Kumarajiva
Kumārajīva (
Chinese: 鳩摩羅什;
Jiumoluoshi; also
Kiu-kiu-lo,
Kiu-mo-lo-che,
Kiu-mo-to-tche-po,
Tang-cheu) was a
Kuchean Buddhist monk and scholar whose father was originally from an
Indian noble family, and whose mother was a princess. He first studied teachings of the
Sarvastivada schools, later studied under
Buddhasvāmin, and finally became a
Mahayāna adherent, studying the
Madhyamika doctrine of
Nagarjuna. He is mostly remembered for the prolific translation of Buddhist texts in to
Chinese he carried out during his later life.
Kumārajīva's father
Kumārāyana (also
Kiu-mo-yen) was an intelligent man from a noble family in India, while his grandfather
Ta-to is supposed to have had a great reputation. His father became a monk, left India, crossed the
Pamirs and arrived in Kucha where he became the royal priest. The sister of the king,
Jīva, married him and they produced Kumārajīva. Jīva joined the Tsio-li nunnery, north of Kucha, when Kumārajīva was just seven.
When his mother Jīva joined the Tsio-li nunnery, Kumārajīva was just seven but is said to have already committed many texts and sutras to memory. He proceeded to learn Abhidharma and after two years, at the age of nine, he was taken to
Kashmir by his mother to be better educated under
Bandhudatta. There he studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama, before returning with his mother three years later. On his return via
Tokharestan and
Kashgar an arhat predicted that he had a bright future and would introduce many people to Buddhism. Kumārajīva stayed in Kashgar for a year, ordaining the two princely sons of
Tsan-kiun (himself the son of the king of
Yarkand) and studying the
Abhidharmapiṭaka under the
Kashmirian
Buddhayaśa, as well as the four Vedas, five sciences, Bhahmanical sacred texts, astronomy, the
Śataśāstra,
Mādhyamakaśāstra, etc.
Kumārajīva left Kashgar with Jīva at age 12, and traveled to
Turfan, the north-eastern limit of the kingdom of
Kucha, which was home to more than 10,000 monks. In Turfan his fame spread after besting a
Taoist teacher in debate, and King
Po-Shui of Kucha came to Turfan to ask Kumārajīva personally to return with him to Kucha city. Kumārajīva obliged and returned to instruct the king's daughter
A-Kie-ye-mo-ti, who had become a nun, in the
Mahāsannipāta and
Mahāvaipulya sūtras.
At age 20, Kumārajīva was fully ordained at the king's palace, and lived in a new monastery built by king
Po-Shun. Kumārajīva proceeded to study the
Pañcaviṁśati-sāhasrikā sūtra, one of the longer
Perfection of Wisdom texts, relatively obscure at the time. He is known to have engaged in debates, and to have encouraged dialogue with foreign monks. Notably, he received
Vimalākṣa, a
Sarvāstivādan monk from
Kashmir, and was instructed by him in the Sarvāstivādan
Vinayapiṭaka. Jīva is thought to have moved to
Kashmir.
He traveled to
Chang'an (now
Xi'an), the capital of
China, in
401 at the request of its ruler,
Yao Xing of the
Later Qin. With the aid of numerous collaborators and assistants, Kumarajiva became one of the most prolific translators of Buddhist texts in history, rendering some seventy-two texts into Chinese.
Among the most important texts translated by Kumārajīva are the
Diamond Sutra,
Amitabha Sutra,
Lotus Sutra, the
Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra,
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and the
Mahaprajñāpāramitā Sastra. His translation was distinctive, possessing a flowing smoothness that reflects his prioritization on conveying the meaning as opposed to precise literal rendering. Because of this, his renderings of seminal Mahayana texts have often remained more popular than later, more exact translations.
His translation of the
Heart Sutra (Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutra), composed around AD 400, contains a line that is one of the most famous of his renderings. It is 色不異空，空不異色，色即是空，空即是色．受想行識，亦復如是 (What is seen does not differ from what is empty, what is empty does not differ from what is seen. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. It is the same for feeling, perception, intention and consciousness).
Kumarajiva had four main disciples: "" Daosheng, 僧肇 Sengzhao, "融 Daorong, and 僧叡
Sengrui.
Puri, B. N.
Buddhism in Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1987. (2000 reprint)
*
The Heart Sutra of Prajna Paramita
