Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s3.t3: Zhiguang
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s3.t3
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Zhiguang
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Zhiguang was a Buddhist monk and language scholar of the Tang Dynasty. He is also the author of a volume of *Siddham Script* but nothing much is known about him in detail. The official title of this work is *Records of the Shan-yin Buddhist monk Zhi Guang of Tang Dynasty*. According to the records of *Yu Qing Lai Catalog* written by Konghai (774-835 CE), a Japanese Buddhist monk who came to China during Tang Dynasty, one volume of *Siddham Script* and one volume of *Explanation of the Siddham Script* were introduced in Japan. Zhiguang probably lived during the time of Emperor Dezong of Tang (780-805 CE). The *Siddham Script* was another record of the copy of the *Siddham Chapter* written by a South Indian Buddhist monk, Prajnabodhi. When Prajna-bodhi was young, he learned phonetics and linguistics based on the language of South India from Prajna-ghou\a written by Mahesvara. Prajna-bodhi came to China by sea with a Sanskrit "Dharani". He paid religious homage to Mount Wutai and lived in a house built on the mountain. Zhiguang learned about Siddham script from Prajna-bodhi in Mount Wutai. Based on this information and understanding, he compiled this volume of *Siddham Script*. The *Records of the Siddham Script included* 47 fundamental letters and the book in its final form with further explanation turned out to be one of 18 chapters. Each chapter took the first two letters or the first letter combined with others as its name and the names of all chapters are– Jia-jia Chapter, Zhi-ye-zhi-ye Chapter, Jia-lue Chapter, Jia-luo Chapter, Jia-po Chapter, Jia-mo Chapter, Jia-na Chapter, A-le-jia Chapter, A-le-zhi-ye Chapter, A-le-jia-lue Chapter, A-le-jia-luo Chapter, A-le-jia-po Chapter, A-le-jia-mo Chapter, A-le-jia-na Chapter, Ang-jia Chapter, Qi-li Chapter, A-suo-jia Chapter, Guhe Chapter and so on. The *Records of Siddham Script* had many words of annotation which was of great help to understand the content of a text. Compared to *Siddham Chapter* of the Tang Dynasty,
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[Figure: 'The Records of Siddham Script (Xitan ziji)', front cover]
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the *Records of Siddham Script* was more close to the actual characteristic features of Sanskrit language. It has not been kept together along with other literary works and was maintained separately with an independent existence of its own. Hence, it was widespread and popular and is regarded as one of the most important works among other such research works of Siddham script in China. The *Records of Siddham Script* was introduced into Japan and was named as the *Eighteen Chapters of Southern India Prajna-bodhi Siddham*. It was read and used by Kong Hai (Hong-fa master) An Ran (the author of *Siddham Collection*), contributing to further study and development of Siddham science in Japan.
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(*Chen Ming*)