The Life of the Buddha: Woodblock Illustrated Books in China and Korea by Tsai Suey-Ling 蔡穗玲 (review)

The Life of the Buddha: Woodblock Illustrated Books in China and Korea offers a thorough description and analysis of the illustrated books on the life of the Buddha printed on woodblock in China and Korea. Each woodblock compilation contains episodes on the life of the Buddha; most are followed by the subsequent history of Buddhism in China. Each episode is accompanied by an illustration. Tsai Suey-Ling, author of The Life of the Buddha, has identified eight different compilations, three in China, one in Korea, and four in Japan. In this work, she concentrates on the Chinese compilations, the earliest of which was completed in 1425, the latest in 1794 (and published in 1808).¹

The initial Chinese compilation, the Shi shi yuanliu 釋氏源流 (The origin and transmission of the Śākya’s House), was made by the monk Baocheng 寶成 (Baocheng I) between 1422 and 1425. It contains four hundred pairs of illustrations and text and is analyzed critically in the first chapter of the current book. A revised version of Baocheng I (Baocheng II), discussed in the second chapter, was also compiled by Baocheng, between 1434 and 1436. It contains 410 pairs of illustrations and text. As shown by Tsai (pp. 12, 138–142), it was probably the Buddhist monk Zhiguang 智光, at that time, the great national preceptor (Da guoshi 大國師), who had the contents changed, so that his role in Chinese Buddhism became acknowledged. Half a century later, a new edition was made under the auspices of the Chinese emperor, with an imperial preface dated 1486. It contains the same four hundred episodes as Baocheng I, but with a much changed layout. Calligraphy and design were also changed. Chapter 3 of the book is devoted to this edition. Finally, as discussed in chapter 4, at the end of the eighteenth century, a Manchu prince, Yongshan 永珊, started a new compilation based on Baocheng II, the Shijia rulai yinghua shiji 釋迦如來應化事蹟 (Events during and traces from the incarnation of Tathāgata Śākya[muni]). It only contains the 208 episodes on the life of the Buddha; it does not describe the history of Chinese Buddhism. In addition to the four chapters, Tsai provides very useful appendices that compare the episodes of the different compilations, as well as the titles of all episodes, and, most important, the source texts of these (pp. 248–290). This meticulous work forms a most useful basis for any further research on Chinese Buddhist illustrated compilations. It is very unfortunate, however, that no index has been provided.

The Life of the Buddha carefully and meticulously introduces the illustrated compilations, starting with a critical overview of previous research (pp. 15–19) and a short but very useful terminology list (pp. 23–24). Apart from clarifying the relationships between the various compilations, editions, and impressions, many more questions have been tackled: the artistic and historical aspects of the compilations, the history of illustrations, issues of Buddhist iconography, and the interdependence of woodblock illustrations and paintings. Tsai further investigates why particular compilations, editions, or impressions were produced; under which historical circumstances; and with what intentions of the makers. Although all these questions are certainly most interesting, it might be a task too ambitious for one single work to give satisfactory and detailed answers to all of them. At times, the overwhelming quantity of data also seriously hampers the readability of the text.

The first chapter is the most important. It introduces the subject and analyzes the basic compilation, Baocheng I, in detail. First, we get a summary of all the episodes, with a particular focus on the initial scenes, which are very well contextualized. We learn how Baocheng makes use of pseudo-Confucian, Daoist, and apocryphal Buddhist texts to show how Buddhism was introduced in China, well before the Common Era. This is a very interesting...