Holy Places of the Buddha Crystal Mirror 9 by Elizabeth Cook

Author:Elizabeth Cook
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Publisher: Dharma Publishing
Published: 1994-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Although such accounts indicate that there were periods of opposition to Buddhism, the Sarvastivadins who lived in Kashmir persevered and developed their monasteries into distinguished centers of learning. The isolated valley of central Kashmir nurtured the development of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma, the systematic analyses of experience that provided the foundation of Buddhist philosophy. The Kashmiri scholars became widely respected; among them were the Sarvastivadin masters Katyayaniputra and Vasumitra, the Vaibhasika teacher Dharmatrata, the Sautrantika masters Sthavira and Srilabdha (Srilata), and the Vaibhasika teacher Samghabhadra, whose most famous student was the great scholar Vasubandhu.

Outstanding masters trained in Kashmir were instrumental in translating the Dharma into the languages of Central Asia and China. One of the most famous of these translators was Kumarajiva, son of a Brahmin and a Khotanese princess. As a youth, Kumarajiva (344-413 C.E.) traveled to Kashmir with his mother and studied the Agamas with the master Bandhudatta. Then he returned to Central Asia and met the Kashmiri pandita Vimalaksa in Kucha. Kumarajiva continued his studies with Vimalaksa until the Chinese conquest around the turn of the century, when both master and disciple were taken into China. Thereafter Kumarajiva directed the translation center set up in Ch'ang-an, capital of the Chinese Empire. Much of what is known about Kashmiri Buddhism of this time derives from the comments of this great translator.

Kumarajiva's contemporary Buddhabhadra, who with Fa-hien translated the Mahaparinirvana-sutra into Chinese, completed his education in Kashmir under the guidance of Buddhasena, a master known for his expertise in dhyana, a form of yogic meditation. At the end of the fourth century, interest in dhyana was growing in China, and teachers such as Buddhasena and the fifth-century master Dharmabhiksu began to attract Chinese as well as Central Asian students.

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