Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s4.t2.30

v1.c7.s4.t2.30

At the age of nine, Jīvaka brought him south to cross the Indus and reached Kophen (present day Kashmir), an important town of the Sarvāstivāda Buddhism, in order to make him accept the best Buddhist scholastic education. There he met Bandhudatta, the master with smart talent and broad knowledge who was one-of-a-kind at that time. He followed him to study the Kṣudraka, Dīrgha Āgama and Madhyama Āgama, all together four million words. The master often called him exceptionally divine and handsome. News reached the imperial court of Kophen and the king invited him to the palace to debate with many *vadins* (debaters) of other religions. The *vadins* of other religions bullied him since he was young and spoke arrogantly towards him but were attacked by him through the loopholes they left and they quit hastily in shame. After that, the king respected and treated him as a distinguished foreign guest, especially dispatching five monks and 10 novices in the temple for cleaning like the disciples. At the age of 12, Kumārajīva returned to Qiuci with his mother. The countries along the road wished to hire him with large sums of money but he refused except that he stayed in Kashgar for a year and learned the *Abhidharma Piṭaka* and *Sarvastivada-vinaya* under the Kashmiri monk, Buddhayaśas, and finally got profound understanding of the meanings. Under the suggestion of Śramaṇa Xijian, the King of Kashgar convened a meeting and asked Kumārajīva to rise on the high seat and to teach *Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta*. The move was not only helpful in motivating the sanghas in the country to study Buddhism, but it helped improve the relations between the two countries by paying tribute to Qiuci. Kumārajīva, besides teaching, actively searched for Hindu classics and books of other religions, read the four *vedas*, *panca-vidya* and other doctrines, and explored the knowledge of astronomy, calendar, divination, and astrology and later he could even fulfil all his predictions. In daily life, however, Kumārajīva was more willful and neglected minor points of conduct. And although censured by yogis, he did not mind about it. In Kashgar he fortunately came across Suryasoma who especially taught Mahayana Buddhism. He respected and followed him to study *Mādhyamikaśāstra*, *øata÷àstra*, *Dvàda÷amukha÷àstra* etc. And thus, he gave up Theravada to embrace Mahayana. Later, he returned to Wen Su, north of Qiuci, and encountered a heretic. The heretic, eloquent and renowned across the countries, beat the drum with his hands and said, “For anyone can win me, I’d be beheaded for him as an honorarium.”