?IK??NANDA

?ik??nanda (652–710), a native of Khotan, was one of the major translators of Mah?y?na s?tras into Chinese. Conversant with both Mah?y?na and mainstream Buddhist scriptures, as well as with non-Buddhist texts, ?ik??nanda came to China with a complete set of the Huayan jing (Avata?saka-s?tra; Flower Garland S?tra) in Sanskrit after learning that Empress Wu (r. 690–705) had sent envoys to Khotan to search for the Sanskrit edition of the scripture and its translators. Under Empress Wu's auspices, ?ik??nanda joined the translation team that undertook the translation and retranslation of nineteen Mah?y?na scriptures, including the Huayan jing and the La?kav?t?ra-S?tra (Discourse of the Descent into La? ka). The newly translated Huayan jing, completed in 699 in a total of eighty fascicles, was said to be a literal translation, closer in both style and language to Buddhabhadra's sixty-fascicle translation from the early fifth century than to the more recent translation of Xuanzang (ca. 600–664).

In 704 Empress Wu allowed ?ik??nanda to return to Khotan, but he was summoned back to Chang'an in 708. Zhongzong (r. 705–710), then the reigning emperor, and all the monks in the capital greeted ?ik??nanda at Kaiyuan Gate with banners and parasols. Apparently in poor health at this time, ?ik??nanda was unable to take on any additional translation assignments and died in 710 at the age of fifty-nine. His body was cremated and his remains were escorted back to Khotan. His followers built a seven-story pagoda at the cremation site and named it "Pagoda of the Trepi?aka Huayan" to commemorate him.

See also:Kum?raj?va; Param?rtha

Bibliography

Ch'en, Kenneth. Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.

Song Gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks Compiled in the Song Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987.

Chichiang Huang