Shi shi yuan liu ying hua shi ji : si juan

Also available in digital form.
Bequest Mary L. McClure December 20, 1944.
明成化間刻本。四卷. Ming woodblock print, ca. 1465-1487.
十四行二十三字。色彩極豐富，請加強表現。部分中縫斷裂，請小心不要錯掃空白葉。 Fourteen lines with twenty-three characters per line.
Miss Mary McClure, of Fenchow, Shansi, China, has placed on deposit a Ming edition of the Buddhist work, Shi shi yuan liu ying hua shi ji (The origin of Buddhism and its development in China), originally issued under the auspices of the Emperor Chenghua (成化) in 1486. This work, in 4 juan, and 4 volumes (each page 23 by 41 cm), is ascribed in the imperial preface to a priest, Baocheng, who probably lived in the early Ming since the narrative itself is carried through the close of Yuan. According to Baocheng, there were six chapters in the original version of this work, with the title Shi jia ru lai ying hua lu. Volume I depicts the life of Gautama Buddha through the period of enlightenment; volume II his ministry; volume III the spread of Buddhism to China; and volume IV the reception accorded to this religion by Chinese emperors and officials of various dynasties. Each volume contains 100 paintings colored by hand, each painting accompanied by a page of quotation from other works dealing with the episode in question. These paintings, including the 200 which have their setting in India, are almost wholly Chinese in background, architecture, costumes, utensils, etc. According to a note at the close of volume I this copy was formerly deposited in the now ruined monastery of Tian ning si in the east suburb of Fenzhou, in Shanxi Sheng, where Miss McClure obtained it. During the years 1787-93 the drawings in the first two volumes were redone in black and white under the auspices of a Manchu prince of the blood, Yongshan, who died in 1797. These represent a considerable departure from the original, and the accompanying text is curtailed. This abridged edition was printed in 1808 by Prince Youfeng under the title Chong hui Shi jia ru lai ying hua shi ji, indicating that the pictures were redrawn and that the work deals with the rise and spread of Buddhism in India. Included is an essay by Wang Bo with the title Shi jia ru lai cheng dao ying hua shi ji ji.
御製序云:「此朕於寶成釋氏源流一書，幾務暇，偶爾一觀，不得不嘉其用心之勤也。茲欲重新繡梓，以廣其傳。」劉若愚內板經書紀略有:釋氏源流應化事蹟四本，四百四十葉」，即此本是也。按寶成原書凡六卷，題為「釋迦如來應化錄」，由此可知此本付梓前，已有改編與合併。每一故事，插畫一幅，蓋先雕印輪廓，後鋪彩色，其顏色之鮮明，與歐洲中古時代之寫本書插畫極相似，故西人極寶愛之。卷端載王勃釋迦如來成道應化事蹟記一文，後人因此題王勃撰者，誤也。御製(序)成化二十二年.