Prajna (Buddhist monk)

Prajñā [alt. Prajña] (C. bore; J. hannya; K. panya 般若) (734–?). The proper name of a Buddhist monk from the Kashmir region of northwest India who traveled to the Chinese capital of Chang'an in the ninth century (during the Tang dynasty).

He is best known for translating the Gandavyuha, the final chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra. "Five other translations are also attributed to Prajna and his collaborators."

While in China, Prajñā reportedly befriended the Japanese monk Kūkai, future founder of Shingon Buddhism. He is said to have helped Kūkai learn Sanskrit and understand Sanskrit source texts.

The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism states:

He is said to have entered the saṃgha at the age of seven, receiving full ordination at the age of twenty. At twenty-three he entered Nalanda Monastery，where, under the tutelage of renowned treatise masters *Jñānagupta 智護, *Viryamitra 進友, and *Jñānamitra 智友, he studied Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, Buddhist Logic 五明 and so forth.

Afterward he traveled to various countries along the coast of the seas to the south of China, entering the Tang in 781, first arriving to Guangzhou 廣州，and then eventually Chang'an 長安.

In 788 he completed a translation of the Dasheng liqu liuboluomiduo jing 大乘理趣六波羅蜜多經; in the following years he translated texts from the esoteric canon. In 790, following imperial order, he went as a emissary to Kashmir. He would later be awarded with the title Prajña Trepiṭaka 般若三藏.

He would further go on to translate the Heart Sutra, the Forty-Fascicle Huayan jing, Mahāyāna Sutra of Previous Lives and the Contemplation of the Mind Ground 大乘本生心地觀經, the Dhāraṇīs for Safeguarding the Nation, the Realm and the Chief of State 守護國界主陀羅尼經, and others. He passed away at an unknown date in Luoyang 洛陽. [Charles Muller, Robert Buswell; source(s): Kamata, FGD]

See also

• Silk Road

External links

• Prajñā (Buddhist monk), Wikipedia