Ministers › Diplomat / Envoy
Cai Yin
Eastern Han officer who, according to Buddhist sources, was sent by Emperor Ming to India and returned to Luoyang with two monks in 67
Mural of the event “Arrival of Buddhism in China”, which this person took part in.
Following a vision of a radiant golden deity, Emperor Ming of Eastern Han dispatched envoys Cai Yin and Qin Jing to the Western Regions to seek Buddhist teachings.
Also known as General Cai Yin
Cai Yin was a general of the household under Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han; the Biographies of Eminent Monks calls him a court gentleman. According to that work and other Buddhist sources, the emperor dreamed of a golden man and sent Cai Yin, Qin Jing, Wang Zun and others, eighteen in all, to India to seek the Buddhist teaching. They met the monks Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan and returned with them to Luoyang in 67, said to have carried scriptures and images on a white horse. The emperor built the White Horse Temple, where the monks translated the Sutra in Forty-two Sections. This is the traditional account of how Buddhism arrived.
Life and times
Dates 20 CE–80 CE
- 68Arrival of Buddhism in ChinaTook part