傳播絲綢之路文化的杰出人物

鳩摩羅什，出生于古代西域的龜茲國，是東晉時后秦的一位高僧，譯經(jīng)家。

他7歲隨母出家，初學小乘經(jīng)典。9歲隨母赴罽賓（今克什米爾地區(qū)）從盤頭達多誦讀雜藏、阿含等經(jīng)。12歲與母返龜茲途中，在疏勒駐留年余，修習阿毗曇及六足論，從大乘僧人﹑莎車王子須利耶蘇摩誦讀《中論》﹑《百論》和《十二門論》，復從佛陀耶舍授讀《十誦律》等。后佛陀耶舍一直和他合作翻譯佛經(jīng)。鳩摩羅什為人開朗，秉性坦率，虛己善誘，專以大乘教人，而善于辨析義理，應機領會，獨具神解。羅什回龜茲后，廣習大乘經(jīng)論，講經(jīng)說法，成為中觀大師，名聲大震西域，在漢地也有傳聞。前秦建元十八年（382），苻堅遣呂光攻伐焉耆，繼滅龜茲，劫鳩摩羅什至涼州。三年后，姚萇殺苻堅，滅前秦，呂光遂割據(jù)涼州，自立為涼主，鳩摩羅什隨呂光滯留涼州近17年。后秦弘始三年（401），姚興攻伐后涼，親迎鳩摩羅什入長安，入逍遙園西明閣，以國師禮待，并在長安組織了規(guī)模宏大的譯場，請鳩摩羅什主持譯經(jīng)事業(yè)。此后10多年間，鳩摩羅什悉心從事譯經(jīng)和說法。

鳩摩羅什及其弟子含辛茹苦歷經(jīng)12年，譯出佛經(jīng)共74部，834卷。鳩摩羅什羈留涼國17年，對于中土民情非常熟悉，在語言文字上能運用自如，又加上他原本博學多聞，兼具文學素養(yǎng)，因此，在翻譯經(jīng)典上，自然、生動，契合妙義，在傳譯的里程上，締造了一番空前的盛況。

鳩摩羅什是中國歷史上偉大的高僧，是中國佛教史乃至思想文化史上一位非常杰出的人物。鳩摩羅什“刪去原文繁重”，“不拘原文體制”，“變易原文”，他譯出的佛經(jīng)在內(nèi)容的表達、詞語的應用等方面都達到了前所未有的水平。印度佛教最主要、最重要的經(jīng)典，鳩摩羅什都通過翻譯把它們介紹到了中國，對中國的佛教發(fā)展起到了重大的作用。

Kumarajiva， born in Qiuci， was an eminent monk and translator of Buddhist scriptures of Later Qing Kingdom.

Kumarajiva became a monk with his mother at the age of seven and went Jibin （in Kashmir） at the age of nine. He studied Theravada Buddhist scriptures at first read Agama and other scriptures in Jibin. On his way back to Qiuci together with his mother， he stayed in Shule for more than a year， and in this period he studied Mahayana Buddhist scriptures after monks， the prince of Shache Kingdom， and Buddhayeshe. He cooperated with Buddhayeshe in his translation in later years. Kumarajiva was cheerful， frank， modest， and keen on teaching people with Mahayana Buddhism. He was good at analysis and quick to learn and often had his special understanding of the Buddhist scriptures. After he returned to Qiuci， he studied Mahayan Buddhist scripture extensively， preached Buddhism to the people， and became a famous master in west area， even known to people in Central China. In 382， Qiuci Kingdom was conquered by Fu Jian and Kumarajiva was brought to Liangzhou and there he stayed for about 17 years. In 401， he was greeted to Changan by the king himself of Later Qin and treated as kings teacher. He lived in Changan for more than 10 years， leading the large scale translation activities preached to the people.

Kumarajiva and his disciples worked hard for twelve years and 74 Buddhist scriptures including 834 volumes were translated into Chinese. Before coming to Changan， he had stayed in Liangzhou for 17 years and got to be quite familiar with peoples life in Central China and had mastered Chinese language very well. Kumarajiva was an eminent monk and with his extensive knowledge and good mastery of literature， his translation of Buddhist scriptures read natural， interesting， and meaningful. He created a new milestone in the translation of Buddhist scriptures.