This article reveals insights about a collaboration between a Christian priest and a Buddhist monk, highlighting their community's ambitions.
In 788, a translation of a Buddhist sūtra was presented to Emperor Dezong of the Tang Empire. Strikingly, this translation emerged as a collaboration between the Persian Christian priest Jingjing/Adam from Ṭukhāristān and Prajñā, a Buddhist monk of Kapisa origin, with Luo Haoxin as coordinator. The collaboration, which took place in the imperial capital Chang’an, offers valuable insights into the life of these “Westerners” in the late eighth century. This article shows that these three protagonists were members of the same community and undertook the translation to elevate the community’s standing.
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Zhidong Zhang (2025) studied this question.
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