The Jinling Buddhism Publishing House was established by devout Buddhist Yang Renshan in 1866. By preserving traditional production methods and publishing scriptures, the organization made a huge contribution to the revival of Buddhism in modern China.
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Jing Ban Lou, where the wood blocks for printing of Buddhist scriptures in Chinese are kept.
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Yang Renshan devoted forty years of his life to publishing scriptures, carving blocks himself and teaching others how to do so. In all he printed and distributed over a million volumes of scriptures and more than 100,000 prints of Buddhism paintings. Yang also set up the Jetavanarama Buddhism School and the Buddhism Study Association, which helped to lay the foundations of Buddhist education in modern China.
The primary activities of the publishing house are sutra printing and teaching. As well as preserving and passing on the practical techniques of woodblock carving and printing, the organization has a collection of more than 130,000 woodblocks.
Xiao said most of the woodblocks have been well preserved and are still in use today, but some are in need of repair. "Funding is a problem; we are always in need of money to repair and restore damaged blocks," he said.
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Deputy Manager of the Jinling Buddhism Publishing House, Xiao Yongming, explains how wood blocks are carved and used to print scriptures.
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The organization also houses a major collection of Buddhist scriptures, which taken alone would make it a treasure-house of Buddhist culture. With the introduction of advanced printing facilities in recent years, Jinling Buddhist Publishing House has been able to increase its annual production of scriptures to several hundred thousand volumes.
Its latest venture is the publication of a new series of texts entitled "Wen Si" (Hear and Think) whose aim is to encourage Buddhists to "face the new age, engage with society, and make an even greater contribution".
"This is our profession, and we have faith in it." Xiao said.
Jinling Buddhism Publishing House is located at No. 35, Huaihai Road, Baixia District of Nanjing City, a busy downtown area of the city.
