竺法护

竺法护

竺法护，又名竺昙摩罗刹，西晋时期著名的僧人。他的先祖本是月氏人，本姓支氏，世代居住在敦煌。8岁时他随西域竺姓高僧出家，依照习俗改姓竺。晋武帝时，竺法护随师父游历西域各国，学习并通晓西域各国的语言文字，同时搜集大量梵文经典带回中国。

太康五年（284），竺法护回到敦煌后就开始翻译佛经，在弟子竺法乘等僧俗信徒的帮助下，将《修行道地经》和《阿难越致遮经》译成汉文，并在敦煌形成了一个以他为中心的汉胡僧俗信徒团体。后来竺法护又曾到长安、洛阳等地传教，并将翻译梵文典籍视为自己毕生的事业。他一生共译佛经165部，译文忠实原文，为佛法在中国的流传做出了重要贡献。汉长安城宣平门外有“敦煌寺”，竺法护在此译经弘道20余载，德高望重，僧徒信众数千，被时人誉为“敦煌菩萨”。

Zhu Fahu

Zhu Fahu, also known as Dharmarksa, was a prominent monk during the Western Jin Dynasty. His ancestors were originally Yuezhi people with the surname Zhi who resided in Dunhuang for generations. At the age of eight, he became a monk under a renowned monk surnamed Zhu from the Western Regions, adopting the surname Zhu as per custom. During the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Jin Dynasty, Zhu traveled with his master across various countries in the Western Regions, where he learned and mastered the languages and scripts of those nations, simultaneously collecting a large number of Sanskrit texts to bring back to China.

In 284, Zhu returned to Dunhuang and began translating Sanskrit texts. With the assistance of his disciples and lay followers including Zhu Fasheng, he translated Yoga-cārya-bhūmi-sūtra and Avinivartanīya-sūtra into Chinese. He established a community of monks and lay followers around him in Dunhuang. Later, Zhu traveled to Chang'an and Luoyang to teach Buddhism while dedicating his life to translating Sanskrit texts. Over his lifetime, he translated 165 Buddhist scriptures, producing faithful translations that contributed notably to the spread of Buddhism in China. Outside Xuanping Gate in Chang'an stands Dunhuang Temple, where Zhu Fahu spent over 20 years translating scriptures and promoting Buddhist teachings. He was highly respected and gained a following of thousands of monks and laypeople, earning him the title of "Bodhisattva of Dunhuang" in his time.