Transmission of the Lamp
Encyclopedia
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
by Shi Daoyuan .
The first two characters of the title are the Song dynasty reign name (景德), which dates the work to between 1004 and 1007 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. The work was published in 30 volumes and is the primary source of information for the history of Chan (Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
; ) buddhism in China. The lives of the Zen masters and disciples are systematically listed, beginning with the first seven buddhas (Gautama Buddha is seventh in this list). The "Lamp" in the title refers to "dharma
Dharma (Buddhism)
Dhamma or Dharma in Buddhism can have the following meanings:* The state of Nature as it is * The Laws of Nature considered collectively....
" (teachings of the Buddha). A total of 1701 biographies are listed in the book. Volumes 1 to 3 are devoted to the history of Indian buddhism, and the history of buddhism in China starts in chapter 4 with Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century AD. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an to China, and regarded as the first Chinese patriarch...
. Volume 29 is a collection of gatha
Gatha
Gatha is a type of metered and often rhythmic poetic verse or a phrase in the ancient Indian languages of Prakrit and Sanskrit. The word is originally derived from the Sanskrit/Prakrit root gai , which means, to speak, sing, recite or extol. Hence gatha can mean either speech, verse or a song...
s, and volume 30 is a collection of songs and other devotional material.