Extended quotes from "Revisiting the Path of Monk Tang's Buddhist Scriptures"

It is mainly reflected in the following aspects, please refer to it!

More than 1,000 years ago, an ordinary monk from the Tang Dynasty traveled through deserts, turned over the Tianshan Mountains, and traveled through Central Asia. He traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries for 19 years, and wrote "The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty". Leaving behind immeasurable moral principles... More than 1,000 years later, our reporter has traveled a total of 40,000 kilometers in a few years, becoming one of the few people in China who has traveled almost all the steps of Xuanzang's journey to the west. What he saw and heard along the way There are actually some twists and novelties in "Journey to the West".

The basic route of Xuanzang’s trip: In 627 AD, Xuanzang set out from Chang’an, crossed Yumen Pass secretly, passed through Yiwu (now Hami, Xinjiang), traveled west along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and passed through the Agni Kingdom (now Yanqi, Xinjiang). ), Quzhi State (today's Kuqa, Xinjiang), and Balukjia State (today's Aksu, Xinjiang), crossed the Lingshan Mountains (today's Shanmusul Ridge), and came to Suiye City (today's southwest of Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan). Afterwards, it passed through Sajiangjianguo (today's east of Samarkand), crossed the Iron Gate (today's Buzgara Pass in southern Uzbekistan) to Tocharo (today's northern Afghanistan), and then went south from there, passing through the Snowy Mountains (today's Xingxing). Kush Mountain), came to the Vanyana Kingdom (today's Bamiyan in Afghanistan), traveled east to the Gandhara Kingdom (today's Peshawar, Pakistan), and entered India.

At that time, there were many small countries in India. Xuanzang traveled thousands of miles and experienced more than ten countries, but he mainly received ordination and lectured at Nalanda Temple. In the spring of 643 AD, Xuanzang traveled north via present-day Pakistan, passed through Afghanistan, crossed the Pamir Plateau, and returned to Chang'an along the southern line of the Tarim Basin.

Walking on the Grassland Silk Road

The first time a reporter had the opportunity to follow Xuanzang’s footsteps in person was in 1999, because he participated in a United Nations event and had the opportunity to walk along the grassland Silk Road expedition. In ancient times, the Silk Road was divided into two parts: land and sea. The land Silk Road was divided by historians based on geographical characteristics into the desert Silk Road east of the Pamir Plateau and the grassland Silk Road west of the Pamir Plateau. the road. The specific route of the inspection team at that time was to fly from Moscow to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, and then make three zigzags in Central Asia, covering the route Xuanzang walked.

From a cultural perspective, the significance of the Overland Silk Road far exceeds that of the Maritime Silk Road. Because this commercial artery not only connected the Han Empire, Kushan Empire, Parthian Empire and Roman Empire in the core area of ??human culture, but also connected Nestorianism in Rome, Buddhism in India, Islam in Arabia, Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism in Persia. The most complete cultural connection. However, starting from 300 AD, the Silk Road had begun to decline. By the beginning of the 7th AD when Xuanzang passed through this place, the Silk Road was already in a bleak state and no longer as glorious as it had been in the past.

Although the area we are traveling in is called the Prairie Silk Road, its landscape is actually dominated by desert surrounded by oases. Looking from afar, there is white snow on the high mountains. Below the white snow is green, and what emerges from the depths of green is yellow. The steaming heat in the distance is like a wrinkled plastic sheet under the influence of light, hanging in the desolate sun, and the human figures are like small specks of mud stuck on it. I am filled with emotion when I think of Xuanzang's hurried figure in the desert.

I remember that the Cien Temple in Xi'an preserved the stone carvings of Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures: Xuanzang was wearing a monk's uniform, with Buddhist beads hanging on his chest, and he looked like an emperor and a saint. He was wearing straw sandals, with clothes in a small package around his waist. He held a scripture in his left hand and a whisk in his right hand. He carried a scripture box on his back. The round cover on the top of the book box was an umbrella, and a small oil lamp hung in front of the umbrella. This is probably the scene among Xuanzang's disciples who read scriptures while walking on the roadside at night. The author of stone carvings from the Song Dynasty appears to have had little travel experience. In the middle of nowhere, it is impossible for a person to read and walk at the same time.

