..續本文上一頁st: its massiveness. Since most of the original Indian Buddhist scriptures are lost and in order to understand the history of the Indian Buddhism, the Chinese translation works are the most important references. Second: in terms of its quantity, the Tibetan Buddhist Tripitaka is no less than the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka. Though the Chinese Buddhist scriptures were translated into Tibetan language in the eighth century, today”s most read and recited scriptures were translated in the fifth century. In the sixth and seventh century, the project of translating the main Buddhist scriptures into Chinese was done. That is to say, the Chinese translation works can best reflect the golden age of Indian Buddhism. Third: there are different translated versions of the same sutra. Though the same Buddhist scripture in India might change with the passing of time and be re-edited or added to, it is likely that some of the ancient classics were lost. The content of these remaining classics witnessed the old and new forms, so the traces of change can be searched out. Fourth: because there is a fairly accurate record f Chinese translation projects, the history of Indian classics can be re-constructed. However, that does not mean that there are no flaws in the Chinese translated scriptures, for the simple reason that both the history of Chinese and Indian classics are very long and its development is varied. Thus, the Chinese translation works might be faithful to their original Indian texts. This concern was fully considered in鸠摩羅什Kumarajiva”s Chinese translated scriptures, other works which were done after玄奘Xuanzang paid more attention to the fidelity of their original texts. Even though, in order to conform to the Chinese writing and reading practice and make the translated scriptures easier for people to read and understand, sometimes traces of re-editing the original texts can be found. Like in modern times, when people try to translate other languages into English, he / she might sacrifice the fidelity to the original texts for the proper expression of the English. Even when people translate from foreign languages that are similar to English, (like French and German), it is difficult to trace the original texts from the English translation works. This situation is also applicable to the Chinese Buddhist translated scriptures. It might not proper to regard this as a flaw, but from the perspective of textual criticism, it is really a thorny issue. For it is difficult to translate Sanskrit into Chinese literally.[5]

　　Ⅱ. Some significant explorations in the compilation, propagation and translation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in modern times

　　1. The compilation of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in modern times

　　After 1978, Mr. 任繼愈Ren Jiyu, the director of the institute of world religions, was appointed to organize a group of scholars to edit 《中華大藏經》 the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka. This compiling and editing project officially began on August 1982, after 13 years” and more than 160 scholars” assiduous endeavors, this colossal project which contains 1939 different Buddhist scriptures and around 100 million Chinese characters was finished in the end of 1994 and all 106 volumes were published by 中華書局 Zhonghua Book Company in 1997. This was a great achievement in compiling and researching the Buddhist Tripitaka after the founding of the people”s republic of China in 1949. 《中華大藏經》 the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka is the best among all writing, block-print, contemporary and digital editions because it used modern printing technology and resulted from 13 years” of assiduous textual cleanup efforts. The history of the development of Chinese Buddhist scriptures witnessed a new edition and this edition has established its own unique status.

　　The com…

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