On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c4: Chapter I. The Title and Text
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c4
- Language
- English
Contents
- v1.c4.s1 The Translators — 4 parts
- v1.c4.s2 The Pilgrim — 23 parts
- v1.c4.s3 The Prefaces to the Hsi-Yü-Chi — 13 parts
Chapter I. The Title and Text
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The Chinese treatise known as the *Hsi-yü-chi* (or Si-yü-ki) is one of the classical Buddhist books of China, Korea, and Japan. It is preserved in the libraries attached to many of the large monasteries of these countries and it is occasionally found for sale in bookshops. The copies offered for sale are reprints of the work as it exists in some monastery, and they are generally made to the order of patrons of learning or Buddhism. These reprints are more or less inaccurate or imperfect, and one of them gives as the complete work only two of the twelve *chüan* which constitute the treatise.
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The full title of the book is Ta-T'ang-Hsi-yü-chi (大唐西域記), that is, "Records of Western Lands of the Great T'ang period". By the use of the qualifying term "Great T'ang" the dynasty within which the treatise was composed is indicated and this particular work is distinguished from others bearing the same general name. In some native writings we find the treatise quoted or designated by the title *Hsi-yü-chuan* (傳) which also means "Records of Western Lands". But it does not appear that the work was ever published or circulated with this name. In its original state and as it exists at present the treatise is divided into twelve *chüan*, but we find mention of an edition brought out in the north of China in which there are only ten *chüan*.¹
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¹ Hsiao-yueh-tsang-chih-chin (小閱藏短津) ch. 4.
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On the title-page of the Hsi-yü-chi it is represented as having been "translated" by Yuan-chuang and "redacted" or "compiled" by Pien-chi (辯機). But we are not to take the word for translate here in its literal sense, and all that it can be understood to convey is that the information given in the book was obtained by Yuan-chuang from foreign sources. One writer tells us that Yuan-chuang supplied the materials to Pien-chi who wrought these up into a literary treatise. Another states that Yuan-chuang communicated at intervals the facts to be recorded to Pien-chi who afterwards wove these into a connected narrative.
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This Pien-chi was one of the learned Brethren appointed by T'ai Tsung to assist Yuan-chuang in the work of translating the Indian books which Yuan-chuang had brought with him. It was the special duty of Pien-chi to give literary form to the translations. He was a monk of the Hui-chang (會昌) Monastery and apparently in favour at the court of the Emperor. But he became mixed up in an intrigue with one of T'ai Tsung's daughters and we cannot imagine a man of his bad character being on very intimate terms with the pilgrim. As to the Hsi-yü-chi we may doubt whether he really had much to do with its formation, and perhaps the utmost that can be claimed for him is that he may have strung together Yuan-chuang's descriptions into a connected narrative. The literary compositions of Yuan-chuang to be found in other places seem to justify us in regarding him as fully competent to write the treatise before us without any help from others. Moreover in an old catalogue of books we find the composition of a "Ta-T'ang-Hsi-yü-chi" ascribed to Yuan-chuang and a "Hsi-yü-chi" ascribed to Pien-chi in similar terms.¹ Further in Buddhist books of the T'ang and Sung periods we frequently find a statement to the effect that Yuan-chuang composed the Hsi-yü-chi, the word used being that which has been here rendered for the moment "redacted" or "compiled" (撰).² It is possible that the text as we have it now is for at least nine out of the twelve chüan practically that of the treatise drawn up by Yuan-chuang and presented to his sovereign. Some of the notes and comments may have been added by Pien-chi but several are evidently by a later hand. In some of the early editions these notes seem to have been incorporated in the text and there is reason for supposing that a few passages now in the text should be printed as interpolated comments.
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¹ T'ung-chih-liao, the Yi-wên-liao, ch. 4 (通志 略 the 藝文略).
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² K'ai-yuan-lu (No. 1485) ch. 8: Su-kao-sêng-chuan (No. 1493), ch. 4. See also Y.'s Memorial to the Emperor in Ch. 6 of the Life
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The Hsi-yü-chi exists in several editions which present considerable variations both in the text and in the supplementary notes and explanations. For the purposes of the present Commentary copies of four editions have been used. The first of these editions is that known to scholars as the Han-shan (憨山) Hsi-yü-chi, which was brought out at private expense. This is substantially a modern Soochow reprint of the copy in one of the collections of Buddhist books appointed and decreed for Buddhist monasteries in the time of the Ming dynasty. It agrees generally with the copy in the Japanese collection of Buddhist books in the Library of the India Office, and it or a similar Ming copy seems to be the only edition of the work hitherto known to western students. The second is the edition of which a copy is preserved in the library of a large Buddhist monastery near Foochow. This represents an older form of the work, perhaps that of the Sung collection made in A. D. 1103, and it is in all respects superior to the common Ming text. The third is an old Japanese edition which has many typographical and other errors and also presents a text differing much from other editions. It is apparently a reprint of a Sung text, and is interesting in several respects, but it seems to have many faults and it is badly printed. The fourth is the edition given in the critical reprint which was recently produced in the revised collection of Buddhist books brought out in Japan. This edition
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on the completion of the Records which does not contain any mention or hint of assistance. Instead of the B reading 撰 the other texts have 撰 which is the correct form.
