梁武帝
Liáng Wǔdì 梁武帝 (personal name Xiāo Yǎn 蕭衍, 464–549; r. 502–549), founding emperor of the Liáng 梁 dynasty and the most prominent imperial patron of Buddhism in Six-Dynasties China. He sponsored the translation activities of 僧伽婆羅 Saṅghapāla and many other foreign monks at the capital Jiànkāng 建康 (modern Nánjīng), composed Buddhist treatises and liturgies (notably the Sìshēng pǔ 四聲譜 and the Liáng huáng chàn 梁皇懺 ritual), instituted vegetarian observance for the saṅgha, and famously “donated himself” to the saṅgha at Tóngtàisì 同泰寺 on four occasions, each time requiring ransom by his court.