Xuanyanji 宣驗記

Xuanyanji 宣驗記 "Stories of divine evidence" is an early collection of stories compiled during the Liu-Song period 劉宋 (420-479) by Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 (403-444), who was also the author of the famous book Shishuo xinyu 世說新語.

The stories in the original 13-juan-long Xuanyiji centre on the Buddhist doctrine of retribution for sins in a later life. They propagate the Buddhist faith and serve to demonstrate that improper behaviour has adverse consequences. The stories are not of a high literary quality and have not attracted a wide attention among Chinese scholars and writers, much unlike the collection Youminglu 幽明錄.

The Xuanyanji is first mentioned in the imperial bibliography Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. Still, it is not mentioned in the bibliographies of the Tang period 唐 (618-907). It seems that the book was missing during that time.

Fragments of the Xuanyanji can nevertheless be found as quotations in the books Shuofu 說郛, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小説 and Jinnang xiaoshi 錦囊小史. The Republican scholar Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881-1911) has collected these quotations and assembled in his series Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.