Dao'an (; 312–385) was a Buddhist monk, author and bibliographer, during the Eastern Jin dynasty. He was from what is now

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. 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 Sengyou (; 445–518 AD) was a Buddhist monk and early medieval Chinese bibliographer and noted chiefly for being the author of ''Collected Records Concerning the Tripitaka'' (出三藏記集 '' Chu sanzang ji ji'', T 2145), which includes a cata ...

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 and became a disciple of the famous Kuchean monk and missionary Fotudeng (232–348). One of his disciples was the monk Huiyuan, whose teachings inspired

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism or the Pure Land School ( zh, c=淨土宗, p=Jìngtǔzōng) is a broad branch of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Pure land, Pure Land. It is one of the most widely practiced traditions of East Asi ...

. He was active in

Xiangyang Xiangyang is the second-largest prefecture-level city by population in northwestern Hubei province, China. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River (Hanshui), Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city n ...

until the

Former Qin Qin, known as the Former Qin and Fu Qin (苻秦) in historiography, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China ruled by the Fu (Pu) clan of the Di (Five Barbarians), Di peoples during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Founded in the wake of ...

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

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

. 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

Sources

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 Buddhists Sixteen Kingdoms Buddhist monks People from Hengshui Writers from Hebei Later Zhao Buddhists Jin dynasty (266–420) Buddhist monks Ran Wei 4th-century Chinese writers 4th-century translators Chinese translators