Description

The Hundred Records of the Temple of National Purity (Ch. Guoqing

bailu) is a collection of documents concerning the life and activities

of Tiantai Zhiyi (538–597), the founder of the Tiantai tradition and

one of the most creative and influential figures of East Asian

Buddhism. It was compiled and edited by Guanding (561–632),

one of Zhiyi’s disciples who also edited many of Zhiyi’s major

works. The collection, as included in the Taishō canon (T. 1934),

contains one hundred and four sections plus an introduction and

preface, and in addition a chronological outline of Zhiyi’s life and

a postscript appended during the Song period (1185). It is an

extremely valuable source of historical documentation on the life

and times of Zhiyi and provided the primary basis for all subsequent

biographical works, as well as information on other figures and

events of China in the sixth and early seventh centuries.