Paramartha (499–569)
Born 499 CE, died 569 CE.
Paramārtha (Sanskrit, Devanagari: परमार्थ; traditional Chinese: 真諦; simplified Chinese: 真谛; pinyin: Zhēndì) (499-569 CE) was an Indian monk from Ujjain, who is best known for his prolific Chinese translations of Buddhist texts during the Six Dynasties era. He is known as one of the four great translators in Chinese Buddhist history (along with Kumārajīva and Xuanzang). He is also known for the various oral commentaries he gave on his translations which were written down by his disciples (and now only survive in fragmentary form). Some of Paramārtha's influential translations include Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and Dignāga's Ālambanaparīkṣā & Hastavālaprakaraṇa. Paramārtha is associated with some unique doctrines. He is traditionally seen as having taught the doctrine of the "immaculate consciousness" (amalavijñāna, Ch: amoluoshi 阿摩羅識). He is also seen as the source of the doctrine of “original awakening” (benjue [本覺]). Paramārtha is also associated with various works on Buddha-nature that became extremely influential in Chinese Buddhism.
Text from the Wikipedia article Paramartha_(Chinese_monk), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.