Chapter 17 Section 2 Wang Xuance's mission to India

In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty once dispatched Shi Weijie and Sili to serve as Du Xingman's envoys to the Western Regions.They arrived in India and got Buddhist scriptures and agate cups and so on. ("Sui Shu · Western Regions") In the Tang Dynasty, there were many official contacts between China and India, which are recorded in the "New Tang Book", "Old Tang Book", "Tong Dian" and other documents.The Indian side sent many envoys to China, and the Tang Empire also sent many envoys to India.For example, the "Old Tang Book Xirong Biography" has the following record: "In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Shiluo Yiduo (that is, the king of Jieri) claimed to be the king of Magatha (now North India), sent envoys to pay tribute, and Emperor Taizong sent a letter of condolences. , Shi Luoyi was so shocked... He was worshiped and accepted the imperial edict, and sent envoys to pay tribute. Taizong thought that his place was far away and the ceremony was very generous, so he repatriated Wei Weicheng Li Yibiao to report to the envoy." "Zhenguan Ten Years (Nineteen Years Mistake), Shamen Xuanzang went to his country and returned with more than 600 Sanskrit scriptures. First, he sent the right-handed governor Shi Wang Xuance to Tianzhu, and the four kings of Tianzhu sent envoys to pay tribute." That is to say, the country of Kamaluva mentioned above) it is customary to open the east gate to the sun. When Wang Xuance arrived, the king sent envoys to present rare objects and maps as tribute, so I asked Lao Tzu to look at them.” There are many related records, here It is not possible to list them all, but we can only focus on the matter of Wang Xuance's mission to India.

Wang Xuance went to India as an envoy three times (some scholars believe it was four times).According to scholars' research, he went to India for the first time in the 17th year of Zhenguan (643 AD) and returned to China in the 20th year of Zhenguan (646 AD).At that time, he was going to India as Li Yibiao's deputy envoy.During his stay in India, he met King Jieri and visited Buddhist resorts.It was at this time that they went to the country of Kameru, so it was said that the king sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to invite Lao Tzu to reconcile.In the 21st year of Zhenguan, Wang Xuance went to India for the second time as the main envoy, and Jiang Shiren was the deputy envoy.When they arrived in India, King Jieri was dead, and the minister Alonashun rebelled and sent troops to attack Wang Xuance.With the support of Tubo and Nepal, Wang Xuance led his troops to defeat Alonashun and took him back to Chang'an.The return time is the 22nd year of Zhenguan (648 AD).The third time was in the second year of Xianqing Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (AD 657). Wang Xuance sent cassocks to India according to the order, and participated in the Dharma Conference specially held for him in the Great Bodhi Temple in the fifth year of Xianqing.Wang Xuance is a Buddhist believer, but at the same time he is an envoy of the government.He had special observations on the situation in India, Nepal and other places. After returning to China, he wrote the book "Journey to the Kingdom of Zhongtianzhu" (also known as "Wang Xuance's Journey to the West"), which is said to have ten volumes. Attached are three volumes.It is a pity that this book with historical value was lost soon, and now we can only see some sporadic passages in other documents (such as "Fayuan Zhulin", etc.).From these fragments, we can see that Wang Xuance's records are quite comprehensive, involving many aspects such as religion, geography, politics and law, art, and folk customs.Although this book has been lost, Wang Xuance's contribution to Sino-Indian cultural exchanges as a friendly envoy is indelible.

In short, the Tang Dynasty laid the foundation for close exchanges with the countries of the Western Regions with its strong national power, especially in the Kaiyuan Tianbao period, showing the situation of "all nations coming to court".Due to the establishment and operation of the four towns in Anxi, the connection between China and the countries in the Western Regions has been smooth, and cultural exchanges have been carried out smoothly.