Zhu Zixing (, or Zhu Shixing) is described in

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...

as the first

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

person to be

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

and become a Buddhist monk via contact with others on the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. His hometown is recorded as Yingchuan, located in

Lishui Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to ...

, and he was ordained in

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 ...

at the

White Horse Temple White Horse Temple () is a Buddhist temple in Luoyang, Henan that, according to tradition, is the first Buddhism, Buddhist temple in China, having been first established in 68 AD under the patronage of Emperor Ming of Han, Emperor Ming in the Ea ...

. Zhu first went to

Khotan Hotan (also known by #Etymology, other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

from

Yongzhou Yongzhou () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Hunan province, People's Republic of China, located on the southern bank of the Xiang River, which is formed by the confluence of the Xiao River, Xiao and Xiang Rivers, and bordering Guang ...

in 260 to investigate

Buddhism 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 ...

, long before other Chinese

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s and travelers reached

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to study Buddhism. In Khotan, he acquired a copy of the Sanskrit ''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā'', copied it, and had his disciples bring it back to China. Initially he was opposed by Hinayanist monks who outnumbered Mahayanist monks and were allied with the ruling king. He was eventually successful and the manuscript was sent to China in 282. Zhu left no records of his travels. His journey was recorded in Buddhist literature, including

Hyecho Hyecho (; 704–787) was a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one of Korea's Three Kingdoms. He is primarily remembered for his account of his travels in medieval India, the . Life Hyecho studied esoteric Buddhism in Tang China, initially under � ...

's ''Memoirs of Eminent Monks'', which used material from Zhu's disciple.

References

3rd-century Buddhists 203 births 282 deaths Chinese spiritual writers Cao Wei writers Three Kingdoms Buddhists Writers from Henan {{China-reli-bio-stub