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.

Description of the Gupta dynasty

It is a time of peace. The people are numerous and happy. They do not have to register with the government, or answer to any judges and their rules. Only those who farm the royal land have to pay the royal government part of what they earn from the land. If the want to leave their land, they go, if they want to stay on their land they stay.

The king governs without beheadings or other harsh bodily unfit punishments. Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the facts of each case. Even in cases of repeated rebellion against the government, the culprits only have their right hands cut off… All through the entire country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink alcoholic beverages or eat any onions or garlic…

As it is a powerful and prosperous civilization, the people who dwell in the cities and towns are rich and prosperous, and compete with one another in doing acts of charity and good deeds… The heads of the Vaishya (merchants, artisans, and cultivators) families set up centers in the cities to give out alms and medicines. All the poor and poverty-stricken people in the country go to those centers- orphans, widowers and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all those who are sick.

At this centers, they receive every kind of help, and doctors examine their illnesses. They get the food and medicines that they need, and are made to feel comfortable and rested. When they are better, they go away by their own choice.

I can also testify to the fact that the arts, including the Buddhist arts, is flourishing under the tolerant open society of the Guptas. This also shows that the leader supports learning and the arts.

My route to India and back

These two maps show the route that I, Fa Xian, took from Chang'An, China, to India and back. For the main stops that I made, I enlarged the words to make it easier to see.

My diary of Events, from Kosambi to Nanjing, home

Part 4

The purpose of this journey was to seek copies of the Monastic Rules to take home, however, throughout the entire trip till now, I did not manage to get a single copy as the rules were transmitted orally. Here I was able to obtain a copy used by the Mahasanghikas at Jetavana monastery. I spent three long years learning Sanskrit and copying out the Rules. Then following the course of the Ganges river in an easterly direction, I travelled to Tamralipti (modern Tamluk in West Bengal), and there I spent another two years copying the sacred texts and drawing image pictures.

From the port of Tamralipti, I took a ship to Sri Lanka and spent two more years collecting and copying the Buddhist texts includ­ing the Mahisasaka monastic rules, which are unknown in China.

I have been away from my own homeland for many years. Of the four monks who accompanied me to India, only one returned to China after going only as far as Peshawar. Sadly, two died in India and one remained behind in India. I saw a merchant making a religious offering of a white silk fan from China at the Abhayagiri monastery in Anuradhapura made me feel sad and homesick. Thus having reached my goal of obtaining the knowledge of the precepts to spread throughout the land of Han, I decided to return home.

I had many unbelievable escapes during the voyage home by sea, and luckily, I managed to save all the sacred texts and information and get home safely.

After resting at Tsing-Chow for the summer, I then proceeded to Nanjing and exhibited the sacred books I had brought back.

I was away fourteen years and had encountered great hardships and dangers in my many travels through nearly thirty differ­ent countries. Having been protected by the power of the Triple Gem and delivered safely from all dangers, I shared my experiences with many by writing these records of my travels from 399-414 AD.

In short, i almost walked from central China in AD 399, across the Taklamakan desert, over the Pamir Plateau, and through India down to the mouth of the Hoodly, in the city of Tamluk, India. From there I took a ship and returned by sea to my homeland China, sailing via Ceylon and Sumatra, across the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, and finally reaching Nanjing, China, in AD 414.

I am now eighty-eight and am about to die. However I have no regrets because I accomplished my other mission of translating the Buddhist texts I brought home into Chinese. I have also managed to share my knowledge, and thus, I am happy.

This is the end of my diary. Farewell.

My diary of Events, from Nagarahara to Kosambi

Part 3

When winter was over, we went south and met with great obstacles and extreme cold while passing the Safed Koh mountain range. Hui-king, barely recovering from an earlier ill­ness, was unable to proceed onwards. He died of exhaustion in my arms, forcing us to press on lest we too, passed on. We crossed the mountain range with great effort and entered Afghanistan where we spent the rains-retreat in the company of 3,000 monks in the area.

Then we crossed the Punjab, where, to our delight, we saw the Buddhist religion flourishing and after passing many monasteries with myriads of monks, and reached the Mathura country. I then visited Sankasia, Kanauj, Saketa or Ayodha and Savatthi consecutively, and the monks at Jetavana monastery were shocked to see us, for they had not seen anyone from Han (Chinese) come so far as this before in search of the Buddha’s law.

