Zhi Qian
| English Phonetics | Zhi Qian |
|---|---|
| Sort Name | Zhi Qian |
| Chinese Script | 支謙 |
| Chinese Transliteration | Zhi Qian |
Tibetan calendar dates
Biographical Information
Zhi Qian. (J. Shi Ken; K. Chi Kyǒm 支謙) (fl. c. 220–252). Prolific earlier translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese. A descendant of an Indo-Scythian émigré from the Kushan. kingdom in the Kashmir-GandhAra region of northwest India, Zhi Qian is said to have been fluent in six languages. Although never ordained as a monk, Zhi Qian studied under the guidance of Zhi Liang (d.u.), a disciple of the renowned Indo-Scythian translator Lokakṣema (fl. c. 178–198 CE). Zhi Qian fled northern China in the political chaos that accompanied the collapse of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), eventually migrating to the Wu Kingdom in the south. There, he settled first in Wuchang and later in the Wu Capital of Jianye, which was where the majority of his translations appear to have been made. Zhi Qian was known to have been artistically talented, and many of his translations were noted for their fluent style that did not strive to adhere to the exact meaning of each word and phrase, but instead sought to convey the insights of the text in an accessible fashion for a Chinese audience. The fifty-three translations that are attributed to Zhi Qian range widely between Āgama and didactic materials and early Mahāyāna scriptural literature, but also include many spurious later attributions. . . . Among the translations that may with confidence be ascribed to Zhi Qian are early renderings of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the Pusa Benye Jing, the Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra, the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, and a primitive recension of the Avataṃsakasūtra. Zhi Qian is also presumed to be one of the first Buddhist commentators in the East Asian tradition: Dao'an (314–385) States in his scriptural catalogue Zongli zhongjing mulu (now embedded in the Chu sanzang jiji) that Zhi Qian wrote a commentary to the Śālistambasūtra (C. Liaoben shengsi jing) while preparing its translation. Late in his life, Zhi Qian retired to Mt. Qionglong, where he is said to have passed away at the age of sixty. (Source: "Zhi Qian." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 1056. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
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