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Jingyiji 旌異記

Sep 29, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Jingyiji 旌異記 "Manifestation of strange matters" is an early collection of Buddhist stories compiled by the Sui period 隋 (581-618) scholar Hou Bai 侯白, courtesy name Hou Junsu 侯君素. He came from Weijun 魏郡 (modern Linzhang 臨漳, Hebei) and was state historiographer (xiuguoshi 修國史) in the Palace Library (mishu 秘書). Hou Bai has also compiled the humourist collection Qiyanlu 啟顏錄. The 15 juan "scrolls" long Jingyiji is already mentioned in the imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. The Buddhist encyclopedia Fayuan zhulin 法苑珠林 says that it was 20 juan long, while the Japanese bibliography Nihonkoku genzaisho mokuroku 日本国見在書目録 speaks of 10 juan. Alll stories in the Jingyiji deal with the transmission and propagation of Buddhism in China. The biographic collection Xu gaoseng zhuan 續高僧傳 that a lot of stories talked about the retribution of deeds in a later life (ganying 感應). Other stories speak of Buddhist writings and the Buddha's disciples.
The original book went lost during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126), yet it was possible to reconstruct part of the book on the base of quotations in the writings Xu gaoseng zhuan, Sanbao gantong lu 三寶感通錄, Fayuan zhulin, the encyclopedic collection Taiping guangji 太平廣記 and the collection Shuofu 說郛. The surviving fragments were collected by the Republican writer Lu Xun 魯迅 in his Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, p. 2173. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.