Sanghapāla (466–524 CE) was a famousKhmer monk who traveled toSouthern and Northern DynastiesChina.

He, along with the fellowFunan monk, Mandrasena, translatedBuddhist scriptures such as theVimuttimagga orPath to Freedom intoChinese.^{[1]: 58, 92}

He is one of the only two Cambodian monks whose translations currently figure in the ChineseTripitaka.^[2]

In Chinese, he is known as Sengjia-Poluo (僧伽婆羅). Sanghapala's Khmer name can also rendered as two possible Sanskrit equivalents, Sanghabara or Sanghavarman.^[3][4]

Sanghapala was born inFunan in the year 460 AD,^[2] in the modern day Kingdom of Cambodia. He became a monk in his teens and traveled to China where he lived inJiankang, nowadaysNanking, the capital city ofSouthern Qi dynasty during that time. He was discipled by Guṇavṛddhī, a certain Indian monk who had travelled to China during the reign ofEmperor Wu of Liang who intended to propagate Buddhism to China as KingAshoka had done for India.^[5] He acquired the knowledge of many languages including Pali, Sanskrit and classical Chinese.

Pala was clean of body and of mind and was reluctant to engage in conversation. In the seclusion of his room he stayed and worked, taking a very simple fare.

He was then sponsored by the court ofJiankang to translate new works into Chinese as early as 506.^[7] Among others, Sanghapala was ordered to write a new translation known asAyuwang jing, or theScripture of King Aśoka (T.2043) from the originalAshokavadana, an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.^[8] He worked as an official translator for 16 years and established offices in five different locations, one of which was now as "The Funan Desk".^[2]

Sanghapala died at the age of 65 in 524 AD.^[9]

Edwin G. Pulleyblank suggests that Sanghapala dictated his Chinese translations of thedharani to two of his collaborators known as Fayun and Baochang. His rendition ofSanskrit was probably influenced by his mother-tongue which was Old Khmer, though his discipleship with an Indian master guarantees that his knowledge of the language was checked.^[9] Misinterpretations in his translations and confusion of similar sounding words have been noted in his works.^[10] He translated theMaha Asoka Sutra,Vimoksa-Marga-sastra, and others, but most notoriously, his Chinese translation is a canonical reference for theVimuttimagga orPath to Freedom. According to the catalogue of the Chinese translations of the BuddhistTripitaka established byNanjō Bun'yū in 1883,^[11] all of the texts translated by Sanghamala are relative to theMahayana,^[12] which was practised in Cambodia until the end of the reign ofJayavarman VII, until it was replaced by a majorityTheravada Buddhism until this day.

There are nine works of Sanghapala in the catalogue of the Chinese translations of the BuddhistTripitaka established by Nanjō Bun'yū, namely,

• No. 22Saptaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā (S. M.).
• N. 29Dasadharmaka
• N. 56Sarvabuddhavishayāvatāra
• N. 301Ashtabuddhaka
• N. 308Mahamayuri Vidyaragni
• N. 353Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī
• N. 442Mañjuśrī pariprikkha
• N. 1103Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra
• N. 1293Vimuttimaggaor Vimoksha-marga-sastra as the Sanskrit rendering of the Chinese title gives it^[13]

• List of Buddhists

Media related toSanghapāla at Wikimedia Commons

• 460 births
• 524 deaths
• Northern and Southern dynasties Buddhist monks
• Cambodian Buddhist monks
• 5th-century Buddhists
• People from Funan
• 6th-century Buddhist monks
• Geji Ajahns of Cambodia

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