Kang Senghui (traditional: 康僧會; simplified: 康僧会; pinyin: Kāng Sēnghuì; Wade–Giles: K'ang Seng-hui; Vietnamese: Khương Tăng Hội; died 280) 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 translator during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period of ancient

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He was born in

Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; , ch� ...

(modern-day northern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

). He was the son of a Sogdian merchant, hence the last name of Kang, meaning "one whose forefathers had been people from Kangju", or Sogdia. Kang received a Chinese literary education and was "widely read in the six (Confucian) classics." He also read

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 ...

and was known for his knowledge of the

Tripiṭaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

(the Buddhist canon). He joined the ''saïgha'' (the Buddhist monastic order) as a teenager, following the death of his parents. Kang contributed more to the diffusion of

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

s as a preacher than to their translation into the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

as there are only two collections of '' avadānas'' in the canon which are attributed to him. According to legend, the first Buddha relic in China appeared in a vase in 248 C.E. so that Kang Senghui would have something to show a local ruler.

Sun Quan Sun Quan (; 182 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumous name, posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by hi ...

, the king of

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major sta ...

, would unsuccessfully attempt to destroy the tooth by subjecting it to various tests. Kang is known as Khương Tăng Hội in Vietnam and Thông Biện (1096) claims scriptural traditions from Kang influenced Vietnamese Buddhism, though there is no independent evidence for this tradition.Essays Into Vietnamese Pasts - Page 88 Keith Weller Taylor, John K. Whitmore - 1995 "Note also in this connection that, in 1096, Thông Biện, who could be considered responsible for the historical typology of Buddhism in Viet Nam, vaguely ascribed scriptural traditions to Mou Bo and Kang Senghui.21 Yet, there is no evidence whatsoever of any genealogy or doctrinal school that could be traced back to these two figures. Needless to say, neither Mou Bo nor.." Khương Tăng Hội is regarded as the first Vietnamese patriarch of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam.

References

Sources

* Nattier, Jan (2008)
A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms Periods
Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica, IRIAB Vol. X, 149-154; * *Zurcher, Erik (2007)
The Buddhist Conquest of China
Leiden: Brill.
280 deaths Year of birth unknown Sogdian people 3rd-century Iranian people Buddhist monks from the Western Regions Chinese Buddhist monks People of Eastern Wu Three Kingdoms Buddhists {{Vietnam-reli-bio-stub

See also

References

Sources