Buddhist records of the Western world (Xuanzang) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang>
by Samuel Beal | 1884 The progress which has been made in our knowledge of Northern Buddhism <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/northern-buddhism#buddhism> during the last few years is due very considerably to the discovery of the Buddhist literature of China <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/cina#buddhism>. This literature (now well known to us through the catalogues already published) contains, amongst other valuable works, the records of the travels of various Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited India during the early centuries of our era. These records embody the testimony of independent eye-witnesses as to the facts related in them, and having been faithfully preserved and allotted a place in the collection of the sacred hooks of the country, their evidence is entirely trustworthy. It would be impossible to mention *seriatim* the various points of interest in these works, as they refer to the geography, history, manners, and religion of the people of India. The reader who looks into the pages that follow will find ample material for study on all these questions. But there is one particular that gives a more than usual interest to the records under notice, and that is the evident sincerity and enthusiasm of the travellers themselves. Never did more devoted pilgrims leave their native country to encounter the perils of travel in foreign and distant lands; never did disciples more ardently desire to gaze on the sacred vestiges of their religion; never did men endure greater sufferings by desert, mountain, and sea than these simple-minded earnest Buddhist priests. And that such courage, religious devotion, and power of endurance should he exhibited by men so sluggish, as we think, in their very nature as the Chinese, this is very surprising, and may perhaps arouse some consideration. Buddhist hooks began to he import ed into China during the closing period of the first century of our era. >From these books the Chinese learned the history of the founder of the new religion, and became familiar with the names of the sacred spots he had consecrated by his presence. As time went on. and strangers from India and the neighbourhood still flocked into the Eastern Empire, some of the new converts (whose names have been lost) were urged by curiosity or a sincere desire to gaze on the mementoes of the religion they had learned to adopt, to risk the perils of travel and visit the western region. We are told by I-tsing (one of the writers of these Buddhist records), who lived about 670 A.D., that 500 years before his time twenty men, or about that number, had found their way through the province of Sz’chuen to the Mahabodhi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/mahabodhi#buddhism> tree in India, and for them and their fellow countrymen a Maharaja <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/maharaja#buddhism> called Srigupta built a temple. The establishment was called the “Tchina Temple.” In I-tsing’s days it was in ruins. In the year 290 a.d. we find another Chinese pilgrim called Chu Si-hing visiting Khotan; another called Fa-ling shortly afterwards proceeded to North India, and we can hardly doubt that others unknown to fame followed their example. At any rate, the recent accidental discovery of several stone tablets with Chinese inscriptions at Buddha Gaya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/buddhagaya#buddhism>, on two of which we find the names of the pilgrims Chi-I and Ho-yun, the former in company “with some other priests,” shows plainly that the sacred spots were visited from time to time by priests from China, whose names indeed are unknown to us from any other source, but who were impelled to leave their home by the same spirit of religious devotion and enthusiasm which actuated those with whom we are better acquainted. The first Chinese traveller whose name and writings have come down to us is the Sakyaputra Fa-hian <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/fa-hian#history>. He is the author of the records which follow in the pages of the present Introduction. His work, the was first known in Europe through a translation made by M. Abel Remusat. Rat Klaproth claimed the discovery of the book itself from the year 1816, and it was he who shaped the rough draft of Remusat’s translation from chap. xxi. of the work in question to the end. Of this translation nothing need be said in this place; it has been dealt with elsewhere. It will he enough, therefore, to give some few particulars respecting the life and travels of the pilgrim, and for the rest to refer the reader to the translation which follows. Introduction (b): Shih Fa-hian or Faxian (A.D. 400) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220096.html> In agreement with early custom, the Chinese mendicant priests who adopted the Buddhist faith changed their names at the time of their leaving their homes (ordination), and assumed the title of Sakyaputras, sons or mendicants of Sakya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shakya#buddhism>. So