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Sources of the Text
In his preface Pao-ch'ang declares, "I have been
examining epitaphs and eulogies, and searching in collections of writings."
Most of the extant sources for the
Lives are fragments from a now-lost work, the
MHC, compiled by Wang Yen after 479.
In the MHC we find the most fragments
of possible sources for the Lives. Of the sixty-five
biographies, five appear in the FYCL. All these five,
biographies 10, 16, 22, 37, and 39, are taken from the MHC as quoted in the FYCL, and a
different version of biography 10 is found in the Chin
nan-ching ssu chi (Notes on the convents and monasteries of the southern
capital of the Chin dynasty), a book no longer extant but quoted in the
FYCL.
A detailed comparison of the different versions of
the biographies of the same nun reveals how Pao-ch'ang used and changed his
sources. The five, and possibly six, biographies that have more than one extant
version are biography 10, Tao-jung, with four versions;
biography 16,
Hui-yü, with three versions;
biography 22, Hui-mu, with two versions (both have been translated to
demonstrate the differences);
biography 37, Fa-yüan, with two versions;
biography 52, Ching-hsiu, with three versions.
The sixth biography, Hui-ch'iung (no. 20), is
distantly connected to that of a certain Fa-ch'iung in the collection
Kuang hung ming chi (The extended collection making
known the illustrious) (hereafter KHMC).
The two most interesting of these few biographies
are Tao-jung (10) and Ching-hsiu (52). The first interests us because it has
four versions. No two versions are identical, but the fact that there is much
overlapping strongly suggests a common, and much longer, source. Ching-hsiu's
biography interests us because we have the original source used by Pao-ch'ang.
Ching-hsiu's original biography was written by Shen Yüeh, a famous man of
letters.
He wrote a lengthy biography of the nun, which is included in
Tao-hsüan's collection, the KHMC. A comparison of the two
versions indicates that Pao-ch'ang used, condensed, and edited Shen Yüeh's
writing as the original source.
Shen Yüeh also must have had contact with
other nuns because he wrote a eulogy for Seng-ching (no. 39). That eulogy,
although not included in the Lives with the biography,
is preserved in the KCTSCC, vol. 506, p. 14b. The
translated eulogy is appended to Seng-ching's translated biography.
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