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is based on the text recognized in Korea and it supplies the various readings of the Sung, Yuan, and Ming editions. Some of these variations are merely different ways of writing a character but many of them give valuable corrections for the Korean text which is often at fault.
The Translators
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In 1857 M. Julien published his long promised translation of the "Ta-T'ang-Hsi-yü-chi" with the title "Mémoires sur les Contrées occidentales traduits du Sanscrit en Chinois, en l'an 648, par Hiouen-Thsang, et du Chinois en Français." This work was regarded by the learned translator as supplementary to his "Histoire de la Vie de Hiouen-Thsang et de ses voyages dans l'Inde, depuis l'an 629 jusqu'en 645" translated by him from the Chinese and published in 1853. He had already supplemented the latter treatise by an interesting series of "Documents Géographiques" on the countries of which the book makes mention. Julien's "Mémoires sur les Contrées occidentales" is a work of great merit, and it shows a wonderful knowledge of the Chinese language. Much use has been made of it by students of the history, geography, antiquities, and religions of India and Central Asia and on all these subjects it has been regarded as an authority. And although it is not wise to accept with unquestioning faith all the renderings and identifications of the translator yet it is not without diffidence that one dissents from or condemns his interpretation of a difficult phrase or passage either in the Life or the Records.
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The only other translation of the "Hsi-yü-chi" into a western language is the English version by the late Revd S. Beal. This was published in 1884 with the title "Buddhist Records of the Western World, Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A. D. 629)". The title is characteristic of the translator, and the reader may compare it with that given by Julien to his translation. Mr Beal's work is a translation partly "from the Chinese" and partly from the French. In it many of the careless mistakes which disfigure Julien's treatise are corrected and its notes supply the student with numerous references to old and recent western authorities.
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Within the last few years the Preface to the Hsi-yü-chi attributed to Chang yueh, to be noticed presently, has attracted the attention of some western students of Chinese. In the "Muséon" for November 1894 there appeared an article by M. A. Gueluy entitled "A propos d'une Préface. Aperçu critique sur le Bouddhisme en Chine au 7e siècle." This article gives M. Gueluy's criticism on Julien's translation of the Preface and a new rendering by the critic. One can scarcely treat M. Gueluy's production seriously, it is so full of fancies and fictions and shows such a slight acquaintance with Buddhism and the Chinese language.
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Professor Schlegel, however, took the "A propos d'une Preface" seriously and has given us a criticism of it together with a new translation of this Préface to the Hsi-yü-chi. The Professor's treatise, which shows much industry and ingenuity, is entitled „La Loi du Parallélisme en style Chinois demontrée par la Préface du Si-yü-ki.” In this he defends some of Julien's translations against the criticism of M. Gueluy and shows how absurdly wrong is the latter's version. M. Schlegel brings numerous quotations from Chinese books to support his own renderings of the difficult passages in the Preface. Many of these renderings are apparently correct and an improvement on those by Julien, but in several instances the learned Professor seems to have missed the author's meaning. His criticisms on M. Gueluy's "A propos d'une Préface" drew from M. Gueluy a reply which is not convincing: it is entitled "L'Insuffisance du Parallélisme prouvée sur la Préface du Si-iu-ki contre la traduction de M. G. Schlegel."
The Pilgrim
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The life of Yuan-chuang is narrated at length in the book entitled "Ta T'ang Ta Tzŭ-ên-ssŭ San-tsang-fa-shih-chuan", that is "Record of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Compassion Monastery". It is this work of which Julien's "Histoire de la Vie de Hiouen Thsang" is an abstract, and of which Mr Beal has given us a similar abstract in English. It is also the work usually cited in the following pages by the short title "the Life". From this and a few other Chinese treatises the following short summary of the ancestry and life of the pilgrim has been compiled.
