After his arrival in Chang’an, the emperor Xuanzong (r.
713–756) lodged S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha in the Ximing Temple.
There, S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha translated a text aimed at the pro-
curement of wealth, which apparently led to the emperor’s
order impounding the monk’s Sanskrit manuscripts. Some-
time later the texts were returned and the monk Yi Xing was
ordered to assist in S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha’s translation work. The
emperor was especially interested in texts dealing with magi-
cal and astronomical lore. In 724 S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha accompa-
nied the emperor to the eastern capital, Loyang, and was
commissioned to translate the Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra (T.D.
no. 848), which, along with the Sarvatatha ̄gatatattva-
sam:graha (T.D. no. 866), translated by Vajrabodhi, forms
the basis of East Asian Vajraya ̄na. Yixing composed the first
six of seven volumes of the Commentary (T.D. no. 1796) on
the Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra before he died. The final volume
(T.D. no. 1797) was completed by the Korean monk known
in Chinese as Bukesiyi. The massive Commentary contains
S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha’s oral explanations of passages in the
Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra and represents a creative interpretation
of the Vajrayana for a Chinese milieu. S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha also
translated the Susiddhika ̄ra Su ̄tra (T.D. no. 893), a compen-
dium of rituals. In 732 S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha petitioned the em-
peror, requesting that he be allowed to return to India, but
his request was denied and he died in 735. S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha’s
body was embalmed and a stupa erected in his honor near
the Longmen caves.
S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha’s importance lay in his translation into
Chinese of key texts of the Vajrayana tradition, including the
Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra and the Susiddhika ̄ra Su ̄tra, and in his
establishment of the Zhenyan school in the Chinese court.
Through his oral teachings contained in the Commentary,
S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha initiated a tradition of careful adaptation of
Indian Vajrayana ideas and practices for the East Asian mi-
lieu. In its original, and in its revised edition of Wengu and
Zhiyan, the Commentary was a source of creative interpreta-
tion for both Zhiyan and, later, Japanese Shingon and the
Esoteric branches of Tendai. Finally, S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha applied
his supernormal “powers” (siddhi) as a means of building po-
litical support for Zhenyan. He was a siddha, or “wonder-
worker,” as well as a translator, and his exploits caught the
imagination of both courtiers and masses. Years after his
death, emperors and officials visited his tomb to pray for
rain.
SEE ALSO Mahasiddhas; Zhiyan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The biographies of S ́ubha ̄karasm:ha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavaj-
ra have been translated and carefully annotated by Zhou Yi
Liang in his “Tantrism in China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies 8 (March 1945): 241–332.
New Sources
Chen, Jinhua. “The Construction of Early Tendai Esoteric Bud-
dhism: The Japanese Provenance of Saicho’s Transmission
Documents and Three Esoteric Buddhist Apocrypha Attri-
buted to Subhakarasimha.” Journal of the International Asso-
ciation of Buddhist Studies 21, no. 1 (1998): 21–76.
Orzech, Charles D. “Seeing Chen-yen Buddhism: Traditional
Scholarship and the Vajrayana in China.” History of Religions
29 (1989): 87–114.
Yamamoto, C., and International Academy of Indian Culture.
Mahavairocana-Sutra: Translated into English from Ta-p’i lu
che na ch’eng-fo shen-pien chia-ch’ih ching, the Chinese Version
of Subhakarasimha and I-hsing, A.D. 725. New Delhi, 1990.
CHARLES D. ORZECH (1987)
Revised BibliographySUFFERING. Suffering may be defined as the experi-
ence of organisms in situations that involve physical and
mental pain, usually attended by a sense of loss, frustration,
and vulnerability to adverse effects. As a fact of sentient life,
pain is a phenomenon concomitant to existence itself and
yet, on the human level at least, it is one that is inextricably
linked with the sense of one’s individuality. As such, pain can
only be defined subjectively, and because of its implications
for the survival of the individual, the experience of pain often
provokes questions about the meaning of life itself.
The effort to understand the meaning of pain is natural,
as is the human attempt to mediate painful experiences
through recourse to secular or religious symbol systems. A
major reason for the enormous influence of science and tech-
nology and the esteem in which they are currently held lies
in their success in giving human beings power, or the illusion
of power, over forces that adversely affect them. However,
while science, technology, and social institutions have done
much to alleviate suffering, these means, even at their most
beneficent, can eliminate only some aspects of pain, but not
all.
Thus suffering, more than any other fact of human life,
raises the philosophical questions that religion is customarily
called upon to answer. When stricken with grief, we question
the purpose of life and look for meaning in a universe that
harbors such pain. Traditionally, religions have responded to
the problem of suffering in two ways: first, by trying to place
the human experience of pain within the context of an over-
all understanding of the universe and, second, by showing
ways to overcome or transcend suffering through faith, piety,
appropriate action, or change in perspective. Within this
broad response, religions have worked out varied systems of
answers to the questions and challenges posed by the prob-
lem of human suffering.
JUDAISM. Jewish tradition reflects a number of approaches
to an assessment of the nature and meaning of suffering and
offers a selection of options for transforming painful experi-
ences in order to make them comprehensible. Basically, Ju-
daism sees suffering as man’s vulnerability to the negative ef-
fects of any number of occurrences over which he has little
or no control; in other words, much suffering arises simply
from being human.8804 SUFFERING