KumĀrajĪva
KUMĀRAJĪVA (343–413; alternative dates: 350–409) was renowned as the founder of the Sanlun ("three treatise," i. e., Mādhyamika) school in China and as an adept translator into Chinese of many important and influential Mahāyāna Buddhist texts.
Kumārajīva was born of noble lineage in the Central Asian city of Kuchā. His father was an emigrant Indian brahman and his mother a Kuchean princess. During the fourth century Kuchā was a major city along the northern trade route of the Silk Road connecting China with India and the West. There is ample testimony from the travelogues of Faxian and Xuanzang that cities along this route were strongholds of Hīnayāna Buddhism, especially the Sarvāstivāda sect, which had been introduced from its center in Kashmir. The works of this sect were thus the first he was to study.
Kumārajīva became a novice monk at the early age of seven. His mother, who wanted to become a nun, also abandoned lay life at this time. He spent the next two years studying the Āgamas and Abhidharma texts. When he was nine he went with his mother to North India (to Chipin, in Kashmir), where for three years he studied the Dirghāgama, the Madhyamāgama and the Kṣudraka under the master Bandhudatta. At twelve he again set out with his mother for Kuchā. On the way they stopped for more than a year in Kashgar, where he studied the Jñānaprasthāna Śāstra, a Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma treatise, as well as the Vedas and the five sciences (grammar, logic, metaphysics, medicine, and the arts and crafts). While in Kashgar he met the Mahāyānist Sūryasoma, who converted him to the Mahāyāna. In Kashgar, Kumārajīva also met the Dharmagupta master Buddhayaśas. After returning to Kuchā, Kumārajīva received full ordination in the royal palace at age twenty. He studied the Vinaya of the Sarvāstivāda school with the North Indian master Vimalākṣa. More significantly, however, he spent the next twenty years concentrating on Mahāyāna sūtras and Śāstras. His biography reports that he studied the three Śāstras of Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva that were later to become the central texts of the Sanlun tradition, all of which he may have obtained in Kashgar. A Chinese account of 379 mentions Kumārajīva as an accomplished monk, and it is from this period that his fame reaches China.
KumĀrajĪva's Translations
The Chu sanzang ji ji (early sixth century) attributes thirty-five works in 294 fascicles to Kumārajīva. The central corpus of these works is well attested by contemporary prefaces, and dates of translation are known for twenty-three titles. The core of works translated by Kumārajīva shows that his main interest was in the Śūnyavādin sūtras, particularly those of the Prajñāpāramitā class, and the Mādhyamika treatises. His interests were catholic, however, and he also translated pietist, Vinaya, and dhyāna sūtras, as well as the Satyasiddhi Śāstra, a Bahuśrutīya treatise by Harivarman.
Chief among the translated Śūnyavādin works were the Pañcaviṃśati (T.D. no. 223), the Aṣṭasāhasrikā (T.D. no. 227), the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (T.D. no. 475), the Vajracchedikā (T.D. no. 235), and the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya (T.D. no. 250). He also translated the three Mādhyamika treatises that form the basis for the Sanlun school in China and Japan: the Mūlamadhyamaka Śāstra, a treatise consisting of verses by Nāgārjuna and commentary by Piṅgala (T.D. no. 1564; Chin., Zhong lun); the Śata Śāstra of Āryadeva (T.D. no. 1569; Chin., Bo lun); and the Dvādaśanikāya Śāstra of Nāgārjuna (T.D. no. 1568; Chin., Shier men lun). Three other important Mādhyamika treatises that he translated are the Daśabhūmivibhāṣā Śāstra attributed to Nāgārjuna (T.D. no. 1521), the Faputixisnjing lun attributed to Vasubandhu (T.D. no. 1659), and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Śāstra attributed to Nāgārjuna (T.D. no. 1509; Chin., Da zhidu lun). Four treatises on meditation are attributed to Kumārajīva; chief among them is the Zuochan sanmei jing (T.D. no. 614), also called the Bodhisattvadhyāna. The major Vinaya works that he translated are the Sarvāstivāda Prātimokṣa Sūtra and, according to tradition, the Pusajieben (Bodhisattva-pratimokṣa). His pietist translations include the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (T.D. no. 262), the Smaller Sukhāvativyūha (T.D. no. 366), and two Maitreya texts (T.D. nos. 454 and 456). He also translated the Daśabhūmika (T.D. no. 286) in collaboration with his friend from Kashgar Buddhayaśas. All of these texts became central to the Chinese Buddhist community.
