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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The Arhats' Names in Chinese

 This post was originally part of "An Ascent of Hsi Lai Temple," but is now an "orphan" post here. Enjoy! [Note that the names Watters gives are basically just transliterations of the Sanskrit names; as you can see by following the links at the end of each entry here, there are uniquely descriptive Chinese names as well, such as Changmei "Long Eyebrows" for Ajita/Asita.]

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Here are the Chinese names of the 16 "original" arhats, as given by Watters*. This is a summary; Watters gives variations on these names, as well as some of the alternatives for numbers 17 and 18.

The order used here is the traditional one, not the one seen from left-to-right at Hsi Lai Temple. The font is MS Song.

Pindola (the Bharadvaja): Pin-tu-lo-Po-lo-to-she (賓度羅跋囉惰闍)

Kanakavatsa: Ka-no-ka-Fa-tso (迦諾迦伐蹉)

Kanakabharavaja: Ka-no-ka-Po-li-tou-she (迦諾迦跋釐惰闍)

Subhinda: Su-p'in-t'e (蘇頻陀)

Nakula: No-ku-lo (諾矩羅)

Bhadra: Po-t'e-lo (跋陀羅)

Kalika: Ka-li-ka (迦理迦)

Vajraputra. Fa-she-lo-fuh-to-lo (伐闍羅弗多羅)

Jivaka: Shu-po-ka (戌博迦)

Panthaka Pan-t'o-ka (半託迦) or Ta-pan-t'o-ka (大半託迦), meaning "Mahapanthaka"

Rahula: Lo-hu-lo (囉怙羅)

Nagasena: Na-ka-si-na (納伽犀那)

Angaja: Yin-kie-t'e (因揭陀) (Watters gives the form for "Angida")

Vanavasin: Fa-na-p'o-ssu (伐那婆斯)

Ajita: A-shih-to (阿氏多)

Cudapanthaka: Chu-ch'a-pan-t'o-ka (注茶半託迦)

*You can read Watters' article; set encoding to "Chinese Traditional (Big 5)" to read all of the characters. [How the internet has changed!]

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