Sung Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests, The ［宋高僧伝］ (Chin Sung-kao-seng-chuan;  Sō-kōsō-den): A compilation of biographies produced by Tsan-ning, a priest of the Precepts (Lü) school in China. A continuation of The Liang Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests and The T’ang Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests, it contains the biographies of eminent priests who lived from the Chen-kuan era (627–649) of the T’ang dynasty to the reign of Emperor T’ai-tsung (r. 976–997) of the Northern Sung dynasty. Having begun the compilation in 982 by imperial order, Tsan-ning presented this thirty-volume collection to Emperor T’ai-tsung in 988. The work contains biographies of 533 priests and mentions 130 other priests. It is one of the four major collections of the biographies of eminent priests that were compiled in the four dynasties, the other three being The Liang Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests, The T’ang Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests, and The Great Ming Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests.