An Shih Kao, also named An Ching, was the prince of An Hsi country (today's Iran). He lived approximately in the second century. An Shih Kao was the first historical Buddhist figure to spread Buddhism and Zen to China and the first known translator of Indian sutras into Chinese.

An Shih Kao was a Bhiksu when he was a little boy. When his father died and he was going to become the emperor, An Shih Kao abdicated the throne, which fell to his uncle, and became a monk. He was conversant with Buddhism and traveled throughout the world. In 147, An Shih Kao came to Luoyang of Henan Province in China. He took Shih Kao as his first name and took the name of his country An as a surname. From then on, all people came from An Hsi took An as their surname. An Shih Kao was conversant with Chinese and was the first to translate Indian texts into Chinese. During the twenty years when An Shih Kao translated Buddhist canons in Luoyang, the number of Buddhists in Luoyang was greatly increased.

When An Shih Kao first came to Luoyang, most Buddhist adherents regarded Buddhism as a theurgy, thus they worshiped deities for longevity. An Shih Kao thought he should tell people the truth of Buddhism so that he decided to translate Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese. He translated 35 Buddhist scriptures in 41 volumes altogether but only 22 scriptures in 26 volumes are extant, most of which are Hinayana sutras. An Shih Kao was the first to translate Buddhist documents into Chinese and founded Chinese Buddhism. Especially, Wu Liang Shou Jing (the Infinite Life Sutra) translated by him has an important influence on the formation of Amitabha Buddhism. An Shih Kao's translations are logical and precise while most of them are too literal. As there were no translations for reference at that time, some of his translations are hard to comprehend.

Later, An Shih Kao lived in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province till his death. During his 30-year life in China, he traveled across Jiangxi Province, Zhejiang Province and other places. There are many magical folk tales about him.