LiúSòng → Southern Qí monastic exegete and editor of translations. Native of Jīnchéng 金城 (Gānsù region); originally named Huìzhì 慧智, he later studied under Xuángāo 玄高 and changed his name to Xuánchàng. Renowned for yìjiě 義解 (doctrinal exegesis) and as an editor/polisher of translation drafts.
In Liú-Sòng Xiào-wǔdì Dà-míng 6 (462) he travelled to Jīng-zhōu 荊州 and resided at Chán-fáng-sì 禪房寺, where he invited the Western-Region monk Gōng-dé-zhí 功德直 to translate the Pú-sà niàn-fó sān-mèi jīng 菩薩念佛三昧經 (T414) and the Wú-liáng-mén pò-mó tuóluóní jīng 無量門破魔陀羅尼經 (KR6j0207, T1014). Xuán-chàng’s contribution was the literary editing — the polished cí-zhǐ wǎn-mì 辭旨婉密 (“subtle and refined diction”) of these translations is credited to him in the Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集. Later moved to Chéng-dū where he made sixteen guardian-deity images at Dà-shí-sì 大石寺 (the Aśokan stūpa). He was also an accomplished painter and authored a biography of Hè-lí-bá-mó 訶梨跋摩 (Harivarman). Died Yǒng-míng 2 (484), aged 69.
The DILA authority records two contemporaneous figures named 玄暢 (A000298 and A003453); the editor of Gōngdézhí’s translations is A000298, identified here.
Sources
- Liáng gāosēng zhuàn 梁高僧傳, T50 no. 2059, p. 377a–c (《釋玄暢傳》).
- Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集, T55 no. 2145, p. 106c (in 《沮渠安陽侯傳》).
- DILA Buddhist Studies Person Authority A000298.