Kumārajīva, his chief assistants, and the translation bureau devised new transcriptions of names and Buddhist technical terms and utilized interpolated glosses when specific words could not be translated adequately. Although his translations betray careless editing, they are famous for their florid and elegant style. They may not preserve the original words of a Sanskrit sūtra, but they clearly express the intended meaning.
The most important evidence for Kumārajīva's religious thought is contained in the commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (T.D. no. 1775) and the collection of correspondence (T.D. no. 1856) between Huiyuan and Kumārajīva. From these works it is clear that Kumārajīva was an unqualified adherent of the Mādhyamika tradition. His critique of causation is the same as that of Nāgārjuna.
There is no evidence that Kumārajīva intended to found a lineage. Nevertheless, his influence in China, Korea, and Japan was pervasive. Although the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, the Smaller Sukhāvativyūha Sūtra, and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa a Sūtra had been translated earlier by Dharmarakṣa, Kumārajīva's more accurate translations further stimulated the growth and popularity of Mahāyāna Buddhism in the Far East: The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra became the basic text of the Tiantai school and, later, of the Nichiren sect in Japan; the Smaller Sukhāvativyūha became one of the three major texts of the Pure Land Tradition; the Vajracchedikā continues to be esteemed as a basic text of the Chan school; the Da chidu lun was very influential in the Zhenyan or Shingon (i. e., Vajrayāna) school in China and Japan; while the Vimalakirtinirdesa popularized the ideal of the bodhisattva. Other of his translations also helped shape the history of medieval Chinese Buddhism. The Satyasiddhi Śāstra, which had many commentaries written on it, became the most widely studied and influential work in the South during the Southern Qi (479–502) and Ling dynasties (502–557), and the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya became one of the two Vinaya systems prevalent in China and Japan. The old line transmission of the Sanlun school persisted until the time of Jizang (549–623) of the Sui dynasty (581–618). In summary, Kumārajīva's activities ushered in the second period of Chinese translations (fifth and sixth centuries), characterized by greater accuracy and widespread influence in the Chinese Buddhist community.
Buddhism, Schools Of, Article on Chinese Buddhism; Buddhist Books and Texts; Huiyuan; Mādhyamika; Nāgārjuna; Sengzhao.
Bibliography
The standard traditional account of the life of Kumārajīva can be found in Huijiao's Gaoseng zhuan (T.D. nos. 50. 330–333). For a German translation of the biography, see Johannes Nobel's "Kumārajīva," Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 26 (1927): 206–233. Erik Zürcher's The Buddhist Conquest of China, 2 vols. (1959; reprint, Leiden, Netherlands, 1979), treats the development of Buddhism in China through the end of the fourth century and thus provides an invaluable introduction to the religious and intellectual climate Kumārajīva encountered upon reaching Chang'an. For a general survey of Kumārajīva's career see Kenneth Chen's Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (Princeton, N.J., 1964). Other critical discussions include the following:
Kimura Eiichi, ed. Eon kenkyu. 2 vols. Kyoto, 1960–1962. Contains a translation of Kumārajīva's correspondence with Huiyuan.
Koseki, Aaron K. "'Later Mādhyamika' in China: Some Current Perspectives on the History of Chinese Prajñāpāramitā Thought." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5 (1982): 53–62.
Liebenthal, Walter. "Chinese Buddhism during the Fourth and Fifth Centuries." Monumenta Nipponica 11 (April 1955): 44–83.
Liebenthal, Walter, ed. and trans. The Book of Zhao. Beijng, 1948.
Robinson, Richard H. Early Mādhyamika in India and China. New Delhi, 1976.
Sakaino Koyo. Shina bukkyo seishi (1935). Tokyo, 1972. See pages 341–417.
Tang Yongtong. Han Wei liangjin Nanbeichao fojiao shi. Shanghai, 1938.
Tsukamoto Zenryu. "The Dates of Kumārajīva and Sengzhao Re-examined." Jinbum kagaku kenkyusho (Silver Jubilee Volume, 1954): 568–584.
Tsukamoto Zenryu, ed. Joron kenkyu. Kyoto, 1955.
This is the complete article, containing 1,297 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