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The surname of the family to which he belonged was Ch'ên (陳) and his personal name was I (禕).¹ But he seems never to have been known in history, literature, or religion, or among his contemporaries by any other name than that written 玄 (or 元) 奘 and read Hsüan (or Yuan)-chuang (or ts'ang). In modern literature the character for Yuan is commonly used in writing the pilgrim's name, and this is said to be due to the character for Hsüan entering into the personal name of the Emperor Kanghsi. But we find Yuan in the pilgrim's name before the reign of Kanghsi and we find Hsüan in it during that reign and since. This interchange of the two characters is very common and is recognized. The personal name of the Chinese envoy Wang who went to India in Yuan-chuang's time is given as Hsüan (and Yuan)-tsê (王玄 or 元策) and the name of another great contemporary of the pilgrim is written Fang Hsüan-ling and Fang Yuan-ling (房玄 or 元齡). The two characters at the T'ang period may have had the same sound, something like Yun, and our pilgrim's name was probably then pronounced Yun-ts'ang.² This was his hui (諱) or "appellation", called in the Life also his tzŭ (字). This word hui is often used to denote the Fa-hao or "name in religion" of a Buddhist monk, and it is sometimes replaced by tu(度)-hui or "ordination name". It commonly means simply "the name of the deceased" that is, the name given to him when capped, and I do not know of any authority for Julien's rendering "nom d'enfance".
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¹ Su-kao-sêng-chuan, l. C.: Shên-sêng-chuan (No. 1620) ch. 6.
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² The Japanese write the name Hsüan-ts'ang but call the pilgrim Gen-jo corresponding to the Chinese Yuan-ts'ang. In Tibetan books the name is given as T'ang Ssen-tsang or T'ang Sin (or Sang), and Ssen-ts'ang is, I think, for Hsüan-ts'ang and not for San-tsang.
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The family from which Yuan-chuang sprang is said to have been descended from the semi-mythical Huang-Ti through the great Emperor Shun, and to have originally borne the territorial designation of Shun, viz. Kuei (媯). In very early times the seat of the family was in the district now bearing the name Kuei-tê (歸德)-foo in the east of Honan, and it was afterwards removed for a time to the neighbourhood of the present Ts'ao-chou in Shantung. At the time of Wu Wang, the first king of the Chow dynasty, a man known as Hu-kung-kuei-man (胡公媯滿) was regarded as the lineal representative of the Shun family.
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This man was the son of O-fu (閼父) of Yü (虞) who had served Wu Wang as his T'ao-chêng (陶正), an officer variously explained as Director of Potteries and as Superintendent of Schools. The office was apparently hereditary and Wu-Wang rewarded Man by giving him his eldest daughter in marriage while at the same time he ennobled him as How or Marquis, and endowed him with the fief of Ch'ên (陳) that he might be able to continue the services of worship to his ancestor Shun. These honours made Man one of the San-k'ê (三恪) or "Three Reverends", that is, three who were faithfully diligent in the discharge of their public duties. The other K'ês were according to some accounts the representatives of the ancient emperors Huang Ti and Yao, and according to other accounts the representatives of the founders of the Hsia and Yin dynasties.¹ Man's fief comprised the modern prefecture of Ch'ên-chow in Honan together with the adjacent territory. It existed as a separate principality down to B. C. 478 when it was extinguished. The members of the reigning family were then dispersed but they retained Ch'ên as their surname.
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¹ T'ung-chih-liao, the Li (禮)-liao, ch. 3. These circumstances about Yuan-chuang's reputed ancestors are mentioned here because they are alluded to in the Preface.
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We have to come down to the end of the third century B. C. before we find a Ch‘ên of historical celebrity. We then meet with the famous Ch‘ên P‘ing (陳平) a native of Yang-wu (陽武) in the present Prefecture of K‘ai-fêng (開封) of Honan. In the time of the Han dynasty this Prefecture bore the name Ch‘ên-liu (陳留) and this explains why Yuan-chuang is sometimes described as a Ch‘ên-liu man. His ancestor P‘ing was an eccentric genius who, rising from extreme poverty to wealth and power, founded a great family and made himself immortal in history. His success in life and his posthumous fame were mainly due to his ready wit which never left him without an answer, and to his ingenuity in devising expedients in desperate circumstances. Of these expedients six were counted extraordinary and successful above the others, and hence came the saying in his time liu-ch‘u-ch‘i-chi (六出奇計) that is, “six times he brought out extraordinary plans”. These were all employed on behalf of Liu Pang, the Han Kao Tsu of history. They were stratagems or expedients devised to meet special occasions, they were kept very secret and were all successful.
