Principal sources for *Jñānaguptaʼs life are a biography in Daoxuanʼs 道宣 Xu gao seng zhuan 續高僧傳, and Fei Changfangʼs 費長房 earlier account in the Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀 T 2034, which was Daoxuanʼs main source (note that Fei was a contemporary and colleague of *Jñānagupta, having worked on some of the same translations as amanuensis 筆受). Chavannes translates Daoxuanʼs biography, and Wang (1999/2005) also treats the biography in detail. See also, more recently, Overbey (2010), Chapter 2 and Appendices 6 and 7.

*Jñānagupta was a Gandhāran 犍陀羅國 monk of Kṣatriyan origin. His preceptor (upâdhyāya) was *Jinayaśas 闍那耶舍, and his master (ācārya) was Jñānabhadra 闍若那跋達囉. Both travelled to China, together with *Jñānagupta himself and *Jñānaguptaʼs co-disciple *Yaśogupta 耶舍崛多. They journeyed to China via Kapiśa 迦臂施 (ca. 554), where they remained for a year; and the endured en route one period of great difficulties in desolate country, during which *Jñānagupta is said to have suspended his monastic vows and compromised his precepts in order to be able to sustain the life of his masters. They subsequently took a route very similar to that of Song Yun 宋雲, passing to the south via Xining 西寧 (in ca. 557) to avoid Dunhuang 敦煌. In all, their journey took them three to four years, and by the time they arrived in China, the four were the only survivors out of an initial party of ten.

Upon arrival in Chang'an 長安 around 557–558, *Jñānagupta was reordained. The group first stayed at Caotangsi 草堂寺, and then moved to Sitianwangsi 四天王寺, where they translated the Shiyimian guanshiyin shenzhou jing 十一面觀世音神咒經 T 1070 (which is ascribed to *Yaśogupta in the Taishō), the Jinxian wen jing 金仙問經 (lost), the Ākāśagarbha-sūtra 虛空藏菩薩經 T 408 etc. *Jñānagupta passed the period 571–573 in Shu 蜀 (modern Sichuan 四川).

During Northern Zhou 北周 persecution of Buddhism, Emperor Wu 武 attempted to force *Jñānagupta and his companions to follow Confucian rituals. They refused, and were 'granted permission' to return home. They left China, and found their way west to take shelter under the Taspar/Tatpar Qaghan 他鉢 (r. 572–581) and then under his successor. The Qaghans were enthusiastic patrons of Buddhism, Taspar/Tatpar having been converted by Huilin 惠琳, an emissary of the Northern Qi 北齊, and sent a set of translations from Chinese into Turkic commissioned by the Qi ruler for his benefit, including the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra, and the *Buddhâvataṃsaka. During this time, *Jinayaśas, *Yaśogupta and *Jñānabhadra all died. In total, *Jñānaguptaʼs stay lasted ten years (575–585). While there, *Jñānagupta made the acquaintance of Baoxian 寶暹, Daosui 道邃, Sengtan 僧曇 and their party. These monks (for a full list see Wang [1999/2005]: 116) had left the Northern Qi 北齊 in 575 to search for new scriptures in the west, but then been stranded upon the annihilation of the Qi in 577, and similarly taken refuge under the Qaghan. This relationship was to pave the way for *Jñānaguptaʼs return to China a few years later.

After the establishment of the Sui 隋代 dynasty, *Jñānagupta was recalled to China in 585. From 582, a large project had been mounted to translate around 260 texts brought back by Baoxianʼs group, with Narêndrayaśas 那連提耶舍 as the chief translator. However, it seems that the translations of the aging Narêndrayaśas had become increasingly problematic, and a replacement was required. *Jñānagupta therefore resumed translation work at the Daxingshansi 大興善寺 in Luoyang. Here he translated the *Abhiniṣkramaṇa sūtra 佛本行集經 (T 190), the Da faju tuoluoni jing 大法炬陀羅尼經 T 1340, the 'expanded' version of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra 添品妙法蓮華經 (T 264), and the Qishi jing 起世經 T 24.

According to Daoxuan, Jñānagupta did not require a Chinese interpreter when he worked (不勞傳度, T 2060.55.434a24). At the same time, it is recorded that *Dharmagupta 達摩笈多 and the brothers Gao Tiannu 高天奴 and Gao Heren 高和仁 served as interpreters or translators 傳語 in his team. Jñānaguptaʼs other collaborators in translation work included the companions with whom he travelled from India (*Jinayaśas, *Jñānabhadra, and Yaśogupta); and as amanuenses 筆受, Fei Changfang 費長房, Yuanming 圓明, Baoyong 鮑永, Zhixian 智仙, Daomi 道密, Sengtan 僧曇, Daosui 道邃, and Xiaoji 蕭吉. Yancong 彥琮 also worked in the team, checking the translations against the Sanskrit originals. Fei Changfang also reports that soon after their initial arrival in Chang'an, Jñānagupta and Yaśogupta served as the interpreters/translators 傳語 of a text on the 'five Vedic sciences' (pañcavidyā) entitled Wu ming lun 五明論, which was translated under the leadership of *Jñānabhadra (攘那跋陀羅, 智賢), with Zhixian 智僊 as amanuensis 筆受 (T 2034.49.100b4–8).

*Jñānagupta ended his life embroiled in political scandal. He was patronized by Prince Teng of the Sui 隋滕王, upon whom he bestowed the precepts. The Prince was a practitioner of astrology, and as a result was accused of a magical conspiracy (or at least made himself vulnerable to being framed on such suspicions). *Jñānagupta was implicated, and was exiled in Eastern Yue 東越, and then in the Ou-Min 甌閩 region. The exact date of *Jñānaguptaʼs death is unclear as a consequence (this problem was already noticed by Zhisheng, T 2154.55.550b16–18). It is thought that his 'expanded' Saddharmapuṇḍarīka was translated in 601, and the political brouhaha around Prince Teng erupted in 605. Chavannes concludes that *Jñānagupta died in 605 aged 78. At the time that these troubles broke, there were still a significant number of texts left only partially translated, or not yet presented to the throne. When *Jñānagupta went into exile, Dharmagupta took over as the lead translator of the project.

