Hanshan Tang Books

FAYFM1
Fayun: FANYI MINGYI JI. Collected Translations of Terms and Concepts. 翻譯名義集。法雲。合肥蒯氏帶耕草堂施貲敬刊 / 光緒四年秋九月金陵刻經處識. Hefei / Nanjing, 1878. 1-3; 4-6; 7-10; 11-13; 14-16; 17-20 juan in 6 fascicles. 6 vols. 25x16 cm. Stitched.
GBP 750.00
Fine Guangxu edition of an important early reference work for Chinese Buddhist Studies. The brief colophon in fascicle six indicates that a Mrs. [possibly Mr.] Kuai of Hefei funded the "respectful [re]cutting" of this edition and that it was registered in the well-known JInling Scriptures Woodcutting (or Engraving) Office [處], likely as a merit-gaining act of scholarly piety. The Kuai family was an important one in Hefei and the 'Jinling Office', established 1866, became renowned for disseminating Buddhist scripture, scholarship, and religious paraphernalia.
The work itself is mentioned in Professor Soothill's preface to the first authoritative English-language reference on the subject: "Convinced, therefore, that until an adequate dictionary was in existence, the study of Far Eastern Buddhist texts could make little progress amongst foreign students in China, I began the formation of such a work. In 1921 I discovered in Bodley's Library, Oxford, an excellent version of the 翻譯名義集 Fan I Ming I Chi, i.e. 'Translation of Terms and Meanings', composed by 法雲 Fa-yun, circa the tenth [sic] century A.D." This work, then, was one of the chief authorities for Soothill & Hodous, 'A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms' (Kegan Paul, 1937).
Fayun [thus in pinyin] (1085-1158) took twenty years to complete, in 1143, the original version of his dictionary. He was a member of the Tiantai sect of Chinese Buddhism. His dictionary was intended to reconcile early and later Chinese translations from Buddhist scripture in Sanskrit. It was cited as the fountainhead for scholarship of its kind by the famous late Qing, early Republican authority, Zhang Binglin (aka Taiyan).
Complete and clean inside. Original title label for sixth fascicle only. Much later bookseller's label on first fascicle indicating that this exemplar was purchased in Hong Kong before turning up in a US auction, where we acquired it. Apart from the intrinsic interest of the text, this book is fine example of late Qing printing, and is particularly notable in demonstrating, through the 'Jinling Office', a commitment to the dissemination of Buddhist thought and culture in what seem to have been high quality but relatively affordable editions, perhaps comparable to the similarly motivated book production undertaken by more scholarly, intellectual western missionaries in East Asia, at more or less the same time.
Subjects: Buddhism Reference
Item 413 in List 206.
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