Dharmaratna

The basics

Quick Facts

PlacesIndia China
isBuddhist monk Monk Bhikkhu
Work fieldReligion
Gender
Male
Religion:Buddhism
BirthCentral India, Indore, Indore district, India
DeathLuoyang, Henan, People's Republic of China
The details

Biography

Dharmaratna, Gobharana, or Zhu Falan (竺法蘭) was an Indian Buddhist monk who is traditionally believed to have first introduced Buddhism to China in the 1st century CE.

According to popular accounts of Chinese Buddhism, Emperor Ming of Han dreamt of a golden deity interpreted as the Buddha and sent a delegation to India. They returned circa 67 CE with the monks Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna, and white horses carrying Buddhist texts and images. The emperor established White Horse Temple in the Han capital Luoyang, where the two supposedly first translated the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters into Chinese.

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