[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Historical geography](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography) › [On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904) › v2.c19.93.3 # On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19.93.3 On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19.93.3 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.93.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93.3) That work and I-ching’s treatises mention the Mahābodhi-ssŭ or vihāra to be noticed presently. It was in this vihāra or monastery that the pilgrims Hsüan-chao, I-ching, and Chĭ-hung saw the beautiful image of Buddha— his “true likeness”— which I-ching also says was made by Maitreya. Among the Chinese texts cited by Cunningham is an inscription found in the Bodhi Tree district and dated in the cyclic year which corresponds to A. D. 1022. This inscription, the original text of which will be found in the Journal of the R. A. S. Vol. XIII. p. 556, was made by a pilgrim named K‘o-yun. It contains verses which that pilgrim composed on the “true likeness” that is, the Maitreya-made image of Buddha but it does not contain anything corresponding to “Mahābodhi Temple”. The characters are not distinct, but the pilgrim’s first ode seems to run thus— “The great Hero Maitreya (tzŭ-shĭ) in compassion to all creatures left them the real: although there is no oracular utterance (無宣洩) yet there is the Deity; it (i. e. the image) is respected by the heterodox and loved by the discerning: although 2000 years old its face remains new”. K‘o-yun’s next ode praises the separate parts of this image, its thirty two superior marks, the uṣṇīṣa, the ūrṇā, the hands and the robed body. This pilgrim’s verses were apparently cut in the stone slab which he set up above 30 paces to the north of the Bodhi Tree, and thus near the Mahābodhi vihāra, in which he was probably lodging. - [Previous: v2.c19.93.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93.2) - [Next: v2.c19.93.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93.4) - [Up: v2.c19.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.watters-1904.v2.c19.93.3) · Pramāṇa