宋高僧傳 1.22

1.22

In the second year of Xianheng [671 CE], at the age of thirty-seven, he finally set out. First arriving in Panyu, he found several dozen like-minded companions, but when about to board the ship, all the others shrank back and stopped. Yijing strove onward and traveled alone, experiencing every manner of hardship and danger. In every territory he reached, he fully mastered the speech and sounds. Whenever he met tribal chieftains, all showed him honor and respect. Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa and Mount Kukkuṭapāda he visited everywhere; the Deer Park and the Jetavana Grove he beheld in full. Wherever there were sacred traces, he pursued them all. Over the course of twenty-five years, he traveled through more than thirty kingdoms. In the midsummer of the yihai year, the first year of Zhengsheng under the Empress Regnant [Wu Zetian, 695 CE], he returned to the Heluo region. He had obtained nearly four hundred Sanskrit texts of sūtras, vinayas, and śāstras, totaling 500,000 verses, one true image of the Vajrāsana, and three hundred grains of śarīra. The Empress Regnant personally welcomed him outside the Shangdong Gate, with the monastic assemblies of various temples carrying banners, canopies, and sacred music in the vanguard. An imperial decree was issued for him to be lodged in Foshouji Temple.