Fotu Cheng (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

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

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk and missionary from

Kucha Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...

. He studied in Kashmir and came to

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

in 310 CE, and was active in the spread of

Buddhism in China Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...

Life

Early life, emigration to China, and association with Shi Le's Later Zhao dynasty

Fotu Cheng came from 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, formally Emperor Ming of (Later) Zhao, was the founding emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. At a young age he was sold as a slave by Jin officials, but he later helped start a ...

and became his closest advisor as he founded the

Later Zhao The Later Zhao (; 319–351) was a dynasty of the Sixteen Kingdoms in northern China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity. The Jie were most likely a Yeniseian people and spoke next to Chinese one of the Yeniseian languages.V ...

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 Liu Yao (died 329), courtesy name Yongming, was the final emperor of the Xiongnu-led Han Zhao dynasty of China. He became emperor in 318 after most other members of the imperial Liu clan were massacred by Jin Zhun in a coup. However, the empi ...

Former Zhao The Han Zhao (; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao (), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xiongnu people during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In Chinese historiography, it was given two conditional state titles, the Northern ...

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

samādhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga ...

'').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 Nan Huai-Chin () (March 18, 1918 – September 29, 2012) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, religious scholar, and writer. A well-regarded spiritual teacher in contemporary China, he was considered by many to be the major force in the revival ...

, "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 (; 295–349), courtesy name Jilong (季龍), formally 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's distant nephew, who took power in a coup ...

, who allowed him to found a great number of Buddhist temples. Among his disciples were

Dao An Dao'an (; 312–385) was a Buddhist monk, author and bibliographer, during the Eastern Jin dynasty. He was from what is now Hebei. His main importance was that of overseer of translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese, organizer of the Chinese sa ...

Zhu Faya Zhu Faya () or Faya was a Chinese Jin Dynasty (266–420 CE) Buddhist monk and teacher from Hejian (in modern Hebei province), best known for developing the '' Geyi'' method of explaining numbered categories of Sanskrit terms from the Buddhist can ...

Zhu Fatai Zhu Fatai (; AD 320–387) was a 4th-century (Eastern Jin) Chinese Buddhist scholar, disciple of Tao-an, teaching at Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–2 ...

, 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