Although he lived only 31 years, Seng Chao (僧肇 384-414), another great monk of that time, illuminated Chinese Buddhism with his energy.

China in the fourth and fifth centuries was under constant civil war between various warlords. These warlords made themselves kings, but their greed and cruelty caused a lot of uncertainty and death among the populace. Many people tried to find ways that would lead to permanent peace.

One of these was Seng Chao. He first searched through books on Taoism but then switched to Buddhism. He found that Buddhism was the only way that could lead people to permanent salvation. However, he found it difficult to study the religion because the translations of the sutras were rather poor. Many foreign monks in China didn't understand Chinese well, so mistakes occurred when they tried to translate sutras into Chinese. At the same time, many Chinese monks didn't have a very good grasp of Sanskrit, so when they tried to translate sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese, mistakes happened as well. Therefore, the same sutras might have different translations, and that created confusion among the readers. Seng Chao didn't like this situation and wanted to solve the problem. He had heard of Kumarajiva [鳩摩羅什 see our Fall 1999 issue], an erudite dharma master who had a good command of both Sanskrit and Chinese.

Kumarajiva had been longing to propagate Buddhism in southern China, but Lu Lung, the king of Later Liang [後涼], treated Kumarajiva like a fortuneteller and banned him from going to southern China. Consequently, Kumarajiva had to stay in Later Liang for 16 years until Lu Lung was defeated by another king. The monk's fame, however, had spread far and wide, and Seng Chao was eager to learn from him. Seng Chao eventually went to Wuwei to study under Kumarijiva.

When Seng Chao and Kumarajiva finally had the chance to go to central China, Seng Chao assisted Kumarajiva to propagate the Buddha's teachings by helping him translate the sutras. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge and studied the sutras he worked on in great detail. Furthermore, he also wrote four articles, which were later compiled into a famous book called Chao Lun [肇論], or Chao Commentaries. When Kumarajiva read one of Seng Chao's articles, he told him that although they both had an equal understanding of Buddhism, Seng Chao's article was much more comprehensible than his own.

A diligent student

Seng Chao was born into a poor family in Xi'an, central China. His father died when he was young and his mother worked hard to raise him. His parents had both put much stress on his studies, but the family's poor financial situation interrupted his learning from time to time. After his father died, Seng Chao had to stop his studies completely to help his mother cut down trees to sell as firewood.

Nevertheless, Seng Chao still tried to find time to read any books he could get his hands on. An opportunity arrived one day. Xi'an at that time was under the rule of the Later Chin state [後秦]. This kingdom had been established by a minority tribe called the Chiang, but these people were attracted to Chinese books and literary works, which had never been seen in their tribe. A marquis wanted to hire someone to copy all the Chinese books he had collected, and Seng Chao was recommended for the task. This was a turning point in his life because it allowed him to read many books he had never read before, and through them he became attracted to Taoist philosophy. It also helped with the family's financial situation because of the higher pay.

Although the city he lived in was calm, the outside world was not. It was racked by fighting between violent and bloodthirsty warlords. Seng Chao hoped to find some way that could bring tranquility to the world, and he gradually developed a taste for the philosophies of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, the two famous founders of Taoism. He was fascinated by their non-action theories. Seng Chao studied a large number of their classic books because he felt that they conveyed the wisdom of these two writers and that they could point the right way for him or anyone else interested in cultivating spirituality.

Seng Chao had made a name for himself as a great young scholar of the philosophies of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, and his fame had spread far and wide. Li Yi, a famous young scholar from Wuwei in Gansu Province, northwestern China, came to Xi'an to challenge Seng Chao. He felt that if he could win the debate, he could become famous throughout China. However, the challenge was quickly over because Li Yi embarrassed himself in front of everyone with his shallow knowledge.

