Fa hien biography of william
Home / Historical Figures / Fa hien biography of william
Deploring the mutilated and imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline....he entered into an engagement with Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, Hwuy-ying and Hwuy-wei that they should go to India and seek for the disciplinary Rules.
After starting from Ch'ang-gan, they passed through Lung [in eastern Gansu]...and reached the emporium of Chang-yih [north and west of Lanzhou, near the Great Wall].
The (chief) image [presumably Sakyamuni] stood in the middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas in attendance on it, while devas were made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved in gold and silver, and hanging in the air. The journey and return took from 399 to 412, with 10 years spent in India.
Faxian's account of his pilgrimage, the Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms (C.
There is a current saying, that this 'is the finest stupa in Jambudvipa'. 9-36. These translations are an important means to date texts, named individuals, and Buddhist traditions. The common people of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the sramans [monks], all practise the rules of India, only that the latter do so more exactly, and the former more loosely.
The boy said, 'I am making a stupa for Buddha. The seven precious substances [i.e., gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, rubies, diamonds or emeralds, and agate] were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers and canopies harging all around. They call the places where the monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently sangharamas; and of these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the Hinayana.
During the reign of the Guptas, internal and external trade flourished and became the mainstay of the economy.
That over, they descended south, and arrived in the country of Soo-ho-to.
In that country also Buddhism is flourishing. Upon his return to China, he is also credited with translating these Sanskrit texts into Chinese.
Faxian's visit to India occurred during the reign of Chandragupta II. He entered the Indian subcontinent through the northwest.
When Buddha was a Bodhisattva. No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. Of whatever things of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the (Ts'ung) range of mountains [probably this means southwestern Xinjiang] are possessed, they contribute the greater portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them themselves.
When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, Sang-shao, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest follower of the Law, and proceeded towards Kophene [Kabul region?], Fa-hien and the others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh [?Tashkurgan, ?Baltistan in northern Pakistan], which it took them twenty-five days to reach.
When the king's stupa was completed, the little stupa (of the boy) came out from its side on the south, rather more than three cubits in height.
Buddha's alms-bowl is in this country. Its king, however, was very attentive to them [and] kept them (in his capital)...
Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and Sang-king; and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the same journey with themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that year [i.e., 400 CE])together, resuming after it their traveling, and going on to T'un-hwang, (the chief town) in the frontier territory of defence extending for about 8o li from east to west, and about 40 from north to south.
In these two places also large stupas have been built, both adorned with layers of all the precious substances.