"The Great Dictionary of Buddhism" is a translation of the "Oda Great Dictionary of Buddhism" written by Oda Denou, a monk of the Otani sect of Japan, by Mr. Ding Fubao, a modern Wuxi native.
Oda Denou (1860～1911). A native of Fukui Prefecture. No. Yunxi. He became a monk at the age of thirteen. He successively studied Chinese books, as well as classics of various schools such as Consciousness Only and Jushe. Later, he met the acquaintance Mo Lei of Nishi Honganji Island and drafted a "History of Buddhism in the Three Kingdoms". In the 21st year of Meiji (1888), he went to Thailand to inspect Theravada Buddhism and brought back more than 60 Bayeux classics and several Buddha statues. After returning to China in the 23rd year, he participated in the founding plan of the 'East Asian Buddhist Association'. The next year, he moved into Soenji Temple in Tokyo and changed his surname from "Ikuta" to "Oda". In the past thirty-three years, he has traveled to China, India and other places.
In the 32nd year of Meiji, he began to devote himself to the compilation of Buddhist dictionaries. After more than ten years, he died of illness before the manuscript was completed. It was later edited and published by Takanan Junjiro, Ueda Manen, Hoga Yaichi, Daibutsu Wei and others.
This book contains a total of more than 30,000 terms, and the content is quite extensive, including various Buddhist nouns, terminology, allusions, classics, monographs, famous monks, historical sites, etc. The book first indicates the part of speech for each entry, such as "Numbers", "names of things", "names of places", "titles of books", "names of people", "terms", "miscellany", "parables", "stories", "rituals", "images", etc. Then explain its meaning and cite its source. If a word has multiple meanings, it will be listed in order, and necessary research will be made at intervals. Important nouns, terminology, personal names, Buddhist scriptures, etc. in the translation will be annotated in Sanskrit or Pali to facilitate review of the original book. In addition, the whole book also has a detailed index for easy retrieval.
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