Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/230

Rh in A.D. 399 in company with several others on an overland pilgrimage to India, his object being to obtain a complete set of the Buddhist Canon in the original tongue. Alone of the party he reached the goal, and spent some time in India, travelling about to various important Buddhist centres and generally fulfilling the purposes of his mission. In A.D. 414 he was back in China, having returned by sea, viâ Ceylon and the Straits of Malacca; and then he spent several years at Nanking, being prevented by the disturbed state of the empire from carrying his books and sacred relics on to Ch'ang-an. He occupied the time in translating the 僧祇律, a work on monastic discipline. He also related to his friend and fellow-labourer, Buddha Bhadra, a great Indian Buddhist, then in China, the incidents of his long journey. These Buddha Bhadra committed to writing, thus forming the work now known as the 佛國記 Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms. The original title is uncertain, as also the date of publication; but the latter was certainly not later than A.D. 420.

  Fa Shun 法順. Died A.D. 640. A Buddhist priest, surnamed 杜, a native of Wan-nien in Kiangsi, who founded at 慶 Ch'ing-chou the exoteric school usually known as the 法性宗 "School of the True Nature" of the written doctrine. He devoted his attention chiefly to the 華嚴 Hua-yen sûtra. He is said to have possessed marvellous healing powers, and is popularly supposed to have been a re-incarnation of 文殊 Manjusri.

  Fan Ch'êng-hsün 范承勳. Died A.D. 1714. Third son of Fan Wên-ch'êng, and distinguished as a provincial administrator, especially in subjugating the aborigines of Yünnan.

  Fan Ch'êng-mo 范承謨 (T. 覲公). Died A.D. 1676. Graduating in 1652, by 1668 he had risen to be Governor of Chehkiang, where he earned a name for sympathy with the people. Promoted to be Viceroy of Fuhkien, he was seized by Kêng 