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Buddha Sutras |
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Mantras Sanskrit |
| Home | Introduction | Sutras | Translators | Mantras | Prayers | Sanskrit | Glossary | Email Us |
| Kumārajīva (344-413 CE) | | Dharmodgata (4-5th centuries CE) | | Mandra (5-6th centuries CE) | | Bodhiruci (5-6th centuries CE) | | Vinītaruci (?-594 CE) | | Xuanzang (600 or 602-664 CE) | | Divākara (613-687 CE) | | Śikṣānanda (652-710 CE) | | Dharmacandra (653-743 CE) | | Pramiti (7-8th centuries CE) | | Amoghavajra (705-774 CE) | | Fatian (?-1001 CE) |
The continuation of the Dharma is credited not only to the Indian masters who took the teachings of the Buddha from India to China, but also to the Chinese masters who traveled to India to request for the sūtras and to carry them as a treasure back to China. All of them, with their elegant Chinese translations of the Sanskrit texts, made a crucial contribution to preserving and propagating the Dharma in China. Credit is also due to the Chinese emperors who revered the Buddhist masters and supported the Dharma. The life stories of a few of the masters related below in chronological order are based on WIKIPEDIA, the Free Encyclopedia, as well as on the 7-volume Fo Guang Da Ci Dian (佛光大辭典), or the Buddha's Light Dictionary, published by Fo Guang Publisher.
Kumārajīva (鳩摩羅什, 344-413 CE) means youth life. He lived during the turbulent period of the Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439 CE), which posed a threat to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 CE). He is one of the four great sūtra translators in China. His father, Kumārāyana, was from a noble family in India, who went to Kucha (龜茲, or 庫車, in the present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China) and married the king's sister, Princess Jīva. From their union, Kumārajīva was born.
Jīva renounced family life when Kumārajīva was seven. Mother and son traveled in India, studying under renowned Buddhist masters. Even at such a young age, Kumārajīva had already committed to memory many sūtras and texts, and his name was heard throughout the five regions of India. At 12, he traveled with his mother to Turfan (吐魯番, an oasis city in Xinjiang, China), but the king of Kucha went to Turfan to ask him to return to Kucha. So he returned to his homeland and stayed there until his destiny called.
Fujian (苻堅), ruler of the Former Qin Kingdom (前秦) in China, had heard of the marvelous Kumārajīva and wanted to bring him to China. In 382 CE he sent his general Luguang (呂光) to conquor Kucha. Kucha fell the next year, and Luguang captured Kumārajīva. On their way to China, Luguang got the news that Fujian had been defeated at the Battle of the Fei River. Luguang then settled in Liang Province (涼州) and founded a state called the Later Liang (後涼). For 17 years, Kumārajīva was detained there. Finally, Yaoxing (姚興), ruler of the Later Qin Kingdom (後秦), conquered Later Liang and took Kumārajīva to China.
In 401 CE Kumārajīva arrived in the capital city Chang-an, and Yaoxing honored him as the Imperial Teacher and forced him to marry 10 women for the purpose of producing descendants of his caliber. He stayed at the Xiaoyao Garden (逍遙園) and began his great translation work with a team of assistants. During the rest of his life, he translated 74 texts in 384 fascicles, including the well-known Amitābha Sūtra, Lotus Sūtra, Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra, Brahma Net Sūtra, and Mahā-Prajñā-Pāramitā Sūtra, as well as the Mahā-Prajñā-Pāramitā Śāstra, Madhyamaka Śāstra, and Dvādaśanikāya Śāstra, authored by Nāgārjuna. Kumārajīva's fluid and elegant translations greatly contributed to the propagation of the Dharma in China. Before his death, he said that if his translations were truthful, his tongue would not be destroyed by fire. After cremation of his body, indeed, his tongue was found intact.
Dharmodgata (曇無竭, 4-5th centuries CE) was from Huanglong, the present-day Chaoyang (朝陽), in Liaoning, a northeastern province of China, and his family name was Lee. He became a novice monk when he was just a child. He studied hard, observing the precepts and reciting sūtras, and was well regarded by his monk teachers. Inspired by the example of Faxian (法顯), who had visited the Buddhist Kingdom (India), Dharmodgata vowed to seek the Dharma even at the cost of his life.
