Kumārajīva

Kumarajiva (Chinese鸠摩罗什/鸠摩罗什, Pinyin Jiūmóluóshí, W.-G. Chiu1 - mo2 - lo2 - shih2, Japanese Kumarajū; * 343, † 413) was a born in the Central Asian kingdom of Kucha monk and scholar. With his most important work, the translation of the Lotus Sutra applies from Sanskrit into Chinese. This translation is generally regarded as the most authentic and accurate and formed the theoretical basis for many Chinese and Japanese schools of Mahayana Buddhism.

Life

Kumarajiva was born as the son of a noble family in the year 343 AD As a Buddhist monk, he turned first to the study of Hinayana Buddhism and then focused only on the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. At a time when Kumarajiva already killed more scholars had assembled and already 40 years old had been subjected to his home in the year 383 AD by Chinese troops.

In 401 he and other scholars of his time by King Yao Xing was appointed to the capital Chang'an to participate in an extensive translation project of Buddhist scriptures. Kumarajiva was appointed head of this group of translators. In addition to the Lotus Sutra ( Sutra Saddharmapundarika ) he translated among others the Prajnaparamita Sutra and Vimalakirtinidesa Sutra.

Kumarajiva left four students:

• Daosheng
• Shengzhao
• Daorong
• Sengrui

Swell

• Margareta von Borsig: Lotus Sutra. The great enlightenment book of Buddhism. Herder -Verlag, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 9783451301568