"An Shigao" and "Prajna Paramita "
By "Dotetsuzenji"
Prajna Paramita or Perfection of wisdom (Prajna means wisdom and Paramita means perfection. Prajna paramita is perfection of Wisdom or Perfect Wisdom. Prajna Paramita is widely used in Mahayana Buddhism, a wisdom which is necessary to achieve Buddhahood. Wisdom can not be conceived or verbally by any agent or any supernatural power. It requires a hard practice and deep understanding. Prajna Paramita is defined as the knowledge of Emptiness (Shunyata). Prajna Paramita is the sixth of the six perfection (Paramita) which is necessary to practice it up to the path of Bodhisattva.These six Paramitas are: Dana (Charity), Sila (Morality), Kashanti (patience), Virya (Energy or Vigor), Dhyana (meditation), prajna (Wisdom). The six Paramita was developed by An Shigao especially Dhyana and Prajna, according to Hsuan Tsang (Xuanzang). In other words, those who are on the path of Bodhisattva, Prajna Paramita is required.
Prajna Paramita is a way of seeing the nature of reality. Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with the doctrine of emptiness (Shunyata) or 'lack of Svabhava' (essence). This work later revealed by Nagarjuna. The practice and understanding Of P.P are indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva path. It is the fundamental work of Mahayana on Wisdom, which is the last of the six Paramitas.
Prajna Paramita is a long sermon , composed of several Sutras expounded by the Buddha in four places held at sixteen assemblies. It contains 600 rolls (Scrolls) [Chuan or Juan] bund in 120 volumes as some of them translated by HsuanTsang ( Xuan Zang, the Sixth century A.D.)
Terms like Bodhisattva, Buddha Nature, No-Mind, Emptiness (Shunyata), and Non-duality have all arisen from the heart of the Mahayana school.
According to this Sutra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Therefore in Sunyata, there are no forms, no feelings, no perceptions, no impulses, no mind, no consciousness, no eyes, no ears, etc.
Therefore, according to Kang Senghui’s testimony and the teaching of Prajna Paramita by An Shigao, the supposition that An Shigao belonged only to the Theravaada school is invalid.
The Prajna Paramita Sutras are long sutras containing several distinct sutras which were explained by the Buddha in six convents and four religious communities. The Chinese benefitted from some of these texts which were translated and introduced by An Shigao. Some of these scripts were translated into Chinese by An Shigao.
But An Shigao never claimed to belong to either Mahayana or Hinayana. He studied both schools of Hinayana and Mahayana deeply without identifying himself to any special schools. Later those contemporary and those who knew him well analyzed his understanding of the true teaching of the Buddha. His students, his collaborators (the translation team) and those who knew him and who were with him and other scholars, all are agreed that An Shigao translated some texts and Sutras of Hinayana but he practically belonged to Mahayana.
Notice:
“Shunyata” has a profound meaning in the Mahayana school. It has been translated as emptiness, void, latency, relativity, etc. All phenomena are like bubbles in an ocean. They have no genuine existence. In Theravada Buddhism, sunyata often refers to not-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman), the nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. Sunyata is also often used to refer to a meditative state or experience.
Sources:
1- Hsuan T’sang (Xuanzang), was a Buddhist monk, pilgrim, traveller, scholar and a link between China and India, who was famous for his travels on foot to India for 17 years. He lived in Luoyang, where Anshigao resided there starting translating the Buddhist texts for more than 20 years. Xuanzang was acquainted with the translations of An Shigao, especially the sections which were associated with the Diamond Sutra, the most influential Mahayana Sutra. Therefore, it seems that some of the Prajna paramita Sutra should have been translated by An Shigao first in 148 A.D according to Hsuan Tsang (Xuan Zang).
2- Kang Senghui; Vietnamese monk with the name of An Tong. A dedicated follower of An shigao whose teaching and the technique of “Mindfulnees” based on the the teaching of one of the translation of An shigao known as Anapanusmriti. Prof, Eric Zurcher (1959) states that, “Kang Senghui properly specifies that An Shigao gradually raised the six real perfections through which one can achieve infinite Paramita.
3- Prof. Ui Hakuju (1993) expresses his opinion that there are Mahayana elements in An Shigao (see Antonino Forte, Iranian Family in China).
4- Aramaki Noritoshi [Author: Doctor in Literature(Buddhism): Towards a New Working Hypothesis on the Origin of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Eastern Buddhist.2013] says that An Qing [An Shigao] became Bodhisattva according to the Great Vehicle Buddhist ritual. Three marks of existence were the text An Shigao translated and explained the theory of No-soul which is the heart of Mahayana Buddhism of Sunyata. For the same reason he was called Kaishi or “Awakener. An Shigao was called a Bodhisattva as well.