According to Buddhist scriptures attributed to Yancong 彦琮 (557–610) and their prefaces, I investigated why his biography was recorded in the translators chapter of the Xu Gaoseng zhuan 続高僧伝.
Although Daoxuan 道宣 recorded 23 books in 100 roles as the extent of Yancong’s Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures, there is nowhere evidence of his actually having made translations. I think Daoxuan confused this number of 25 books in 108 roles of prefaces written by Yancong as scriptures which he translated.
Yancong is never considered a translation master. But there must have been a special reason why he was recorded in the translators chapter. I suggest the following reasons.
1. He worked in a translation center by royal command.
2. He was in charge of the proofreading, wrote many prefaces, and proposed an original theory of Chinese Buddhist translation.
3. He did not belong to the specific denomination and school, so only his translation work was appreciated.
For these three reasons, Daoxuan was able to put him in the translators chapter of the Xu Gaoseng zhuan.
