Sanghapala
Sanghapala ភិក្ខុសង្ឃបាល | |
---|---|
Title | Preah Phikho |
Personal | |
Born | 460 |
Died | 524 (age 65) |
Religion | Buddhism |
Nationality | Cambodian |
School | Theravada ? |
Senior posting | |
Teacher | Guṇavṛddhī |
Sanghapāla (506–518 CE) was a famous
He, along with the fellow
He is one of the only two Cambodian monks whose translations currently figure in the Tripitaka.[2]
Identification
Sanghapala is sometimes referred to by the Khmer name of Sanghavarman. In Chinese, he is also known as Sengqie-Poluo (僧伽婆羅).[3]
Biography
Sanghapala was born in Funan in the year 460 AD,[2] in the modern day Kingdom of Cambodia. He became a monk in his teens and traveled to China where he lived in Jiankang, nowadays Nanking, the capital city of Southern Qi dynasty during that time. He was discipled by Guṇavṛddhī, a certain Indian monk who had travelled to Chinaduring the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang who intended to propagate Buddhism to China as King Ashoka had one for India.[4] He acquired the knowledge of many languages including Pali, Sanskrit and classical Chinese.
Pala was clean of body and of mind and was reluctant to engage in conversation. In the seclusion of his room he stayed and worked, taking a very simple fare.
— Zokukosoden, Further Biographies of Famous Clerics, number 2060, volume 50 of the Taisho edition of the Chinese Tripitaka.[5]
He was then sponsored by the court of Jiankang to translate new works into Chinese as early as 506.[6] Among others, Sanghapala was ordered to write a new translation known as Ayuwang jing, or the Scripture of King Aśoka (T.2043) from the original Ashokavadana, an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.[7] He worked as an official translator for 16 years and established offices in five different locations, one of which was now as "The Funan Desk".[2]
Sanghapala died at the age of 65 in 524 AD.[8]
Legacy: the Chinese translation of lost Pali texts
Bibliography
There are nine works of Sanghapala in the catalogue of the Chinese translations of the Buddhist Tripitaka established by Nanjō Bun'yū, namely,
- No. 22 Saptaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā (S. M.).
- N. 29 Dasadharmaka
- N. 56 Sarvabuddhavishayāvatāra
- N. 301 Ashtabuddhaka
- N. 308 Mahamayuri Vidyaragni
- N. 353 Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī
- N. 442 Mañjuśrī pariprikkha
- N. 1103 Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra
- N. 1293 Vimuttimagga or Vimoksha-marga-sastra as the Sanskrit rendering of the Chinese title gives it[12]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-90-04-52215-2, retrieved 26 May 2023
- JSTOR 25066800.
- ^ Arahant Upatossa; Rev. N. R.M. Ehara (1961). Vimuttimagga or the Path of Freedom (PDF). Translated by Soma Thera & Kheminda Thera. Buddhist Publication Society. pp. XLII.
- ISBN 978-0-19-093754-6.
- ^ Strong, John S. (1983). The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Vol. xii. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. pp. 198–201.
- ^ .
- JSTOR 41694259.
- ^ Nanjio, Bunyiu (1883). A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka: The Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan. Clarendon Press.
- .
- ^ Nanjio, Bunyiu (1883). A catalogue of the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka : the sacred canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan. Cornell University Library. Oxford Clarendon Press. p. 422.
External links
Media related to Sanghapāla at Wikimedia Commons