Kumārajīva

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Kumarajiva statue - Kizil CavesKumārajīva  (b. 344 CE – d. 413 CE)  was born in Kucha, which is now the autonomous Uighur district in China. After taking the tonsure at the age of seven, he crossed India to study Hinayana Buddhism with Hansudatta at age nine, and later studied Mahayana doctrine with Suryasoma at the age of twenty. When his training was complete, Kumarajiva returned to Kucha, where he devoted himself to Mahayana research and propagation. His work earned him an international reputation.

After Kucha was conquered, Kumārajīva was forced to stay in Liang-chou until 401, when Yao Hsing, the second ruler of the Later Qin Dynasty, invited the priest to Ch’ang-an. There, Kumarajiva was named Teacher of the Nation, and it is said that after assembling a large team of learned priests, he and his team produced Chinese translations of as many as 384 sutras and treatises. His best known translations include the Lotus Sutra (Myoho-Renge-Kyo), the Great Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom (Daibon hannya kyo) and the Vimalakirti Sutra (Yuima-kyo). He also produced translations of significant treatises and commentaries, such as the Great Wisdom Treatise (Daichido-ron), the Middle Treatise (Chu-ron), On the Twelve Gates (Junimon-ron), the One Hundred Verse Treatise (Hyaku-ron) and the Discourse on the Ten Stages (Jujubibasha-ron).

Tradition has it that Kumārajīva left the following instructions before his death. “I am to be cremated when I die. If my translations accord with the Buddha’s true intent, although my corrupt flesh will be reduced to ashes, no doubt, my tongue will remain unscathed by the flames. However, if my tongue is consumed by the fire, you must discard my translations.” In April of 413, Kumarajiva died at the age of seventy at Ta-ssu Temple in Ch’ang-an.

It is said that true to his words, during the cremation, Kumārajīva’s tongue was left untouched by the fire, and emitted a five-colored beam of light as it rested on a blue lotus that appeared in the midst of the flames. The Rise of the Lotus Sutra

  
           

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