In the first year of Jongchu of the Liu Song Dynasty (420 CE), Dharmodgata set out for the western country, together with 25 monks who shared his aspiration. They carried with them banners and ritual objects for making offerings as well as food and utensils.
The team passed Khocho (高昌, in the present-day Turfan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China), Kucha (龜茲, or 庫車, in the present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China), and other kingdoms. Only 13 members of the team survived climbing a cliff on their way. After crossing the snow mountain, they arrived in Kophen (罽賓, an ancient kingdom, also called Gandhāra, in the present-day Kashmir area). They made obeisance to the Buddha's begging bowl and received the Sanskrit text of the Sūtras of the Prophecy Bestowed upon Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. The team stayed there for over a year, learning Sanskrit and studying Sanskrit texts.
The team continued on west toward Yuezhi (月氏, the moon people, an Indo-European people, who had established the Kushan Empire, which at its height stretched from what is now Tajikistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and down into the Ganges river valley in northern India), where they paid homage to the relics of the Buddha's head bone. Then they went to northern India, the present-day Pakistan, and stayed at the Pomegranate Temple for three months, passing the summer. At this temple in India, Dharmodgata accepted the complete monastic precepts and became a fully-ordained monk.
Trudging south toward Śrāvastī in central India, Dharmodgata and his team crossed unforgiving terrain and relied on sugar for food. Only 5 of the 13-member team survived the ordeal. Throughout the hardships, Dharmodgata never forgot the Sūtra that he was carrying with him. By invoking the help of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, Dharmodgata and his surviving team escaped the perils of raging elephants and then of buffaloes.
The team continued to travel in India for several years, paying homage to the sacred sites of the Buddha and visiting with illustrious masters. Finally, departing from southern India, they undertook their return journey by sea, aboard a merchant ship. Crossing the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, they safely arrived at Guangzhou, in Guangdong Province, China. Dharmodgata stayed in that area, spreading the Dharma until his death.
It is remarkable that Dharmodgata had gone to India, seeking the Dharma, about 200 years earlier than Dharma Master Xuanzang. The Sūtra of the Prophecy Bestowed upon Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva that he had translated into Chinese is included in the Chinese Canon. However, his book on his adventurous pilgrimage had been lost.
Mandra (曼陀羅仙, 5-6th centuries CE) was a Tripiṭaka master from Funan (扶南), a pre-Angkor Indianized kingdom located around the Mekong delta. In the second year of Tianjian (503 CE) during the Southern Liang Dynasty (502-557 CE), Mandra arrived in the capital city Jiankang (建康, the present-day Nanjing, 南京), China. He helped Saṅghavarman (僧伽婆羅, 460-524 CE), who was also from Funan, translate Sanskrit texts into Chinese, with the support of Emperor Wu (梁武帝). In 506 CE, Mandra translated the Sūtra of Mahā-Prajña-Pāramitā Pronounced by Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva. Nothing more is known about him.
Bodhiruci (菩提留支, 5-6th centuries CE), or bodhi splendor, was a Buddhist master from northern India, versed in the Tripiṭaka and mantra practices. Aspiring to propagate the Dharma, he arrived in Luoyang, the capital city of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in the first year of Yongping (502 CE). Emperor Xuanwu (宣武帝) valued him very much, commanding him to stay in the Yongning Temple (永寧寺) to translate Sanskrit texts. He translated 39 texts in 127 fascicles, including the Diamond Sūtra, Buddha Name Sūtra, Dharma Collection Sūtra, Profound Secret Liberation Sūtra, as well as the Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra, the Treatise on the Great Jewel Accumulation Sūtra, the Treatise on the Ten Grounds Sūtra, and the Treatise on the Infinite-Life Buddha Sūtra. After 537 CE, Bodhiruci was not seen again.
Bodhiruci expressed his unique view on the teachings of the Buddha. Based on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, he said that, for the first twelve years, the Buddha gave only half-worded teachings, followed by the fully worded teachings afterwards. Bodhiruci also formed the One Tone Theory, saying that the Buddha pronounces teachings in one tone, and sentient beings come to a variety of understandings according to their capacities. Furthermore, he proposed the distinction, based on the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, between sudden and gradual enlightenment.
