All Scriptures Pronunciations and Meanings (Volumes 1-15) (一切經音義)

About 一切經音義

Tang · by 玄應撰

243,040 · about 810 min

The "Yiqiejing Yinyi" (Sound and Meaning of All Sutras) was compiled by the eminent Tang dynasty monk Xuanying, representing the earliest extant work of its kind dedicated to explaining the sounds and meanings in Buddhist scriptures. Completed in the early Tang period, this work aims to elucidate difficult characters, variant pronunciations, and lexical meanings found in Chinese-translated Buddhist sutras, assisting monastics in correctly understanding and reciting the canonical texts. Its content encompasses phonetic notations, exegetical glosses, and investigations of terms and objects, citing extensively from ancient documents, thereby holding significant value in linguistics and philology. As a pioneering Buddhist reference work, it established a model for later sound-and-meaning compilations and is of great importance for the study of Tang dynasty Chinese phonology and the history of sutra translation. It remains an indispensable and authoritative classic for the study of Buddhist scriptures.