Prajñā (Buddhist monk)

Prajñā
Chinese name
Chinese般若三藏
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinBōrě Sānzàng
Also known as:
Chinese般若
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinBō Rě
Sanskrit name
Sanskritप्रज्ञा

Prajñā (Chinese: 般若三藏 or 般若; pinyin: Bōrě Sānzàng or Bō Rě, 734[1]), was a 9th-century Buddhist monk born in Kapisa, near modern Kabul, Afghanistan.[2]

He visited Tang China and contributed several important retranslations of Sanskrit sutras into Chinese. Some of his main works are:

  • The Avatamsaka Sutra (华严经; 華嚴經; Huá Yán Jīng)
  • The Heart Sutra (大乘理趣六波罗密多经; 大乘理趣六波羅密多經; Dàshèng Lǐqù Liù Bōluómìduō Jīng or Dàchéng Lǐqù Liù Bōluómìduō Jīng)
  • The Mahayana Sutra of Mind Meditation from the Jataka Tales (大乘本生心地观经; 大乘本生心地觀經; Dàshèng Běnshēng Xīndì Guānjīng or Dàchéng Běnshēng Xīndì Guānjīng)

Prajñā reportedly befriended the Japanese monk Kūkai, future founder of Shingon Buddhism, during his pilgrimage to China. He is said to have helped Kūkai learn and understand Sanskrit source texts. He also studied at the monastery of Nalanda in modern-day India.[3]

According to the Zhenyuan Catalogue, Prajñā translated a work known as the Satparamita Sutra into Chinese with the help of the Christian monk Jingjing. This work does not survive.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "般若". buddhaspace.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  2. ^ Soothill, William (1977). A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 337. ISBN 9788120803190.
  3. ^ Jørgensen, John J (2005). Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch: Hagiography And Biography in Early Ch'an. BRILL. p. 648. ISBN 9789004145085.
  4. ^ David Scott (1985), "Christian Responses To Buddhism in Pre-Medieval Times", Numen 32(1): 88–100. doi:10.1163/156852785x00175

Further reading

  • Keown, Damian (2003). Dictionary of Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860560-9
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.