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In the second century of our era we have another great man claimed as an ancestor of Yuan-chuang. This is Ch‘ên Shih (陳實) better known by his other name Chung-Kung (仲弓), a native of Hsü (許) a district corresponding to the present Hsü-chow-foo in Honan. At the time of the Han dynasty Hsü was in the political division called Ying-ch‘uan (潁川) and hence we find Yuan-chuang often described as a Ying-ch‘uan man. This man Ch‘ên-Shih was called to office and served in the reign of Han Huan Ti (A. D. 147 to 167). As an official Shih was pure and upright, attentive to business and zealous for the welfare of his people. Gentle but firm and kind but strict he won the affection, confidence and esteem of the people. His fame is chiefly associated with his administration of T‘ai-Ch‘iu (太丘), now the Yung-ch‘êng (永城) District in the Kuei-tê Prefecture of Honan. Here his personal influence was great and he made the people ashamed to do wrong. The effects of his just decisions and benevolent government spread over all the country, and people flocked to him from surrounding districts. Resigning office, however, after a few years he retired to his native place. He was happy and successful also in his family, and sons and grandsons grew up before him to virtue and honour. His family was recognized to be a cluster of *Tê-shing* (德星) Stars of virtuous merit, and Heaven took notice of the fact and visibly responded. In later life Chung-kung refused to return to office and died at home in the year A. D. 187 in the 84th year of his age.¹
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¹ Hou Han-shu, *ch.* 62.
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The next one that we have to notice in the line of descent is Ch‘ên Ta (陳達) the sixth from Shih. Ta lived in the 4th century A. D. in the time of the Chin (晉) dynasty. He also was a learned man and an official of some distinction. Being appointed Magistrate of Ch‘ang-ch‘êng (長城) in the present Hu-chow (湖州) Foo of Chekiang he prophesied that his posterity would sit on the throne. This prediction was fulfilled in the year 556 when the tenth from Ta the illustrious Ch‘ên Pa-hsien (陳先) established the Ch‘ên dynasty. This branch of the family was settled in Hu-chow for more than 200 years, and it was not from it, apparently, that the immediate ancestors of our pilgrim were derived.
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We now come to Yuan-chuang’s great-grandfather whose name was Ch‘in (欽). He was an official of the After Wei dynasty and served as Prefect of Shang-t‘ang (上黨) in Shansi. The grand-father of our pilgrim, by name K‘ang (康), being a man of distinguished learning in the Ch‘i dynasty obtained the envied appointment of Professor in the National College at the capital. To this post were attached the revenues of the city of Chou-nan corresponding to the modern Lo-yang-hsien in Honan. The father of our pilgrim, by name Hui (慧), was a man of high character. He was a handsome tall man of stately manners, learned and intelligent, and a Confucianist of the strict old-fashioned kind. True to his principles he took office at the proper time, and still true to them he gave up office and withdrew into seclusion when anarchy supplanted order. He then retired to the village Ch'ên-pao-ku (陳堡谷) at a short distance south-east from the town of Kou-shih (緱氏). This town was in the Lo-chow, now Ho-nan, Prefecture of Honan, and not far from the site of the modern Yen-shih (偃師) Hsien. Yuan-chuang is sometimes called a Kou-shih man and it was probably in his father's home near this town that he was born in the year 600.
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The family of Ch'ên Hui was apparently a large one and Yuan-chuang was the youngest of four sons. Together with his brothers he received his early education from his father, not, of course, without the help of other teachers. We find Yuan-chuang described as a rather precocious child shewing cleverness and wisdom in his very early years. He became a boy of quick wit and good memory, a lover of learning with intelligence to make a practical use of his learning. It was noted that he cared little for the sports and gaieties which had over-powering charms for other lads and that he liked to dwell much apart. As a Confucianist he learned the Classical work on Filial Piety and the other canonical treatises of the orthodox system.
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But the second son of the family entered the Buddhist church and Yuan-chuang, smitten with the love of the strange religion, followed his brother to the various monasteries at which the latter sojourned. Then he resolved also to become a Buddhist monk, and proceeded to study the sacred books of the religion with all the fervour of a youthful proselyte. When he arrived at the age of twenty he was ordained, but he continued to wander about visiting various monasteries in different parts of the country. Under the guidance of the learned Doctors in Buddhism in these establishments he studied some of the great works of their religion, and soon became famous in China as a very learned and eloquent young monk. But he could not remain in China for he longed vehemently to visit the holy land of his religion, to see its far-famed shrines, and all the visible evidences of the Buddha’s ministrations. He had learned, moreover, to be dissatisfied with the Chinese translations of the sacred books, and he was desirous to procure these books in their original language, and to learn the true meaning of their abstruse doctrines from orthodox pundits in India. After making enquiries and preparations he left the capital Ch‘ang-an (長安), the modern Hsi-an (西安)-foo, in the year 629, and set out secretly on his long pilgrimage. The course of his wanderings and what he saw and heard and did are set forth in the Life and Records.
