China: A Buddhist monk at the Luoshi Si Ta (Kumarajiva Pagoda) Buddhist temple, Wuwei, Gansu Province

Kumarajiva, (Chinese:Jjiumoluoshi; 344 CE – 413 CE) was a Kuchean (Kucha, Kuqa) Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator. He first studied teachings of the Sarvastivada schools, later studied under Buddhasvamin, and finally became a Mahāyāna adherent, studying the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna. He settled in Chang'an (modern Xi'an). He is mostly remembered for the prolific translation of Buddhist texts written in Sanskrit to Chinese he carried out during his later life.

Wuwei has a population of around 500,000, mainly Han Chinese, but with visible numbers of Hui as well as Mongols and Tibetans. In earlier times it was called Liangzhou. Dominating the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor, it has long played a significant role on this major trade route.

Wuwei’s most famous historic artefact, the celebrated Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) bronze horse known as the Flying Horse of Gansu, was discovered here in a tomb beneath Leitai Temple (Leitai Si) in the north part of town. Although the original is now on display in the Gansu Provincial Museum at Lanzhou, the horse’s likeness – depicted at an elegant, flying gallop, with one hoof briefly resting on the head of a flying swallow – is everywhere to be seen, most notably at the centre of Wuwei’s downtown Wenhua Square.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia