法苑珠林 29.6

29.6

Dharma Master Xuanzang, a śramaṇa of the Great Tang. Lamenting that the Great Path was blocked and commiserating over the suppression and prosperity of the teachings of Śākya, in the third month, the last month of spring, of the third year of Zhenguan, with only his own shadow for company, he went west alone in search of the sacred traces. Setting out initially from the capital, he gradually reached Shazhou, ascending perilous passes alone. In Yiwu and Gaochang, he fully experienced dangers and hardships. He then met King Qu of Gaochang, who supplied him with funds and goods and escorted him to the encampment of the yabghu of the Turks. He was further escorted through the various foreign barbarian states north of the Snow Mountains, thoroughly observing the transformation wrought by the Buddha. Proceeding southeast out of the Great Snow Mountains—what people of old called the persistent snows of the Pamir Mountains (Congling) is precisely these Snow Mountains, which Xuanzang witnessed with his own eyes—once past these Snow Mountains, he arrived in India. Ten years elapsed. Afterwards, returning south of the Pamirs and north of the Snow Mountains, he passed through all the kingdoms in full, returning east via Khotan, Loulan, and other lands. He passed through more than one hundred and fifty kingdoms in total, experiencing every hardship, beyond what ordinary human dwellings can compare to. In early winter of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, he safely arrived at the capital.