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A Monk Carries Buddhism From the Vietnamese Coast Into a Chinese Kingdom's Capital

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A Monk Carries Buddhism From the Vietnamese Coast Into a Chinese Kingdom's Capital

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Around 247 CE, Khuong Tang Hoi traveled north from Jiaozhi to Jianye, capital of the southern Chinese kingdom of Wu, a documented journey distinct from remaining within the Buddhist community already established in his own home commandery. That journey made him one of the earliest Buddhist missionaries to establish the religion in Wu, a documented first distinct from arriving at a destination where Buddhism was already settled.

He won the patronage of the Wu ruler Sun Quan, who built a temple for him, a documented act of state support distinct from a missionary who worked without any ruler's backing. There he translated a body of meditation manuals and Jataka birth story texts into Chinese, a documented body of literary work distinct from oral teaching that left no lasting text behind, work that helped carry Buddhism from the Vietnamese coast into the heart of southern China. He died in 280.

That one monk's journey from a maritime commandery to a Chinese kingdom's own capital produced both a ruler's patronage and a body of translated meditation and Jataka texts that helped establish Buddhism in southern China marks Khuong Tang Hoi's mission to Jianye as a documented case where a single missionary supplied both the royal support and the written texts a new region needed to receive an unfamiliar religion.

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Source New World EncyclopediaNew World Encyclopedia contributors
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New World Encyclopedia
New World Encyclopedia contributors, New World Encyclopedia (originally managed under contract by Paragon House Publishers for UPF/IIFWP; self-funded by advertising and donations since 2009), 2026View the Source
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