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佛陀跋陀羅

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Buddhabhadra

Senses:

  • (358–429) Important translator of Buddhist texts. Originally from Kapilavastu in North India, he arrived in Chang'an 長安 in 406–8, regarded as a master of both meditation 禪 and Vinaya 律, along with being well-steeped in scriptural knowledge. Befriending Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什, he went on to become a significant translator, rendering thirteen sūtras in 125 fascicles, including the Guanfo sanmei hai jing 觀佛三昧海經 T 643, Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya 摩訶僧祇律 T 1425 (trans. 416), Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 大般泥洹經 T 376 (trans. 416–418, with Faxian), Tathāgatagarbha sūtra 大方等如來藏經 T 666, *Yogâcārabhūmi 達摩多羅禪經 T 618, and the 60 fascicle (first version) of the Huayan jing, i.e. the Avataṃsaka-sūtra 華嚴經 T 278. Modern scholarship also considers him, with Baoyun, the translators of the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha 無量壽經 T 360 around 421. (Fujita, 152). He was popularly called the Meditation Master from India 天竺禪師 and also is regarded as one of the eighteen high priests of Lushan 廬山十八高賢. Also transliterated as 佛度跋陀羅, 佛大跋陀, 佛陀跋陀, etc. and translated as 覺賢 and 佛賢. [Charles Muller, Michael Radich, Michel Mohr]
  • The second Buddhabhadra seems to have been a contemporary of Emperor Xiaowen 孝文 (467–499) of the Northern Wei 北魏 Dynasty. He appears to be the individual described by Broughton (1999) as, "the first head of Shao-lin Monastery on Mount Sung." For Emperor Xiaowenʼs patronage, see also Meir 2008, p. 17. See also Greene 2012. The possible conflicting identify of these two individuals requires further research.

    Reference

    Broughton, Jeffrey Lyle. 1999. The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. Berkeley:  University of California Press.

    Fujita, Kōtatsu. 1990. “Kuan Wu-liang-shou ching: A Canonical Scripture of Pure Land Buddhism.”  In Robert E. Buswell, Jr., ed. Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha. Honolulu:  University of Hawai`i Press. 149-173.

    Greene, Eric M. 2012. “Meditation, Repentance, and Visionary Experience in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” Ph.D. Diss, Berkeley CA.

    Shahar, Meir. 2008. The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts. Honolulu:  University of Hawai'i Press.

    [Michel Mohr]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 338, 425

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0117

    Index to the Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) 578

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4470b,5081a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1561-2

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1997-09-15

    Updated: 2017-01-31