*Jñānagupta is credited with having translated thirty-seven works in one hundred and seventy-six fascicles. The following texts are ascribed to him in the present Taishō:

1. Qi shi jing 起世經 (T 24);
2. 佛本行集經 *Abhiniṣkramaṇa sūtra (T 190);
3. 添品妙法蓮華經 Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (T 264);
4. 佛華嚴入如來德智不思議境界經 Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviśayāvatāranirdeśa (T 303);
5. 護國菩薩會 Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā in the Ratnakuṭa T 310(18);
6. 賢護長者會 Bhadrapālaśeṣṭhiparipṛcchā in the Ratnakuṭa T 310(39);
7. 發覺淨心經 Adhyāśayasaṃcodana (T 327);
8. 入法界體性經 *Dharmadhātu-prakṛtyavatāra-sūtra (T 355);
9. 四童子三昧經 Caturdārakasamādhi sūtra (T 379);
10. 虛空孕菩薩經 Ākāśagarbha sūtra (T 408);
11. 大方等大集經賢護分 Bhadrapāla sūtra (T 416);
12. 大集譬喩王經 Da ji biyu wang jing (T 422);
13. 八佛名號經 *Aṣṭabuddhaka (T 431);
14. 寶網經 Ratnajālīparipṛcchā (T 433);
15. 文殊師利行經 Mañjuśrīvihāra sūtra (T 471);
16. 善思童子經 Mahāvaipulyamurdharāja sūtra (T 479);
17. 月上女經 Candrôttarādārikāparipṛcchā (T 480);
18. Wusuoyou pusa jing 無所有菩薩經 (T 485);
19. Shangzhu tianzi suowen jing 商主天子所問經 (T 591);
20. Guancha zhufa xing jing 觀察諸法行經 (T 649);
21. 諸法本無經 Sarvadharmâpravṛttinirdeśa (T 651);
22. Xiyou jiaoliang gongde jing 希有挍量功德經 (T 690);
23. Zhufa zuishang wang jing 諸法最上王經 (T 824);
24. 大威燈光仙人問疑經 Paramârthadharmavijaya sūtra (T 834);
25. Chusheng putixing jing 出生菩提心經 (T 837);
26. 一向出生菩薩經 Anantamukhasādhaka dhāraṇī (T 1017);
27. 不空罥索咒經 Amoghapāsahṛdaya dhāraṇī (T 1093);
28. 如來方便善巧咒經 Saptabuddhaka sūtra (T 1334);
29. Zhongzhong za zhou jing 種種雜咒經 (T 1337);
30. Da faju tuoluoni jing 大法炬陀羅尼經 (T 1340);
31. Da weide tuoluoni jing 大威德陀羅尼經 (T 1341);
32. 金剛場陀羅尼經 Vajramaṇḍā dhāraṇī (T 1345);
33. 十二佛名神咒校量功德除障滅罪經 Dvādaśabuddhaka sūtra (T 1348);
34. 東方最勝燈王陀羅尼經 Agrapradīpa dhāraṇī (T 1353);
35. 東方最勝燈王如來經 Agrapradīpa dhāraṇī (T 1354);
36. 大乘三聚懺悔經 Karmâvaraṇapratiprasrabdhi sūtra (T 1493); and
37. Shan gongjing jing 善恭敬經 (T 1495).

Additional references:

Chavannes, Édouard. 1905. “Jinagupta (528-605 après J.-C.).” T'oung Pao 6 (3): 332–356. Second Series.

Funayama, Tōru 船山徹. 2013. Butten wa dō kan'yaku sareta no ka: sūtora ga kyōten ni naru toki 佛典はどう漢譯されたのか　スートラが經典になるとき . Tokyo:  Iwanami Shoten.

Okano Kiyoshi  岡野潔. 1988. “Butsu hongyō shū kyō no hensan to Lalitavistara 仏本行集経の編纂と Lalitavistara.” IBK 37, no. 1 : 83–86.

Overbey, Ryan Richard. 2010. Memory, Rhetoric, and Education in the Great Lamp of the Dharma Dhāraṇī Scripture. Harvard University.

Sasaki Kōken  佐々 木孝憲. 1988. “Janakutta yaku o chūshin toshita kanyaku kyōten ni mirareru daishi 'hi' no yōrei – Hokke kyō 'Fumon hin' no ga kon jū monpi no okeru 'hi' no yomi ni kanren shite 闍那崛多訳を中心とした漢訳経典に見られる代詞「彼」の用例　法華経普門品の「我今重問彼」における「彼」の読みに関連して .”  Risshō daigaku daigakuin kiyō 立正大学大学院紀要  4 : 01–30.

----. 1965. “Tenpin myōhō renge kyō kō 添品妙法蓮華経考 .” Ōsaki gakuhō 120 : 34–60.

Suzuki Hiromi  鈴木裕美. 1991. “Koyaku, kyūyaku kyōten ni okeru warichū ni tsuite 古訳・旧訳経典における割注について .” IBK 39, no. 2  : 90–92.

Wang Yarong 王亚荣. 1999. “Daxing cheng fojing fanyi shi yao 大兴城佛经翻译是史要 .” Zhongguo Fojiao 中国佛学  2 (1)Reprinted in Wang, Chang'an Fojiao shi lun 长安佛教史论 . , 115-144. Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2005. pp. 115-144.