ABSTRACT
Dao Biao was an eminent monk and a talented scholar who lived during the time of Yao Xing, King of the State of Later Qin. He was a contemporary and fellow scholar of Dao Heng, another eminent monk. After the Indian monk Kumarajiva came to China, Dao Biao, Dao Heng, Seng Zhao and some other eight hundred monks and scholars joined the Translation Assembly in Xiaoyao Garden in Chang'an, the capital, and worked with him on the translation of Buddhist sutras. Subsequently Yao Xing, thinking that Dao Biao and Dao Heng had the political aptitude for handling affairs of state, ordered them to abandon their Buddhist robes and attend the court to help with the governance of the state. It was only after pleading with the King that the two monks were spared this appointment.
