Sanghabhuti, an Indian Buddhist monk, who travelled to China at the end of the fourth century AD, was the author of a commentary on :

States that Indian Buddhist teachers travelled to faraway places carrying texts which were translated in East Asia.

A student could use this rule to ask whether a travelling Indian monk like Sanghabhuti might have carried or produced commentarial texts (e.g., on the Prajnaparamita) that were then translated in China.

Gives the concrete example of Faxian (early 5th c.) who collected manuscripts in India and took them back to China.

Compare dates/routes: if Sanghabhuti was active around end-4th c., a student could check whether similar pilgrim activity (collecting/commenting texts) occurred slightly earlier and thus was plausible.

Notes Xuanzang’s practice of bringing Sanskrit manuscripts back to China and translating them—showing a pattern of textual transmission between India and China.

Use this pattern to investigate whether commentaries authored in India were known in Chinese catalogues or translation histories (search Chinese bibliographies for Sanghabhuti or Prajnaparamita commentaries).

Mentions the Karakoram/central Asian routes used by Buddhist monks travelling to China, establishing plausible physical routes for textual transmission.

A student could map Sanghabhuti’s proposed travel date against known use of these routes to assess logistical plausibility of him carrying a commentary to China.

Describes the broad spread of Buddhism from India through Central Asia to China and that Buddhist teachings were reconstructed from translated/edited texts.

This suggests checking whether the Prajnaparamita and its commentaries were among works transmitted along these channels and whether author attributions appear in surviving Chinese or Tibetan editions.

States that pilgrims and Indian Buddhist teachers travelled between India and East Asia carrying texts which were translated in China.

A student could use this pattern to investigate whether Sanghabhuti, as an Indian monk in China, might have brought, produced, or influenced commentarial texts (and check Chinese catalogues/translations for his name).

Describes Xuanzang’s travel to India, collection of manuscripts and translation of Sanskrit works into Chinese — example of textual transmission and translation activity.

A student could compare Xuanzang’s known activities and surviving Chinese translations with records mentioning Sanghabhuti to see if a commentary attribution appears in Chinese sources.

Faxian’s early 5th-century pilgrimage to collect Buddhist manuscripts shows an established tradition of cross-cultural movement of texts around the 4th–5th centuries.

Use the chronology (late 4th / early 5th c. travel tradition) to judge plausibility of Sanghabhuti being active then and to search contemporaneous travel accounts or catalogues for his works.

Notes that early Buddhist works were in Pali and later Sanskrit; highlights Indian authorship of technical commentarial literature.

A student could use this to reason that any commentary on a Pali text like the Visuddhimagga might originate in Pali/Sanskrit and so should be sought in those language traditions and catalogs associated with Indian authors.

Indicates major Indian centres of Buddhist learning (e.g., Nalanda) and the spread of Mahayana to China, implying channels for doctrinal and textual exchange.

A student could search records of learning-centres and their affiliates (teachers/monks who travelled to China) for mention of Sanghabhuti or commentaries transmitted to China.

Explains the general pattern that Indian Buddhist teachers travelled abroad and carried texts which were translated in East Asia.

A student could use this rule to infer that an Indian monk travelling to China could plausibly have brought or produced commentarial works that might be cited in Chinese catalogues.

Gives a concrete example (Faxian) of an individual Chinese pilgrim who collected Indian manuscripts in roughly the same historical horizon (early 5th century).

A student could compare dates and routes of known travellers like Faxian with Sanghabhuti's proposed travel time to assess plausibility and look for cross-references in travel accounts.

Describes the later well‑documented pattern of Chinese monks (e.g., Xuanzang) translating Sanskrit manuscripts in China, showing institutional practice of transmitting commentaries.

A student might check Chinese translation histories and catalogs (using the pattern that Chinese centers recorded translated Indian works) for mention of a Vinaya commentary attributed to an Indian monk.

Names Sarvastivadins as a major Buddhist sect and links them to the emergence of new ideas and textual traditions.

A student could use this to focus research on Sarvastivada textual corpora and see whether a Vinaya commentary tradition exists under Sarvastivadin authorship and whether Sanghabhuti appears in those lists.

Notes the existence of Indian authors and commentators (e.g., Vasubandhu, Dignaga) producing learned works in Sanskrit, indicating an active authorship tradition of doctrinal and possibly Vinaya commentaries.

A student could extend this by searching catalogs of Sanskrit and Chinese translations for named commentaries on Vinaya attributed to Indian scholars like Sanghabhuti.

States that Indian Buddhist teachers travelled to faraway places carrying texts which were translated in East Asia.

A student could check Chinese translation catalogues and travel accounts from the late 4th–5th centuries for mentions of Indian teachers named Sanghabhuti or commentaries on Lalitavistara.

Describes Faxian (early 5th century) travelling to India to collect manuscripts to take back to China, illustrating the practice and era of text transfer.

Use the example of Faxian to infer that contemporaneous monks might have moved texts and commentaries across the India–China route and so search Chinese sources of that period for attribution.

Notes Xuanzang's later pattern: Chinese pilgrims collected Sanskrit manuscripts and translated them into Chinese, showing how Indian works and commentaries entered Chinese literature.

A student could compare later translation practices and cataloguing methods (e.g., how Xuanzang’s finds were recorded) to look for analogous records from the end of the 4th century mentioning Sanghabhuti or a Lalitavistara commentary.

Indicates well-established routes (via Central Asia/Karakoram) used by Buddhist monks travelling to China, supporting the plausibility of Indian monks reaching China with texts.

Combine this route information with chronology (late 4th century travel) to identify likely transmission pathways and Chinese catalogues/monasteries where such a commentary might be recorded.

Explains that many later Buddhist works were written in Sanskrit and that Indian scholars (e.g., Vasubandhu, Dignaga) authored learned works and commentaries.

A student could infer that a commentary on Lalitavistara, if composed in Sanskrit by an Indian monk, might have been carried to China and thus could appear in Chinese bibliographies or translation lists under an Indian author’s name.