思溪藏•妙法蓮華經 / Saddharma Pundarika Sutra in Sixi Tripitaka
After becoming enlightened, the Buddha, Gautama Buddha, gave mystic teachings in various incarnations. This edition of Saddharma Pundarika Sutra (Lotus sutra), was translated by Kumarajiva of Later Qin (384‒417) and contained the teachings that Shakyamuni (Gautama Buddha) gave in his later years at the Vulture Peak Mountain near Rajagaha (present-day Rajgir, India). It was one of the early Mahayana sutras. Sixi zang. Miao fa lian hua jing (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra in Sixi Tripitaka) was printed in the Southern Song (1127‒1279). Miao fa in the title means supreme mystic teachings and lian hua (the lotus) is a metaphor for purity. The work was printed privately during the Song dynasty and had two editions. The first, entitled Yuanjue Tripitaka, also called Tripitaka of Sixi Yuanjue Monastery of Huzhou, Huzhou Edition, Sixi Yuanjue Tripitaka, and Former Sixi Tripitaka, was printed with the funds of Wang Yongcong of Huzhou and his family and donations solicited by the Daci and Yuanjue monasteries. The printing began in the last year of Northern Song (1127) and was completed in the second year (1132) of the Shaoxing era of Southern Song. It consisted of 1,435 sutras, in 5,480 juan, and in 548 cases, which were numbered with characters from Qian zi wen (Thousand-character essay), from tian to he. Juan 1‒7 of this work are presented here. The other edition, entitled Zifu Tripitaka, also called Tripitaka of Sixi Fabao Zifu Monastery of Anji Prefecture, Sixi Zifu Tripitaka, and Later Sixi Tripitaka, was printed at Zifu Monastery of Anji Prefecture (present-day Wuxing, Zhejiang). The printing began after the publication of Former Sixi Tripitaka and was completed in the second year (1175) of the Chunxi era of Southern Song. The later work collected 1,459 sutras, in 5,940 juan, in 599 cases that were numbered with characters from Qian zi wen, ranging from tian to zui. Its format was the same as the earlier edition. Some scholars consider it as an enlarged edition of Yuanjue Tripitaka, citing as reasons that Huzhou was later renamed Anji Prefecture and that the Sixi Yuanjue Monastery was later granted the name of Fabao Zifu Monastery. The contents of the first 548 cases were exactly the same in the two editions. The enlarged portion by the Zifu Monastery starts with the case marked by the character ji and continues to the end.
