The Strange Story of Monk Ariyabalma

Abstract

This article deals with the life of a 7th century Korean monk, briefly recorded in Da Tang xiyu qiufa Gaoseng-zhuan by Yijing, who perhaps met him personally at the Nālandā Monastery between 675 and 685. Later this Korean monk, known by the “Indianized” name “Ariyabalma,” was also mentioned in Haedong Kosŭng-jŏn and in Samguk yusa. By comparing the three short biographies reported in these texts, this article reconstructs as far as possible Ariyabalma’s original religious name, nationality and personality, three aspects of this figure almost never explored by scholarship. In the end, the main hypotheses put forward are that Aryabalma was from Koguryŏ and he may even have taken the vows very late, perhaps just at the time of settling in the Nālandā monastery.

Keywords

• ariyabalma
• āryavarman
• korean buddhism
• korean monks in chinese texts
• korean monks in india