First: its massiveness. Since most of the original Indian Buddhist scriptures are lost and in order to understand the history of the Indian Buddhism, the Chinese translation works are the most important references. Second: in terms of its quantity, the Tibetan Buddhist Tripitaka is no less than the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka. Though the Chinese Buddhist scriptures were translated into Tibetan language in the eighth century, today’s most read and recited scriptures were translated in the fifth century. In the sixth and seventh century, the project of translating the main Buddhist scriptures into Chinese was done. That is to say, the Chinese translation works can best reflect the golden age of Indian Buddhism. Third: there are different translated versions of the same sutra. Though the same Buddhist scripture in India might change with the passing of time and be re-edited or added to, it is likely that some of the ancient classics were lost. The content of these remaining classics witnessed the old and new forms, so the traces of change can be searched out. Fourth: because there is a fairly accurate record f Chinese translation projects, the history of Indian classics can be re-constructed. However, that does not mean that there are no flaws in the Chinese translated scriptures, for the simple reason that both the history of Chinese and Indian classics are very long and its development is varied. Thus, the Chinese translation works might be faithful to their original Indian texts. This concern was fully considered in鸠摩罗什Kumarajiva’s Chinese translated scriptures, other works which were done after玄奘Xuanzang paid more attention to the fidelity of their original texts. Even though, in order to conform to the Chinese writing and reading practice and make the translated scriptures easier for people to read and understand, sometimes traces of re-editing the original texts can be found. Like in modern times, when people try to translate other languages into English, he / she might sacrifice the fidelity to the original texts for the proper expression of the English. Even when people translate from foreign languages that are similar to English, (like French and German), it is difficult to trace the original texts from the English translation works. This situation is also applicable to the Chinese Buddhist translated scriptures. It might not proper to regard this as a flaw, but from the perspective of textual criticism, it is really a thorny issue. For it is difficult to translate Sanskrit into Chinese literally.[5]

Ⅱ. Some significant explorations in the compilation, propagation and translation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in modern times

1. The compilation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in modern times

After 1978, Mr. 任继愈Ren Jiyu, the director of the institute of world religions, was appointed to organize a group of scholars to edit 《中华大藏经》 the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka. This compiling and editing project officially began on August 1982, after 13 years’ and more than 160 scholars’ assiduous endeavors, this colossal project which contains 1939 different Buddhist scriptures and around 100 million Chinese characters was finished in the end of 1994 and all 106 volumes were published by 中华书局 Zhonghua Book Company in 1997. This was a great achievement in compiling and researching the Buddhist Tripitaka after the founding of the people’s republic of China in 1949. 《中华大藏经》 the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka is the best among all writing, block-print, contemporary and digital editions because it used modern printing technology and resulted from 13 years’ of assiduous textual cleanup efforts. The history of the development of Chinese Buddhist scriptures witnessed a new edition and this edition has established its own unique status.

The compilation of Buddhist Tripitaka in modern times is not simply a task of re-printing. Currently, key attention has been placed on textual cleanup. In the year of 2007, the project of compilation and publishing the first edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka with punctuation was officially began. As one of the largest publishing projects in China, it is estimated by the members of the compiling committee of the Buddhist Tripitaka that the new edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka will contain around 300 million Chinese characters and its 300 volumes will be published in 5 years. More than 100 renowned Buddhist scholars and monks around China constitute the compiling committee and they hope this new edition will become the most comprehensive in collections, most authoritative in editions and most convenient in reading by adopting a method of comprehensive collection, comparison, punctuation, compilation, unification of format and a scientific arrangement.

2. The digitalization of the Buddhist Tripitaka

After the 1990s, the digitalization of Buddhist scriptures became a world wide trend. In 1993, a huge project---the digitalization of 《高丽藏》the Korean Tripitaka---was organized by海印寺Haeinsa Temple in South Korea. This project was finished on May 2000 and the CD was also made available. Later, Buddhist scholars from the Island of Taiwan organized中华电子佛典协会the CBETA (Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association) and began to create electronic version of 《大正藏》the Taisho Tripitaka which is widely circulated today. We are in the transition process between contemporary printing and the digital period. The digitalization of the Buddhist Tripitaka not only saves space but also will change the mode of circulation. Thus it will facilitate the popularization and application of the Buddhist Tripitaka. Modern scholars can use the computer to read the Buddhist scriptures and quickly obtain related information by applying the searching method. However, no matter how developed the computer technology is, the religious practitioners’ true self-cultivation experience must still be advanced by reading the Buddhist scriptures in a tranquil way. The traditional method of reading can not be replaced by typing on the keyboard because the delicate feelings of mind and soul need to be attained by reading and reciting the Buddhist sutras one page after another.

Ⅲ. The right time and good karma for the compilation, propagation and translation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka