Fǎtiān 法天 (Skt. Dharmadeva; transliterated 達理摩犖义多), of the kṣatriya class, was an Indian monk of Nālandā and a native of Magadha (中天竺摩揭陀國) who came to Sòng China in Kāibǎo 開寶 6 (973). He first settled at Pújīn 蒲津 in Hézhōng 河中 prefecture (modern Yǒngjì 永濟, Shānxī), where his earliest Chinese translations — including the Shèng wúliàngshòu jīng 聖無量壽經 and the Qī fó zàn 七佛讚 — were rendered into literary Chinese with the assistance of the Hézhōng-fǔ Sanskritist-monk Fǎjìn 法進. In Tàipíng-Xīngguó 太平興國 5 (980) he was summoned to the imperial capital at Kāifēng by Sòng Tàizōng, given the purple robe, and styled 傳教大師 (“Master Who Transmits the Teaching”); in Tàipíng-Xīngguó 7 (982) the new Institute for the Translation of Sūtras (譯經院) was inaugurated and he was installed there with Tiānxīzāi 天息災 (later Fǎxián 法賢) and Shīhù 施護 (Dānapāla) as one of the three principal translators of the early Sòng. The Dà-zhōng-xiángfú fǎbǎo lù 大中祥符法寶錄 records that he died on Xiánpíng 咸平 4 / 5 / 18 (= 18 June 1001 CE) and was given the posthumous name Xuánjué 玄覺.
A long-standing source of confusion is the variant 法賢: the Fózǔ tǒngjì 佛祖統紀 erroneously gives this as Fǎtiān’s name, conflating him with his contemporary Tiānxīzāi 天息災 (whose Chinese name was indeed changed to 法賢 in 1000). Modern reference works follow the Fǎbǎo lù and the Sòng huìyào jíběn 宋會要輯本 in correcting this. Among the more than 110 translations attributed to Fǎtiān in the Taishō are the [[KR6a0002|Qī fó jīng 七佛經]] (T2), the [[KR6a0003|Pípóshī fó jīng 毘婆尸佛經]] (T3), the Wèicéngyǒu zhèngfǎ jīng 未曾有正法經 (T628), the Bǎozàngshén yíguǐ jīng 寶藏神儀軌經 (T1284) and the Bǎozàngshén dàmíng màntúluó yíguǐ jīng 寶藏神大明曼拏羅儀軌經 (T1283). DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000690.