On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c4.6

v1.c4.6

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.