• 2020-12-18

On 1 December, at the Complete Collection of Dharma Drum 2020 Commemorative Edition Donation Ceremony, with Director-General Shu-hsien Tseng representing the National Central Library, Dharma Drum Mountain abbot and monk Master Guohui gathered Dharma Drum Mountain founder Master Shengyen’s life work, The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum, and donated them to the National Central Library’s collection.

The 2020 commemorative edition of The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum, which brings together the life wisdom and essence of Dharma Drum Mountain founder Master Shengyen, was published in October, 2020. This comes after ten years of diligent and complete revision, rearrangement and editing by the Master’s disciples, commencing after his death in 2009.

To date, since its first publication in 1993, The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum has undergone four processes of supplementation and revision. It was published in seven series and 41 volumes. In 1999, it was reissued and revised, restructured into nine series, expanded to 70 volumes. In 2005, a further 32 volumes were added, giving it a total of 102 volumes (including two tables of contents). The new 2020 edition contains nine series and 108 volumes (including one table of contents).

Delivering remarks, Director-General Tseng said that it was a great honor to be able to accept the 2020 Commemorative Edition of The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum donated by Dharma Drum Mountain. She said that what was most moving was that, apart from the additions and revision, sources of literary allusions had been indicated, allowing the reader to make extended use of more information; this was an enormous and deeply significant project, demonstrating that the process of publication of the new edition had been extremely rigorous.

As well as receiving the donated publication, the National Central Library will also assist in disseminating The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum to many important libraries in many important countries. The National Central Library has interactive networks in more than 600 libraries in more than 80 countries around the world, including academic libraries and public libraries. It has also established 34 Taiwan Resource Centers for Chinese Studies throughout the world. The sending of The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum via these networks on this occasion, can enable our friends who are researching Chinese studies or are interested in Master Shengyen to make very convenient use of the publication. Director-General Tseng also said that the National Central Library enjoys a deep relationship with Dharma Drum Mountain and hopes that there will be yet more interaction between the two in the future.

In his remarks, abbot and monk Master Guohui expressed his thanks to the National Central Library for assisting with the sending of The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum to the library itself and to the Taiwan Resource Centers for Chinese Studies established around the world, as well as to international publications exchange organizations that cooperated closely with the National Central Library. He hoped that, through The Complete Collection of Dharma Drum, Master Shengyen—in diligently promoted Pure Land and Chinese Buddhist thinking—might be disseminated to all corners of the world, so that figures around the world who understand Chinese might read and research him.