Wukong | |
---|---|
Born | 730 CE Yunyang (蕓陽), in the district of Chang'an, China |
Died | after 790 CE Chang'an, China |
Occupation(s) | Buddhist monk, translator, writer |
Wukong | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 梧空 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 梧空 | ||||||||
|
Wukong (Chinese :梧空; pinyin :Wúkōng; Wade–Giles :Wu2-k'ung1;EFEO:Ou-k'ong;730 to after 790 CE) was a Chinese Buddhist monk,translator,and writer during the medieval Tang dynasty. His earlier religious name was Fajie (Chinese :法界) (Sanskrit:Dharmadhātu = 'Realm of the Dharma’.) His family name was Ju (Chinese :車; pinyin :Jū; Wade–Giles :Chü1 and his personal name was Che Fengzhao. He was descended from the 拓跋(Tuoba) clan of the Xianbei - the Northern Wei dynasty which ruled China from 365 to 534 CE. [1]
In 750 CE an embassy from the Kingdom of Jibin/Kāpīśi (罽賓國) in the north-east of modern Afghanistan,and adjoining Pakistan,arrived in the Chang'an asking for an alliance with China. Emperor Xuanzong (ruled 712 to 756) sent an official,Zhang Taoguang,with about forty men including Che Fengzhao (later Wukong) to go to Jibin and Wukong accompanied them from the capital,Chang'an,in 751. [2]
The party followed the route taken by a Chinese army under General Gao Xianzhi in 747 from Kashgar. The route,as described in the biography of Wukong,is of great geographical and historical interest. From Kashgar (Sulei) they crossed the Pamir Mountains (Congshan,literally,'Onion Mountains') to Shighnan ('the kingdom of the five Chini'),on to Wakhan (Humi) and Yasin (Juwei),then through two small unidentified states (Helan and Lansuo) to Gilgit (Yehe) and then Uddiyana in the Swat valley (Wuzhangna or Wuchang) [3] through two more unidentified kingdoms and the unidentified "Indus city" (Sindu) near the Indus River (Sindu). On 15 March 753 they finally reached Gandhara (Qiantuoluo),which is said to have been the eastern capital of Jibin. The king lived here in the winter to avoid the cold,and during the summer in Jibin itself to avoid the heat. After arriving in Gandhara,Wukong became very sick and so he stayed in the kingdom and did not return to China with the ambassador. [4]
After the return of the ambassador,he consecrated his life to the Buddha and was ordained in Jibin in 757. This is when he was given his religious name of Dharmadhātu in Sanskrit or Fajie in Chinese. He stayed in Gandhara for four years. For two years he studied and practised the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivada branch of Buddhism in Kashmir under the direction of three masters. While in Kashmir he studied at the Mengdi monastery which Sten Konow identified as being located in the village of Uskar (Hușkapura),which is in western Kashmir on the main road to Gandhara,near the modern border with Pakistan. Joshi suggests that it may be identical with the Rāja-vihāra built by King Lalitaditya Muktapida (r. 724-760),the most powerful ruler of the Karkoṭa Empire of Kashmir. [5]
Then,in 764 he headed south to Middle India where he visited Kapilavastu,Varanasi,Vaisali,Devavatara (Kapitha),Sravasti,and Kusinagara,and then lived for three years in the monastery at Nalanda before returning to Gandhara where he stayed in various monasteries and visited all the sacred places. [6]
In Gandhara he asked his master if he could return to his homeland who first refused,but finally allowed him to go. He was given several sutras in Sanskrit and a tooth relic of the Buddha to take back to his sovereign. He first headed through Tokharistan and,after a number of adventures,reached Kashgar. From there,he travelled to Khotan where he stayed for six months and went on to Kucha,where he stayed for more than a year. From there he went to Karashahr,where he stayed three months before heading on to Beiting (Urumqi) in Chinese territory. There he got help from a Khotanese monk by the name of Śīladharma in translating a number of the sutras he had brought with him.
In 789 he wanted to return to his homeland but the route across the Tarim Basin was closed,so he took a route through Uighur territory. As the "Chanyu" or leader of the Uighurs did not believe in Buddhism he had to leave the Sanskrit texts he had collected in the library of a temple in Beiting (Urumchi). However,he took the translated sutras and the tooth relic with him and returned to the capital Chang'an in early 790 after 40 years away. [7] The translated sutras and the tooth relic of the Buddha were presented to the Emperor and he was rewarded with official titles and given the name of Wukong. He then retired to the recently built Zhangjing monastery in the capital and visited his parents' graves. The date of his death is unknown as the biography ends in 790. [8]
Although he does not seem to have been well-educated,and had to have the sutras translated for him,and his brief biography was written by someone else,he was a keen observer and "his biography forms at least a precious complement and natural continuation of the gallery of "the Eminent Monks who went in search of the Law in the Western Countries during the period of the Great Tang Dynasty." It provides us with useful information about the political situation in the southern Hindukush and Taklamakan regions in an obscure and troubled period. [9] [10]
Amitābha is the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. He is also known as Amitāyus,which is understood to be his enjoyment body (Saṃbhogakāya). In Vajrayana Buddhism,Amitābha is known for his longevity,discernment,pure perception,and the purification of aggregates with deep awareness of the emptiness of all phenomena. Amitābha is associated with the Diamond Realm (vajradhātu),whereas Amitāyus is associated with the Womb Realm (garbhakoṣadhātu).