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After sixteen year’s absence Yuan-chuang returned to China and arrived at Ch‘ang-an in the beginning of 645, the nineteenth year of the reign of T‘ang T‘ai Tsung. And never in the history of China did Buddhist monk receive such a joyous ovation as that with which our pilgrim was welcomed. The Emperor and his Court, the officials and merchants, and all the people made holiday. The streets were crowded with eager men and women who expressed their joy by gay banners and festive music. Nature, too, at least so it was fondly deemed, sympathised with her children that day and bade the pilgrim welcome. Not with thunders and lightnings did she greet him, but a solemn gladness filled the air and a happy flush was on the face of the sky. The pilgrim’s old pine tree also by nods and waves whispered its glad recognition. This tree, on which Yuan-chuang patted a sad adieu when setting out, had, obedient to his request, bent its head westward and kept it so while the pilgrim travelled in that direction. But when his face was turned to the east and the homeward journey was begun the old pine true to its friend also turned and bowed with all its weight of leaves and branches towards the east.¹ This was at once the first sign of welcome and the first intimation of the pilgrim having set out on his journey home. Now he had arrived whole and well, and had become a many days’ wonder. He had been where no other had ever been, he had seen and heard what no other had ever seen and heard. Alone he had crossed trackless wastes tenanted only by fierce ghost-demons. Bravely he had climbed fabled mountains high beyond conjecture, rugged and barren, ever chilled by icy wind and cold with eternal snow. He had been to the edge of the world and had seen where all things end. Now he was safely back to his native land, and with so great a quantity of precious treasures. There were 657 sacred books of Buddhism, some of which were full of mystical charms able to put to flight the invisible powers of mischief. All these books were in strange Indian language and writing, and were made of trimmed leaves of palm or of birch-bark strung together in layers. Then there were lovely images of the Buddha and his saints in gold, and silver, and crystal, and sandalwood. There were also many curious pictures and, above all, 150 relics, true relics of the Buddha. All these relics were borne on twenty horses and escorted into the city with great pomp and ceremony.
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¹ Fo-tsu-t‘ung-chi (No. 1661), ch. 29.
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The Emperor T'ai Tsung forgave the pilgrim for going abroad without permission, made his acquaintance and became his intimate friend. He received Yuan-chuang in an inner chamber of the palace, and there listened with unwearied interest from day to day to his stories about unknown lands and the wonders Buddha and his great disciples had wrought in them. The Emperor tried to persuade Yuan-chuang that it was his duty to give up the religious life and to take office. But the heart of the pilgrim was fixed, and as soon as he could he withdrew to a monastery and addressed himself to the work of translating into Chinese his Indian books. On his petition the Emperor appointed several distinguished lay scholars and several learned monks to assist in the labour of translating, editing, and copying. In the meantime at the request of his Sovereign Yuan-chuang compiled the Records of his travels, the Hsi-yü-chi. The first draft of this work was presented to the Emperor in 646, but the book as we have it now was not actually completed until 648. It was apparently copied and circulated in Ms in its early form during the author's life and for some time after. When the Hsi-yü-chi was finished Yuan-chuang gave himself up to the task of translating, a task which was to him one of love and duty combined. In his intervals of leisure he gave advice and instruction to the young brethren and did various kinds of acts of merit, leading a life calm and peaceful but far from idle. In the year 664 on the 6th day of the second month he underwent the great change. He had known that the change was coming, and had made ready for his departure. He had no fears and no regrets: content with the work of his life and joyous in the hope of hereafter he passed hence into Paradise. There he waits with Maitreya until in the fullness of time the latter comes into this world. With him Yuan-chuang hoped to come back to a new life here and to do again the Buddha's work for the good of others.
