Preface The Buddhist Promoting Foundation is a non-sectarian foundation devoted to the dissemination of the Buddhist teachings throughout the world，and to this end it has been carrying out various missionary activities, including the compilation and distribution of The Teaching of Buddha. As part of these activities, it has been decided to undertake a new project -- that of a complete English translation of the Taisho Tripitaka, the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Accordingly，a Preparatory Committee was set up in April 1982，in order to make the necessary preliminary arrangements. This was followed in 1983 by the formation of an Editorial Committee，and the project finally got under way in earnest. It goes without saying that the task of translating and publishing the Tripitaka in English within a short span of time is no easy matter. Therefore，it was decided to select 139 Buddhist texts composed in India, China and Japan to form the First Series in 100 Volumes, to be translated and published by the end of A.D. 2000. The purpose of the present volume is to provide brief explanatory comments on the contents of the 139 texts that were chosen，and it is hoped to thus facilitate the reader's appreciation of just why these have been selected for the First Series. It is our fervent wish that this great undertaking does not finish with just the First Series, but that it continue to the very end and be brought to completion at the earliest possible date. Finally, I wish to express my thanks to R. W. Giebel for having undertaken the English translation.
Indian Works 1 Chinese Works 149 Japanese Works 221 Appendices 291 The Buddhist Canon 293 Index of Chinese Titles 302 Index of Sanskrit and Pali Titles 305 Index of Japanese Titles 307
