TA-TS'ANG CHING

((Chinese: Great Storehouse Scripture), ) Japanese Daizo-kyo, the total body of Buddhist literature deemed canonical in China and Japan and comprising works of the most varied character numbering more than 2,000 in the standard Chinese edition and more than 3,000 in the latest Japanese edition. Unlike canons of the southern Buddhist schools, this vast storehouse continued to expand for many centuries. It began with translations of Sanskrit texts in the 1st century, and these translations, which make up the bulk of the collection, continued to be made until the 8th or 9th century. Many of the Sanskrit works have perished and are known only from their Chinese (or Tibetan) translations. The Ta-ts'ang Ching includes the Hinayana, or Theravada, canonical works, particularly their Sarvastivada (Doctrine That All Is Real) versions. All the great and minor Mahayana sutras are there, often in multiple translations, together with numerous commentaries and dissertations, both Indian and Chinese. Also included are many late Tantric treatises, many ecclesiastical histories and hagiographic works by Chinese authors, and a considerable quantity of religious poetry composed during the Yan and Ming dynasties (13th17th century).