Clerics › Religious Figure
Dharmaksema (Tan Wuchen)
Central Indian translator-monk in Northern Liang whose Mahaparinirvana Sutra spread the teaching that all beings possess Buddha-nature.
In a temple courtyard at dusk, a great bronze bell hangs at the right and incense smoke rises from a bronze urn; monks in orange robes and plainly dressed visitors walk toward a lamplit hall, lotus flowers bloom in a stone basin, and a gold prayer wheel stands at the left.
Also known as Tan Mochen · Tan Wuchan
- Roles
- Religious Figure
Dharmaksema (Tan Wuchen), a monk from central India, first studied Hinayana and then Mahayana teachings and brought the first part of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra east through Kucha and Dunhuang. Juqu Mengxun of the Northern Liang welcomed him to Guzang, where after three years of learning Chinese he translated the 40-fascicle Nirvana Sutra and the Mahasamnipata, Karunapundarika and Golden Light sutras. He was killed in 433 on Juqu Mengxun's orders while setting out west for more texts; his Nirvana Sutra, with its doctrine of universal Buddha-nature and the parable of the blind men and the elephant, profoundly shaped Buddhist thought of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Life and times
Dates 385 CE–433 CE