Sengzhao

Sengzhao (or Seng-Chao) (Chinese: 僧肇; pinyin: Sēngzhào; Wade–Giles: Seng-chao; Japanese: 僧肇, Sōjō; 384–414)[1] was a Chinese Buddhist philosopher from Later Qin around 384-417 at Chang'an. He was the first disciple of Kumārajīva. He helped translate Indian treatises and also wrote his own. These formed the only source of study for early Chinese Mādhyamika Buddhism. He is mentioned in the Memoirs of Eminent Monks.

Sengzhao criticized earlier Chinese Buddhist schools for believing in being or non-being. He concluded that all dharmas are empty. He was also influenced by Taoists, Laozi and Zhuangzi.[2]

Contribution

He composed a series of treatises under the name Zhao Lun, which was translated into English as The Book of Chao by Walter Liebenthal.[3]

Footnotes

  1. Chan, Wing-tsit (translated and compiled). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963: 343.
  2. Chan, Wing-tsit (translated and compiled). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963: 344.
  3. Liebenthal, Walter (translated). Chao lun; the treatises of Sengzhao. A translation with introduction, notes, and appendices, 2nd edition. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; sold by the Oxford University Press, New York, 1968.

Further reading


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