Chapter 12 Section Five Friendship Envoys on the Silk Road

While the Westward Journey to Seek the Dharma was going on with great fanfare, the commercial trade between the people of China and India was also going on.Moreover, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, intergovernmental exchanges also increased. "Book of Jin Siyi Biography" under the "Great Qin State" records: "Anxi, Tianzhu people make a deal with it in the sea, and the benefits will be a hundred times." It is also mentioned in "Fu Jian Biography" that after Fu Jian pacified the north , "Every sixty-two kings will send envoys to pay tribute to their party".Among them is "Tianzhu Xianhuo Huanbu".Fu Jian attached great importance to the management of the Western Regions, and also controlled the prosperous Shu land.It should be said that the traffic in the northwest and southwest was never cut off during the Jin Dynasty.The contacts of monks at that time can further prove this point.

In the fifth year of Liu, Song, Yuanjia (AD 428), there was a letter of credence from India preserved in "Song Shu Biography of Yiman".This is a letter from King Yueai of Tianzhu Kapili Kingdom (about in the Kaveli River Valley of South India) to Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty.In the early years of Emperor Wu of Liang's Tianjian (502 A.D.), the letter of credence written by King Qudo of India to Emperor Wu of Liang was preserved in "Liangshu Zhuyi Biography".These letters of credence are sincere and express a strong desire for friendship.In addition, the official history also records many examples of the contributions of Indian countries. General Wei." The countries that kept in touch with the Southern Dynasties were mainly countries in South India, and their communication route was Nankaido.

There are also several records in each "Ben Ji" of "Wei Shu".According to these records and statistics, during the 70 years from 451 to 521, envoys (including some merchants) from all over India were sent to the Northern Wei Dynasty at least 27 times.The countries that kept in touch with the Northern Wei Dynasty were mainly the northern Indian countries, and their transportation route was the Western Region Road. As the saying goes, coming and going is not indecent, and there must be many things that the northern and southern Chinese governments sent envoys to India, but there are not many records in the history books.But in any case, such frequent contacts have not only promoted cultural exchanges between China and India, but also enhanced mutual friendship and understanding.

During this period, India's friendly envoys brought many rare treasures and some rare animals to China, while silk and silk products were mainly transmitted from China to India.In terms of science and technology, due to the large number of translations of Buddhist scriptures and the visit of Indian monks to China, some Indian knowledge of astronomy, calender, medicine and health has also been transmitted to China.For example, "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi" recorded books on astronomy and calendar such as "Brahman Astronomical Sutra", "Brahman Jijia Immortal Astronomy", "Brahman Yin and Yang Calculation Calendar" and "Brahman Calculation Sutra". There are books on medicine and health preservation such as "Nagarjuna Bodhisattva's Prescriptions", "West Region Brahman's Prescriptions", "Brahmans' Prescriptions", "Brahman's Prescriptions", "Narjuna Bodhisattva and Incense", and "Narjuna Bodhisattva's Prescriptions for Cultivating Nature".Although these books are recorded in the "Sui Shu", they should be introduced before the Sui Dynasty.As they spread in China, they are bound to have an impact on China's astronomical calendar and medical health preservation.

Let us give two specific examples. "Biography of Yu Fakai" Volume 4 of "Biography of Eminent Monks" said: "Yu Fakai, "I don't know who he is", "The ancestors practiced senior women, and they mastered medical methods."Once, when he came to a family, he happened to catch up with the woman's dystocia, which could not be treated, and the whole family was so anxious that they could do nothing.Yu Fakai said, this is easy to handle.Then let the woman drink a little mutton soup, and then acupuncture, after a while, the child was born, mother and child are safe.

Yu Fakai may have been from Khotan in the Western Regions, or his ancestors were from Khotan. "Jiva" is a famous doctor in ancient India.Yu Fakai's "Zushu Jiva" means that the medical skills he learned came from India.He also practices acupuncture, which is apparently traditional Chinese medicine.Judging from this record, Yu Fakai combined Chinese and Indian medical skills, which was the "combination of Chinese and Western medicine" at that time. Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasties was one of the great medical experts in ancient my country.He once added and deleted the medical book "Rescue the Soldier after the Elbow" edited by Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty into 101 chapters "Bai Fang after the Elbow".He liked Taoism in his youth and converted to Buddhism in his old age.In the preface of this book, he said: "Buddhist scriptures say: people use the four elements to become a body, but one big one has one hundred and one diseases." The ancient Indians believed that there are four elements in the world, namely earth, water, wind, and fire. The human body is also composed of the "four majors". If the four majors are coordinated, people will be healthy. If the four majors are out of balance, people will be sick. If they are out of balance, 101 kinds of diseases will be caused.Tao Hongjing obviously accepted this theory.