BEIJING, June 28 AFP - China has launched a five-yearproject to reprint a 266-year-old Buddhist encyclopaediathat is so big its pages if lined up would stretch for100 kilometres, state media said today.
Known as the Dazangjing'' in Chinese, the royaledition of the Buddhist canon was first compiled andprinted on the orders of the first emperor of the SongDynasty (960-1279). The current edition was completed in 1738, carved onto 130,000 wood plates and containing nearly 2,000different books. Most were translated directly from Sanskrit and theoriginals are now lost in India, the Xinhua news agencysaid. The reprinting, on paper, will become a major eventin the development of Chinese culture since it helpspass down this Buddhist treasure,’’ said Yicheng,chairman of the Chinese Buddhist Association.
The encyclopaedia includes discourses with the Buddha,regulations of monastic life, and commentaries on thesutras by renowned Buddhist scholars.
It also deals with philosophy, history, ethnic groups,languages, literature, astronomy, astrology medicine andarchitecture.
I want a copy but I’d probably need to build a special room just for that one book… puts the encyclopedia britanica to shame.