Fǎxián 法賢 — born and originally known in China as Tiānxīzāi 天息災 (Skt. presumably Devaśāntika) — was a North-Indian monk from Kāśmīra (北天竺迦濕彌羅國) who had been resident at the Misraka (or Mātṛkā) monastery (密林寺) in Jālandhara 惹爛陀國 in the central Indian plain. The standard biographical sources are the Sòng gāosēng zhuàn 宋高僧傳 (T2061, juan 3), the Dà-zhōng-xiángfú fǎbǎo lù 大中祥符法寶錄 (juan 6 and 11), and the Sòng huìyào jíběn 宋會要輯本 (道釋 2/5–7). In Tàipíng-Xīngguó 太平興國 5 (980), in the second month, he and his junior colleague Shīhù 施護 arrived together at the Sòng capital Kāifēng; Sòng Tàizōng received them, granted them the purple robe, and ordered them to begin examining Sanskrit manuscripts. The emperor was at this time committed to the project of translation revival, and ordered the eunuch envoy Zhèng Shǒujūn 鄭守均 to construct an Institute for the Translation of Sūtras (譯經院) on the western flank of the Tàipíng-Xīngguó Monastery. The Institute opened in Tàipíng-Xīngguó 7 (982), the sixth month, with Tiānxīzāi installed as senior translator and given the title 明教大師 (“Master of Bright Teaching”). In Yōngxī 雍熙 2 (985) he received the additional civil rank 朝散大夫試鴻臚少卿; in the following year the emperor’s Sānzàng shèngjiào xù 三藏聖教序 was promulgated for him; in Yōngxī 4 (987) the emperor renamed him Fǎxián 法賢. He died in Xiánpíng 咸平 3 (1000), the eighth month, fourth day (= 10 September 1000) and was given the posthumous name Huìbiàn 慧辯.
A long-standing source of confusion is that the Fózǔ tǒngjì 佛祖統紀 mistakenly transferred the name 法賢 to Tiānxīzāi’s contemporary 法天 (Fǎtiān) — see the disambiguation note in the DILA authority record (A000146 cross-references A000690). Modern scholarship correctly distinguishes the two: Fǎtiān is A000690, never renamed, died 1001; Tiānxīzāi / Fǎxián is A000146, renamed in 987, died 1000.
His translations include the [[KR6a0009|Rén xiān jīng 人仙經]] (T9, parallel to Cháng Āhán 闍尼沙經), and a large body of prajñāpāramitā, dhāraṇī and tantric translations alongside Shīhù and Fǎtiān at the Sòng Institute. DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000146.