Becoming a monk

One day, Seng Chao went to visit Wuchi Temple in the city. It was said that Tao An [道安 see our Summer 2002 issue], a famous monk who died one year after Seng Chao was born, had stayed at this temple in his final years and had organized a team to translate Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. Seng Chao ran into an old monk in the temple who was impressed by Seng Chao's temperament and talked to him about Buddhism. The monk also lent him a Buddhist sutra titled Vimalakirti Sutra. This sutra was the key to Seng Chao's decision to join the sangha (the Buddhist congregation of monks and nuns).

Vimalakirti was the name of a wise layperson during the Buddha's era. What was special about him was that he had the ability to retain his spiritual tranquility while having a wife and children and while sometimes visiting brothels in an attempt to save the prostitutes from their sufferings and agonies. Although a layperson, he had a buddha's supreme wisdom, or prajna. The sutra said that there were times when he mocked the Buddha's disciples for their conduct in spiritual cultivation. He admonished them, saying that their practices were narrow and only for themselves; instead, they should have broader compassion and think of other suffering beings. One day, Vimalakirti pretended to be sick and did not go to visit the Buddha. The Buddha asked his disciples, including great bodhisattvas, to visit Vimalakirti. However, since no one wanted to be reprimanded again, none of the disciples wanted to go. Finally, Manjusri Bodhisattva, the wisest bodhisattva, led a group of visitors to see Vimalakirti. The conversation between Manjusri and Vimalakirti about Buddhist concepts like "emptiness" was the highlight of the sutra.

Seng Chao was attracted by the sutra. He felt that he had found the one that could bring true peace to his mind and that Buddhism was the path that would guide all people to tranquility. Thus he decided to become a monk. He became fully versed in the Buddhist sutras in a very short time, such that those who came to challenge him were all deterred by his eloquence and profound perception of the Buddha's teachings.

One day, he heard that a great monk named Kumarajiva was living in Wuwei, the same city Li Yi had came from many years before. Seng Chao felt that the sutras he came across contained many problems. One problem was that different versions of the same sutra varied in length and had inconsistencies in their translations. Many translations were too arcane to be understood. In addition, many sutras brought in by Indian monks had not been translated because few people could read the language. After Tao An died, translation had basically come to a halt due to the language barrier. Seng Chao felt that if he could learn Sanskrit from Kumarajiva, he would be able to help translate more sutras into Chinese so that more people could read them, resolving any confusion.

A brawl

Despite the long distance he had to travel and the unforeseeable risks lying ahead of him, Seng Chao still took off from Xi'an (in the Later Chin state of central China) and traveled for more than 40 days to Wuwei (in the Later Liang state of northwestern China).

Kumarajiva was very famous at that time, so Lu Lung, king of Later Liang, had placed Kumarajiva in a restricted area where ordinary people could not bother him. Lu Lung didn't believe in Buddhism, so he merely treated Kumarajiva as a fortuneteller who could provide him with some predictions in political and military affairs. Surprised by such restrictions, Seng Chao did not know what to do. But he felt that he should still try to visit the famous monk since he had come such a long way.

Seng Chao came to Kumarajiva's residence, but there were guards at the door. They immediately stopped Seng Chao and shouted at him, asking him what he wanted. Seng Chao said, "I want to visit Master Kumarajiva."

The guards looked at him in disbelief because Seng Chao looked very dirty and his clothes were tattered. So one guard mocked him by saying, "You want to visit Master Kumarajiva? Only the rich and the royalty can come to his residence. You beggar! Get away!"

The guards began to push him away. Feeling that this could be his chance to get Kumarajiva's attention, Seng Chao shouted back at the guards, and their voices became louder and louder. The confrontation received attention from bystanders, and they gathered around to watch Seng Chao and the guards. Finally Kumarajiva heard the noise at the door and came out. When Seng Chao saw the tall foreign monk, he knew it had to be Kumarajiva, so he ran to him and prostrated himself. Attracted by his boldness coming to Wuwei from such a faraway city and by his courage in confronting the guards, Kumarajiva invited Seng Chao to come inside.

