[3] A theory has been put forward that Śubhakarasiṃha may have been an ancestor of the Bhauma-Kara dynasty, which ruled in Odisha between the 8th and 10th centuries, and whose kings included people named Śubhakara.

After being instructed by him and gaining the title of Trepiṭaka (Buddhist doctor), Śubhakarasiṃha became a travelling teacher and was then told by Dharmagupta to go further east to China.

When Śubhakarasiṃha arrived in China, he was already eighty years old and was carrying with him a variety of different manuscripts although the catalogue of what texts he brought with him has been lost.

Yixing belonged to the northern school of Chán Buddhism, but this was not seen by Chinese Buddhist culture as being fundamentally different from the esoteric teachings of Śubhakarasiṃha.

[9] Śubhakarasiṃha died in 735 CE and was posthumously bestowed with the title of "Court Director of State Ceremonial" (Honglu qing [鴻臚卿]).

[5][2] After his death, many Chinese hagiographical sources on Śubhakarasiṃha's life began to place an emphasis on the supernatural feats or Siddhis that he was said to have performed during his lifetime.

One of these stories states:[5] Once there was a great drought in the summer and […] the officers showed him the implements used in making rain: banners, standards, conch-shells, and cymbals were all available.

Have them removed quickly!” He filled a bowl with water, stirring it meanwhile with a small knife and reciting a Sanskrit dhāraṇī of several hundred syllables.

Soon, an object, like a dragon, about the size of a finger and red in color, lifted its head above the surface of water, but dived back to the bottom of the bowl again.