Vinītaruci (毘尼多流支, ?-594 CE), which means subdued pleasure (滅喜), was born in the sixth century CE in southern India. In the sixth year (574 CE) of Taijian years of the Chen Dynasty (the last of the four Southern Dynasties), he went to Chang-an, China, in search of the Dharma. He met the third patriarch Sengcan (僧璨, years unknown) of the Chinese Zen School, in Ye County (鄴縣), Hunan Province, who transmitted to him the Mind Seal and commanded him to go to southern China to deliver the multitudes.
He then went down south to Guangdong Province and became the abbot of the Zhizhie Temple (制止寺) in Guangzhou (廣州). There he translated into Chinese from the Sanskrit texts the Mahāyāna Vaipulya Sūtra of Total Retention and the Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of the Elephant Head Ashram.
In the twelfth year (580 CE) of Taijian, Vinītaruci went to northern Vietnam and became the abbot of the Fayun Temple (法雲寺). He started his Vinītaruci Zen School and spread the Dharma in Vietnam for over ten years until his death in 594 CE, during the Sui Dynasty (581-619 CE). His teachings included that true suchness and Buddha nature are never born and never perish and that all sentient beings have the same original nature of true suchness. The Vinītaruci Zen School prospered in Vietnam for over 600 years. His disciple Faxian (法賢, ?–626 CE) was the first patriarch, who successively passed the lineage down to Yishan (依山, ?–1216 CE). Then this Zen School declined into obscurity.
Xuanzang (玄奘, 600 or 602-664 CE) is a Tripiṭaka Master in the Tang Dynasty, well-known and revered in China for his overland trip to India and his translating into Chinese the voluminous Sanskrit texts he brought back from India. Xuanzang was a native of Henan Province, China. His secular name was Chen Hui (陳褘). He lived for five years with his elder brother, who was a monk at the Jingtu Monastery (淨土寺) in Luoyang, the capital city of the Sui Dynasty. Xuanzang studied both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhist texts and became a novice monk at the age of 13. During the chaos in the transition from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the two brothers traveled widely in China, and then they studied the Abhidharma under Buddhist masters Daoji, Baoqian, and Zhenfa (道基、寶遷、震法). In 622 CE, Xuanzang was fully ordained as a monk.
Dissatisfied with the discrepancies and contradictions in the texts, Xuanzang vowed to bring more texts from India. He began his pilgrimage in 627 or 629 CE, traveling alone to the west by way of the so-called Silk Roads, encountering many Buddhist Monasteries and holy sites. He arrived in the Indian kingdom of Magadha in 631 or 633 CE. He studied under Master Śīlabhadra (戒賢) at the Nālandā Monastery for five years, learning logic, the Yogācārya Bhūmi Śāstra (瑜伽師地論), the Mādhyamika Śāstra (中論), and other texts. Xuanzang then traveled widely in India, visiting renowned masters and collecting scriptural texts.
When Xuanzang returned to the Monastery, Master Śīlabhadra ordered him to expound the treatise Mahāyāna-Saṁparigraha Śāstra (攝大乘論) composed by Asaṅga, and other treatises. He then composed thousands of verses, which defeated the views of two Indian masters who opposed to Yogācārya and Mahāyāna, and his name spread throughout the five kingdoms of Inida. The king Śīlāditya (戒日王) organized an assembly of debate in the city of Kānyakudja (曲女城) and appointed Xuanzang the master presiding over the forum. This renowned assembly was attended by the 18 kings of the five kingdoms of India as well as Brahmins and some 7,000 Buddhist monks of both the Theravāda and the Mahāyāna Schools. Xuanzang posted outside the gate his essay entitled "The True Measure of Consciousness Only." For 18 days, no one was able to debate his statement. After the assembly, the 18 kings respectfully took refuge under Xuanzang. As a farewell event in honor of Xuanzang, the king Śīlāditya invited the 18 kings to launch the quinquennial Unreserved Assembly for Almsgiving (無遮布施大會). For 75 days, whether monastic or secular, all attendees were given alms in the form of the Dharma and of life-supporting goods.