Kumarajiva looked at him and simply said, "A monk should be clean." Seng Chao had traveled a very long distance, so he looked rather tired and dirty. Kumarajiva wasn't really referring to Seng Chao's improper appearance--he was merely testing Seng Chao's true intentions.

Seng Chao was very smart, so he replied, "When the mind is pure, the body is pure. Why bother with one's appearance?" Kumarajiva smiled and said to Seng Chao, "You are smarter than my other disciples. You can stay."

Seng Chao told Kumarajiva why he had come to study with him. Touched by his unflinching determination, Kumarajiva led the young monk to a library and told him that he had collected many invaluable books over the years. It contained sutras in Chinese, Sanskrit, and other languages used in modern Afghanistan and India. Kumarajiva had collected these books while he was traveling in India, central Asia, and western China. Many of the sutras were not known to monks in China, so Kumarajiva wanted Seng Chao to study these sutras. They would become useful once they had a chance to go to central China. Kumarajiva told Seng Chao to live in the library. Someone would bring him food every day and someone else would teach him Sanskrit. He could not leave the library until he had finished all the books.

Seng Chao took the key to the library from Kumarajiva and bowed to him. He knew Kumarajiva had great expectations for him.

"Don't ever come to see me until you have finished reading all the books," Kumarajiva said with a stern voice and then left without even turning his head.

The reading might have appeared boring, but Seng Chao felt young again, like the time when he was copying Chinese classics for the rich person back home, except now he was studying Buddhism. And he was reading them with full enthusiasm. After studying for a year, Seng Chao finally finished all the books.

"Master... here I come!" the young monk said with pride and joy.

After one year of study, Seng Chao's understanding of Buddhism had elevated him so much that he seemed more tranquil and focused. When he went to report to Kumarajiva about his completion, Kumarajiva was very pleased because he sensed that Seng Chao had changed a lot. Kumarajiva said, "I was thinking that your studies would be over by now, so I was going to have someone get you."

Seng Chao asked him, "What is it, Master?"

Kumarajiva calmly told him, "We are leaving for central China."

So much had changed in the past year without Seng Chao's knowledge. Yao Hsing, king of Later Chin, had heard of Kumarajiva and demanded that Lu Lung, king of Later Liang, send Kumarajiva to Xi'an. When Lu Lung refused, Yao Hsing declared war and conquered Later Liang. After 16 long years of waiting, Kumarajiva could finally go to Xi'an to fulfill his dream of propagating Buddhism.

Kumarajiva was highly welcomed by Emperor Yao Hsing, who was followed by a military parade. Yao Hsing invited Kumarajiva and Seng Chao to live in the palace first, and he ordered his subordinates to build the Tsaotang Temple just outside Xi'an for Kumarajiva so he could start translating sutras.

A majority of ministers in the royal court were displeased with Yao Hsing's presents to Kumarajiva and Seng Chao. They were also unhappy that neither of the monks would kowtow to Yao Hsing, as was the custom at the time. Yao Hsing smiled and explained: "Most people in the country believe in Buddhism. I have brought two great monks to the country to promote the Buddha's teachings, so who is going to revolt against me now? No one! My patronage of these two monks will bring me the people's support. As for their not kowtowing to me, you should know that Buddhist monks in India don't kowtow to their kings; they simply fold their hands together and bow. Although this etiquette is not in accord with ours, I don't care about that as long as they can consolidate my reign of the kingdom. If I told them that they had to kowtow to me but they hated me for that in their minds, would it do me any good?" All the ministers' anger vanished when they heard the emperor's words.

Yao Hsing was a Buddhist, so he constantly read Buddhist sutras and supported Buddhism. He noticed that the general public had grown tired of war and that they yearned for some peace from Buddhism. He felt Kumarajiva had true knowledge of Buddhism and should be respected. Besides, he hoped to use these two monks to entice the people to support his reign.

