Record of the Ten Continents within the Seas海内十洲记

Also known as

Record of the Ten Continents, Record of the Ten Continents and Three Isles

Author / transmission

Traditionally attributed to Dongfang Shuo (pseudonymous)

Period

Six Dynasties · Formerly attributed to Dongfang Shuo of the Western Han, but in fact a work composed under a borrowed name by a Six Dynasties Daoist priest (around the 4th–5th century); one juan.

Canon division

Dongxuan Section, Jizhuan Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongxuan Section, Biographies and Records category.

Category

Immortal Biographies

Fascicles

One Fascicle (Juan)

Synopsis

The Hainei shizhou ji (Record of the Ten Continents within the Seas) is presented as Dongfang Shuo's answer to a question from Emperor Wu of the Han, describing in turn the ten sea-borne immortal continents of Zuzhou, Yingzhou, Xuanzhou, Yanzhou, Changzhou, Yuanzhou, Liuzhou, Shengzhou, Fenglinzhou and Juku Zhou, as well as the locations, produce and numinous drugs of paradises such as Kunlun, Fangzhang, Fusang, the Peng Hill and the Cangaic Islands — for example the deathless herb of Zuzhou, the jade unguent of Yingzhou, the soul-restoring incense of Juku Zhou, and the sinew-mending glue of Fenglinzhou. Though not long, the work is rich in imagination; it continues the mythic-geographical writing of the Shanhaijing tradition within a Daoist context, and stands as the classic statement of the Daoist paradise system of 'ten continents and three islands,' which together with the later system of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, Thirty-six Lesser Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-two Blessed Lands makes up Daoism's sacred geography. The numinous drugs named in the text supplied imaginative material for Six Dynasties ingestion practices, and allusions such as the soul-restoring incense and sinew-mending glue appear widely in Tang and Song poetry and prose.

Key Ideas

• The paradise system of ten continents and three islands
• Mythic geography and Daoist sacred realms
• Numinous drugs such as the deathless herb and soul-restoring incense
• Daoicization of the Shanhaijing tradition
• Complements the theory of Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands

Structure

One juan, recording in turn the ten continents and immortal mountains such as Kunlun.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Han Wei congshu edition
• Shuofu edition

Translations

• Related studies in Thomas E. Smith, Declarations of the Perfected; a partial translation also appears in the works of Robert Ford Campany

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikisource: Hainei shizhou ji
• CTEXT: Shizhou ji

Related scriptures