STHIRAMATI. Although he was born in India, Indian Buddhist literature has almost nothing to say about Sthiramati (470–550). Therefore, Tibetan and Chinese sources must be relied on for information on his life. According to Tibetan Buddhist historians, Sthiramati was born in Daṇḍakarāṇya, the son of a śūdra, and as a child studied under Vasubandhu (c. mid-fourth to mid-fifth centuries). Both Chinese pilgrim scholars Xuanzang (600?–664) and Yijing (635–713) mention Sthiramati as one of the great Buddhist philosophers and that he was a disciple of Guṇamati (c. 420–500). In addition, in Chengweishilun shuji, Kuiji (632–682), a disciple of Xuanzang, gives short biographies of the ten great Buddhist masters. He includes Sthiramati and names him as a student of Guṇamati. Kuiji also reports that Sthiramati hailed from the state of Laṭā in southern India and was an older contemporary of Dharmapāla (530–561). Also, in the opening section of the Uighur translation...