明清嘉興楞嚴寺《嘉興藏》之刊印與其海內外流通=The Publication of the Jiaxing Edition of the Buddhist Canon in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and its Domestic and Overseas Circulation
It is well-known by scholars that Lengyan Monastery in the city of Jiaxing had become a crucial place for issuing the Buddhist canon during late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Although the Jiaxing canon has increasingly drawn the attention of scholars recently, several questions have not been answered: Why was Lengyan Monastery chosen for this undertaking? How did personnel changes influence the canon's publication and circulation? How did the monastery become a center not only for publication, but also for circulation, eventually becoming a repository for texts printed at other locations over a long period including the Ming-Qing transition? The Jiaxing edition of the Buddhist canon was transmitted widely, not merely in mainland China, but also in other east Asian countries, with Lengyan Monastery playing a pivotal role in its publication and circulation. The present article explores the canon's circulation and the operational details of its publication, in order to gain a better understanding of basic developments in the printing project.