we find amongst the inscriptions at Mathura <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/mathura#buddhism> the title Sakya Bhikshunyaka or Sakya Bhikshor added to the religious names of the different benefactors there mentioned. The pilgrim Fa-hian <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/fa-hian#history>, therefore, whose original name was Kung, when he assumed the religious title by which he is known to us, took also the appellation of Shih or the Sakyaputra, the disciple or son of Sakya. He was a native of Wu-Yang, of the district of Ping-Yang, in the province of Shan-si. He left his home and became a Sramanera <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sramanera#buddhism> at three years of age. His early history is recorded in the work called *Ko-sang-chuen*, written during the time of the Liang dynasty, belonging to the Suh family (502-507 A.D.) But so far as we are now concerned, we need only mention that he was moved by a desire to obtain books not known in China <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/cina#buddhism>, and with that aim set out in company with other priests (some of whom are named in the records) from Chang’an, A.D. 399, and after an absence of fourteen years returned to Nankin, where, in connection with Buddhabhadra (an Indian Sramana <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shramana#buddhism>, descended from the family of the founder of the Buddhist religion), he translated various works and composed the history of his travels. He died at the age of eighty-six. Fa-hian’s point of departure was the city of Chang’an in Shen-si; from this place he advanced across the Lung district (or mountains) to the fortified town of Chang-yeh in Kan-suh; here he met with some other priests, and with them proceeded to Tun-hwang, a town situated to the south of the Bulunghir river, lat. 39 30' N., long. 95 E. Thence with four companions he pushed forward, under the guidance, as it seems, of an official, across the desert of Lop to Shen-shen, the probable site of which is marked in the map accompanying the account of Prejevalsky’s journey through the same district; according to this map, it is situated in lat. 38° N., and long. 87° E. It corresponds with the Cherchen of Marco Polo. Fa-hian tells us that Buddhism <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/buddhism#buddhism> prevailed in this country, and that there were about 4000 priests. The country itself was rugged and barren. So Marco Polo says, “The whole of this province is sandy, but there are numerous towns and villages.” The Venetian traveller makes the distance from the town of Lop five days’ journey. Probably Fa-hian did not visit the town of Cherchen, but after a month in the kingdom turned to the north-west, apparently following the course of the Tarim, and after fifteen days arrived in the kingdom of Wu-i or Wu-ki. This kingdom seems to correspond to Karshar or Karasharh, near the Lake Tenghiz or Bagarash, and is the same as the’O-ki-ni of Hiuen Tsiang. Prejevalsky took three days in travelling from Kara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kara#buddhism>-moto to Korla, a distance of about 42 miles,so that the fifteen days of Fa-hian might well represent in point of time the distance from Lake Lob to Karasharh. Our pilgrims would here strike on the outward route of Hiuen Tsiang. It was at this spot they fell in with their companions Pao-yun and the rest, whom they had left at Tun-hwang. These had probably travelled to Karasharh by the northern route, as it is called, through Kamil or Kamul to Pidshan and Turfan; for we read that whilst Fa-hian remained at Karasharh, under the protection of an important official, some of the others went back to Kao-chang (Turfan), showing that they had come that way. >From Karasharh Fa-hian and the others, favoured by the liberality of Kung sun (who was in some way connected with the Prince of Ts’in), proceeded south-west to Khotan. The route they took is not well ascertained; but probably they followed the course of the Tarim and of the Khotan rivers. There were no dwellings or people on the road, and the difficulties of the journey and of crossing the rivers “exceeded power of comparison.” After a month and five days they reached Khotan. This country has been identified with Li-yul of the Tibetan <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tibetan#history> writers. There is some reason for connecting this “land of Li” with the Lichchhavis of Vaisali <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vaishali#buddhism>. It is said by Csoma Korosi “that the Tibetan writers derive their first king (about 250 B.c.) from the Litsabyis or Lichavyis.” The chief prince or ruler of the Lichchhavis was called the “great lion” or “the noble lion.” This is probably the explanation of Maha <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/maha#buddhism>-li, used by Spence Hardy as “the name of the king of the Lichawis.” Khotan would thus be the land of the lion-people (*Siṃhas*). Whether this be so or not, the polished condition of the people and their religious zeal <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/zeal#buddhism> indicate close connection with India, more probably with Baktria. The name of the great temple, a mile or two to the west of the city, called the Nava <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/nava#buddhism>-sangharama, or royal “new temple,” is the same as that on the south-west of Balkh, described by Hiuen Tsiang; and the introduction of Vaisravana <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vaishravana#buddhism> as the protector of this convent, and his connection with Khotan, the kings of that country being descended from him, indicate a relationship, if not of race, at least of intercourse between the two kingdoms. After witnessing the car procession of Khotan, Fa-hian and some others (for the pilgrims had now separated for a time), advanced for twenty-five days towards the country of Tseu-ho, which, according to Klaproth, corresponds with the district of Yangi-hissar, from which there is a caravan route due south into the mountain region of the Tsung-ling. It was by this road they pursued their journey for four days to a station named Yu-hwui, or, as it may also be read, Yu-fai'; here they kept their religious fast, after which, journeying for twenty-five days, they reached the country of Kie-sha. I cannot understand how either of the last-named places can he identified with Ladakh.Yu-hwui is four days south of Tseu-ho; and twenty-five days beyond this brings the pilgrims to the country of Kie-sha, in the centre of the Tsung-ling mountains. Nor can we, on the other hand, identify this kingdom of Kie-sha (the symbols are entirely different from those used by Hiuen Tsiang, ii. p. 306, for Kashgar) with that of the Kossaioi of Ptolemy, the Kliasas of Manu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/manu#buddhism>, and the Ivhasakas of the *Vishnu* <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vishnu#history> *Purana* <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/purana#buddhism>. These appear to have been related to the Cushites of Holy Scripture. Advancing for a month across the Tsung-ling range towards India, the pilgrims reached the little country of To-li, that is, the valley of Darail in the Dard country. This valley is on the right or western bank of the Indus, long. 73 *44'* E., and is watered by a river Daril. Still advancing south-west for fifteen days, they strike the Indus (or probably the Swat river), crossing which, they enter on the kingdom of Udyana, where they found Buddhism in a flourishing condition. Concerning this country and its traditions, we have ample records in Hiuen Tsiang, Book iii. (p. 119). Here then we may leave Fa-hian; his farther travels may be followed by the details given in his own writings, and to these we refer the reader. Introduction (c): Sung Yun (A.D. 518) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220097.html> Introduction (c): Sung Yun (A.D. 518) < Previous <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220096.html> (index) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang> Next > <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220098.html> This pilgrim was a native of Tun-hwang, in what is sometimes called Little Tibet, lat. 39 30' N., long. 95° E. He seems to have lived in a suburb of the city of Lo-yang (Honan-fu) called Wan-I. He was sent, a.d. 518, by the Empress of the Northern Wei dynasty, in company with Hwui Sang, a Bhikshu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhikshu#buddhism> of the Shung-li temple of Lo-yang, to the western countries to seek for books. They brought back altogether one hundred and seventy volumes or sets of the Great Development series. They seem to have taken the southern route from Tun-hwang to Khotan, and thence by the same route as Fa-hian <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/fa-hian#history> and his companion across the Tsung-ling mountains. The Ye-tha (Ephthalites) were now in possession of the old country of the Yue-chi, and had recently conquered Gandhara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/gandhara#buddhism>. They are described as having no walled towns, but keeping order by means of a standing army that moved here and there. They used felt (leather) garments, had no written character, nor any knowledge of the heavenly bodies. On all hands it is plain the Ye-tha were a rude horde of Turks who had followed in the steps of the Hiung-nu; they were, in fact, the Ephthalites or Huns of the Byzantine writers. “In the early part of the sixth century their power extended over Western India, and Cosmas tells us of their king Gollas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/golla#history> who domineered there with a thousand elephants and a vast force of horsemen.” Sung-yun <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sung-yun#buddhism> also names the power of the king whom the Ye-tha had set up over Gandhara. He was of the Lae-lih dynasty, or a man of Lae-lih, which may perhaps be restored to Lara. According to Hiuen Tsiang, the northern Lara people belonged to Valabhi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/valabhi#buddhism>, and