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FAXIAN 法顯
In the year 399
AD, when already in his sixties, the zealous monk Faxian (Fa-hsien) set out from
Chang'an (Ch'ang-an) in China on an overland pilgrimage to India in quest of
scriptures. At that time, before the invention of printing, Chinese Buddhists
had a desperate need for scriptures. Sacred texts could only be obtained by
copying out manuscripts by hand and such manuscripts were in short supply in
China. Faxian's particular interest was in obtaining a complete text of the Vinaya,
or monastic rules, in the original Sanskrit, to bring it back to China, and
translate it into Chinese. He was one of many Chinese Buddhist monks to make
the journey from China to India and back again, and to stay in India for an
extended period of time.
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From the Chinese
capital of Chang'an, Faxian and his party passed through Dunhuang
(Tunhuang) at the eastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Instead of taking one
of the routes that skirted around the desert, they walked straight through it,
experiencing many fears and hardships. Besides the anticipated shortages of
food and water, and the extremes of heat and cold, there were also frequent
sandstorms and other dangers, such as attacks from mounted bandits. Faxian
says:
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In the desert
were numerous evil spirits and scorching winds, causing death to anyone who
would meet them. Above there were no birds, while on the ground there were no
animals. One looked as far as one could in all directions for a path to cross,
but there was none to choose. Only the dried bones of the dead served as
indications. |
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Two months after
his departure, Faxian reached the Central Asian city of Khotan. From there he
took the southern route across the "snowy mountains" (the Bolor-Tagh
range) into northwestern India, where he visited Udyana, Gandhara, Peshawar,
and Taxila. Faxian stayed in northern India for three years, studying Sanskrit,
visiting Buddhist centres and holy sites, and collecting scriptures to take
back to China. He found the Vinaya he was looking for in Pataliputra and
began copying it out.
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For the return
voyage Faxian decided to go by sea. He went first to Tamralipti, a port at the
mouth of the Ganges, where he took a ship to Ceylon. He stayed there another
two years, obtaining more texts. He then sailed from Ceylon to Java, experiencing
an extremely perilous journey:
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The sea was
infested with pirates, whom to meet meant certain death. The boundless expanse
of water spread out before us, the only aid to navigation being the sun, the
moon, and the stars. If these were obscured by the weather, the ship had to run
unguided before the wind. At night great waves, shining like fire, broke
against one another, and we caught glimpses of huge turtles and other sea
monsters. The merchants were panic-stricken, not knowing where they were going,
but it was impossible to drop anchor because the sea was so deep . . . If we
had hit a submerged rock there could have been no escape. |
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The ship sailed
via the Straits of Malacca to the east coast of what is now Sumatra, where he
spent five months. The vessel he took on the final part of his homeward journey
was blown off course by a storm, and instead of landing at Canton ended up
docking on the coast of Shandong (Shantung). It was now 414, fifteen years
after Faxian’s original departure from Chang'an.
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Having brought
back numerous manuscripts, Faxian devoted the rest of his life to translation.
He also wrote an account of his journey, Foguo zhi (Fo-kuo chih,
Report on the Buddhist Kingdoms), one of many travelogues written by Chinese
Buddhist pilgrims. It preserves not
only a record of his journey, but also valuable information about the places he
visited and the practice of Buddhism there.
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Primary
sources: |
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Foguo zhi [Record
of the Buddhist Kingdoms] (also known as Faxian zhuan [Biography of
Faxian], written ca. 420 AD), in Taisho shinshu Daizokyo (The Tripitaka,
a New Compilation of the Taisho Era), Vol. 51, No. 2085, pp. 857a-866c.
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Edited Edition |
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Zhang Xun, Faxian zhuan jiaozhu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1985).
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English
Translations: |
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Giles, H. A., The Travels of Fa Hsien (Cambridge University Press, 1923). |
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Legge, James, A
Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-hsien of
his Travels in India and Ceylon (AD 399-141) in Search of the Buddhist Books of
Discipline, Translated and Annotated with a Corean recension of
the Chinese Text (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886; reprint New York: Dover,
1965). |
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SKC
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Faxian: Chinese Buddhist Pilgrim to India |
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