On Translation Of Kumarajiva And Their Contribution History

Buddhism, together with Christianity and Islamic, is one of the three major religions of the world. From the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD, it had been set up by Qiaodamo ?Shida, the Jingfan king of Jiabiluowei in ancient North India. Buddhism came eastwards to China during the Han Dynasty.Since Buddhism came into China, its distinct religious belief has penetrated into the spiritual life and traditional cultures of Chinese , and in the long process of evolution and development, it has been gradually adapted to the characteristics of Han and other minor nationalities, and evolved into Buddhism of Chinese style. In fact, China has become the second mother-land of Buddhism after Indian Buddhism was exterminated by foreign forces at the beginning of the 13th century AD. In the2000 years, Buddhism not only has expanded the depth and width of cognition in the thinking reason of China, it also has enriched the cultural and belief lives of the Chinese, and has brought complicated social effects and social results with it.In China, Buddhism developed in the process of the introduction and translation of Buddhistical scriptures. Starting from Anshigao, the prince of Anxi, became the volunteer of the translation of Buddhistical scriptures, millions of national and foreign senior monks had taken great efforts to start a spectacular movement of translating Buddhistical scriptures. Among them, Kumarajiva, the famous senior monk, in the Yaoqin period of Dongjin, is an important and special figure. Kumarajiva's ancestral home is Tianzhu, but he was bom in Guizi. He used to travel and study in early years, and became a senior monk owing to his talents. Fujian, the king of Qianqin, had long admired him, and so in 18 of Jianyuan (3 82AD) he sent Luguang attacking Guizi. Although his motive did not specially aim at inviting Kumarajive ,it was one of his main starting points. Since later Kumarajiva had stayed in Lianzhou for 17 years for some reasons, he was invited to Changan till he was 58 by Yaoxing the king of Houqin, and diedthere when he was 71. During the more than 11 years in Changan, Kumarajiva had translated about 300 sections of Buddhistical scriptures according to "Biography of senior monks"; 35 sections, 294 volumes according to volume 2 of "Youlu"; and 74 sections 384 volumes according to volumes 4"The Explanation of Buddhism in Kaiyuan", and now there are 39 sections, 313 volumes left.Kumarajiva has significant status in the history of the development of Buddhism in China. He made great contributions to the spread of Buddhism, the translation of Buddhistical scriptures and promoted the establishment of the administrative system of monks and nuns and especially poured active and profound effects on the documentation of Buddhism.This thesis focuses on introducing Kumarajiva and his deeds, as well as the characteristics of his translation, thus, to make people fully realize his special status in the history of the development of Buddhism and through the introduction, to grasp the sequence of the development of Buddhism and the process of its evolution in China.