The compiler of the catalogue adds that these translations have long been
lost.
The next patron of Buddhism was Ying, the King of _Kh_û, at the time of
the Emperor _K_ang, his father (76-88). Many Shâmans, it is said, came to
China then from the Western regions, bringing Buddhist Sûtras. Some of
these translations, however, proved unintelligible.
During the reign of the Emperor Hwan (147-167), An-shi-kao (usually called
An-shing), a Shâman of An-hsi,(86) brought classical books to Lo, and
translated them. This is evidently the same translator of whom Mr. Beal
(“J. R. A. S.” 1856, pp. 327, 332) speaks as a native of Eastern Persia or
Parthia, and whose name Mr. Wylie wished to identify with Arsak. As
An-shi-kao is reported to have been a royal prince, who made himself a
mendicant and travelled as far as China, Mr. Wylie supposes that he was
the son of one of the Arsacidæ, Kings of Persia. Mr. Beal on the contrary,
takes the name to be a corruption of A_s_vaka or Assaka—_i. e._
Ἱππάσιοι.(87)
Under the Emperor Ling, 168-189 A. D., _K_i-_kh_an (or _K_i-tsin), a
Shâman from the Yueh-_k_i (called _K_i-lau-kia-_k_uai by Beal),
_K_û-fo-soh (Ta-fo-sa), an Indian Shâman, and others, worked together to
produce a translation of the Nirvâ_n_a-sûtra, in two sections. The
K’ai-yuen-lu ascribes twenty-three works to _K_i-_kh_an, and two Sûtras to
_K_û-fo-soh.
Towards the end of the Han dynasty, _K_u-yung, the grand guardian, was a
follower of Buddha.
In the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-264) Khang-sang-hui, a Shâman of
the Western regions, came to Wû(88) with Sûtras and translated them.
Sun-_kh_üan, the sovereign, believed in Buddhism. About the same time
Khang-sang-khai translated the longer text of the Sukhavatîvyûha.
In Wei,(89) during the period Hwang-_kh_u (220-226) the Chinese first
observed the Buddhist precepts, shaved their heads, and became Sang—_i.
e._ monks.
Even before this, a Shâman of the Western regions had come here and
translated the Hsiâo-pin Sûtra—_i. e._ the Sûtra of Smaller Matters
(Khudda-kanikâya?)—but the head and tail of it were contradictory, so that
it could not be understood.
In the period Kan-lû (256-259), _K_û-shi-hsing (Chu-shuh-lan, in Beal’s
“Catalogue”) went to the West as far as Khoten, and obtained a Sûtra in
ninety sections, with which he came back to Yéh, in the Tsin period of
Yüen-khang (291-299), and translated it (with Dharmaraksha) under the
title of “Light-emitting Pra_gn_â-pâramitâ Sûtra.”(90)
In the period Thai-shi (265-274), under the Western Tsin (265-316),
Kû-fâ-hu(91) (Dharmaraksha), a Shâman of the Yüeh-_k_i, travelled through
the various kingdoms of the West, and brought a large collection of books
home to Lo, where he translated them. It is stated in the Catalogue of the
Great _K_au, an interlude in the dynasty of Thang (690-705 A. D.), that in
the seventh year of the period Thai-khang (286) he translated
_K_ing-fa-hwa—_i. e._ the Saddharma-pu_nd_arîka (Beal, “Catalogue,” p.
