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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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