Lokakṣema born around 147 CE, was the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated
Mahayana sutrasMahāyāna sutras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that are accepted as canonical by the various traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism. These are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibetan Buddhist canon, and in extant Sanskrit manuscripts...
into the
Chinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and as such was an important figure in
Buddhism in ChinaChinese Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China since ancient times. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.At the peak of the...
. The name
Lokakṣema means 'welfare of the world' in
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
.
Origins
Lokaksema was a Kushan of
YuezhiThe Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
ethnicity from
GandharaGandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
. His ethnicity is described in his adopted Chinese name by the prefix
Zhi (Ch:支), abbreviation of
Yuezhi (Ch:月支). As a Yuezhi, his native tongue was one of the
Tocharian languagesTocharian or Tokharian is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family. The name is taken from the people known to the Greeks as the Tocharians . These are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans. The term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria, which the...
, an
Indo-EuropeanThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
language group.
He was born in
GandharaGandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
(presently known as a center of
Greco-Buddhist artGreco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, and the Islamic...
) at a time when Buddhism was actively sponsored by the Kushan king
KanishkaKanishka ) was an emperor of the Kushan Empire, ruling an empire extending from Bactria to large parts of northern India in the 2nd century of the common era, and famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements...
, who convened the
Fourth Buddhist CouncilLists and numbering of Buddhist councils vary between and even within schools. The numbering here is normal in Western writings.-First Buddhist council Lists and numbering of Buddhist councils vary between and even within schools. The numbering here is normal in Western writings.-First Buddhist...
. The proceedings of this Council actually oversaw the formal split of
Nikaya BuddhismThe term Nikāya Buddhism was coined by Dr. Masatoshi Nagatomi, in order to find a more acceptable term than Hinayana to refer to the early Buddhist schools. Examples of these schools are pre-sectarian Buddhism and the early Buddhist schools...
and Mahayana Buddhism. It would seem that Kanishka was not ill-disposed towards
MahayanaMahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhism, opening the way for missionary activities in China by monks such as Lokaksema.
Lokaksema came from Gandhara to the court of the
Han dynastyThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
at the capital Loyang as early as 150 and worked there between 178 and 189. A prolific scholar-monk, many early translations of important Mahāyāna texts in China are attributed to him, including the very early Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra known as the "Practice of the Path" (
Dào Xíng Bānruò Jīng 道行般若經),
Pratyutpanna SutraThe Pratyutpanna Sutra is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture, which probably originated around the 1st century BCE in the Gandhara area of northwestern India.The Pratyutpanna Sutra was first translated into Chinese by the Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema...
(
Bān Zhōu Sānmèi Jīng 般舟三昧經),
ādūshì Wáng Jīng 阿闍世王經,
Za biyu jing 雜譬喩經,
Shou lengyan jing 首楞嚴經,
Wuliang qingjing pingdeng jue jing 無量淸淨平等覺經, and the
Baoji jing 寶積經 .
The Sanskrit names of the sutras he translated are as follows: Astasahasrika, Aksobhyatathagatasyavyuha, Surangamasamadhisutra, an early version of a sutra connected to the Avatamsakasutra, Drumakinnararajapariprccha, Bhadrapalasutra, Ajatasatrukaukrtyavinodana, and the Kasyapaparivarta, which were probably composed in the north of India in the first century CE
Activity in China
Lokaksema's work includes the translation of the
Pratyutpanna SutraThe Pratyutpanna Sutra is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture, which probably originated around the 1st century BCE in the Gandhara area of northwestern India.The Pratyutpanna Sutra was first translated into Chinese by the Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema...
, containing the first known mentions of the Buddha
AmitabhaAmitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
and his
Pure LandA pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
, said to be at the origin of
Pure LandA pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
practice in China, and the first known translations of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (The "Astasahasrika-prajnaparamita Sutras", or "Perfection of Wisdom Sutras of the practice of the Way", which later became known as the "Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 lines"), a founding text of Mahayana Buddhism.
Lokaksema's translation activities, as well as those of the
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
ns
An Shih KaoAn Shigao was a prince of Parthia, nicknamed the "Parthian Marquis", who renounced his claim to the royal throne of Parthia in order to serve as a Buddhist missionary monk in China.The prefix An in An Shigao's name is an abbreviation of Anxi, the Chinese name given to the regions ruled by the...
and An Hsuan slightly earlier, or the
YuezhiThe Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
Dharmaraksa' was one a translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Scriptural catalogues describe him as of Yuezhi origin. His family lived at Dunhuang, where he was born around 230 CE...
(around 286 CE) illustrate the key role Central Asians had in propagating the Buddhist faith to the countries of Eastern Asia.
Another Yuezhi monk and one of Lokaksema's students named Zhi Yao (Ch:支曜)，translated Mahayana Buddhist texts from Central Asian around 185 CE, such as the "Sutra on the Completion of Brightness" (Ch:成具光明經
Chengiu guangming jing).