14).(92)
About 300 A. D. _K_i-kung-ming translated the Wei-ma (Vimala-kîrtti) and
Fa-hwa (Saddharma-pu_nd_arîka).(93)
In 335 the prince of the _Kh_au kingdom (during the Tsin dynasty)
permitted his subjects to become Shâmans, influenced chiefly by
Buddhasi_m_ha.(94)
In the time of the rebel Shih-leh, 330-333, during the Tsin dynasty, a
Shâman Wei-tao-an, or Tao-an, of _Kh_ang-shan, studied Buddhist literature
under Buddhasi_m_ha. He produced a more correct translation of the
Vimala-kîrtti-sûtra (and Saddharma-pu_nd_arîka), and taught it widely; but
as he was not an original translator, his name is not mentioned in the
K’ai-yuen-lu. On account of political troubles, Tâo-an led his disciples
southward, to Hsin-ye, and dispatched them to different quarters—Fâ-shang
to Yang-_k_âu, Fâ-hwa to Shû—while he himself, with Wei-yüan, went to
Hsiang-yang and _Kh_ang-an. Here Fu-_kh_ien, the sovereign of the Fûs, who
about 350 had got possession of _Kh_ang-an, resisting the authority of the
Tsin, and establishing the dynasty of the Former _Kh_in, received him with
distinction. It was at the wish of Tâo-an that Fu-_kh_ien invited
Kumâra_g_îva to _Kh_ang-an; but when, after a long delay, Kumâra_g_îva
arrived there, in the second year of the period Hung-shi (400 A. D.),
under Yâo-hsing, who, in 394, had succeeded Yâo-_kh_ang,(95) the founder
of the After _Kh_in dynasty, Tâo-an had been dead already twenty years.
His corrected translations, however, were approved by Kumâra_g_îva.
This Kumâra_g_îva marks a new period of great activity in the translation
of Buddhist texts. He is said to have come from Ku-tsi, in Tibet, where
the Emperor Yâo-hsing (397-415) sent for him. Among his translations are
mentioned the Wei-ma or Vima-la-kîrtti-sûtra (Beal’s “Catalogue,” p. 17);
the Saddharma-pu_nd_arîka (Beal’s “Catalogue,” p. 15); the
Satyasiddha-vyâkara_n_a _s_âstra (Beal’s “Catalogue,” p. 80). He was a
contemporary of the great traveller, Fa-hian, who went from _Kh_ang-an to
India, travelled through more than thirty states, and came back to Nanking
in 414, to find the Emperor Yâo-hsing overturned by the Eastern Tsin
dynasty. He was accompanied by the Indian contemplationist,
Buddha-bhadra.(96) Buddhabhadra translated the Fa-yan-king, the
Buddhâvata_m_saka-vaipulya-sûtra (Beal’s “Catalogue,” p. 9), and he and
Fa-hian together, the Mo-ho-sang-_k_i-liu—_i. e._ the Vinaya of the
Mahâsaṅghika school (Beal, “Catalogue,” p. 68).
Another Shâman who travelled to India about the same time was _K_i-mang,
of Hsin-fang, a district city of Kâo-_kh_ang. In 419, in the period
Yüan-hsi, he went as far as Pâ_t_ali-putra, where he obtained the
Nirva_n_a-sûtra, and the Saṅghika, a book of discipline.(97) After his
return to Kâo-_kh_ang he translated the Nirvâ_n_a-sûtra in twenty
sections.
Afterwards the Indian Shâman Dharmaraksha II.(98) brought other copies of
the foreign MSS. to the West of the Ho. And Tsü-_kh_ü Mung-sun, the king
of North Liang, sent messengers to Kâo-_kh_ang for the copy which
_K_i-mang had brought, wishing to compare the two.(99)
When _K_i-mang’s copy arrived,(100) a translation was made of it in thirty
sections. Dharmaraksha II. translated the Suvar_n_a-prabhâsa and the
Nirvâ_n_a-Sutrâ, 416-423 A. D. The K’ai-yuen-lu ascribes nineteen works to
Dharmalatsin in 131 fascicles.
Buddhism from that time spread very rapidly in China, and the translations
became too numerous to be all mentioned.
The Mahâyâna school was represented at that time chiefly by the following
translations:—
Translated by Kumâra_g_îva:
The Vimalakîrtti-sûtra (Beal, “Catalogue,” p. 17.
The Saddharmapun_nd_arika-sûtra (Beal, “Catalogue,” p. 15)
The Satyasiddhavyâkara_n_a-_s_âstra (Beal, “Catalogue,” p. 80)
Translated by Dharmalatsin, or Dharmaraksha II.:
The Suvar_n_aprabhâsa-sûtra (Beal, “Catalogue,” p. 15)
The Nirvâ_n_a-sûtra (Beal, “Catalogue.” p. 12)