Buddhabhadra (translator)

Buddhabhadra (simplified Chinese: 佛陀跋陀罗; traditional Chinese: 佛陀跋陀羅; pinyin: Fótuóbátuóluó) (359-429 CE) was an Indian Buddhist monk, with the title of śramaṇa.[1] He is most known for his prolific translation efforts of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese, and was responsible for the first Chinese translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Flower Ornament Scripture) in the 5th century CE.[2]

Buddhabhadra and his Chinese disciple Xuangao are known to have advocated the twin principles of samadhi (meditative concentration) and prajna (transcendent wisdom). These were later inherited by the Tiantai school of Buddhism, and its patriarchs Huisi and Zhiyi. Buddhabhadra's views in turn stemmed from those of Buddhasena's Dhyāna school in Kashmir, and their meditation manual was translated by Buddhabhadra at behest of Huiyuan, the founder of the Chinese tradition of Pure Land Buddhism. This Indian meditation manual preserved in Taisho Tripitaka 618, and is typically called the Yogacarabhumi Sutra or the Dharmatrata Dhyana Sutra. This text was later prized by the Zen school in China, and parts of its lineage to the Buddha became entangled in sectarian conflicts between factions of Chinese Buddhism.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Beal, Samuel (1884). Si-yu-ki, Buddhist records of the Western world, London: Trübner
  2. ↑ Cleary, Thomas. The Flower Ornament Scripture: a Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. 1984. p. 2

Further reading