The Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka is a whole collection of Sutta-pitaka (The Basket of Buddha’s discourses), Vinaya-pitaka (The Basket of Disciplines) and Abhidamma-pitaka (The Basket of commentary) which experienced a long-term process of translation, compilation and composition after Buddhism was first entered into China. It is largely circulated among the Chinese Han ethnic group, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, etc. The earliest Buddhist scriptures translation activity was taken during the reign of恒帝Emperor Heng (147-167) and 灵帝(168-189) Emperor Ling of the late Han dynasty and the pioneering translators were安息国的安世高An Shigao of Parthia and 月支国的支娄迦谶Lokasema of Kusana who left their home countries to China. The following dynasties (Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties) witnessed a golden age of the development of Chinese Buddhism and the translation project took place on a large-scale and the quality of the translation works improved. In the dynasties of Sui and Tang, the translation project was supported by the ruling class and the imperial state organized an official译场 Yichang (a place where Buddhist scriptures were translated) and a strict set of rules and regulations of translation was established. The sequences of a translation work were arranged in nine steps: reading the Sanskrit text, meaning research, textual research, examining the sound, oral instruction, composing the Chinese, consulting other translations, 刊定、polishing the final work, in this way, the quality of a translation work was guaranteed. The Sui and Tang dynasties witnessed a golden age in the translation of Buddhist scriptures, but this situation declined in the following dynasties. In the Northern Song dynasty, though the Buddhist scriptures translation project was not interrupted, only a few groups or individuals engaged in this work. In its two thousand years, a massive volume of Buddhist scriptures were translated and a large number of translators were trained. According to statistics, the living Buddhist scriptures which were certainly translated from countries of the Indian subcontinent are around 1482 scriptures, (5702 volumes) Besides those re-translated texts, there are 4400 volumes, among these 1400 volumes belonged to Theravada, 3000 volumes to Vinaya-pitaka, Sutta-pitaka and Abhidamma-pitaka which are Mahayana’s, these scriptures are equal to 2.5 million Sanskrit odes. From the late Han dynasty to the end of the Northern Song dynasty (2—12 century), around 150 people directly participated in this translation project during the past 1000 years.

Among these translators, there were 71 Buddhist monks and scholars who came from the Indian subcontinent, 鸠摩罗什Kumarajiva, 真谛Paramattha, 玄奘Xuanzang and 不空Amoghavajra were regarded as “the four giants” in the history of Chinese translation.

3. The Characteristics of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka