Fotu Cheng | |
|---|---|
 Illustration of Fotu Cheng from a Chinese print | |
| Born | 232 CE |
| Died | 348 CE |
| Occupations | Buddhist monk,scholar,missionary,political analyst, andtranslator |
Fotu Cheng (Sanskrit:Buddhacinga?;simplified Chinese:佛图澄;traditional Chinese:佛圖澄;pinyin:Fótú Chéng; ca. 232–348 CE[1]) was aBuddhist monk and missionary fromKucha. He studied inKashmir and arrived in theWestern Jin capitalLuoyang in 310 CE, and was active in the spread ofBuddhism in China.[1]
Fotu Cheng came fromKucha to theWestern Jin dynasty in 310 CE and propagated Buddhism widely. He is said to have demonstrated many spiritual powers and was able to convert the warlords in this region of China over to Buddhism.[2] He succeeded in converting theJie warlordShi Le and became Shi's closest advisor as he founded theLater Zhao dynasty in 319 CE. Fotu Cheng uttered the only phrase that reached us in theJie language, cited in connection with Shi Le's successful war againstLiu Yao of theHan-Zhao dynasty in 328 CE, and recorded in the Chinese annals in Chinese transcription with a Chinese translation.[3] This phrase was analyzed in several publications.[4][5][6][7][8]
Fotu Cheng is well known for his teaching methods of meditation, especiallyānāpānasmṛti ("mindfulness of breathing"). Fotu Cheng widely taught ānāpānasmṛti through methods of counting breaths, so as to temper the breathing, simultaneously focusing the mind into a state of peaceful meditative concentration (Skt.samādhi).[9] By teaching meditation methods as well as doctrine, Fotu Cheng popularized Buddhism quickly. According toNan Huai-Chin, "Besides all its theoretical accounts of emptiness and existence, Buddhism also offered methods for genuine realization of spiritual powers and meditative concentration that could be relied upon. This is the reason that Buddhism began to develop so vigorously in China with Fotu Cheng."[9]
Eventually, Fotu Cheng became a Later Zhao government official underShi Hu, who allowed him to found a great number of Buddhist temples. Among his disciples wereDao An,Zhu Faya,Zhu Fatai,Fa-he andFa-ch'ang. These disciples had a great impact on Buddhism in China, and continued to revere the memory of their teacher. In his history of China, John Keay writes:[10]
Fotu Deng's [Cheng's] disciples would include some of Chinese Buddhism's most outstanding scholars. When theLater Zhao kingdom fell apart in 349 — four princes were enthroned and murdered in that year alone — Fotudeng's disciples fanned out across the north fromShandong toSichuan and gravitated south as far asGuangdong. One of them, the monk Dao'an, became the greatest exponent, translator, and organiser in the early history of Chinese Buddhism; and of his disciples several assistedKumarajiva, another native of Kuqa, in the most ambitious of all translation projects in terms of quantity and fidelity. Yet all such luminaries continued to revere Fotudeng's memory, which would suggest that he was more than a mere showman and miracle-worker.
