Adventures and hazards I met, and if I was successful

The hazards and adventures I encountered at various times, and if I was successful in achieving my aim.

The first main hazard I encountered was after my companions and I passed through Dunhuang at the eastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Then, instead of taking one of the routes that skirted around the desert, we walked straight through it, experiencing many fears and hardships. Although we already 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.

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.

For the return voyage, I decided to go by sea, and that was the deciding of another adventure. I went first to Tamralipti, a port at the mouth of the Ganges, where I took a ship to Ceylon. After staying there another two years and obtaining more texts, I then sailed from Ceylon to Java, experiencing an extremely perilous journey.

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.

The ship sailed via the Straits of Malacca (to the east coast of what is now Sumatra), and the ship sprung a leak during a violent storm and was driven to the island of Java, where I spent five months. I took another boat bound for Canton but after a month and some days, there was another storm that drove the boat off course and landed on the shores of the Shandong Peninsula instead. It is now 414, fifteen years after my original departure from Chang'an.

Still, my goal was to obtain a complete text of the Vinaya, or monastic rules, in the original Sanskrit, and then to bring it back to China, and translate it into Chinese to share with my people. Thus, I believe that all the hardships I encountered were worthwhile, because my goal was achieved in the end.