Xuanzang departed India in 643 CE and arrived in 645 CE in Chang-an (長安), the capital city of China, in the Tang Dynasty. His round trip to India took 17 years, covering 50,000 lis (about 25,000 kilometers). He brought back Buddha statues and 150 Buddha relics and 657 Sanskrit texts. He was revered by Emperor Taizong (唐太宗), who honored him as the Tripiṭaka Dharma Master. For the next 19 years, Xuanzang translated 75 Sūtras and Treatises in 1,335 fascicles, including the Mahā-Prajnā Sūtra in 600 fascicles, the Yogācārya Bhūmi Śāstra in 100 fascicles, the Mahā-Bhūmivibhāsā Śāstra in 200 fascicles, and so forth. His book entitled Da Tang Xi Yu Ji (大唐西域記), paraphrased as Journey to the West in the Great Tang Dynasty, has great historical value as a major source for the study of the culture and geography of medieval India and central Asia.
Xuanzang died in the second month of 664 CE. Emperor Kaozong (唐高宗) was so grieved that he did not go to court for three days. He ordered a pagoda to be erected to enshrine Xuanzang's relics, which later were moved to another pagoda in Nanjing (南京). This pagoda was destroyed during the Rebellion of Great Peace (太平天國, 1859-1864 CE). Finally, during the Sino-Japaneses War (1937-1945), the Japanese troops occupying Nanjing found the relics when they dug the ground to repair the road. They took the relics to Japan and later returned to China a part of the skull relic, which is now enshrined in the Xuanzang Temple in Taiwan.
Xuanzang's study, translation, and commentary of the texts in the field of Yogācāra (瑜伽行派), or Consciousness-Only (唯識), led to the formation of the Faxiang School (法相宗) in China. His foremost disciple, Kuiji (窺基), is recognized as the first patriarch of this School. Although this School soon declined in China, its tenets have had far-reaching influence in the development of Mahāyāna Buddhism in East Asia.
Divākara (地婆訶羅, 613-687 CE), or Rizhao (日照) in Chinese, was born in central India in the Brahmin caste. He became a monk when he was just a child, and he spent many years at the Mahābodhi Temple and the Nālandā Monastery. When he went to Chang-an, China, in his sixties, approximately during the Yifeng years (676-678 CE) of Emperor Gaozong (唐高宗) of the Tang Dynasty, he was already an accomplished Tripiṭaka Master, excelled in the five studies and especially in mantra practices. The Emperor treated him as respectfully as he had treated the illustrious Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang (玄奘, 602?-664 CE). In the first year of Yunglong (680 CE), the Emperor commanded ten learned monks to assist Divākara in translating sūtras from Sanskrit into Chinese. In six years Divākara translated 18 sūtras, including the Sūtra of the Buddha-Crown Superb Victory Dhāraṇī. Longing to see his mother again, he petitioned for permission to go home. Unfortunately, although permission was granted, he fell ill and died in December of the third year of Chuigong (687 CE), at the age of 75. Empress Wu (武后則天) had him buried properly at the Xiangshan Monastery in Luoyang.
Śikṣānanda (實叉難陀, 652-710 CE) means Study Joy. He was from the kingdom of Yutian (于闐), or Kustana, (the present-day Khotan, in Xinjiang, the autonomous region of China). He was accomplished in the doctrines of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna as well as other studies. Śikṣānanda took the Sanskrit text of the Flower Adornment Sūtra (Avataṁsaka Sūtra) to Luoyang, China, in the first year of Zensheng (695 CE). At the command of Empress Wu (武后則天), in collaboration with Bodhiruci and Yijing, he translated the text into Chinese, at the Dabiankong Temple in the eastern capital city. This Flower Adornment Sūtra in 80 fascicles is a new translation. Altogether, Śikṣānanda translated 19 sūtras in 107 fascicles, including the Mahāyāna Sūtra of Entering Laṅkā, the Sūtra of the Prophecy for Mañjuśrī, and so forth.
In 705 CE, Śikṣānanda returned to his homeland. However, upon repeated invitations, once again he went to China, in the second year of Jinglong (708 CE). Emperor Zhongzong (唐中宗) went outside the capital city to welcome him respectfully.
Śikṣānanda fell ill and died in the 10th month of the year Jingyuan (710 CE), at the age of 59. After cremation of his body, his tongue remained intact. His disciples returned his relics and tongue to Yutian and had a pagoda built for enshrining them. Later on, a 7-story pagoda was erected at the place where he had been cremated. It is called the Huayan Sanzang Pagoda, which means the Flower Adornment Tripiṭaka Pagoda, because Śikṣānanda was the Tripiṭaka master who had translated this Flower Adornment Sūtra.
