Śikṣānanda (Shíchānántuó 實叉難陀, “Joy in Learning”; the Chinese rendering of the name is Xuéxǐ 學喜) was a Khotanese (Yútián 于闐) Buddhist scholar-monk and one of the most important translators of the Tang Wǔ Zétiān era. Born in Khotan in 652 (per Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄, T2154, p.566b), he was summoned to the Tang court in 695 by Empress Wǔ Zétiān 武則天 in response to her appeal — recorded in her preface to the new translation of the [[KR6e0010|Huáyán jīng]] — for a complete Sanskrit (or BHS) manuscript of the Avataṃsaka; the Khotan version, transmitted in the kingdom and 100,000 verses in length, was held by the Khotanese to be the fullest extant recension. Śikṣānanda accordingly travelled to Cháng’ān bringing the Sanskrit text with him, and at the imperial Dà biàn-kōng-sì 大遍空寺 began on 695/3/14 the new (80-fascicle) translation of the Huáyán, completed at the Fó-shòu-jì-sì 佛授記寺 on 699/10/8 — the empress herself being formally credited with “personally taking up the brush and making editorial deletions” (親受筆削) at the inauguration.
Śikṣānanda’s translation team included 菩提流志 Bodhiruci (the prabhāva-master), 義淨 Yìjìng (the great Vinaya translator), 法藏 Fǎzàng (the third Huáyán patriarch, who served as scribe and editor), and the Khotanese collaborators Fǎxù 法栩 and Hsuán-yī 玄儀. Apart from the great Avataṃsaka, Śikṣānanda also produced new translations of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra (T0672, in 7 fascicles, 700–704), [[KR6c0001|Dà chéng qǐxìn lùn 大乘起信論]] (T1667, the second translation), the Wén-shū-shī-lì shòu jì jīng 文殊師利授記經 (T1185), the Jín-jīng-gāng tuóluóní jīng 進金剛陀羅尼經 (T1419), the Yùxiū shíshàn yè dào jīng 御製十善業道經 (T0600), and several shorter dhāraṇī and Pure Land texts.
After Wǔ Zétiān’s deposition (705), Śikṣānanda returned to Khotan, but was recalled to the Tang court a second time by Emperor Zhōngzōng 中宗 in 708 to undertake further translations. He fell ill and died at the Dà jiànfú-sì 大薦福寺 on 710/10/12 (Jǐng-yún 景雲 1 / 10/12) at the age of 59. He was cremated, his remains conveyed back to Khotan by Yǒngfú 永福. He is conventionally counted, with 菩提流志 Bodhiruci and 義淨 Yìjìng, as one of the three Tripiṭaka masters (三藏) who shaped the Wǔ Zhōu / early-Tang court Buddhist translation enterprise.