Zhu Fonian

Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 (3??-4??) was a native of Liangzhou 涼州. He became a monk as a child, and was clear and resolute in terms of his objectives and conduct. Being agreeable on the outside and serene on the inside, he was a mirror of penetrating brightness. He recited and studied the sutras but had also cursorily studied the Confucian classics. He was especially brilliant in the fields of lexicography and philology (xungu 詁訓). From his youth, he enjoyed travelling around and so he had observed many a local customs. His family had lived in the Xihe 西河 region and he was fluent in the local languages. Be it Chinese or barbarian tongues, he could equally well grasp their sounds and meanings. Thus even though he did not have a reputation of being an exegete, he was well-known for his broad learnedness.

During the Jianyuan 建元 reign (381) of Fu Jian 苻堅 (r. 357–385), Saṃghabhadra, Dharmanandin and others came to Chang’an, where Zhao Zheng 趙正 asked them to translate several scriptures. At the time, none of these eminent scholars was able to translate well, instead, they all recommended Zhu Fonian. Therefore, Saṃghabhadra held the Indian text, whereas Zhu Fonian translated it into Chinese. He deciphered doubtful meanings until both sound and orthography were clear.

In the first month of the twentieth year of the Jianyuan reign, Dharmanandin was again asked to translate the Ekottarika-āgama 增一阿含 and the Madhyama-āgama 中阿含. They gathered the exegete śramaṇas in the city of Chang’an and asked them to read the text aloud for the translation. He analysed and carefully inspected the text, completing it only after two years. The clarity of the two Āgamas is the achievement of the translation 宣譯 work of Zhu Fonian. Nobody was able to surpass him as a translator since An Shigao 安世高 and Zhi Qian 支謙. He was the role model of translators during the reign of the Fu 苻 and Yao 姚 families (i.e. during the Former Qin [350–394] and Later Qin [384–417] dynasties). Accordingly, everyone admired him among the saṃgha of the Guanzhong region.

Afterwards, Zhu Fonian continued to translate other works, including the Muktāharā Bodhisattva Sutra 菩薩瓔珞, Anta-Rābhava Sutra 十住斷結, as well as the Avadana Sutra 出曜胎經 and Zhongyin jing 中陰經. But he only began doing the corrections and proofreading, leaving many meanings not fully established. He subsequently became ill and died in Chang’an. Whether far or near, clergy or laity, everyone grieved for him.