Doing the translation

Yao Hsing decreed that Seng Chao should find suitable monks to help translate the sutras. At the same time, he also ordered all the temples in his kingdom to send capable monks to Kumarajiva to help translate sutras. More than 3,000 monks flocked to Xi'an, hoping to be part of the great translation work of the century. Of course, only a few were chosen for their knowledge and talent to become part of the translation council.

At the beginning, Seng Chao noticed that the majority of monks could not comprehend Sanskrit or other foreign languages. So he immediately talked to five senior monks about the serious nature of the problem since it would affect the translation process. The five of them then recommended about ten monks with superior knowledge of Sanskrit. They would join the translation council and teach the rest of the monks Sanskrit.

After the translation work had been going on for several months, Kumarajiva had a talk with Seng Chao one evening. Ever since the translation work began, Kumarajiva would read a sentence from the sutra and interpret it into Chinese. He would ask the audience of monks the meaning of the sentence, giving them hints if their answers were wrong. When everyone got it right, Kumarajiva would then continue with the next sentence.

Nevertheless, they were monks and had to study the meaning of the sutras, especially those not found in China that were being translated. However, not everyone had the ability to study sutras; the majority of monks became tired at the end of the day and didn't have any extra energy to study sutras. Seng Chao suggested to Kumarajiva that monks with better understanding of the sutras be assigned to write sutra commentaries. This would give other monks more time to better comprehend the sutras so that they could also explain the sutras to laypeople.

Kumarajiva was impressed with Seng Chao's insights concerning the problems at hand, so he told Seng Chao to carry out the task.

News of Kumarajiva's fame and translation work spread even further to southern China. Hui Yuan [慧遠 whose story appears in our Fall 2000 issue] started writing letters on Buddhist matters to Kumarajiva, asking for his advice. Kumarajiva responded to the letters, and both of them wrote back and forth many times. Those two great monks admired each other and communicated with each other in this way until both passed away without ever having met each other. From this, Tao Sheng [道生 see our Fall 2002 issue] became so impressed with Kumarajiva that he and three of Hui Yuan's disciples decided to join the translation work.

Middle Observation

Kumarajiva was a devout promoter of "Middle Observation," propounded in India by Nagarjuna around the second century. Ordinary people treat everything they see as real, but according to Nagarjuna everything is an illusion--nothing has true nature and nothing exists permanently or uniquely. Everything is, in essence, empty and not real.

Everything is created and terminated in accordance with previous causes or simply exists as a chance meeting that arises from certain elements and conditions--when a single episode of a person's life changes, the rest of his life will change accordingly. Take the Buddha for example: if he had missed the chance to tour the city that his father had forbidden him to see, he probably would never have pondered on the suffering of aging, illnesses, and death. He would have stayed inside his palace and led a comfortable but meaningless life.

People tend to treat everything as either real or false, "have" or "have not." In contrast, the Middle Observation explains that to live a free life without suffering is to be unattached to the concepts of have or have not. Instead, people should follow the Golden Mean between these two extremes, learning to live within the wisdom of balance that teaches one to let go and to create harmony in a world of impermanence.

Kumarajiva wanted to translate the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra upon which Nagarjuna based his Middle Observation. When the first draft was finished, Yao Hsing became so excited from reading the draft that he even recommended himself to help edit the sutra. By the time the draft was finished, it was winter. Yao Hsing gave each monk a cotton jacket as a present and 4,000 loads of firewood to keep them warm. He was a great supporter of Buddhism, and he was anxious to complete the sutra. From the years 403 to 404, around 30 volumes of this sutra were finally completed.

As more and more Buddhist sutras were translated into Chinese, Yao Hsing thought ever more highly of Kumarajiva and Seng Chao for their ability to lead a huge group of monks in completing the difficult tasks of translating and editing sutras. The emperor also spent more time at Tsaotang Temple to ask Kumarajiva about Buddhist doctrines. However, he felt that the temple was too far from the royal palace. So around the year 406, he ordered Kumarajiva and his monks to move to a larger temple inside Xi'an.