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In personal appearance Yuan-chuang, like his father, was a tall handsome man with beautiful eyes and a good complexion. He had a serious but benevolent expression and a sedate and rather stately manner. His character as revealed to us in his Life and other books is interesting and attractive. He had a rare combination of moral and intellectual qualities and traits common to Chinese set off by a strongly marked individuality. We find him tender and affectionate to his parents and brothers, clinging to them in his youth and lovingly mindful of them in his old age. He was zealous and enthusiastic, painstaking and persevering, but without any sense of humour and without any inventive genius. His capacity for work was very great and his craving for knowledge and love of learning were an absorbing passion. Too prone at times to follow authority and accept ready-made conclusions he was yet self possessed and independent. A Confucianist by inheritance and early training, far seen in native lore and possessing good abilities, he became an uncompromising Buddhist. Yet he never broke wholly with the native system which he learned from his father and early teachers. The splendours of India and the glories of its religion did not weaken or shake his love for China and his admiration for its old ways of domestic, social, and political life. When he was more than sixty years of age he wished to pay the duty of filial piety at his parents' tombs. Unable to discover these he sought out his married sister Mrs Chang, and by her help he found them. Then, distressed at the bad state in which the tombs were at the time, he obtained leave from the Emperor to have the remains of his parents transferred to a happy ground and reinterred with honourable burial. Though the man had long ago become a devoted son of Sākyamuni he still owned a loving duty to his earthly parents.
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As a Buddhist monk Yuan-chuang was very rigorous in keeping the rules of his order and strict in all the observances of his religion. But his creed was broad, his piety never became ascetic, and he was by nature tolerant. There were lengths, however, to which he could not go, and even his powerful friend the Emperor T'ai Tsung could not induce him to translate Lao-tzŭ's "Tao-Tê-Ching" into Sanskrit or recognize Lao-tzŭ as in rank above the Buddha. Modest and self-denying for himself Yuan-chuang was always zealous for the dignity of his order and bold for the honour of its founder. He was brave to a marvel, and faced without fear the unknown perils of the visible world and the unimagined terrors of unseen beings. Strong of will and resolute of purpose, confident in himself and the mission on which he was engaged, he also owned dependence on other and higher beings. He bowed in prayer and adoration to these and sued to them for help and protection in all times of despair and distress. His faith was simple and almost unquestioning, and he had an aptitude for belief which has been called credulity. But his was not that credulity which lightly believes the impossible and accepts any statement merely because it is on record and suits the convictions or prejudices of the individual. Yuan-chuang always wanted to have his own personal testimony, the witness of his own senses or at least his personal experience. It is true his faith helped his unbelief, and it was too easy to convince him where a Buddhist miracle was concerned. A hole in the ground without any natural history, a stain on a rock without any explanation apparent, any object held sacred by the old religion of the fathers, and any marvel professing to be substantiated by the narrator, was generally sufficient to drive away his doubts and bring comforting belief. But partly because our pilgrim was thus too ready to believe, though partly also for other reasons, he did not make the best use of his opportunities. He was not a good observer, a careful investigator, or a satisfactory recorder, and consequently he left very much untold which he would have done well to tell.
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We must remember, however, that Yuan-chuang in his travels cared little for other things and wanted to know only Buddha and Buddhism. His perfect faith in these, his devotion to them and his enthusiasm for them were remarkable to his contemporaries, but to us they are still more extraordinary. For the Buddhism to which Yuan-chuang adhered, the system which he studied, revered, and propagated, differed very much from the religion taught by Gautama Buddha. That knew little or nothing of Yoga and powerful magical formulæ used with solemn invocations. It was not on Prajñāpāramita and the abstract subtleties of a vague and fruitless philosophy, nor on dream-lands of delight beyond the tomb, nor on P'usas like Kuan-shi-yin who supplant the Buddhas, that the great founder of the religion preached and discoursed to his disciples. But Yuan-chuang apparently saw no inconsistency in believing in these while holding to the simple original system. Yet he regarded those monks who adhered entirely to the "Small Vehicle" as wrong in doctrine and practice, and he tried to convert such to his own belief wherever he met them or came into correspondence with them.
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After Yuan-chuang's death great and marvellous things were said of him. His body, it was believed, did not see corruption and he appeared to some of his disciples in visions of the night. In his lifetime he had been called a "Present Sākyamuni”, and when he was gone his followers raised him to the rank of a founder of Schools or Sects in Buddhism. In one treatise we find the establishment of three of these schools ascribed to him, and in another work he is given as the founder in China of a fourth school. This last is said to have been originated in India at Nalanda by Silabhadra one of the great Buddhist monks there with whom Yuan-chuang studied.¹
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¹ Chên-ming-mu-t‘u (眞名目圖) last page: Fo-tsu-t‘ung-chi, l. c. where Yuan-chuang is the founder of the Tzŭ-ên-tsung (慈恩宗) in China, and this is the Fa-hsiang (法相)-tsung of the San-kuo-fa-chuan (三國法傳) and other works: See also Mr Bunyiu Nanjio’s “Short History of the Twelve Buddhist Sects” p. 33.