the southern Laras to Malava <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/malava#buddhism>. It was one of these Lara princes the Ye-tha had set over the kingdom of Gandhara. It may have been with the Gollas of Cosmas that the Chinese pilgrims had their interview. At any rate, he was lording it over the people with seven hundred war-elephants, and was evidently a fierce and oppressive potentate. The Ye-tha, according to Sung-yun, had conquered or received tribute from more than forty countries in all, from Tieh-lo in the south to Lae-lih in the north, eastward to Khotan, westward to Persia. The symbols Tieh-lo probably represent Tirabhukti, the present Tirhut, the old land of the Vrijjis. The Vrijjis themselves were in all probability Skythian invaders, whose power had reached so far as the borders of the Ganges at Patna <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pataligama#buddhism>, but had there been checked by Ajatasatru <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ajatasatru#buddhism>. They had afterwards been driven north-east to the mountains bordering on NepaL The Ye-tha also extended their power so far as this, and northward to Lae-lih, Malava. As these conquests had been achieved two generations before Sung-yuns <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sung-yun#buddhism> time, we may place this invasion of India therefore about A.D. 460. The notices of the country of Udyana by Sung-yun vie with those found in Hiuen Tsiang for abundance of detail and legendary interest. It is singular that the supposed scene of the history of Vessantara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vessantara#buddhism>, “the giving king” of Hiuen Tsiang and the Pi-lo of Sung-yun', should he placed in this remote district. The *Vessantara* (so called) was well known in Ceylon in Fa-hian’s time;it forms part of the sculptured scenes at Amaravati <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/amaravati#buddhism> and Sanchi; it is still one of the most popular stories amongst the Mongols. How does the site of the history come to be placed in Udyana? There are some obscure notices connected with the succession of the Maurya or Moriya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/moriya#buddhism> sovereigns from the Sakya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shakya#buddhism> youths who fled to this district of Udyana which may throw a little light on this subject. The Buddhists affirm that Asoka <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ashoka#buddhism> belonged to the same family as Buddha <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/buddha#buddhism>, because he was descended from Chandragupta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/candragupta#buddhism>, who was the child of the queen of one of the sovereigns of Moriyanagara. This Moriyanagara was the city founded by the Sakya youths who fled from Kapilavastu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kapilavastu#buddhism>; so that whatever old legends were connected with the Sakya family were probably referred to Udyana by the direct or indirect influence of Asoka, or by his popularity as a Buddhist sovereign. But, in any case, the history of Udyana is mixed up with that of the Sakya family, and Buddha himself is made to acknowledge Uttarasena <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/uttarasena#buddhism> as one of his own kinsmen. We may suppose then that these tales did actually take their rise from some local or family association connected with Udyana, and found their way thence into the legends of other countries. Hence while we have in the Southern account mention made of the elephant that could bring rain from heaven, which was the cause of Vessantara’s banishment, in the Northern accounts this is, apparently, identified with the peacock (*mayura <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/mayura#buddhism>*) that brought water from the rock. But the subject need not be pursued farther in this place; it is sufficient to note the fact that many of the stories found in the Northern legends are somehow or other localised in this pleasant district of Udyana, Sung-yun, after reaching so far as Peshawar <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/peshawar#buddhism> and Nagarahara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/nagarahara#buddhism>, returned to China <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/cina#buddhism> in the year A.D. 521. Introduction (d): Hiuen Tsiang or Xuanzang (A.D. 629) This illustrious pilgrim was born in the year 603 A.D., at Ch’in Liu, in the province of Ho-nan, close to the provincial city. He was the youngest of four brothers. At an early age he was taken by his second brother, Chang-tsi, to the eastern capital, Lo-yang. His brother was a monk belonging to the Tsing-tu temple, and in this community Hiuen Tsiang was ordained at the age of thirteen years. On account of the troubles which occurred at the end of the dynasty of Sui, the pilgrim in company with his brother sought refuge in the city of Shiog-tu, the capital of the province of Sz’chuen, and