After arriving in Xi'an, Kumarajiva felt that the common people had more chances of going to the temple, so he decided to combine the translation work with public lectures. Thus, the public also had chances to listen to translations and to understand the sutras from discussions between Kumarajiva and the panels of monks.

The articles

Throughout the translation period, Seng Chao's knowledge of Buddhism improved so much that he started writing articles to disprove contradictory ideas or to provide new theories. His first article, "Prajna Knows Everything," was his clarification on the false interpretation of prajna--the Buddha's supreme wisdom. After Buddhism was introduced in China, many monks had tried to define the meaning of this word. At Seng Chao's time, there were seven Buddhist schools with different views, but Seng Chao felt they were all incorrect. In his article, he wrote that a sage with prajna knew everything because it allowed the sage to realize that everything was constantly changing and thus had no fixed nature of its own. Therefore, the sage knew everything and would never become attached to things.

The article, "Not Real Emptiness," was Seng Chao's rebuttal to the three major theories on "emptiness" at that time. He felt that in essence, everything in the universe was empty and thus not real. However, it didn't mean that they didn't exist since they were there. On the one hand, everything is empty and does not exist, but on the other hand, everything still exists temporarily as we see it.

The most famous article he wrote was "Substances Do Not Move." People had a tendency to think that aging was a process that occurred in a fixed person. This implied that there was a changeable surface that experienced constant transformations, but that underneath the surface was the person's nature, which stayed fixed and constant. This theory applied to everything else in the universe as well. Seng Chao disagreed. If the changes happened only on the surface, they could be random and have no specific order. But that was not possible for human beings. One doesn't become an old person at birth and then change to a young child, or a teenager at birth and then a baby and then an old person. Therefore, changes happened in a specific order. Seng Chao felt that changes also occurred in the essential nature of things. Therefore, when changes happened to A in the past, producing B as we see it in the present, A has in fact ceased to exist after the transformation and doesn't exist in the present. A and B are not only different on the surface but also in the core. So A is not B. If B experiences changes now and becomes C the next minute, B will cease to exist after the transformation and C will appear. B is thus different from C. None of the three can exist in periods other than their own respective times; none of them can "move" or exist in other periods. So, as Seng Chao proposed, "Things do not move."

The fourth article was on nirvana. This Sanskrit word means the complete cessation of all anxieties, or freedom from any worldly entanglement. Seng Chao felt that people had worries because they didn't realize the truth of all matters; they treated the false appearance of things in the universe as the true appearance and trapped themselves in this view. According to Seng Chao, all things in the universe were in essence empty and false, so there was no way that they could truly bring troubles to people. How could things that were not real and constantly changing bring troubles to people? It was only because people couldn't see through their changing appearances, so people brought troubles upon themselves. In addition, trouble, like everything else, didn't have its own nature; it appeared and also disappeared. If people could observe all these, they would be able to reach nirvana.

These articles were breakthroughs at that time and won compliments from readers like Tao Sheng and Hui Yuan. Even Kumarajiva praised Seng Chao for being the first to truly understand the meaning of emptiness. Seng Chao was thus seen as one of Kumarajiva's top four disciples.

The passing of the two

In 413, Kumarajiva died peacefully at the age of 70. During his 11 years in China, he led his disciples in translating 94 sutras. His death brought great mourning to the state. Shortly after Kumarajiva died, Seng Chao also sensed that his days were numbered, so he immediately combined the articles he had written, including the ones above, into a book now known as Chao Lun, or Chao Commentaries. He died in the following year at the age of only 31.

Although Seng Chao died at a very young age, he still left behind several outstanding articles such as "Prajna Knows Everything," "Nirvana," "Things Don't Move," "Not Real Emptiness," and commentaries on the sutras. His insights and new ideas won him praise from famous monks like Tao Sheng, Hui Yuan, and even his teacher Kumarajiva. His articles have had great influence on future Buddhists.