Moving eastward, we traveled to the ancient Sakyan kingdom, where a visit to the birthplaces of Kakusandha Buddha and Kanakagamana Buddha was paid . Seeing the Asokan pillars erected there was great. The capital, Kapilavatthu, was like a huge desert, without anyone living there. There were only a congregation of monks and about ten families of lay people. The roads were devoid of travellers, as many feared the wild elephants and lions.

From the capital, we traveled to Kusinara, scene of the Buddha’s Mahaparinibbana. In this city too, there were few inhabitants and such families as were there, were somehow related with the monks. We moved onwards and went to Vesali and Pataliputta, the capital of ancient Magadha. Then we moved on to Nalanda and Rajagaha, where I ascended Gijjhakuta hill and after offering flowers, incense and lights, re­mained there the whole night analyzing and reciting the suttas.

We continued the trip and went to Bodhagaya, the scene of the Buddha’s full Enlightenment, Deer Park at Sarnath where the Buddha preached the First Sermon, Varanasi and lastly Kosambi in Allahabad district, where we visited what was left of the Ghositarama monastery. Returning to Pataliputta, Tao-ching decided remain in India after seeing the strict decorum observed by the monks in India with regard to the Disciplinary rules compared with the meagre character of the precepts known in China.Thus we bade him farewell.

When he decided to take up permanent residence there, I thought it would be best to update my diary to make sure I remember when he decided to stop his journey.

My diary of Events, from Kara'shahr to Nagarahara

Part 2

After staying in Kara-shahr for two months, my friends and I continued our journey south-west across the desert. On the road, there were no homes or people. We suffered quite a lot because of the difficulties of the road and rivers and were on the road for a month and five days before we reached the prosperous, oasis town of Khotan. The ruler of the country provided us with accom­modation in a monastery. We stayed for three months and were able to see the magnificent procession of images, which began on the first day of the fourth month and lasted for fourteen days.

We spent twenty-five days on the road to Yarkand after coming from Khotan, then stopped for fifteen days before continu­ing the journey. We arrived at Kashgar, in the middle of the Tsung-ling range (Pamirs) in twenty five days, in time to watch the Pancavassika Parisa or Quinquennial assembly, a five-yearly event instituted by King Asoka, in which the ruler made a great offering to the Sangha. Leaving Kashgar, we entered Tajikistan through the Sarykol range, and took a month to cross the Pamir Mountains. Then we continued our journey south-west for fifteen days over another difficult and danger­ous road.

I described it like this: “The mountain side is simply a stone wall standing up 10,000 feet. Looking down, the sight is confused and there is no sure foothold. Below is a river called Sint’u-ho (Indus). In old days, men had cut away the rocks to make a way down and spread out side ladders, of which there are 700 steps to pass. When these are negotiated, the river is crossed by a hanging rope bridge. The two banks of the river are something less than 80 paces apart.”

After crossing the river, we arrived at the country of Udyana. It is the flourishing centre of Buddhism, with five hundred monasteries belonging to the Small Vehicle. Three of my companions, Hui-king, Tao-ching and Hui Yu went on ahead to Nagarahara (Jalalabad) to pay reverence to the Buddha-shadow at the Gopala Naga cave and the tooth and skull bone relics at Hadda. Hui Ying and I remained at Udyana to spend the rains-retreat.

When this was over, we journeyed south to Swat, descended eastward for five days and arrived at Gandhara (a region between Takkasila and modern day Charsadda). From there, we travelled south to Peshawar to see the famed stupa of Kaniska and the alms-bowl relic. Here we met the party of Pao-yun and Sung-king who had come to pay homage to the alms-bowl relic too. Hui-yu, also came to Peshawar and at this point, he decided to return to China with Pao-yun and Sung-king. My companion, Hui-ying, dwelling in the temple of the alms-bowl relic, passed on there. I wish him peace.

Now I had to proceed westward alone to Nagarahara. In the city of Hadda, I visited the vihara of the Buddha’s skull-bone. At the capital of Nagarahara, I visited the viharas of the Buddha’s religious staff and sanghati (outer robe) and the Gopala Naga cave to pay homage to the Buddha shadow. I decided to team up with my two remaining companions, Tao-ching and Hui-king. Together, we spent two months of winter there, leaving me with time to update this website.

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.