Origin

Translated excerpt from Venerable Master Hsing Yun's 《百年佛缘──文教篇》：我「編藏」的因緣 

In the early 1970s, Lan Ji Fu came and encouraged me to publish a Buddhist dictionary. However, I did not have the conditions to do so. I then talked to Hsiao Bixia Shigu. She had a house on Wuxing Street in Taipei and was willing to offer it as the editorial office for the dictionary. I named it "Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism".

Later, Tzu-Yi shifted the editorial office to Fushan Temple in Changhua and suggested publishing the Buddhist Canon by ourselves. Though aware of my limited ability, I recalled in history how Xuanzang traveled to the west to seek the Dharma, and also how Kumarajiva devoted his life to sutra translation. In addition, Fazhen Bhiksuni in the Yuan dynasty resolutely cut her arm to raise funds to carve the collection, and inspired many from over the world to sponsorship, taking thirty years to complete the Jin Buddhist Canon Complied in the City of Zhao (趙城金藏).

Hence, stimulated by the eminent masters in history, I established the "Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Canon Committee" at Fushan Temple in Changhua in 1977. As there were few males back then, I instructed Venerable Tzu Yi to be in charge, bhiksunis Tzu Chuang, Tzu Hui, Tzu Jung, Tzu Yi, Tzu Chia, Yi Kung, Yi Chun, Da He, and more to be members of the editorial board. 

After that, Tzu Yi recruited collegiate youths, teachers and students from FGS Tsung Lin University also joined to participate in the editorial work. Many volunteers also actively attended lectures and participated in the proofreading of the Fo Guang Buddhist Canon. We also invited monks and lay scholars local and abroad to collect the various editions of the Buddhist Canon in various dynasties, rearrange, collate, proofread, subdivide, add punctuation, as well as explanations of sutra titles, indexes, and special entries from various schools. I hope to compile a Buddhist Canon which people can easily read, understand, believe, and practice. 

While the Fo Guang Buddhist Canon was being edited and printed, with myself as supervisor and Ven. Tzu Yi as editor-in-chief, the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism was also compiled concurrently. Over ten years, more than thirty scholars in Buddhism, literature, history, and philosophy, as well as experts in the languages of Sanskrit, Pakistan, Korea, and Japan were invited. The dictionary is divided into eight volumes of 25 pages and four volumes of 16 pages, including the first, middle, and second sections and the index. The two editions are printed and bound for easy reading and convenience in research. The contents and the systematic arrangement of the text have been complimented as a "Buddhist encyclopedia" for modern people. After its publication, the book was awarded the Golden Tripod Award by the Government Information Office, Executive Yuan in 1989.

Given the features to serve modern readers, it is valued not only by the academic world but also by Buddhists in general for its convenience and extensiveness in reading and studying Buddhist texts.

Preface (First Edition)

Since the founding of Fo Guang Shan, Hsing Yun has set four main objectives: to propagate the Dharma through culture; to foster talent through education; to benefit society through charity; to purify human minds through spiritual cultivation. The education field includes six institutions and more, while the cultural field involved various book publications and periodicals, all of which are published in large numbers monthly. Among them, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Canon Committee, with bhiksunis Tzu Chuang, Tzu Hui, Tzu Jung, Tzu Yi, Tzu Chia, Yi Yen, Yi Kung, Yi Chun, and Ta Ho as members, has reorganized, marked, proofread, and interpreted the sutras into sixteen categories.

However, from 1978 to 1988, the committee has been working together on the compilation of the FGDB. This has been a difficult task. As the Buddhist text Da Zhi Du Lun 大智度論 (The Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise) says, "Only those who have faith can enter the great ocean of Dharma, and only those who have wisdom can cross it." Buddhism has a long history and has produced numerous classical teachings, which are so voluminous and profound that many people who are interested in studying them are unable to access with ease. Now the compiled and published FGDB has been made easy to read and understand for people interested in studying Buddhism.

In this era of rapid advancement in technology, we can no longer afford to stick to the old rules while propagating Buddhism. Hence, with the collective effort of Fo Guang Shan disciples, were able to make this dictionary compiled with 22,608 entries and more than 7 million words. In particular, the detailed explanations are accompanied by relevant pictures to complement the textual interpretation. All Buddhist terms, names of people and places, monasteries and nunneries, sects and teachings, classical texts and phrases, Dharma instruments and rituals, art and construction, and historical cases are all collated and introduced in detail.

To facilitate readers' search, two kinds of indexes are in place—Chinese head index and Pinyin index. In the text of this dictionary, all matters and objects are listed with their classical origin; all ancient and modern figures are included in the collection and compilation. It can be said that this dictionary is equivalent to a Buddhist encyclopedia for modern people.

The present dictionary was compiled by the editor-in-chief, Venerable Tzu Yi, and a team of over 20 individuals, who are primarily students of the Institute of Chinese Buddhist Studies 中國佛教研究院. Furthermore, more than 30 scholars and practitioners from diverse academic institutions and fields of Buddhist studies and history, such as Li Sufang, Cheng Zhaoxiong, Go Benjie, Yang Yuwen, Xu Jingwen, among others, also contributed to the review and proofreading process. The participants were required to possess a thorough understanding of the Tripitaka and proficiency in Sanskrit, Pali, English, and Japanese. They dedicated themselves to their work, disregarding the passage of time and immersing themselves in both ancient and modern texts. While they cannot be considered to be without equal, it can be said that they are surely predecessors who have not yielded.

Therefore, on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Fo Guang Shan, I urge the publication of this dictionary in the hope of offering the Triple Gem for the benefit of the public. Lastly, we welcome feedback and comments regarding the inadequacies in this dictionary. 

Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple, USA

July 24, 1988

Preface (Enlarged/Expanded Edition)

Since its release in October 1988, FGDB has received unanimous recognition and support from the teaching, academic, and public communities for more than 20 years, and in the following year, it was awarded the Golden Tripod Award, the first Buddhist dictionary written in vernacular in Buddhist history.

Since its publication, it has been well received by all walks of life and has been reprinted numerous times, for which we are very grateful. With the changes in time and space, the development of Buddhism among the people continues to flourish. The new entries include all the words related to the Buddhist community in recent years, such as glossaries of classics, gongans, verses, temples and pagodas, people, events, sects, arts, and artifacts.

The new glossary added contains more than 7,000 entries, over 2 million words, and more than 150 illustrations. The new publication will be a complete set of ten volumes, including the index of the General Catalogue, with a total of more than 30,000 entries, nearly 3,000 frames of diagrams, and nearly 10 million words named "The Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism―Revised Edition". It is hoped that this dictionary will be more extensive, clear in its interpretation, multi-functional in its search, and practical, universal, and academic in nature so that it can be used by modern students of Buddhism and researchers of Buddhist doctrine.

In the process of compilation, Venerable Tzu Hui, the elder of Fo Guang Shan, has led the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Electronic Texts, Yung Ben, Cheuh Ran, Dao Pu, and many volunteers and followers to support and participate in the process.

It is the fiftieth year since the founding of Fo Guang Shan, my ninetieth year, and the sixtieth year of Dharma propagation, my disciples have decided to appoint Fo Guang Shan Board of Directors to publish an additional edition of this dictionary. 

July 2014

Preface