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Wellsprings

Chang'an (Xi'an)

Chang'an, modern Xi'an in Shaanxi province, China, was the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties and one of the great Buddhist translation and study centres of medieval East Asia. The translator Kumārajīva was brought there in 401 to head an imperial translation bureau; the pilgrim Xuanzang returned there from India to translate the texts he had gathered; and Kūkai studied esoteric Buddhism in the city before founding the Japanese Shingon school.

12 most-discussed ideas

Teachers who lived here

Works composed here

Ideas shaped here

Concepts most frequently discussed in the works composed at Chang'an (Xi'an). Click any to trace the idea across time and place.