Kanishka I,also known as Kanishka the Great,was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty,under whose reign the empire reached its zenith. He is famous for his military,political,and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadphises,founder of the Kushan empire,Kanishka came to rule an empire extending from Central Asia and Gandhara to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain. The main capital of his empire was located at Puruṣapura (Peshawar) in Gandhara,with another major capital at Mathura. Coins of Kanishka were found in Tripuri.
The Diamond Sutra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra from the genre of Prajñāpāramitā sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range,the Diamond Sūtra is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia,and it is particularly prominent within the Chan tradition,along with the Heart Sutra.
Gandhara was an ancient Indo-Aryan civilization centred in present-day north-west Pakistan and north-east Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar and Swat valleys extending as far east as the Pothohar Plateau in Punjab,though the cultural influence of Greater Gandhara extended westwards into the Kabul valley in Afghanistan,and northwards up to the Karakoram range. The region was a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia with many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visiting the region.
Jñānagupta was a Buddhist monk from Gandhara who travelled to China and was recognised by Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty. He is said to have brought with him 260 sutras in Sanskrit,and was supported in translating these into Chinese by the emperor.
Bhaiṣajyaguru,or Bhaishajyaguru,formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja,is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha",he is described as a doctor who cures suffering using the medicine of his teachings.
Paul Eugène Pelliot was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions,and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and Chinese texts at the Sachu printing center storage caves (Dunhuang),known as the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Subhūti was one of the ten principal disciples of the Buddha. In Theravada Buddhism he is considered the disciple who was foremost in being "worthy of gifts" and "living remote and in peace". In Mahayana Buddhism,he is considered foremost in understanding emptiness.
The Dharmaguptaka are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools,depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect,the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism,and their Prātimokṣa are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day,including China,Vietnam,Korea,and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages,along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda.
Mahāyāna Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road,beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka. These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.
Sylvain Lévi was an influential French orientalist and indologist who taught Sanskrit and Indian religion at the École pratique des hautes études.
Hyecho was a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla,one of Korea's Three Kingdoms. He is primarily remembered for his account of his travels in medieval India,the Wang Ocheonchukguk Jeon.
Buddhabhadra was a Mahayana Buddhist meditation and Vinaya master. He is most known for his prolific translation efforts of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese,and was responsible for the first Chinese translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in the 5th century. In China he is often known as the "Meditation Master from Nepal" (来自尼泊尔的冥想大师).
Mahākapphina (Pali) or Mahākapphiṇa (Sanskrit),also called MahāKapphina Thera,was an eminent Arhat from Uttarapatha and is considered foremost among those who taught the monks. Mahākapphina was his monastic name. He became disciple of the Buddha and is one of the five hundred Arhats who will be reborn and attain Buddhahood,according to Mahāyāna tradition. References to Kapphina can be found in the Jātakas,Buddhaghoṣa's Manorathapūranī,the Dhammapada Aṭṭhakathā,the Visuddhimagga,the Sāratthappakāsinī,the Saṃyutta Nikāya,the Aṅguttara Nikāya,the Vinaya Piṭaka,the Theragāthā,etc.;as well as in the Sanskrit Avadānaśatika.
The Kingdom of Kapisa,appearing in contemporary Chinese sources as Caoguo and Jibin,was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium. Its capital was the city of Kapisa. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west,out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east.
Ushkur is an ancient Buddhist site near Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir,India.
The Nezak Huns,also Nezak Shahs,was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the four Hunnic states in South asia,their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend.
The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk,or mixed Turko-Hephthalite,or a group of Hephthalites origin,that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity. The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kannauj kingdom to the east. From the 560s,the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia,and occupied Bactria and the Hindu-Kush region,forming largely independent polities. The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan. In the Hindu-Kush region,they replaced the Nezak Huns –the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples.
Gandhāran Buddhism refers to the Buddhist culture of ancient Gandhāra which was a major center of Buddhism in the northwestern Indian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE to approximately 1200 CE. Ancient Gandhāra corresponds to modern day north Pakistan,mainly the Peshawar valley and Potohar plateau as well as Afghanistan's Jalalabad. The region has yielded the Gandhāran Buddhist texts written in GāndhārīPrakrit the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered. Gandhāra was also home to a unique Buddhist artistic and architectural culture which blended elements from Indian,Hellenistic,Roman and Parthian art. Buddhist Gandhāra was also influential as the gateway through which Buddhism spread to Central Asia and China.
Dānapāla or Shihu was an Indian Buddhist monk and prolific translator of Sanskrit Buddhist sutras during the Song dynasty in China.