The most rare thing in the desert is an oasis. Whenever we visit such a place, we will deliberately stop to see the lives of the descendants of the ancient caravans. The local distinguished elders will welcome us with bread and salt, which is a legacy of the Silk Road. They live a quiet and simple life here. The surrounding desert limits the development of the local economy, and these people basically maintain the living habits of 100 years ago. They brought out the best food to entertain us. Each person could get two slices of cucumber, three slices of tomatoes and a bowl of naan soaked in mutton soup. An elder here told me that his ancestors were mainly engaged in long-distance trafficking. When they walked here from Hami, China, it was said that a plague appeared in another oasis. They did not dare to go forward and settled here.

Overlooking the Pamirs by plane

Xuan Zang’s journey was really difficult. But compared to other monks who went to India to seek Buddhist scriptures, he was much luckier. There were many Chinese monks who were determined to go westward, but except for Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing and a few others, the rest died of cold and starvation or were killed by thieves on the way. Therefore, every time I gaze at the image of Xuanzang, the reporter always feels that it is the accumulation of countless images of ancient Chinese monks.

After Xuanzang trekked through the uninhabited 800-mile desert and crossed the Lingshan Mountains, he must have looked back at the Tianshan Mountains, because the journey here was really difficult and the cold wind was fierce. To the south of the Tianshan Mountains is the Pamir Plateau, which is the threshold for China to reach Central Asia. Ancient Chinese books call this plateau Congling. In "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", Xuanzang not only outlined its geographical location, but also accurately described it as "hundreds of cliffs, steep valleys, constant accumulation of ice and snow, and strong cold winds.

"Due to following the United Nations inspection team, the reporter had the opportunity to overlook the magnificent scenery of the Tianshan Mountains and the Pamir Plateau from the air.

Since there are many Soviet military bases on the west side of the Tianshan Mountains, the reporter's helicopter can only fly quickly Flying over the Tianshan Mountains and flying close to the cliffs, it is still very shocking to look down at the "Roof of the World" - the Pamir Plateau, which is the intersection of the Tianshan Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains, and the Hindu Kush Mountains. "Knot", the huge energy deep in the rock formations cancels each other out here, forming a gentle mountain range at an altitude of 4,200 meters. From the helicopter, you can see clear streams in the ravines, surrounded by green grass and dotted with small yellow flowers. An unknown animal seemed to smell something at this time and ducked behind the rock. The local guide said that it was a snow leopard. This kind of snow leopard lives in the area between 1,800 meters and 5,500 meters above sea level. The guide also said that the Pamir Plateau. There is also the legendary "Snowman" activity in the area.

Looking for bloody horses in Central Asia

Central Asia is surrounded by ancient civilization centers. , so this place has become a collision and intersection of different civilizations, an eternal crossroads. If you look at history, you will find that the dynasties in the early history of Central Asia were like short-lived tornadoes, self-centered and arrogant for a while. , and finally collapsed in the desert. It was not until the 7th century AD that Islam entered Central Asia, and Central Asia gradually had its own identity and character.

Xuan Zang seemed to be doing well when he passed by. The two ancient cities standing here, Bukhara and Samarkand, have not been mentioned much. However, when Xuanzang entered the Western Regions, China and the Western Regions had been in contact for at least eight centuries. When we visited Uzbekistan, we often heard the locals talk about two animals, one is the silkworm from China, and the other is the horse from the Western Regions. When we visited the Komosol Horse Farm in Turkmenistan, the owner talked about it very much. He spoke honestly about how Chinese emperors loved their "Pegasus". The Pegasus he described was indeed extraordinary, elegant and noble, with chestnut hair as soft and bright as satin. However, when the reporter asked if this kind of horse was the one described in ancient Chinese books. When the horse sweated, the owner of the horse farm said that he had only seen a horse with sweat and blood on its shoulder once in his life, but the horse died soon.

Approaching the Bamiyan Buddha

Among the places Xuanzang passed through, Bamiyan is the most famous in recent years. Sadly, this is linked to a cultural disaster that shocked the world. The reporter set foot on the land of Bamiyan. It was in 2002 that the United States launched force against the Taliban, which prompted the reporter's trip to Afghanistan.

