Chapter 56 147 Monk Xuanzang learns from Buddhist scriptures

Xuanzang is a monk of Daci'en Temple in Chang'an. His original name is Chen Yu (sound hui), and he was born in Luozhou Goushi (now Goushi Town, Yanshi, Henan, Gouyin gou).At the age of thirteen, he became a monk and began to study Buddhism seriously.Later, he learned from teachers everywhere and was proficient in Buddhist classics. He was honored as Master Sanzang (Sanzang is the general name of Buddhist classics).He found that there were many mistakes in the originally translated Buddhist scriptures, and he also heard that there were many Buddhist scriptures in Tianzhu, so he decided to go to Tianzhu to study.

In 629 AD (some say 627), he set off from Chang'an and arrived in Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu).At that time, the imperial court prohibited Tang people from leaving the country. He was discovered by border soldiers in Liangzhou and told him to go back to Chang'an.He escaped the border checkpoint and went west to Guazhou (now Anxi, Gansu Province) near Yumen Pass. When Xuanzang was in Guazhou, he found out that there were five forts outside the Yumen Pass, each of which was separated by a hundred miles, and there were no water plants in the middle, only the water sources beside the forts, and they were guarded by soldiers.At this time, Liangzhou officials had discovered that he had sneaked across the border, and sent an official document to Guazhou to arrest him.If you pass through the fort, you will definitely be caught by soldiers.

When Xuanzang was at a loss what to do, he met a local Hu tribe named Shipantuo who was willing to guide him. Xuanzang was so overjoyed that he sold his clothes and two horses, and set off with Shipantuo overnight, finally getting out of Yumen Pass.They slept in the grass and prepared to continue westward. When he thought that Shipantuo had gone for a while, he didn't want to go again, and even wanted to murder Xuanzang.Xuanzang found out that he was up to no good and sent him away. After that, Xuanzang groped forward alone in the desert outside the pass.After walking for more than eighty miles, I arrived at the side of the first fort.He was afraid of being discovered by the guards, so he hid in the sand ditch during the day, and only approached the water source in front of the fort after dark.He was about to fill his leather pouch with water, when suddenly an arrow shot and almost hit him in the knee.Knowing that he couldn't hide, Xuanzang simply shouted towards the fortress: "I am a monk from Chang'an, don't shoot arrows!"

The people in the fort stopped shooting arrows, opened the gate of the fort, and brought Xuanzang into the fort.Fortunately, Wang Xiang, the school lieutenant guarding the fort, also believed in Buddhism. After asking about Xuanzang's background, not only did he not embarrass him, but he also sent someone to help him hold water and some cakes, and personally sent him more than ten miles away to guide him. A trail leading to the Fourth Fort. The lieutenant of the fourth fort is a brother of Wang Xiang's family. He heard that Xuanzang came from Wang Xiang, and he received him warmly. Fort, go to Yema Spring to get water, and then go west, there is a desert with a length of 800 miles.

Xuanzang left the fourth fort and walked more than a hundred miles, lost his way and did not find Yema Spring.He was about to pick up the water bag that came with him to drink, but when he missed, the water in the leather bag was spilled on the sand.How can we cross the desert without water?Xuanzang wanted to go back to the fourth fort to get water. After walking for more than ten miles, he suddenly remembered that before leaving, he had made an oath that he would never take a step back until he reached his destination.How can we retreat when encountering difficulties now?Thinking of this, he turned his horse's head and continued heading west.

The great desert is vast, with no birds above or animals below. Sometimes a whirlwind will roll up the sand all over the sky, and it will fall like a torrential rain.Xuanzang walked in the desert for four nights and five days in a row, without any water to drink, and was so thirsty that it was like a fire, and finally couldn't hold it anymore and passed out on the desert.In the middle of the night on the fifth day, a cool wind rose from the sky, which woke Xuanzang awake.He stood up and led the horse for another ten miles, and found a meadow and a pond.With aquatic plants, people and horses can get out of desperation.After walking for another two days, I finally walked out of the great desert, passed through Yiwu (now Hami, Xinjiang), and arrived at Gaochang (in the east of Turpan, Xinjiang today).