Dharmacandra (法月, 653-743 CE) is known to be from eastern India or from the kingdom of Magadha in central India. He traveled widely in central India and was accomplished in the Tripiṭaka and the medical arts. Then he went to the kingdom of Kucha (龜茲, or 庫車, in the present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China), where he taught his disciple True Moon and others.
At the written recommendation of Lu Xulin (呂休林), the regional military governor to pacify the west (安西節度使), Dharmacandra arrived in Chang-an, China, in 732 CE, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗) of the Tang Dynasty. He presented, as an offering, Sanskrit texts on alchemy and herbal remedies, as well as the Sūtra of the Mighty Vidya King Ucchuṣma, translated by Ajita. With the help of his disciple Liyan (利言), Dharmacandra translated into Chinese the Sanskrit text of herbal remedies as well as of the Sūtra of the All-encompassing Knowledge Store, the Heart of Prajñā-Pāramitā.
During an uprising in China, Dharmacandra moved to the kingdom of Yutian (于闐), or Kustana, (the present-day Khotan, in Xinjiang, the autonomous region of China). He stayed at the Golden Wheel Temple, teaching people attracted to him, until his death at the age of 91 in 743 CE.
Pramiti (般剌蜜帝, 7-8th centuries CE), which means correct measure, was a monk from central India. On his first attempt to carry the Śūraṅgama Sūtra (楞嚴經) to China, he was found out by the coast guards and was turned back. More determined than ever to spread the Dharma to China, he then copied the Sūtra onto fine white fabric and had it sewn under the skin of his arm. After his arm was healed, he passed the inspection and was allowed to leave India.
Pramiti traveled by sea and arrived in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, in the first year of Shenlong (705 CE) of Emperor Zhongzong (唐中宗) of the Tang Dynasty. He stayed at the Zhizhi Temple (制止寺) in Guangzhou and started to translate this Śūraṅgama Sūtra in 10 fascicles. He was assisted by another Indian monk Miccaśakya, who helped render the Sanskrit text into Chinese, and by a Chinese layman Fangrong (房融), who recorded the translation. Then a learned Chinese monk by the name of Huaidi (懷迪) reviewed the Chinese translation in light of the meaning conveyed by the Sūtra.
It did not take too long for the king, furious about Pramiti's taking the Sūtra out of the country, to send agents to find Pramiti. He was found and, under the escort of the agents, returned willingly to India, to accept the responsibility for his action.
It is interesting to note that Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva (龍樹菩薩, circa 150-250 CE), who is revered in China as the distant originating patriarch of eight Mahāyāna Schools, in his meditation, saw the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and the Avataṁsaka Sūtra kept in the dragon-king's palace, and he memorized these texts. Then he wrote down everything from memory. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra was considered a national treasure and kept in the Nālandā Monastery. It had been forbidden to take it out of the country, but it was smuggled out by Pramiti.
There was another good reason for the arrival of the Sūtra in China. As it happened, over 100 years earlier, an Indian monk remarked to Master Zhiyi (智顗, 538-597 CE), the founding patriarch of the Tiantai School of China, that the threefold meditation of his School was in accord with the tenets of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. Master Zhiyi was so inspired that he had a platform built on the peak of the Tiantai Mountain (天台山). For the 18 years until his death, on this platform he routinely bowed down toward the west, requesting this Sūtra to come to China. However, he was not to see this Sūtra in his life. This obeisance-to-the-sūtra platform is still there today on the Huading Peak (華頂峰) on the Tiantai Mountain, in Zhejiang Province, China.
Amoghavajra (不空金剛, 705-774 CE) is referred to as Not-Empty Vajra in China. He is the sixth patriarch in the Buddhist esoteric lineage. Born in the Lion Kingdom (the present-day Sri Lanka) in southern India, he traveled with his uncle in his youth. Later he renounced family life and studied under Vajrabodhi (金剛智), who took him to Luoyang in the 8th year of Kaiyuan (720 CE) of Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗) of the Tang Dynasty. Amoghavajra was then 16. Another version of the story goes that he was the son of a Brahmin in northern India. Orphaned as a child, he went to China with his uncle and then studied under Vajrabodhi.
