Kālayaśas

Kālayaśas (C. Jiangliangyeshe; J. Kyōryōyasha; K. Kangnyangyasa 畺良耶舍) (383–442). A Central Asian monk who was one of the early translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese.

Kālayaśas arrived at Jiankang, the capital of the Liu-Song dynasty, in 424, where he became an adviser to Emperor Wen.

Two works of translation are attributed to him in the Buddhist catalogues:

• Guan Wuliangshou jing, the "meditation-sūtra" on Amitābha Buddha, which is one of the three foundational texts of the East Asian Pure Land traditions. Because no Sanskrit recension of this sūtra is attested, this scripture is now considered to be either a Central Asian or a Chinese indigenous scripture . . ., and its ascription to Kālayaśas is problematic.
• Guan Yaowang Yaoshang er pusa jing ("Sūtra on Visualizing the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata"), an early sūtra on the Medicine Buddha/Bodhisattva cult associated with the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and the buddha Bhaiṣajyaguru.

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 

Further reading

• Kālayaśas, Tsadra Commons