Jiaxing Sutra
'Jiaxing Sutra', named as 'Jingshan Sutra' as well, is
a precious version of Sutra made in late Ming and early Qing. The
selection of content last from late Emperor Jiajing's Reign and early
Emporer Longqing's Reign to Empor Yijun's Reign in Ming Dynasty. Carving
of this Sutra began in the 17th year of Yijun's Reign at Mountain
Wutan, Shanxi and 500 pages got done within one year. In the 20th
year, the carving work was moved to Jingshan, Yuhang County, Zhejiang
Province to avoid the cold weather. Later the carve work was carried
on in Jiaxing, Wujiang, Jintan, etc. It wasn't finished until the
15th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in Qing Dynasty, (A.D 1676). Lengyan
Temple in Jiaxing collected the sutra boards and printed them to publish.
The whole sutra was divided into three parts, main sutra, continued
sutra, following sutra.
Jiaxing Sutra means a lot either in Buddhism history or edition history.
Especially its format changed from Fan clipping into string-winding
square booklet to make it more portable. Jiaxing Sutra didn't only
bring a revolution in printing and issuing of Buddhist Sutra but also
in content. It includes many local anecdotes and historic facts which
are valuable historic materials during Ming and Qing Dynasty. Based
on the Jiaxing Library robbed books list made after the war, there
are 28 kinds, 45 booklets of Great Buddhist Sutra robbed away by enemies.
In 2008, Jiaxing Library learnt of publishing of Jiaxing Sutra's copy
by Taiwan Press and introduced this worldwide reputable sutra in.
Jiaxing Sutra is the most famous and distinctive among all the sutra
printed during late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Zhenke (Master Zibo)
first began to print and publish it at the 17th year of Emperor Yijun's
Reign in Ming Dynasty (A.D 1579). Lengyan Temple in Jiaxing was in
charge of publishing the booklet of Great Buddhist Sutra. Since the
main carving boards and sutra boards are stored in Jingshan, Yuhang,
it is also called Jingshan Sutra. Based on the record of Jiaxing,
there were only one or two kinds done by that time. In the 12th year
of Emperor Yijun's Reign (A.D 1584), After getting the permission
the mother of Emperor Yijun, Zhenke and other monks from Jingshan
and Hanshan commenced to raise funds and in the 17th year of Emperor
Yijun's Reign (A.D 1589), they started the carving work of the Great
Buddhist Sutra at Temple Miaode, Mountain Wutai. Zhenke devoted all
his life to the issue of Great Buddhist Sutra. The whole Jiaxing Sutra's
carving was completed at the 46th year of Emperor Kangxi's Reign in
Qing Dynasty (A.D 1707) by students of Master Zibo, lasting 129 years
in total. Among all the Great Buddhist Sutra of all ages, it lasts
longest and had the most chapters. In the period of Emperor Yongzheng's
Reign in Qing Dynasty, it was supplemented and re-carved. Monk Yunchong
of Rock Buddha Temple is the first person in Jiaxing's Buddhism who
realized the importance of 'Jiaxing Sutra' and kept the Sutra in custody
after Master Zibo. He rebuilt the scripture storage room for storing
'Jiaxing Sutra'.
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