Dānapāla

Dānapāla or Shihu (Sanskrit: दानपाल traditional Chinese and Japanese: 施護; simplified Chinese: 施护; pinyin: shī hù; rōmaji: sego; Korean: 시호; romaja: siho; Vietnamese: Thí hộ)(?–1017) was an Indian Buddhist monk and prolific translator of Sanskrit Buddhist sutras during the Song dynasty in China.

A native of Oddiyana, he was a Vajrayana monk at Oddiyana's Vaijayanta Saṁghārama before arriving with his brother Devaśāntika in the Song dynasty capital Bianjing (now called Kaifeng) in 980 CE.The reigning emperor Song Taizong was personally interested in Buddhism and therefore invited Dānapāla, Devaśāntika and Dharmadeva to the imperial palace to question them on whether they were able to translate his collection of Sanskrit sutras. As they were all bilingual in Chinese and Sanskrit,this motivated the emperor to order the building of the Institute of the Translation of the Sutras on the western side of the Taiping Xingguo Monastery.This was completed in 982 CE.The emperor also bestowed honorary purple robes to Dānapāla and cohortsand bestowed honorary titles upon them. Dānapāla was bestowed the title 'Great Master of the Manifested Teaching'. Dānapāla was assigned as one of the key translators of the newly founded institute. Along with his cohorts, he thus restarted translation of Sanskrit Buddhist texts in China after a 170 year hiatus.Devaśāntika and Dharmadeva passed away in 1000 CE and 1001 CE; leaving him as the chief Indian translator at the Institute with the assistance of Wei Jing (惟淨), a Chinese monk trained in Sanskrit at the Institute. It wasn't until 1006 with the arrival of Dharmapāla, that he had another Indian translator to assist him in his work.Altogether he translated over 100 sutras, sastras and stotras, greatly contributing to the Chinese understanding of Vajrayana Buddhism and its popularization.

The important Vajrayana root text Sarvatathāgata Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra was originally translated by Amoghavajra into Chinese during the 8th century CE, but it was an incomplete translation. Dānapāla was part of the team of translators who re-translated the entire Sarvatathāgata Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra.Dānapāla's contribution included the 1st and 14th-16th out of 18 sections. He also translated other Vajrayana sutras such as Māyopamasamādhi Sutra among others. Dānapāla also translated many non-Vajrayana texts such as the Nāgārjuna's Yuktiṣaṣṭikā, Mahāyānaviṃsaka, Dignāga's Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārthaḥ as well as a version of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Heart Sutra entitled 'The Holy Mother of [All] Buddhas Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra' and the Candropama Sūtra the Sanskrit version of Saṃyutta Nikāya 16.3.