On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c4.s2.20

v1.c4.s2.20

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.