From the plane, Afghanistan is a rolling and desolate hilly area with dots of oases filled with honeycomb-like adobe houses. . The river flows out of an oasis and evaporates into the sand with only a wave of light, leaving the trees in the distance waiting. In the city of Kabul, people rush past the edge of the ruins of the war, as if it has nothing to do with them. .

However, here, Afghanistan was once the second largest Buddhist center after Bihar in India. Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif, places that became well-known to the world due to the US bombings, were once Buddhist holy places. After Xuanzang entered Afghanistan from Central Asia, his walking speed slowed down significantly. He felt that Buddhism at that time was already in decline. He often lamented: "Although there are many garlands, there are few monks"; "The courtyard is lonely and there are no monks." . However, Bamiyan, which has more than 6,000 large and small grottoes on the cliffs, and six huge Buddha statues in the grotto group, still gave Xuanzang a great surprise. In his writing, the giant Buddha was brilliant with "golden light and resplendent jewelery". But by the time the reporter visited here, the Bamiyan Buddha statues were in a desolate state. Inside the cave were the remains of the Buddha statues. The rubble and loess scattered outside the cave should be the "corpse" of the Buddha. A few pieces of plastic sheeting covered it with the words "UNESCO Protected" on it. There are empty seats in the Buddhist niches in nearby halls. The grotto on the mountain wall is a place for Buddhist believers to practice, and now more than 600 Afghan refugees live here.

Wander the Nalanda Temple and experience Xuanzang’s achievements

Xuan Zang continued his westward journey from Afghanistan and entered today’s Pakistan and India. In these two places, he visited many Buddhist centers, including Buddhist holy sites in Pakistan, Taxila where the level of Buddhist statues has reached its highest level, and Sarnath and Bodhgaya in India. In May 2000, reporters were lucky enough to visit these places. After becoming a reporter in India, I visited them one after another, but the one that left the deepest impression among them, and one that must be mentioned, was the destination of Xuanzang’s journey to the west, the place in the west where he obtained the scriptures—the Nalanda Temple in India.

It was 630 AD when Xuanzang arrived at Nalanda Temple. At that time, Nalanda Temple was the largest temple in India and the center of world Buddhism. "There were often tens of thousands of monks and guests." In the 5th century AD, King Gupta built a Buddhist academy here, which not only taught the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism, but also taught Brahmanical and Vedic literature, philosophy, astronomy and other subjects. When Xuanzang arrived, it was the time when Nalanda Temple had the richest collection of books. Xuanzang read and became familiar with various scriptures here. But he was still not satisfied. He left Nalanda Temple and traveled around various countries in India for six years. Finally, he returned to the temple and became a visiting professor, preaching to the monks in the temple "The Theory of Mahayana", "The Theory of Consciousness-Only Choice", etc. classic.

It is said that at that time, a Brahmin believed that he was talented and learned, so he challenged the Nalanda Temple, claiming that no one in the temple could refute his point of view.

In order to safeguard the Buddhist status of Nalanda Temple, Xuanzang stepped forward and argued with the Brahmin. After a while, the Brahmin bowed his head and admitted defeat. The Tianzhu people who were watching saw that the Chinese monk with a short nose and small eyes could speak fluent Sanskrit, and they immediately admired him. By the time Xuanzang casually quoted him, he was so impressed that Xuanzang became famous. The Qunv City Buddhist Debate in 642 AD brought Xuanzang greater honors, but he declined invitations from various countries and resolutely set out to return home with 675 Buddhist scriptures.

Various religious doctrines have been discussed in Nalanda Temple for 800 years. However, the Muslim army came. In 1197 AD, after a period of burning, killing and looting, Nalanda Temple, the ideological home of Buddhism, was destroyed. Oblivion and oblivion. It was not until 1861 that people rediscovered this site with the help of "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty". Today, this once magnificent Buddhist building is a piece of dilapidated rubble and is protected by the Indian Archaeological Inspectorate. However, there is an introduction next to almost every site here, introducing when Xuanzang came here and what activities he engaged in here. Although the words are short, they express the infinite gratitude of the Indian people to Xuanzang, a pioneer in Sino-Indian cultural exchanges and the author of the most important historical document of Indian Buddhism - "The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty".