Kumārāyana (also Kiu-mo-yen) was a Buddhist monk. Kumārāyana renounced his wealth to become a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monk. He left India, crossing to the Pamirs in order to spread the teachings of Buddhism to the countries east of Central Asia, namely China. Probably from

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, Kumārāyana never made it to eastern China for on his journey he stopped in

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

, where the king, respecting Kumārāyana's eminence and wisdom wanted him to discontinue his journey, and stay in Kucha to become a royal priest. In order to persuade Kumārāyana to stay in Kucha, the King introduced him to the wisest woman in Kucha, his sister Jīvaka. Jīvaka was coveted by many suitors for her great talents intellectual abilities. However, upon meeting Kumārāyana, Jīvaka was moved and they fell in love with each other. They married and combined their great talents. Though, they are mainly known in Buddhist history for the deeds of their son named

Kumārajīva Kumārajīva (Sanskrit: कुमारजीव; , 344–413 CE) was a bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from Kucha (present-day Aksu City, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the great ...

who, largely under Jīvaka's guidance, went on to become an erudite Buddhist scholar and translator. One of his more well-reputed translations was that of the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...

.The Gosho Translation Committee, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin volume 1, Soka Gakkai p.293.

References

Indian Buddhist monks Indian male writers Indian royal advisors {{Buddhism-bio-stub