Caotang Temple

This guide to Caotang Temple in Xi'an follows Kumarajiva, a monk born around 344 in the Silk Road kingdom of Kucha, who was captured, held prisoner for some fifteen years, and forced to break his vows before finally reaching Chang'an past the age of forty. Here the ruler of the Later Qin gave him a walled garden to lead a team of scribes translating Sanskrit scriptures into Chinese, work that still shapes how Buddhists chant today. Before his death at seventy, he made a vow his followers still repeat about what should happen to him if even one line of his translation proved wrong.