The doctrine of Abhidharma in the Chinese tradition of Buddhist translation. An Shigao

The article is devoted to the activity of An Shigao in Buddhist translating tradition, the definition of his place and role in the formation of Chinese Buddhism. The formation of this tradition was very influenced by the doctrine of the Abhid-harma. Abhidharma works appeared in China as one of the earliest Buddhist canonical literature. An Shigao laid principles of Buddhist translation in China, developed in the future by Dao An, Xuan Zang etc. The future of Buddhism in China depended on the activity of the first Buddhist literature translators.