Busso Rekidai Tsusai (仏祖歴代通載)
"Busso Rekidai Tsusai" is a chronicle of Buddhism history from the ancient times to the year 1333, which was compiled in China. It was complied by 梅屋念常 from the Yuan Dynasty (China). The work consists of 22 volumes.
Summary
According to the introduction section of Kakugan, in the preface of the work, the compiler 梅屋念常 traveled around various areas and made a survey of historical sites of Buddhism. In his survey, he reportedly discovered inadequacies in the existing books of Buddhist history and noticed that attention was not being paid on the traditions of the various religious sects, the protection of temples by successive prime ministers or government officials, and the preservation of the teachings of Zen sect. And even "Bussotoki" (Record of the lineage of the Buddha and the patriarchs) that was compiled in 1269 is claimed to have shortfalls in organization as a historical book. The book says that, as a result, the compilation was completed with effort over 20 years.
Although it is written in the introduction section of Kakugan, in fact, the contents of this book fully followed the Volume 29 of "The General Commentaries on Longxing Chronology" in 1164, as pointed out by Yuan CHEN in his works. Therefore, the descriptions until the Wudai Shiguo period (the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period) in the book are merely extracted from "The General Commentaries on Longxing Chronology".
The most distinctive part is the Sung and Yuan Dynasties, which are five volumes after Volume 18. Quite a few descriptions strayed from the original book in terms of descriptive method of chronological order.
The compiler, 梅屋念常
梅屋念常 (1282-?), the compiler of this book, was born in Huating Province (Pingliang City, Gansu Province). He was a Zen monk who lived at Dai Shofuzen-ji Temple in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, and belonged to Daie school of Rinzai sect. He was a disciple of Genki KAIKI (1238-1319).
Publications
In 1616, Wakokubon (text in Chinese, with Japanese leading marks) (Movable type imprints) - Ryukoku University Library
"Brief Commentary on Busso Rekidai Tsusai" - Annotated book by Dochu MUJAKU
"Concise Daizo-kyo Sutra" "Dainihon Zokuzo-kyo Sutra" - 36-volume Book
"Taisho shinshu Daizokyo" (An collection of Buddhist Scriptures distributed across 100 volumes) - 22-volume Book