Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t6.7

v1.c7.s9.t6.7

A major change in Zhang Taiyan’s attitude towards India seems to have occurred as a result of his serious study of Buddhism while imprisoned by the Qing authorities from 1903 to 1906. In Zhang’s writings, India is identified repeatedly as the home of Buddhism, and Indians as Buddhists. In the essay entitled, “Method for a Chinese-Indian alliance (支那印度聯合之法)”, he wrote: “There are only two great Asian nations: the Han scholars in the East and the Buddhist scholars in the West... the world of the Han owe a great debt to the exchanges across the Congling (Pamir) mountains.” In another piece on “The Indian people’s discussion of National Essence (印度人之論國粹)”, he recounts having had a discussion with an Indian friend in Japan whom he identifies as “Dai”, in which both expressed very similar views about the importance of historical thinking to bring out the national essence of the people. He wrote that "When I heard my Buddhist friend say this, I knew that the Han and Fan (梵) (Buddhist) peoples shared the same feelings, and I was secretly overwhelmed with joy (竊沾沾自欣幸).”