In 516, during the period Hsî-phing, the Chinese Shâman Wei-shang was sent to the West to collect Sûtras and Vinayas, and brought back a collection of 170 books. He is not, however, mentioned as a translator in the K'ai-yuen-lu.
In 518 Sung-yun, sent by the queen of the Wei country from Lo-yang to India, returned after three years, with 175 volumes. He lived to see Bodhidharma in his coffin. This Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth patriarch, had arrived in Canton by sea in 528, in the time of Wu-ti, the first Emperor of the Liang dynasty. Some Sanskrit MSS. that had belonged to him, and other relics, are still preserved in Japan.[107]
In the time of the Emperor Wû, of the Northern Kâu dynasty (561-577), a Shâman, Wei-yüan-sung, accused the Buddhist priests, and the Emperor persecuted them. But in the first year of Kao-tsu, the founder of the Sui dynasty, in 589, toleration was again proclaimed. He ordered the people to pay a certain sum of money, according to the number of the members of each family, for the purpose of preparing Sûtras (the Buddhist canon) and images. And the Government caused copies of the whole Buddhist canon to be made, and placed them in certain temples or monasteries in the capital, and in several other large cities, in such provinces as Ping-kâu, Hsiang-kâu, Lo-kâu, etc. And the Government caused also another copy to be made and to be deposited in the Imperial Library. The Buddhist sacred books among the people were found to be several hundred times more numerous than those on the six Kings of Confucius. There were 1,950 distinct Buddhist books translated.
In the period Tâ-yeh (605-616) the Emperor ordered the Shâman Ki-kwo to compose a catalogue of the Buddhist books at the Imperial Buddhist chapel within the gate of the palace. He then made some divisions and classifications, which were as follows:—
The Sûtras which contained what Buddha had spoken were arranged under three divisions:—
1. The Mahâyâna.
2. The Hînayâna.
3. The Mixed Sûtras.
Other books, that seemed to be the productions of later men, who falsely ascribed their works to greater names, were classed as Doubtful Books.
There were other works in which Bodhisattvas and others went deeply into the explanation of the meaning, and illustrated the principles of Buddha. These were called Disquisitions, or Sâstras. Then there were Vinaya, or compilations of precepts, under each division as before, Mahâyâna, Hînayâna, Mixed. There were also Records, or accounts of the doings in their times of those who had been students of the system. Altogether there were eleven classes under which the books were arranged:—
| 1. Sûtra. | Mahâyâna | 617 in 2,076 chapters. |
| Mixed | 487 in 852 chapters. | |
| Mixed and doubtful | 172 in 336 chapters. | |
| 2. Vinaya. | Mahâyâna | 52 in 91 chapters. |
| Hînayâna | 80 in 472 chapters. | |
| Mixed | 27 in 46 chapters. | |
| 3. Sâstra. | Mahâyâna | 35 in 141 chapters. |
| Hînayâna | 41 in 567 chapters. | |
| Mixed | 51 in 437 chapters. | |
| Total | 1962 in 6,198 chapters. |
Search for Sanskrit MSS. in China.