Lokaksema

Lokaksema , born around 147 CE, The name ''Lokak?ema'' translates into 'welfare of the world' in Sanskrit. He is the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana sutras into the Chinese language and as such was an important figure in Buddhism in China.

Origins

Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity from Gandhara. His ethnicity is described in his adopted Chinese name by the prefix ''Zhi'' , abbreviation of ''Yuezhi'' . As a Yuezhi, his native tongue was one of the Tocharian languages, an language group.



He was born in Gandhara at a time when Buddhism was actively sponsored by the Kushan king Kanishka, who convened the . The proceedings of this Council actually oversaw the formal split of Nikaya Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. 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. Second century Gandhara was also a center of Greco-Buddhist art, a fusion of Buddhist and Hellenistic influences.



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. A prolific scholar monk, many early translations of important Mahāyāna texts in China are attributed to him, including the very early known as the "Practice of the Path" , Pratyutpanna Sutra, ''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 .

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 , a founding text of Mahayana Buddhism.



Lokaksema's translation activities, as well as those of the An Shih Kao and An Hsuan slightly earlier, or the Yuezhi Dharmaraksa illustrate the key role Central Asians had in propagating the Buddhist faith to the countries of Eastern Asia.



Another Yuezhi monk and one of Lokaksema's students named Zhi Yao ，translated Mahayana Buddhist texts from Central Asian around 185 CE, such as the "Sutra on the Completion of Brightness" .

References:

"Religions of the Silk Road" Richard C.Foltz ISBN 0-312-23338-8