Year of manufacture: 1906
Author: Xuan Zang
Genre: History of India and Central Asia. Buddhology
Publisher: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trüber & CO. LTD. London
English language
Format:DJVU
Number of pages: volume 1 - cviii + 243 pages, volume 2 - 369 pages.
Xuan Zang (603 - 664), an outstanding figure in the history of Buddhism, made his pilgrimage during the beginning of the rise of the Khan empire, in the reign of Taizong, who came to the throne in 626. The Western borders of the empire were closed due to foreign policy complications, and the pilgrim had to cross the border secretly from the authorities. After leaving Chang'an, Xuan Zang headed for the northern branch of the Great Silk Road - through Dunhuang, Kuchu, Termez, Balkh; Then he passed the Hindu Kush and followed through Gandhara, Kashmir and then towards the Ganges valley, where he visited all the sacred places for the Buddhist city. Five years he spent in Magadha, in the monastery-university of Nalanda. Then he made a trek to the southern tip of India and gathered here information about Ceylon. His return journey lay through Ujjaini, Sindh; then along the southern branch of the Silk Road, through Khotan - he returned to Chang'an.
Xuan Zang stayed in wandering around India for 16 years (629 - 645). For India, this time was remarkable for the emergence of large states: the state of Harshi - in the north, Chalukyev, Pallavas and Pandev - in the Dean and South India. Thus, the political situation favored the stay of the pilgrim; Harsha, in addition, patronized Buddhism. Xuan Zang, according to his own statement, had a meeting with Harsha.
The late period of his activities played a significant role in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Xuan Zang performed a translation of a large number of Buddhist texts on the section of Abhidharma, developed the principles of translation. He had a significant impact on the views of Taizong which was accepted, their relationship reflected on the religious policy of the emperor. According to tradition, Xuan Zang composed "Notes" in 658 at the direction of Taizong, but it is certain that the records of the places visited, containing a lot of specific information, were conducted by him during the pilgrimage.
The composition of Xuan Zang is distinguished not only by the multifacetedness of its interests and the variety of the material presented, but also by the special systematization of the presentation, subject to a strict scheme. The general outline is common for pilgrim notes and generally for Chinese geographic works: it is a movement from one "country" (go) to another, indicating the distance and direction of the path. The author tells about each such "country" in a certain order: first the description of the country as a whole (sometimes it is limited to this), then - the movement inside the country from one place to another (cities, stupas, monasteries, etc.) with a story about the legends and customs associated with these places. The most sketchy is the first part of the description of the country - its general characteristics according to predetermined characteristics, which may not be presented in full, but their sequence is in principle constant: the size of the territory | the capital | landscape | lands and their wealth | climate | mores of the inhabitants | clothes | writing | language | development of Buddhism | other beliefs.
In his manner of exposition, the influence of the traditions of Chinese geographical descriptions developed within the framework of "dynastic histories" is noticeable. The authors of the "stories" give figures reflecting the population, families and troops. Xuan Zang preserves this tradition, but not the troops counts, but the number of monasteries and monks, on the one hand, and the number of "heterodox" (idao) and their temples on the other. Borrowing this "statistical" tradition, Xuan Zang adapted it for the Buddhist content of the work.
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