嘉興藏刊刻是晚明清初佛教史上一大事,歷時近兩世紀,所涉刻經場域、人力、物力、財力之資源龐大,全由僧俗等私人捐資助刻,規模之大,為今昔之最。然由於其耗時、耗財、耗人力,也因此顯現整體刊刻工程推動之不易及過程中遭遇不順遂之實。刊刻工程的不順遂或時而停滯,當然含括諸多複雜因素,本文則側重在究明跨越明清兩代的嘉興藏刊刻事業,於鼎革世變之際,原是積極支援嘉興藏刊刻所需各項資源之極大宗的江南士族,因戰亂波及,致使無數士人身亡或家族面臨崩散、遷徙、流亡之難,如是災難如何牽動著刻藏事業的進展,同時影響對刻藏所能提供的心力。其具體狀況,乃透過幾個自萬曆年間刻藏伊始即已大力投入嘉興藏刊刻,並持續至明末或明清鼎革之際,以及於明末繼起關注嘉興藏的士人或士族案例,確切頗析其起伏變動之情,藉以進一步掌握嘉興藏刊刻之所以費時或延宕甚久、乃至未見全藏刻畢的可能因素。
Lasting over two centuries, involving enormous manpower and financial support, and involving a large area of activity, the carving of the Jiaxing edition of the Buddhist canon in the late Ming and early Qing is one of the most important events in Buddhist history. Further, this tremendous religious activity was solely supported by monks, believers and non-governmental organizations on an unprecedented scale. It was certainly not an easy task, especially during the period of political transition from the Ming to the Qing. In this period of political upheaval, those who supported the project of carving the Jiaxing canon included many powerful families in the Jiangnan area which collapsed or migrated. This led to a crisis due to the suspension of this religious activity. For the sake of creating a more accurate historical account, several such supporters from the beginning of the sutra carving in the Wanli period and from the late Ming are investigated and discussed.