Gaochang Wang Qu (sound qu) Wentai also believed in Buddhism. He heard that Xuanzang was an eminent monk from the Tang Dynasty, and he respected him very much. He invited him to give lectures and earnestly asked him to stay in Gaochang.Xuanzang insisted on refusing.Qu Wentai couldn't keep him, so he prepared Xuanzang's luggage and sent 25 people with 30 horses to escort him. He also wrote letters to the kings of 24 countries along the way, asking them to protect Xuanzang when he crossed the border. Xuanzang led his men and horses, crossed snow mountains and glaciers, rushed through storms and avalanches, went through untold hardships, and arrived at Suiye City (near Tokmak in the northern Kyrgyzstan of today's Soviet Union), where he was received by the Western Turkic Khan.After that, the journey went smoothly, passing through the countries of the Western Regions and entering Tianzhu.

Tianzhu is the birthplace of Buddhism, and there are many Buddhist monuments.Xuanzang traveled around Tianzhu, worshiping holy sites and learning scriptures from eminent monks.Once, when he was crossing the Ganges by boat, he encountered a group of robbers.They believe in demon gods superstitiously, and every autumn they kill individuals to sacrifice to the gods.The robbers in the boat took a fancy to Xuanzang and wanted to kill him as a sacrifice to the gods. It was useless for Xuanzang to explain to them again and again, so he had to close his eyes and recite scriptures.Coincidentally, there was a gust of wind at this time, and the turbid waves in the river were turbulent, almost capsizing the boat.The robber was frightened, knelt down and repented, and let Xuanzang go.

This incident spread quickly, and the local people still thought that Xuanzang really had some kind of Buddhist protection. In Magadha, Tianzhu, there is an ancient monastery called Nalanda Temple.There is a master Jiexian in the temple, who is a great scholar in Tianzhu.Xuanzang came to Nalanda Temple and studied with Master Jiexian for five years, and learned all the scriptures there. King Jieri of the Magadha Kingdom was a Buddhist king. Hearing of Xuanzang's reputation, he held a grand lecture meeting for Xuanzang in his capital, Qunu City (now Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh, India).The kings of eighteen countries in Tianzhu and more than 3,000 eminent monks attended the meeting.King Jieri asked Xuanzang to give lectures at the meeting and let everyone debate.The conference lasted for eighteen days, and everyone admired Xuanzang's brilliant speech, and no one raised any different opinions.Finally, King Jieri sent someone to lift Xuanzang's cassock to announce the success of the lecture.

When King Jieri met Xuanzang, he mentioned that he had heard that there was a heroic King Qin in China.Xuanzang told him that King Qin is the current Emperor of Tang. Xuanzang's travels not only achieved great success in Buddhism, but also promoted cultural exchanges between the East and the West.In 645 AD, he brought more than 600 Buddhist scriptures and returned to Chang'an, where he had been away for more than ten years. Monk Xuanzang's indomitable deeds of learning Buddhist scriptures caused a sensation in the people of Chang'an.Tang Taizong, who was in Luoyang, admired Xuanzang's feat very much, and received Xuanzang in the Luoyang Palace.Xuanzang made a detailed report to Taizong about his travel experience in the Western Regions.

After that, Xuanzang settled down and devoted himself to translating the Buddhist scriptures brought back from Tianzhu.Together with his disciples, he compiled a book "Da Tang Western Regions".In this book, he recorded the geographical conditions, customs and habits of the 100 countries he had personally visited and the 28 countries he had heard about, making it an important historical and geographical work. Because Xuanzang's quest for Buddhist scriptures itself was legendary, later, many myths about Tang Monk's Buddhist scriptures were circulated among the people, saying that he encountered many demons and ghosts on the way to obtain Buddhist scriptures. This is of course a fiction.In the Ming Dynasty, the novelist Wu Chengen made artistic processing based on folklore and wrote excellent long mythological novels, which occupied a very important position in the history of Chinese literature.But the stories there are far from the real story of Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures.