An Shigao begins translating Buddhist texts in Luoyang
An Shigao, a Parthian by origin, settled in the Han capital Luoyang and began translating Indian Buddhist texts on meditation and basic doctrine into Chinese; he is the earliest known translator of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.
- Date
- 148year known
- Place
- Luoyangtoday: Han–Wei city site east of modern Luoyang, Henan, China · East Asia
- Participants
- An Shigao, Parthian Empire, Han dynasty, Emperor Huan of Han
- Threads
- East Asia in the 1st–5th centuries
- Also known as
- An Shigao; Parthian Marquess; Ань Шигао; Парфянский хоу; 安世高
His surname An is thought to be short for Anxi, the Chinese name for Parthia, which most people from that country received when they took a Chinese name. Later Chinese tradition made him a Parthian prince, the “Parthian Marquess”, who gave up his claim to the throne to spread the Buddha’s teaching, but he has never been identified with any Parthian prince known from Western sources; some scholars suggest that he came from a minor ruling family of eastern Parthia, such as Margiana, where contact with Buddhism would have been plausible. He arrived in Luoyang in 148, early in the reign of Emperor Huan, worked there for the next decades (he is attested until about 180) and gathered a devoted community of followers.
Later catalogues credited him with nearly two hundred translations, but Erik Zürcher accepted only sixteen of them as authentic, and Stefano Zacchetti thirteen of these. They deal with meditation, abhidharma and basic doctrine, stand closest to the Sarvāstivāda school and include no Mahayana scriptures. One of his disciples, the Parthian layman An Xuan, translated a Mahayana sutra in Luoyang around 181. Stories of An Shigao’s later wanderings in southern China belong to hagiography. Buddhism had been known in China since the 1st century; the regular translation of its scriptures began with An Shigao and, a little later, the Kushan monk Lokaksema.
Connections
Related events
- Buddhism reaches China: the court of Liu Ying at Pengcheng65 · East AsiaBuddhism had been practised in China since the 1st century; An Shigao began the translation of its scriptures
- Reign of Vologases IV147–191 · Middle East and EgyptAn Shigao, by tradition a Parthian prince, translated Buddhist texts at Luoyang from 148
- Lokaksema translates the first Mahayana sutras into Chinese179 · East AsiaThe two great translators of 2nd-century Luoyang: the Parthian An Shigao and the Kushan Lokaksema
Same participants
- Zhang Heng presents the first seismoscope132 · East Asiavia Han dynasty
- Alan raid of 135135 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Parthian Empire
- Roman–Parthian War of 161–166161–166 · Middle East and Egyptvia Parthian Empire
- Envoys from Da Qin (Rome) at the Han court166 · East Asiavia Han dynasty
Same place
- Liu Xiu restores the Han: the Eastern Han25 · East Asia
- The Book of Han is writtenc. 54 – 111 · East Asia
- Cai Lun presents papermaking to the Han court105 · East Asia
- Partisan Prohibitions: purges of scholar-officials166–184 · East Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Eastern Europe
- Rome defends Olbia against the Tauro-Scythiansbetween 138 and 161
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Middle East and Egypt
- Ptolemy’s Geographyc. 150
- Ptolemy’s Almagestc. 150
- Reign of Vologases IV147–191
Africa
- Antonine Baths of Carthagebetween 145 and 146 – 162
- Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)150s … 180s
Central and Northern Asia
- The Rabatak inscription of Kanishkabetween 132 and 150
South Asia
- The Muziris papyrus: a loan for a cargo from Indiabetween 140 and 160
- Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman Ic. 150
- Reign of Kanishka, the height of the Kushan Empirec. 127 – c. 150
- Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir (tradition)between 127 and 150 (?)
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Preclassic Maya collapse: El Mirador is abandonedc. 100 – c. 250
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): An Shigao
- Wikipedia (Russian): Ань Шигао
- Wikipedia (Russian): Буддизм в Китае
- Zürcher E. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. — Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1959.
- Nattier J. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms Periods. — Tokyo: IRIAB, Soka University, 2008. — (Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica; X).