Dao'an (; 312–385) was a Buddhist monk, author and bibliographer, during the

Eastern Jin Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

dynasty. He was from what is now

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

. His main importance was that of overseer of translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese, organizer of the Chinese sangha, author of exegetical works and compiler of the most important early catalogue of Chinese Buddhist translation in 374. Although this catalogue is itself lost, Sengyou reproduces much of it in his catalogue (T2145) completed in 515. Dao'an is thought of as the founder of the cult of Maitreya in China.

Life

According to his traditional biography, after the loss of his parents he was raised by an elder cousin. Dao'an left home to join the monastic order at twelve. Ca. 335 CE he visited

Linzhang Linzhang County () is a county of far southern Hebei province, China, named after the Zhang River within its borders. It is under the administration of Handan City, and, , it had a population of 590,000 residing in an area of . Administrative div ...

and became a disciple of the famous Kuchean monk and missionary

Fotudeng Fotudeng (Sanskrit: ''Buddhacinga?''; ) (ca. 232–348 CEBuswell, Robert. Lopez, Donald. ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.'' 2013. p. 304) was a Buddhist monk and missionary from Kucha. He studied in Kashmir and came to Luoyang in 310 CE ...

(232-348). One of his disciples was the monk Huiyuan, whose teachings inspired

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...

. He was active in

Xiangyang Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

until the

Former Qin The Former Qin, also called Fu Qin (苻秦), (351–394) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history ruled by the Di ethnicity. Founded by Fu Jian (posthumously Emperor Jingming) who originally served under the Later ...

ruler Fu Jian captured the city in 379 and brought Dao'an to

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin ...

. He spent the last years of life translating and interpreting scripture as well as compiling a catalogue of scriptures. He also advocated that all monks and nuns take Shi 釋 as a surname, from the first character of Gautama Buddha's title in Chinese, ''Shìjiāmóuní'' ( "Śākyamuni").

References

External links

Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (log in with userID "guest")

Dao´An
Encyclopædia Britannica Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Daoan 314 births 385 deaths Sixteen Kingdoms translators Sanskrit–Chinese translators Chinese bibliographers Former Qin Buddhist monks People from Hengshui Writers from Hebei Later Zhao Buddhist monks Jin dynasty (266–420) Buddhist monks Ran Wei 4th-century Chinese translators