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HSUAN TSANG (HIOUEN THSANG, HIWEN T'S...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 844 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HSUAN TSANG (HIOUEN THSANG, HIWEN T'SANG, YUAN TSANG, YUAN-CHWANG) , the most eminent representative of a remarkable and valuable See also:

branch of See also:Chinese literature, consisting of the narratives of Chinese Buddhists who travelled to See also:India, whilst their See also:religion flourished there, with the view of visiting the sites consecrated by the See also:history of Sakya Muni, of studying at the See also:great convents which then existed in India, and of See also:collecting books, See also:relics and other sacred See also:objects. The importance of these writings as throwing See also:light on the See also:geography and history of India and adjoining countries, during a very dark See also:period, is great, and they have been the subject of elaborate commentaries by See also:modern students. Several Chinese See also:memoirs of this See also:kind appear to have perished; and especially to be regretted is a great collection of the See also:works of travellers to India, religious and See also:secular, in sixty books, with See also:forty more of maps and illustrations, published at the expense of the See also:emperor Kao-Tsung of the T'ang See also:dynasty, A.D. 666, with a See also:preface from the imperial See also:hand. We will mention the clerical travellers of this description who are known to us by name. 1. Shi-tao-'an (d. 385) wrote a See also:work on his travels to the " western lands " (an expression applying often to India), which is supposed to be lost. 2. Fa-hien travelled to India in 399, and returned by See also:sea in 414. His work, called Fo-Kwo-Ki, or Memoirs on the See also:Buddha Realms, has been translated by See also:Abel-See also:Remusat and Landresse, and again into See also:English by the Rev. S.

See also:

Beale; Mr Laidlay of See also:Calcutta also published a See also:translation from the See also:French, with interesting notes. 3. Hwai Seng and Sung-Yun, monks, travelled to India to collect books and reliques, 518–521. Their See also:short narratibe has been translated by Karl Fried. See also:Neumann, and also by Mr Beale (along with Fa-hien). 4. Hsi an Tsang, the subject of this See also:notice. In relation to his travels there are two Chinese works, both of which have been translated with an immense appliance of labour and learning by M. Stanislas See also:Julien, viz. (a) the Ta-T'ang-Si-Yu-Ki, or Memoirs on Western Countries issued by the Tang Dynasty, which was compiled under the traveller's own supervision, by See also:order of the great emperor Tai-Tsung; and (b) a See also:Biography of Hsiian Tsang by two of his contemporaries. 5. The Itinerary of Fifty-six Religious Travellers, compiled and published under imperial authority, 730.

6. The Itinerary of Khi-Nie, who travelled (964–976) at the See also:

head of a large See also:body of monks to collect books, &c. Neither of the last two has been translated. Hsuan Tsang was See also:born in the See also:district of Keu-Shi, near Honan-Fu, about 605, a period at which See also:Buddhism appears to have had a powerful See also:influence upon a large body of educated Chinese. From childhood See also:grave and studious, he was taken in See also:charge by an See also:elder See also:brother who had adopted the monastic See also:life, in a See also:convent at the royal See also:city of Loyang in Honan. Hsuan Tsang soon followed his brother's example. For some years he travelled over See also:China, teaching and learning, and eventually settled for a See also:time at the See also:capital Chang-gan (now Si-gan-fu in Shensi), where his fame for learning became great. The See also:desire which he entertained to visit India, in order to penetrate all the doctrines of the Buddhist See also:philosophy, and to perfect the collections of See also:Indian books which existed in China, See also:grew irresistible, and in See also:August 629 he started upon his solitary See also:journey, eluding with difficulty the strict See also:prohibition which was in force against See also:crossing the frontier. The " See also:master of the See also:law," as his biographers See also:call him, plunged alone into the terrible See also:desert of the See also:Gobi, then known as the Sha-mo or " See also:Sand See also:River," between Kwa-chow and Igu (now See also:Hami or Kamil). At See also:long intervals he found help from the small garrisons of the towers that dotted the desert track. Very striking is the description, like that given six centuries later by Marco See also:Polo, of the quasi-supernatural horrors that beset the lonely traveller in the See also:wilderness—the visions of armies and See also:banners; and the manner in which they are dissipated singularly recalls passages in See also:Bunyan's See also:Pilgrim's Progress. After great suffering Hsiian Tsang reached Igu, the seat of a See also:Turkish principality, and pursued his way along the See also:southern See also:foot of the '1"ian-shan, which he crossed by a See also:glacier pass (vividly described) in the See also:longitude of See also:Lake Issyk-kul.

In the valley of the Talas river he encounters the great See also:

khan of the See also:Turks on a See also:hunting party,--a rencontre which it is interesting to compare with the visit of See also:Zemarchus to the great khan Dizabul, sixty years before, in the same region. Passing by the See also:present Tashkend, and by See also:Samarkand, then inhabited by See also:fire worshippers, he reached the See also:basin of the Upper See also:Oxus, which had recently been the seat of the powerful dominion of the Haiathelah, See also:Ephthalites or See also:White See also:Huns, known in earlier days to the Greeks as Tochari, and to Hsuan Tsang (by the same name) as Tuholo or Tukhara. His See also:account of the many small states into which the Tukhara See also:empire had broken up is of great See also:interest, as many of them are identical in name and See also:topography with the high valley states and districts on the Upper Oxus, which are at this See also:day the See also:object of so much See also:geographical and See also:political interest. Passing by See also:Bamian, where he speaks of the great idols still so famous, he crosses See also:Hindu-Kush, and descends the valley of the See also:Kabul river to Nagarahara, the site of which, still known as Nagara, adjoining See also:Jalalabad, has been explored by Mr W. See also:Simpson. Travelling thence to See also:Peshawar (Purushapura), the capital of Gandhara, he made a digression, through the now inaccessible valley of See also:Swat and the Dard states, to the Upper See also:Indus, returning to Peshawar, and then crossing the Indus (Sintu) into the decayed See also:kingdom of Taxila (Ta-cha-si-lo, Takshasila), then subject to See also:Kashmir. In the latter valley he spent two whole years (631-633) studying in the convents, and visiting the many monuments of his faith. In his further travels he visited Mathura (Mot'ulo, See also:Muttra), whence he turned See also:north to See also:Thanesar and the upper See also:Jumna and See also:Ganges, returning See also:south down the valley of the latter to Kanyakubja or See also:Kanauj, then one of the great capitals of India. The pilgrim next entered on a See also:circuit of the most famous sites of Buddhist and of See also:ancient Indian history, such as See also:Ajodhya, Prayaga (See also:Allahabad), Kausambhi, Sravasti, Kapilavastu, the See also:birth-See also:place of Sakya, Kusinagara, his See also:death-place, Pataliputra (See also:Patna, the Palibothra of the Greeks), Gaya, Rajagriha and Nalanda, the most famous and learned monastery and See also:college in India, adorned by the gifts of successive See also:kings, of the splendour of which he gives a vivid description, and of which traces have recently been recovered. There he again spent nearly two years in mastering See also:Sanskrit and the depths of Buddhist philosophy. Again, proceeding down the See also:banks of the Ganges, he diverged eastward to Kamarupa (See also:Assam), and then passed by the great ports of Tamralipti (See also:Tamluk, the mis-placed Tamalitis of See also:Ptolemy), and through See also:Orissa to Kanchipara (See also:Conjeeveram), about 640. Thence he went northward across the Carnatic and Maharashtra to Barakacheva (See also:Broach of our day, Barygaza of the Greeks).

After this he visited 1blalwa, See also:

Cutch, Surashtra (See also:peninsular See also:Gujarat, Syrastrene of the Greeks), See also:Sind, See also:Multan and See also:Ghazni, whence he rejoined his former course in the basin of the Kabul river. This time, however, he crosses Pamir, of which he gives a remarkable account, and passes by See also:Kashgar, See also:Khotan (Kustana), and the vicinity of Lop-nor across the desert to Kwa-chow, whence he had made his venturous and lonely plunge into the See also:waste fifteen years before. He carried with him great collections of books, See also:precious images and reliques, and was received (See also:April 645) with public and imperial See also:enthusiasm. The emperor T'ai-Tsung desired him to commit his journey to See also:writing, and also that he should abandon the eremitic See also:rule and serve the See also:state. This last he declined, and devoted himself to the compilation of his narrative and the translation of the books he had brought with him from India. The former was completed A.D. 648. In 664 Hsuan Tsang died in a convent at Chang-gan. Some things in the history of his last days, and in the indications of beatitude recorded, strongly recall the parallel history of the See also:saints of the See also:Roman See also:calendar. But on the other hand we find the Chinese See also:saint, on the approach of death, causing one of his disciples to See also:frame a See also:catalogue of his See also:good works, of the books that he had translated or caused to be transcribed, of the sacred pictures executed at his cost, of the See also:alms that he had given, of the living creatures that he had ransomed from death. " When Kia-shang had ended writing this See also:list, the master ordered him to read it aloud. After See also:hearing it the devotees clasped their hands, and showered their felicitations on him." Thus the " well-done, good and faithful " comes from the servant himself in self-See also:applause.

The See also:

book of the biography, by the disciples Hwai-li and Yen-t'sung, as rendered with judicious omissions by Stan. Julien, is exceedingly interesting; its Chinese See also:style receives high praise from the translator, who says he has often had to regret his inability to reproduce its See also:grace, elegance and vivacity.

End of Article: HSUAN TSANG (HIOUEN THSANG, HIWEN T'SANG, YUAN TSANG, YUAN-CHWANG)

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