Paramārtha
499 CE–569 CE · Ujjayinī (Ujjain)
499–569 CE
Paramārtha (499–569 CE) was an Indian monk-translator, traditionally from Ujjayinī (Ujjain), and one of the most important transmitters of Indian philosophy to China. Working in southern China through a period of political chaos, he translated Yogācāra works and Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, and his renderings of 'mind-only' (Yogācāra) thought laid groundwork for the She-lun tradition and influenced later Chinese schools. He ranks with Kumārajīva and Xuanzang among the great translators of the Chinese canon.
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Ujjayinī (Ujjain)
What they did here
Remembered as his place of origin in western India before he traveled east.
About Ujjayinī (Ujjain)
Ujjayinī, modern Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, India, is an ancient city on the Shipra river, once capital of the kingdom of Avanti and today a major Hindu pilgrimage centre with the Mahakaleshwar temple and a twelve-yearly Kumbh Mela. Ashoka served as viceroy there. It was long a centre of Indian astronomy: Brahmagupta worked there, Varahamihira is associated with the Avanti region, and its meridian served as the reference longitude of classical Indian astronomical texts. It is also given as the home of the sixth-century monk Paramārtha, who reached China in 546 and became a principal transmitter of Yogācāra teachings there.
Across the traditions, in Ujjayinī (Ujjain) at the same time
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Paramārtha’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.