Lokaksema (Ch: 支谶, Zhī Chèn).

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. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical He is the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into the Chinese language. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Mahayana ( Sanskrit: mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान 'Great Vehicle' is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for

Origins

Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity from Gandhara. The Kushan Empire (c 1st &ndash 3rd centuries) was a Bactrian state that at its cultural zenith Circa 105 &ndash 250 The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese: 月支 Pinyin: yuè zhī or ròu zhī; also 月氏 Pinyin: yuè shì Gandhāra ( Sanskrit: गन्धार Urdu: گندھارا Gandḥārā; also known as Waihind in Persian is the name of an ancient 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. Tocharian or Tokharian is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family.

He was born in Gandhara at a time when Buddhism was actively sponsored by the Kushan king Kanishka, who convened the Fourth Buddhist Council. Kanishka (Kushan language Κανηϸκι, Middle Chinese: 迦腻色伽 was a king of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia, ruling an empire extending Lists and numbering of Buddhist councils vary between and even within schools The proceedings of this Council actually oversaw the formal split of Nikaya Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. The term Nikāya Buddhism was invented by Mahayanist scholars in order to find a more acceptable (less derogatory term than Hinayana to refer to the Early Buddhist schools It would seem that Kanishka was not ill-disposed towards Mahayana Buddhism, opening the way for missoinary activities in China by monks such as Lokaksema. Mahayana ( Sanskrit: mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान 'Great Vehicle' is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for Second century Gandhara was also a center of Greco-Buddhist art, a fusion of Buddhist and Hellenistic influences. Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural Syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period.

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. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. Luoyang ( is a Prefecture-level city in western Henan province, People's Republic of China. Events By location Roman Empire Commodus and Marcus Aurelius travel to the Danube to engage the Marcomanni Events By Place Asia The Prince of Hongnong succeeds Han Lingdi as Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty. 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 ^[1]. " Perfection of Wisdom " is a translation of the Sanskrit term prajñā pāramitā ( Devanagari: प्रज्ञा पारमिता The Pratyutpanna Sutra (also Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra, lit "The Samadhi of being in the presence of all the Buddhas"/Simplified Chinese 佛说般舟三昧经) is

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. The Pratyutpanna Sutra (also Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra, lit "The Samadhi of being in the presence of all the Buddhas"/Simplified Chinese 佛说般舟三昧经) is Amitābha ( Sanskrit: अमिताभ Amitābha (wordstem pronunciation; Chinese: 阿彌陀佛 Ēmítuó Fó; Tibetan: འོད་དཔག་མེད་ Pure Land Buddhism ( Jìngtǔzōng; 浄土教 Jōdokyō; Korean: ko-Hang 정토종 jeongtojong; Vietnamese: 浄土宗 vi Pure Land Buddhism ( Jìngtǔzōng; 浄土教 Jōdokyō; Korean: ko-Hang 정토종 jeongtojong; Vietnamese: 浄土宗 vi " Perfection of Wisdom " is a translation of the Sanskrit term prajñā pāramitā ( Devanagari: प्रज्ञा पारमिता

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. Parthia ( Middle Persian: اشکانیان Ashkâniân) was an Iranian civilization situated in the northeastern part of modern Iran An Shih-kao (?-~168 (安世高 Pinyin Ān Shígāo) was a prince of Parthia, nicknamed the "Parthian Marquis" who renounced his prospect An Xuan (安玄 Ān Xuán was a Parthian layman accredited with working alongside 安世高 ( Ān Shìgāo) in the translation of early Buddhist texts The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese: 月支 Pinyin: yuè zhī or ròu zhī; also 月氏 Pinyin: yuè shì Dharmarakṣa (Ch 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù was one of the greatest translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.

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).

See also

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

References:

"Religions of the Silk Road" Richard C. The History of Buddhism spans the 6th century BCE to the present starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary or quasi-historical account of an embassy sent to the West by the Foltz ISBN 0-312-23338-8

Notes

1. ^  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.