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In some Buddhist temples we find images of our pilgrim to which a minor degree of worship is occasionally offered. These images usually represent the pilgrim seated clothed in his monk’s robes and capped, with his right hand raised and holding his alms-bowl in his left.
The Prefaces to the Hsi-Yü-Chi
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There is only one Preface in the A, B, and C editions of the “Hsi-yü-chi”, but the D edition gives two Prefaces. The second of these is common to all, while the first is apparently only in D and the Corean edition. This latter was apparently unknown to native editors and it was unknown to the foreign translators. This Preface is the work of Ching Po (敬播), a scholar, author, and official of the reigns of T‘ang Kao Tsu and T‘ai Tsung. Ching Po was well read in the history of his country and was in his lifetime an authority on subjects connected therewith. He was the chief compiler and redactor of the “Chin Shu (晉書), an important treatise which bears on its title-page the name of T‘ang T‘ai Tsung as author. Ching Po’s name is also associated with other historical works, and notably with two which give an official account of the rise of the T‘ang dynasty and of the great events which marked the early years of T‘ai Tsung. It is plain from this Preface that its author was an intimate friend of Yuan-chuang whose name he does not think it necessary to mention. He seems to have known or regarded Yuan-chuang as the sole author of the "Hsi-yü-chi", writing of him thus:—"he thought it no toil to reduce to order the notes which he had written down". Ching Po must have written this Preface before 649, as in that year he was sent away from the capital to a provincial appointment and died on the way. The praises which he gives Yuan-chuang and their common master, the Emperor, are very liberal, and he knew them both well.
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The second Preface, which is in all editions except the Corean, is generally represented as having been written by one Chang Yüeh (張說). It has been translated fairly well by Julien, who has added numerous notes to explain the text and justify his renderings. He must have studied the Preface with great care and spent very many hours in his attempt to elucidate its obscurities. Yet it does not seem to have occurred to him to learn who Chang Yüeh was and when he lived.
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Now the Chang Yüeh who bore the titles found at the head of the Preface above the name was born in 667 and died in 730, thus living in the reigns of Kao Tsung, Chung Tsung, Jui Tsung, and Hsüan Tsung. He is known in Chinese literature and history as a scholar, author, and official of good character and abilities. His Poems and Essays, especially the latter, have always been regarded as models of style, but they are not well known at present. In 689 Chang Yüeh became qualified for the public service, and soon afterwards he obtained an appointment at the court of the Empress Wu Hou. But he did not prove acceptable to that ambitious, cruel and vindictive sovereign, and in 703 he was sent away to the Ling-nan Tao (the modern Kuangtung). Soon afterwards, however, he was recalled and again appointed to office at the capital. He served Hsüan Huang (Ming Huang) with acceptance, rising to high position and being ennobled as Yen kuo kung (燕國公).
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Now if, bearing in mind the facts of Chang Yüeh's birth and career, we read with attention the Preface which bears his name we cannot fail to see that it could not have been composed by that official. Passing by other arguments, let us take the following statement in the Preface—"the reigning sovereign when heir-apparent composed the 'Shu-shêng-chi' (述聖記), or Memoir on the transmission of Buddhism, in 579 words." Now the sovereign who wrote the "Shu-shêng-chi" was, as we know from the Seventh Book of the Life and other sources, Kao Tsung. That Emperor died in 683 when Chang Yüeh was only sixteen years of age and the Preface must have been written before that date. So, according to the Chinese authorities and their translators Julien and Professor G. Schlegel, it was a schoolboy who composed this wonderful Preface, this "morceau qui offre un spécimen bien caractérisé de ces éloges pompeux et vides, et présente, par conséquent les plus grandes difficultés, non-seulement à un traducteur de l'Occident, mais encore à tout lettré Chinois qui ne connaitrait que les idées et la langue de l'école de Confucius." We may pronounce this impossible as the morceau is evidently the work of a ripe scholar well read not only in Confucianism but also in Buddhism. Moreover the writer was apparently not only a contemporary but also a very intimate friend of Yuan-chuang. Who then was the author?
