Fotu Cheng (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: ''Buddhacinga?''; ) (ca. 232–348 CEBuswell, Robert. Lopez, Donald. ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.'' 2013. p. 304) was a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monk and missionary from

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

. He studied in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

and came to

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

in 310 CE, and was active in the spread of

Buddhism in China Buddhism in China refers to Buddhism that has been developed and practiced in China, based on the geographical location and administrative region instead of a particular Buddhist branch. Buddhism is the largest officially recognized religion i ...

Life

Early life

Fotu Cheng came from

in Central Asia to China in 310 CE and propagated Buddhism widely. He is said to have demonstrated many spiritual powers and was able to convert the warlords in this region of China over to Buddhism. He succeeded in converting the Jie warlord

Shi Le Shi Le (; 274 –17 August 333), courtesy name Shilong, also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Ming of Later Zhao, was the founding emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. He was initially sold as a slave by Western Jin ...

and became his closest advisor as he founded the

Later Zhao Zhao, briefly known officially as Wei (衛) in 350 AD, known in historiography as the Later Zhao (; 319–351) or Shi Zhao (石趙), was a dynasty of China ruled by the Shi family of Jie ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Among the ...

dynasty in 319 CE. Fotu Cheng uttered the only phrase that reached us in the Jie language, cited in connection with

's successful war against Liu Yao of

Former Zhao The Han-Zhao ( zh, s=汉赵, t=漢趙, p=Hàn Zhào; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao ( zh, s=前赵, t=前趙, p=Qián Zhào), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Liu ( Luandi) clan of Chuge-Xiongnu ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms per ...

in 328 CE, and recorded in the Chinese annals in Chinese transcription with a Chinese translation. This phrase was analyzed in several publications.

As a teacher of meditation

Fotu Cheng is well known for his teaching methods of meditation, especially ānāpānasmṛti ("mindfulness of breathing"). Fotu Cheng widely taught ānāpānasmṛti through methods of counting breaths, so as to temper the breathing, simultaneously focusing the mind into a state of peaceful meditative concentration (Skt. ''

samādhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

'').Nan, Huai-Chin. ''Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen.'' 1997. p. 81 By teaching meditation methods as well as doctrine, Fotu Cheng popularized Buddhism quickly. According to Nan Huai-Chin, "Besides all its theoretical accounts of emptiness and existence, Buddhism also offered methods for genuine realization of spiritual powers and meditative concentration that could be relied upon. This is the reason that Buddhism began to develop so vigorously in China with Fotu Cheng."

Legacy and successors

Eventually, Fotu Cheng became a Later Zhao government official under

Shi Hu Shi Hu (; 295 – 26 May 349), courtesy name Jilong (季龍), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wu of Later Zhao (後趙武帝), was an emperor of the Jie-led Chinese Later Zhao dynasty. He was the founding emperor Shi Le (Em ...

, who allowed him to found a great number of Buddhist temples. Among his disciples were Dao An, Zhu Faya, Zhu Fatai, Fa-he and Fa-ch'ang. These disciples had a great impact on Buddhism in China, and continued to revere the memory of their teacher. In his history of China, John Keay writes:Keay, John. ''China: A History.'' 2009. pp. 207-208

References

External links