Dharmakāla
Dharmakāla 曇摩迦羅・曇柯迦羅 (n.d.) (Skt; Jpn Dommakara or Donkakara): A monk from central India in the third century. He was well versed in the Vedas and other branches of learning. At age twenty-five, he listened to a Buddhist monk preaching The Heart of the Abhidharma by Dharmashrī and, realizing the law of causality, converted to Buddhism. He earnestly studied Buddhist scriptures relating to the rules of monastic discipline. Later he went to Lo-yang in China where, in the middle of the third century, he translated The Basic Rules of Discipline at Pai-ma-ssu temple. This work is said to be the first text introduced into China that defined the precepts for Buddhist monks. He outlined the rules of Buddhist rituals and regulations for monks, and performed the first ordination ceremony for administering Buddhist precepts in China.