At 20, Amoghavajra was fully ordained at the Guangfu Temple in Luoyang. Exceptionally intelligent, he was well regarded by his teacher Vajrabodhi, who transmitted to him all five divisions of the teachings on the three secrets [body, voice, and mind]. After Vajrabodhi died, Amoghavajra, honoring his teacher's instruction, set out for India in search of the esoteric Dharma. Together with Hanguang, Huibian, and others, he traveled by sea. He first stopped by Sri Lanka and received from Nāgabodhi (龍智) the Vajra Summit Yoga, which had been initially transmitted in 18 assemblies, and the Mahāvairocana Great Compassion Store, as well as the 5-Division Empowerment, the Secret Book of Mantras, and some 500 sūtras and commentaries. He also received teachings on the secret mudrās of the deities. After traveling extensively through the five regions of India, Amoghavajra returned to the capital city of China in the fifth year of Tianbao (746 CE). There he gave an esoteric empowerment to Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗). Later on, the Emperor named him Knowledge Store and bestowed upon him the purple robe because his practice successfully brought rainfall.
In the sixth year of Dali (771 CE), during the reign of Emperor Daizong (唐代宗), Amoghavajra presented his translations of 77 sūtras in 101 fascicles with a table of contents and requested to have them included in the Tripiṭaka. Then the Emperor conferred upon him a title, Great Vast Knowledge Tripiṭaka Master. In June 774 CE, sensing that his time was due, Amoghavajra wrote the Emperor a farewell letter and offered his ritual objects, a bell and a 5-spoke vajra. Lying on his side, he died at at the age of 70. A pagoda was erected at the Daxingshan Temple for keeping his relics.
Kumārajīva (鳩摩羅什, 344-413 or 350-409 CE), Paramārtha (真諦, 499-569 CE), Xuanzang (玄奘, 602?-664 CE), and Amoghavajra (不空金剛, 705-774 CE) are honored in China as the four great translators, who contributed greatly to establishing the correspondence between Sanskrit and Chinese in sounds and rhythms. Moreover, Subhakara-Siṁha (善無畏, 637-735 CE), Vajrabodhi (金剛智, 671?-741 CE), and Amoghavajra are called the Three Great Ones during Kaiyuan. Amoghavajra's Chinese disciple Huiguo (惠果, 746-805 CE) received full transmission of the Dharma from him and became the seventh patriarch, the last one in China. During their days, the Esoteric School of Buddhism flourished in China. Then the esoteric lineage was carried on by Huiguo's Japanese disciple Kunghai (空海, 774-835 CE), who became the first patriarch of the True Word School (the Mantra School) in Japan, which has thrived to this day.
Born in central India, Fatian (法天, ?-1001 CE), or Dharmadeva, had been a monk in the Nālandā Monastery in the kingdom of Magadha. He went to China in the sixth year of Kaibao (973 CE) in the Northern Song Dynasty and stayed in Pujin, in Lu County. He translated the Holy Infinite Life Sūtra, Praising the Seven Buddhas, and other texts. His translations were recorded and edited by another Indian monk, Dharma Master Fajin of the Kaiyuan Temple in Hezhongfu.
In the fifth year of Taiping-Xinguo (980 CE), the county official presented a written recommendation of Fatian to Emperor Taizong (宋太宗). Very pleased with what he read in the report, the Emperor summoned Fatian to the capital city and bestowed upon him the purple robe. Furthermore, he decreed the building of an institute for sūtra translation. In the following year, Fatian translated the Sūtra of the Infinite-Life Resolute Radiance King Tathāgata Dhāranī. In 982 CE, at the command of the Emperor, Fatian, Tianxizai, Shihu, and others moved into the institute, starting to translate the Sanskrit texts each had brought. In the seventh month, Fatian completed his translation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Holy Auspicious Upholding-the-World Dhāranī. Then the Emperor named him Great Master of Transmission of Teachings. From 982 to 1000 CE, he translated 46 sūtras. Fatian died in the fourth year of Xianping (1001 CE), his age unknown. The Emperor conferred upon him a posthumous title, Great Master of Profound Enlightenment.