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In the A and C editions and in the old texts Chang Yüeh's name does not appear on the title-page to this Preface. It is said to have been added by the editors of the Ming period when revising the Canon. Formerly there stood at the head of the Preface only the titles and rank of its author. We must now find a man who bore these titles in the Kao Tsung period, 650 to 683, and who was at the same time a scholar and author of distinction and a friend of the pilgrim. And precisely such a man we find in Yü Chih-ning (于志寧), one of the brilliant scholars and statesmen who shed a glory on the reigns of the early T'ang sovereigns. Yü was a good and faithful servant to T'ai Tsung who held him in high esteem and took his counsel even when it was not very palatable. On the death of T‘ai Tsung his son and successor Kao Tsung retained Yü in favour at Court and rewarded him with well-earned honours. In 656 the Emperor appointed Yü along with some other high officials to help in the redaction of the translations which Yuan-chuang was then making from the Sanskrit books. Now about this time Yü, as we know from a letter addressed to him by Hui-li and from other sources, bore the titles which appear at the head of the Preface. He was also an Immortal of the Academy, a Wên-kuan Hsüo-shĭ (文館學士). He was one of the scholars who had been appointed to compile the "Sui Shu" or Records of the Sui dynasty and his miscellaneous writings from forty chüan. Yü was probably a fellow-labourer with Yuan-chuang until the year 660. At that date the concubine of many charms had become all-powerful in the palace and she was the unscrupulous foe of all who even seemed to block her progress. Among these was Yü, who, accordingly, was this year sent away into official exile and apparently never returned.
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We need have little hesitation then in setting down Yü Chih-ning as the author of this Preface. It was undoubtedly written while Yuan-chuang was alive, and no one except an intimate friend of Yuan-chuang could have learned all the circumstances about him, his genealogy and his intimacy with the sovereign mentioned or alluded to in the Preface. We need not suppose that this elegant composition was designed by its author to serve as a Preface to the Hsi-yü-chi. It was probably written as an independent eulogy of Yuan-chuang setting forth his praises as a man of old family, a record-beating traveller, a zealous Buddhist monk of great learning and extraordinary abilities, and a propagator of Buddhism by translations from the Sanskrit.¹
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¹ Life, ch. 8: Ku-chin-i-ching-t‘u-chi (No. 1487) last page: Postscript to Y.’s “Ch‘êng-wei-chih-lun” (No. 1197) where Yü Chih-ning is styled as in the heading to the Preface.
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This Preface, according to all the translators, tells us that the pilgrim acting under Imperial orders translated 657 Sanskrit books, that is, all the Sanskrit books which he had brought home with him from the Western Lands. No one seems to have pointed out that this was an utterly impossible feat, and that Yuan-chuang did not attempt to do anything of the kind. The number of Sanskrit texts which he translated was seventy four, and these seventy four treatises (pu) made in all 1335 chüan. To accomplish this within seventeen years was a very great work for a delicate man with various calls on his time.¹
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¹ See Life ch. 10. Julien's translation of this passage cannot be used. B. Nanjio's Catalogue p. 435. Mr Nanjio makes the total 75, but he counts the Chin-kang-ching twice.
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The translations made by Yuan-chuang are generally represented on the title-page as having been made by Imperial order and the title-page of the Hsi-yü-chi has the same intimation. We know also from the Life that it was at the special request of the Emperor T'ai Tsung that Yuan-chuang composed the latter treatise. So we should probably understand the passage in the Preface with which we are now concerned as intended to convey the following information. The pilgrim received Imperial orders to translate the 657 Sanskrit treatises, and to make the Ta-T'ang-Hsi-yü-chi in twelve chüan, giving his personal observation of the strange manners and customs of remote and isolated regions, their products and social arrangements, and the places to which the Chinese Calendar and the civilising influences of China reached.²
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² See Life ch. 6. The term here rendered "civilizing influences of China" is shêng-chiao (聲教). This term is often used by Buddhist writers as a synonym for "Buddhist religion".
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Then the number 657 given here and in other places as the total of the Sanskrit treatises (pu) does not agree with the items detailed in the various editions of the Life and the A, B, and D texts of the Records. In the C text of the Records, however the items make up this total They are as follows:—
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| Mahāyānist sūtras | 224 | pu |
| Mahāyānist śastras | 192 | " |
| Sthavira sutras, śastras and Vinaya | 14 | " |
| Mahāsaṅgika " " " | 15 | " |
| Mahīśāsaka " " " | 22 | " |
| Sammitiya " " " | 15 | " |
| Kāśyapiya " " " | 17 | " |
| Dharmagupta sūtras, Vinaya, śastras | 42 | " |
| Sarvāstivādin " " " | 67 | " |
| Yin-lun (Treatises on the science of Inference) | 36 | " |
| Shêng-lun (Etymological treatises) | 13 | " |
| | 657 | pu |
Linked texts (2)
- Prajñāpāramitā — Sanskrit
- Nālandā