Methodology

Every primary text on this site is transcribed from the CBETA digital edition of the Manji Shinsan Dainihon Zokuzōkyō — the Fahua jing xianying lu (X78, No. 1540) and the Fahua jing chiyan ji (X78, No. 1541) — and cross-checked word by word against the deerpark.app reading edition. Where the two works differ, both readings are preserved without harmonisation.

Each story carries a precise locator — volume, page, column and line (e.g. "X78, p. 0034a09–b05"). In the Original Text reading mode every paragraph opens with its line anchor (e.g. 0034a09), so any quoted sentence can be verified against the digital edition.

The date on which each source was accessed and verified is recorded in the story's Source panel, enabling later re-verification.

The modern punctuation of the CBETA digital edition is part of that edition's editorial work; this site preserves it unchanged, considering it part of the digitised text.

Rare glyphs (gaiji) are preserved exactly as printed; their CB codes and normalised equivalents are noted in each story's Textual Notes, never substituted in the body text.

Interlinear notes in the classical editions (usually source citations) are preserved inline as 〔note: …〕. Editorial commentary is never mixed into the primary text; it always lives in the separate Textual Notes & Variants panel.

Divergent readings between the two works are documented in the per-story textual notes and are never silently normalised — even obvious typographic variants in the underlying print are recorded as printed.

The modern Traditional Chinese explanation and the English translation are editorial drafts, labelled as such in each story's Editorial status panel; they await independent review and should not be cited as scholarly authority until reviewed.

Translations follow the fuller primary witness; wording and details unique to the other witness are documented in the textual notes rather than merged into the translation.

Nothing is added beyond the sources — no episodes, causes or outcomes. The editor's reflections appear as a clearly separated section, so readers can always tell translation from commentary.

Every story records the character of its Pure Land narrative in three fields: rebirthClaim, reportedDestination, and aspirationForSukhavati. Values are tabulated below.

Governing rule: auspicious deathbed signs — facing west, unusual fragrance, celestial music, light — are never automatically read as the source attaining rebirth in Amitābha's Pure Land. Cases inferred from such signs are always labelled "interpreted" and kept strictly apart from "explicitly stated".

Worked example: Master Guanjing (S009). The source explicitly records a Tuṣita destination (the chan master Zhixi's prophecy that "Master Guanjing ascends to teach here"), so reportedDestination is Tuṣita, aspirationForSukhavati is false, and the story is filed under "related records" rather than the main Pure Land gallery. The case shows why: welcomings by celestial hosts and fragrant rooms must be classified by the destination the source actually names — a vow for the Western Pure Land and a recorded Tuṣita rebirth are not interchangeable.

All corrections are logged in the project worklog and in the per-story textual notes; nothing is changed silently. After revision, the draft and review status of each translation remains visible in the Editorial status panel.

Readers may verify every quotation against the cited volume/page/line locators; any divergence between this site's transcriptions and the cited digital edition is an error on our side and merits correction.

When the same narrative appears in both the Xianying lu and the Chiyan ji, this site preserves two primary witnesses, switchable in the Original Text reading mode — never merged or collated into one. The Source panel lists each witness's locators separately.

Narrative links between stories (the listening pheasant reborn as Tanyi; Daoping's Western vow mirrored by Guanjing's Tuṣita record) are noted in the textual notes for further reading.