My diary of Events, from Chang'An to Kara-shahr

Part 1

It is AD 399, in the middle of March. My companions and I have started our journey from Ch’ang-an and traveled on foot until we reached Chang-yeh, a military station at the north-west extremity of the Great Wall. There we met another party of Chinese monks. They were led by Pao-yun and Sung-king, and coincidently, were also on their way to India.

We spent the rainy season there, and then decided to carry on with our journey. Continuing onto Dunhuang, at the edge of the Taklamakan desert, we then stopped for a month. The local prefect kindly provided us with the necessities to cross the desert and my companions and I left Pao-yun’s party and started out first on our long trek across the Taklamakan desert.

We walked for about seventeen days, covering a distance of around 1,500 li (1 li = 1 mile) in the south-westerly direction, and kept to the edge of the desert. We reached the rug­ged and barren country of Shen-shen (Loulan), south of Lop Nor.

The king of this country honoured the Buddhist religion and there were some 4,000 monks, belonging to the Small Vehicle or Hinayana. After resting there for about a month, we travelled near the lake Bagarach, going north-west for fifteen days.

We arrived at the country of Kara-shahr (Korla), and met the party of monks led by Pao-yun again. They had travelled by the northern route to Hami and Turfan. We were lucky that my group could remain at Kara-shahr under the protection of an important official, but Pao-yun’s group were not so fortunate so they had to return to Turfan to get the necessities for their jour­ney.

This is as far as i have gone in my long journey. Farewell until the next time.