Qìshā Canon 磧砂藏 (1933 - 1936)
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| Full title: Photographic Reprint of the Sòng Qìshā Scriptural Canon 影印宋磧砂藏經 Contributors: |
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The Qìshā Canon 磧砂藏 is an imprint of the Buddhist canon, published as a 591-volume photographic reprint in Shànghǎi 上海 between 1933 and 1936.
Carving of the blocks for the original version of this canon began in 1234 at Yánshèng Yuàn 延聖院 in Jiāngsū 江蘇. The temple's name was later changed to Qìshā Temple 磧砂寺. When the temple burned down in 1258, carving was put on hold for thirty years, beginning again in 1291. It was finally completed in 1322 during the Yuán 元 Dynasty. In total it filled 591 boxes, in 1532 sections, with texts totaling 6362 fascicles.
In 1929, Zhū Zǐqiáo 朱子橋 discovered a nearly complete edition of this canon in Xī'ān's 西安 Wòlóng 臥龍寺 and Kāiyuán Temples 開元寺. After this discovery he went to Shànghǎi, where, with the help of Dīng Fúbǎo 丁福保, Jiǎng Wéiqiáo 蔣維喬, Lǐ Jīngwěi 李經緯, and others, he established an organization to publish photoprint reproductions of that canon. This group dispatched the monk Fànchéng 範成 to search around Shānxī 山西 to find the rest of the canon. Fànchéng unearthed a Jīn 金 Dynasty edition at Guǎngshèng Temple 廣勝寺 in Zhàochéng County 趙城縣, which was used to fill in the missing pieces of the Sòng canon. The total size of the reprint is 6,176 fascicles, or 593 sewn books in 60 boxes.
The reprint contains a preface written by Oūyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸.