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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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.

2. A golden statue of Buddha 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, king of Kausambi, had made.

4. A similar statue of sandal-wood, copy of the figure made after Buddha descended from the Trayastrimsas 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) 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. The titles of these hooks may be seen in the catalogue prepared by Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio, coll. 435, 436.