Fayuan Zhulin (法苑珠林, “Forest of Gems in the Dharma Garden”) is a Chinese Buddhist anthology compiled in the early Tang dynasty. The work is traditionally attributed to the monk Daorōng (道融), who lived during the 7th century, and is believed to have been completed around 668 CE under imperial patronage.
Purpose and Structure
Fayuan Zhulin was created as a reference compilation of Buddhist literature. It gathers excerpts from a wide range of Buddhist texts, including sutras, vinaya (monastic discipline), abhidharma treatises, and commentarial material. The anthology is organised thematically, dividing the material into sections that correspond to major doctrinal categories. The surviving edition is preserved in multiple fascicles (juan), although the exact original number of fascicles varies among scholarly editions.
Historical Significance
The collection is valued for preserving passages from Buddhist works that have otherwise been lost. Many later Chinese Buddhist catalogues and commentaries cite Fayuan Zhulin as a source, and it has served as an important tool for reconstructing portions of the early Chinese Buddhist canon. Its influence extended to later encyclopedic projects, such as the “Kaiyuan Catalogue” (開元比丘尼錄) of the Tang period.
Extant Textual Tradition
Fragments of Fayuan Zhulin survive in modern printed editions and in manuscript copies held by major Chinese libraries. Because the anthology is a compilation rather than a single authored treatise, its contents reflect the doctrinal and textual interests of the Tang Buddhist community. Contemporary scholarly work on Fayuan Zhulin focuses on its role in the transmission of Buddhist texts, its editorial methodology, and its contribution to the formation of the Chinese Buddhist canon.
