The Collection for the Propagation and Clarification of Buddhism Volume I

Translated by Harumi Hideko Ziegler, the first of a two-volume translation of the Hongmingji (Jp. Gumyoshu) is a collection of discourses, criticisms and responses to anti-Buddhist discourses, correspondence, reports to the emperor, family codes, and written appeals by Buddhist laypeople and monks, mostly from the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420) through the second decade of the sixth century of the Liang dynasty, compiled by the Vinaya master Shi Sengyou (445-518). These writings were intended to protect the Buddhist Dharma from interference by followers of teachings based on Confucianism and Daoism and by the political powers of the time, and to promulgate Buddhism. Volume I comprises fascicles 1-7 of the text; Volume II will include the remaining fascicles 8-14.