Daogong
| PersonType | Category:Translators |
|---|---|
| MainNamePhon | Daogong |
| SortName | Daogong |
| AltNamesOther | Tao Kung |
| bio | [The] Ratnarāśī was translated by [the] monk named Daogong, in Liangzhou, about 700 km. ESE of Dunhuang on the main road, in modem day Gansu province, right at the end of the fourth or at the very beginning of the fifth century. . . . [. . . ] [T]here are no biographies of Daogong, and we know next to nothing about him.[2] It is not clear if the Karuṇapuṇḍarika attributed to him is attributed correctly, but this seems to be the less likely conclusion. It seems even less likely that the Aṣṭasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā translation is to be accepted as his.
While we may know little about the man, the time and place in which Daogong lived certainly placed him in the middle of one of the most productive, even explosive, periods in Chinese Buddhist history. The monk-translators listed as contemporaries or near contemporaries of Daogong, and residing in the same region, are Fazhong, Sengqietuo, and Dharmakṣema. (Silk, "The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa," 671–72)
Notes2. This was, I have lately noticed, also the conclusion of Bagchi 1927:211. As far as I can tell from the relevant indices, Daogong is not mentioned in the Chinese dynastic histories either. |
| YearBirth | 4th century |
| YearDeath | 5th century |
| IsInGyatsa | No |
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