Introduction (c): Sung Yun (A.D. 518) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220097.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) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220098.html> 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>. The titles of these hooks may be seen in the catalogue prepared by Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio, coll. 435, 436. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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