Another factor that influenced this increase in printing was the creation of a bureau in 606 AD for the translation of Buddhist texts at the behest of Emperor Yang. To illustrate this diffusion of Buddhist texts, the History of the Sui Dynasty’s bibliography lists 1950 Buddhist titles as compared to 377 Taoist titles. Buddhism was, therefore, probably the most important factor in the development of printing. The demand for Buddhist texts was so great that it encouraged accelerated levels of printing for the following century. Despite the increased demand for Buddhist literature, the production of books by hand did not end. Printing only increased the number of copies of books, thus facilitating the ease and degree of communication. (18, 205)  As Confucianism was the major competing native belief set among the elite, the reason that Buddhist texts enjoyed such widespread printing needs explanation. Mair suggests that perhaps there is something inherent in Buddhism that is conducive to its being written in what he calls “vernacular Sinitic” as opposed to the “literary Sinitic” used for native Chinese texts. One aspect of Buddhism that Mair cites is the notion of upaya, known as fang-pien in Chinese; followers of the Buddha should do whatever is in their power to do to insure the salvation of all living things.(713) This would certainly help explain why Buddhist texts would be printed and circulated in a written language that is more accessible to a wider audience. Another point Mair makes is that lecture notes for sermons by laymen and monks were written in the vernacular language. This makes sense considering that these notes were to be spoken from; one would not make notes for a sermon in a stilted and highly literary language. Other Buddhist texts such as parables were popular with the masses and so when written, the vernacular is the clear choice. Another inherent trait that Mair cites is the ostensibly oral nature of Buddhism and how the religion stresses that “…Buddha is beyond the ‘paths of speech’” and “…’the way of language is cut off, the workings of the mind are obliterated’….” (Ibid.) Mair also writes:  Despite this, even Buddhism could not survive and function as a religion without sacred texts. Many Buddhist texts begin with the phrase evam me sutam (ju shih wo wen, “thus I have heard”). Buddhist texts also make use of other expressions such as fo shuo (“spoken by the Buddha”).