高僧傳 Gaoseng zhuan

Engelse titel: Biographies of eminent monks

The Gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of eminent monks), compiled by Shi Huijiao 釋慧皎 (497-554), is the primary source for information about monks in China from the beginnings of Chinese Buddhism in the first century until the book's completion in approximately 530. A number of collections of monks' biographies had appeared before the Gaoseng zhuan, but, with the exception of a few fragments, these are not extant. The Gaoseng zhuan can be mined for historical data about key figures, doctrines, monasteries, and events. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, the text further reflects generally held beliefs and perceptions of Buddhism and monks in the sixth century, including, for instance, conceptions of the spirit world and criteria for evaluating what was to be considered an "eminent" monk.

The influence of the Gaoseng zhuan extends well beyond the date of its composition. From the early sixth century on, the Gaoseng zhuan was avidly read and quoted by monks, laymen and even those with no Buddhist affiliation. The Gaoseng zhuan is also important in the development of Buddhist historiography in China. Regarding the criteria for inclusion, the organization of biographies, and the inclusion of commentaries by the historian, the Gaoseng zhuan served as the model for two later major collections of biographies of monks, the Xu Gaoseng zhuan, q.v., compiled by Daoxuan 道宣 in the seventh century, and the Song Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳, compiled by Zanning 贊寧 at the end of the tenth. Although the style and principles of compilation of monastic biography subsequently underwent radical changes, the Gaoseng zhuan remained the most popular and admired collection of monastic biographies in Chinese Buddhist history.

The Gaoseng zhuan contains 257 major biographies. More than 200 subordinate biographies of figures Huijiao considered of lesser importance are attached to major biographies (there is divergence of opinion on how many subordinate biographies there because subordinate biographies,fuzhuan 附傳, were not marked off as such by Huijiao). The earliest account purports to describe events of a.d. 67, the last from 519. The biographies are divided into ten categories (zie tab hoofdstukken). At the end of each section, Huijiao appended a disquisition (lun 論) in which he discusses the theme of the section.

Although Huijiao’s authorship of the text is undisputed, we know very little about him. Other than the detail that he was a native of Kuaiji 會稽, we know nothing of Huijiao's early life or even his secular surname. As a monk he lived at a monastery in Kuaiji where he was said to have composed commentaries to the Nirvana Sutra and to the Fanwangjing 梵網經,an indigenous scripture on the monastic regulations. These works are not extant. Soon after Kuaiji's fall to Hou Jing 候景 in 549, Huijiao fled to Pencheng 溢城, near present-day Jiuzhang 九江 in Jiangxi, where he died in 554 at the age of fifty-eight. The Gaoseng zhuan is his only extant work. (John Kieschnick in Chennault 2014 Early Medieval Texts, p76-77)

Er zijn vier boeken ‘Biografieën van excellente monniken’, geschreven in vier verschillende dynastieke perioden:
(Liang) Gaoseng zhuan,
Xu gaoseng zhuan (ook Tang gaoseng zhuan),
Song gaosengzhuan en
(Da-) Ming gaosengzhuan.

Indeling tekst

Onderstaande indeling is van John Kieschnick.

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Online informatie:

Ulrich Theobald's Chinaknowledge: Gaosengzhuan

Wikipedia: Memoirs of Eminent Monks (engels)

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