A Reconsideration of the Year of Dao’an’s Relocation to Chang’an: Through the Analysis of the Jovian Year System Used in the Biqiu dajie xu 比丘大戒序 and Other Texts

Abstract

Dao’an’s 道安 （314-385 CE） relocation to Chang’an is an important historical event that marked the revival of translation activities among Buddhists in early medieval China. Earlier scholars such as Tang Yongtong, Erik Zürcher, and Ui Hakuju assumed that Dao’an’s relocation to Chang’an took place in the year 379. However, this hypothesis does not take into account the Jovian years recorded in the documents produced by Dao’an’s translation team in Chang’an. In this paper, by making use of such resources as the astronomy simulation software Stellarium, I show that the Jovian years recorded in the Dao’an team’s documents match the actual locations of Jupiter of the time, and argue that Dao’an’s relocation to Chang’an must have taken place in 378 rather than in 379.