Bibliography
Conze, Edward. Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Bud-
dhist Philosophy.Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1962.
Karunadasa, Y. “The Buddhist Critique of Sassatavada and
Ucchedavada: The Key to a Proper Understanding of the
Origin and Doctrines of Early Buddhism.” Middle Way74,
no. 2 (1999): 69–79.
CAROLS. ANDERSONAN SHIGAO
An Shigao is the Chinese name of a Parthian Buddhist
translator active in the Chinese capital Luoyang circa
148 to 180 C.E. Tradition represents him as a prince who
renounced his throne to propagate the dharma in dis-
tant lands, becoming a hostage at the Han court, but
little is known about his life. Scholars disagree over
whether he was a layman or a monk, a follower of the
MAHAYANAor not. What is certain is that he was the
first significant translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese.
Fewer than twenty genuine works of his are thought to
have survived. They include sutras on such important
topics as the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, PRATITYASAMUTPADA
(DEPENDENT ORIGINATION), the SKANDHA(AGGREGATE),
and MINDFULNESSof breathing and other techniques of
self-cultivation, as well as several treatises on similar
subjects (one of them an early version of San ̇gharaksa’s
Yogacarabhumi). Two works are in fact anthologies of
short sutras, while two other longer sutras (Das ́ottara,
Arthavistara) are compendia of terms, thus providing
Chinese Buddhists with a comprehensive treatment of
their new religion’s ideas and vocabulary. All the trans-
lations are of mainstream (S ́ravakayana) literature, most
apparently affiliated with the Sarvastivada school. The
first propagator of ABHIDHARMAand meditation texts in
China, An Shigao also pioneered the field of Chinese
Buddhist translations, and may have established the
translation committee as the standard approach. While
his archaic renditions were soon superseded by his suc-
cessors, some of the terms he used (like the transcrip-
tions fofor Buddha or pusafor bodhisattva) have stood
the test of time and are still current in East Asia today.
See also:Mainstream Buddhist Schools
Bibliography
Forte, Antonino. The Hostage An Shigao and His Offspring.
Kyoto, Japan: Italian School of East Asian Studies, 1995.
Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and
Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China.Leiden,
Netherlands: Brill, 1959.
Zürcher, Erik. “A New Look at the Earliest Chinese Buddhist
Texts.” In From Benares to Beijing: Essays on Buddhism and
Chinese Religion in Honour of Prof. Jan Yün-hua,ed. Koichi
Shinohara and Gregory Schopen. Oakville, ON: Mosaic,
1991.PAULHARRISONANUTTARASAMYAKSAMBODHI
(COMPLETE, PERFECT AWAKENING)Anuttarasamyaksambodhiis a Sanskrit term for un-
surpassed (anuttara), complete and perfect (samyak)
awakening (sambodhi). Buddhist texts frequently use
this term to describe the awakened wisdom acquired
by buddhas and tathagatas and to indicate that the con-
tent of that awakening transcends all conceptions and
cannot be compared to the knowledge or wisdom of
any other being, whether human or divine.See also:Bodhi (Awakening)WILLIAMM. BODIFORDAPOCRYPHAThe term apocryphahas been used in Western schol-
arship to refer to Buddhist literature that developed
in various parts of Asia in imitation of received texts
from the Buddhist homeland of India. Texts included
under the rubric of apocrypha share some common
characteristics, but they are by no means uniform in
their literary style or content. Apocrypha may be char-
acterized collectively as a genre of indigenous religious
literature that claimed to be of Indian Buddhist pedi-
gree or affiliation and that came to acquire varying
degrees of legitimacy and credence with reference to
the corpus of shared scripture. Some apocrypha, es-
pecially in East Asian Buddhism, purported to be the
BUDDHAVACANA (WORD OF THEBUDDHA) (that is,
sutra) or the word of other notable and anonymous
exegetes of Indian Buddhism (s ́astra). Others claimed
to convey the insights of enlightened beings from In-
dia or of those who received such insights through a
proper line of transmission, as in the case of Tibetan
“treasure texts” (gter ma) that were hidden and dis-
covered by qualified persons. Still others were mod-ANSHIGAO