Lokaksema

Lokaksema (Ch: 支婁迦讖 "Zhī Lóujiāchèn"， sometimes abbreviated 支讖 "Zhī Chèn"), born around 147 CE, The name "Lokakṣema" translates into 'welfare of the world' in Sanskrit. He is the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana sutras into the Chinese language and as such was an important figure in Buddhism in China.

Origins

Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity from Gandhara. 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 languages, an Indo-European language group.

He was born in Gandhara at a time when Buddhism was actively sponsored by the Kushan king Kanishka, who convened the Fourth Buddhist Council. The proceedings of this Council actually oversaw the formal split of Nikaya Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. It would seem that Kanishka was not ill-disposed towards Mahayana Buddhism, opening the way for missionary activities in China by monks such as Lokaksema. Second century Gandhara was also a center of Greco-Buddhist art, a fusion of Buddhist and Hellenistic influences.

Lokaksema came from Gandhara to the court of the Han dynasty 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 Sutra("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 ref|Dic.

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 [A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 248-251] , which were probably composed in the north of India in the first century CE [‘The sudden appearance of large numbers of (Mahayana) teachers and texts (in North India in the second century AD) would seem to require some previous preparation and development, and this we can look for in the South.’ AK Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, 1999 p. 335.] [A History of Indian Buddhism - Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 252, 253]

Activity in China

Lokaksema's work includes the translation of the Pratyutpanna Sutra, containing the first known mentions of the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, said to be at the origin of Pure Land 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 Parthians An Shih Kao and An Hsuan slightly earlier, or the Yuezhi Dharmaraksa (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").

ee also

*History of Buddhism
*Buddhist texts
*Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

References:

"Religions of the Silk Road" Richard C.Foltz ISBN 0-312-23338-8

Notes

# Dictionary References: Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) p.287b/319. Fo Guang Shan Dictionary, p. 1416. Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa), p. 569. Index to the Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono), p. 341.Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki)(v.1-6), p. 2858a.