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March 8, 2014 |
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Kucha was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim Basin. (The area lies in present day Xinjiang, People's Republic of China|China). Kucha was strongly influenced by Indian thought, and Indian kings are said to have reigned there. For a long time Kucha was the most populous oasis in the Tarim Basin. The language, as evidenced by ancient records, was Tocharian, an Indo-European language most closely related to ancient Celtic language|Celtic and Germanic languages. Buddhism was introduced to Kucha before the end of the 1st century, however it was not until the 3rd century that the kingdom became a major center of Buddhism, primarily the Shravakayana branch but also Mahayana. (In this respect it differed from Khotan, a Mahayana-dominated kingdom on the southern side of the desert.) According to the China|Chinese Book of Jin, during the third century there were nearly one thousand Buddhist stupas and temples in Kucha. At this time, Kuchanese monks began to travel to China. The fourth century saw yet further growth for Buddhism within the kingdom. The palace was said to resemble a Buddhist monastery, displaying carved stone Buddhas, and monasteries around the city were numerous. Monasteries
Nunneries There were two nunneries at A-li (Avanyaka):
Another nunnery, Tsio-li, was 40 li north of Kucha and is famous as the place where Kumārajīva's mother Jīva retired. Monks Po-Yen A monk from the royal family known as Po-Yen travelled to the Chinese capital, Luoyang, from 256-260. He translated six Buddhist texts to Chinese language|Chinese in 258 at China's famous White Horse Temple, including the Infinite Life Sutra, an important sutra in the Pure Land Buddhism. Po-Po-Śrīmitra Po-Srimitra|Po-Śrīmitra was another Kuchean monk who traveled to China from 307-312 and translated three Buddhist texts. Po-Yen A second Kuchean Buddhist monk known as Po-Yen also went to Liangzhou (the Wuwei region of modern Gansu), China and is said to have been well-respected, although he is not known to have translated any texts. The kingdom bordered Aksu then Kashgar to the west, and Karasahr then Turfan to the east. Across the desert to the south was Khotan.
Category:Ancient peoples of China Category:Buddhism Category:Central Asian Buddhist kingdoms Category:Central Asian Buddhist sites Category:Cities along the Silk Road Category:Former countries in Chinese history Category:Cities in Xinjiang de:Kucha fr:Koutcha zh:?????? This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kucha".
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