Kang Senghui

Kang Senghui was a Buddhist monk and translator during the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. He was born in Jiaozhi. He was the son of a Sogdian merchant, hence the last name of Kang, meaning "one whose forefathers had been people from Kangju", or Sogdia. Kang received a Chinese literary education and was "widely read in the six (Confucian) classics." He also read Sanskrit and was known for his knowledge of the Tripiṭaka. He joined the saïgha as a teenager, following the death of his parents. Kang contributed more to the diffusion of Buddhist sutras as a preacher than to their translation into the Chinese language as there are only two collections of avadānas in the canon which are attributed to him. According to legend, the first Buddha relic in China appeared in a vase in 248 C.E. so that Kang Senghui would have something to show a local ruler. Sun Quan, the king of Eastern Wu, would unsuccessfully attempt to destroy the tooth by subjecting it to various tests.