An Shigao

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An Shigao (Chinese: 安世高; pinyin: Ān Shìgāo; Wade–Giles: An Shih-kao, Korean: An Sego, Japanese: An Seikō, Vietnamese: An Thế Cao) (fl. c. 148-180 CE)[1] was an early Buddhist missionary to China, and the earliest known translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese. According to legend, he was a prince of Parthia, nicknamed the "Parthian Marquess", who renounced his claim to the royal throne of Parthia in order to serve as a Buddhist missionary monk in China.[2]

  1. ^ Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., ed. (2014). "An Shigao". The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780691157863.
  2. ^ Zürcher, Erik. 2007 (1959). The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. 3rd ed. Leiden: Brill. pp. 32-4