here at the age of twenty he was fully ordained as a Bhikshu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhikshu#buddhism> or priest. After some time he began to travel through the provinces in search of the best instructor he could get, and so came at length to Chang’an. It was here, stirred up by the recollection of Fa-hian <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/fa-hian#history> and Chi-yen, that he resolved to go to the western regions to question the sages on points that troubled his mind. He was now twenty-six years of age. He accordingly set out from Chang’an in company with a priest of Tsing-chau of Kan-suh, and having reached that city, rested there. Thence he proceeded to Lan-chau, the provincial city of Kan-suh. He then advanced with a magistrate’s escort to Liang-chau, a prefecture of Kan-suh, beyond the river. This city was the entrepôt for merchants from Tibet and the countries east of the Tsung-ling mountains; and to these Hiuen Tsiang explained the sacred books and revealed his purpose 'of going to. the kingdom of the Brahmans <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/brahman#buddhism> to seek for the law. By them he was amply provided with means for his expedition, and, notwithstanding the expostulation of the governor of the city, by the connivance of two priests he was able to proceed westward as far as Kwa-chau, a town about ten miles to the south of the Hu-lu river, which seems to be the same as the Bulunghir. >From this spot, going north in company "with a young man who had offered to act as his guide, he crossed the river by night, and after escaping the treachery of his guide, came alone to the first watch-tower. Five of these towers, at intervals of ioo li, stretched towards the country of I-gu (Kamul). We need not recount the way in which the pilgrim prevailed on the keepers of the first and fourth tower to let him proceed; nor is it necessary to recount the fervent prayers to Kwan-yin <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kwan-yin#buddhism> and his incessant invocation of the name of this divinity. Suffice it to say, he at last reached the confines of I-gu, and there halted. Prom this place he was summoned by the prince of Kao-chang (Turfan), who, after vainly attempting to keep him in his territory, remitted him to ’O-ki-ni, that is, Karasharh, from which he advanced to Kuche. Here the narrative in the pages following carries us on through the territory of Kuche to Baluka, or Bai, in the Aksu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/aksu#history> district, from whence the pilgrim proceeds in a northerly direction across the Icy Mountains (Muzart) into the well-watered plains bordering on the Tsing Lake (Issykkul); he then proceeded along the fertile valley of the Su-yeh river (the Chu or Chui) to the town of Taras <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tara#buddhism>, and thence to Nujkend and Tashkand. It is not necessary to follow the pilgrim’s route farther than this, as the particulars given in the translation following, and the notes thereto, will sufficiently set forth the line of his advance. Hiuen Tsiang returned from his Indian travels across the Pamir and through Kashgar and the Khotan districts. He had been away from China <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/cina#buddhism> since a.d. 629; he returned a.d. 645. He brought back with him— 1. Five hundred grains of relics belonging to the body (flesh) of Tathagata <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tathagata#buddhism>. 2. A golden statue of Buddha <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/buddha#buddhism> on a transparent pedestal. 3. A statue of Buddha carved out of sandal-wood on a transparent pedestal. This figure is a copy of the statue which Udayana <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/udayana#buddhism>, king of Kausambi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kaushambi#buddhism>, had made. 4. A similar statue of sandal-wood, copy of the figure made after Buddha descended from the Trayastrimsas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/trayastrimsha#buddhism> heaven. 5. A silver statue of Buddha on a transparent pedestal. 6. A golden statue of Buddha on a transparent pedestal. 7. A sandal-wood figure of Buddha on a transparent pedestal. 8. One hundred and twenty-four works (*sutras* <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sutra#buddhism>) of the Great Vehicle. 9. Other works, amounting in the whole to 520 fasciculi, carried by twenty-two horses. There are many interesting particulars given in the “Life of Hiuen Tsiang” by Hwui-lih, which need not he named here, respecting the work of translation and the pilgrim’s death at the age of sixty-five. They will be fully set forth in the translation of that memoir, which it is hoped will follow the present volumes. We will simply add, that of all the books translated by Hiuen Tsiang, there are still seventy-five included in the collection of the Chinese *Tripitaka* <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tipitaka#buddhism>. 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