The travels of Fa-hsien (399-414 A.D.), or Record of the Buddhistic kingdoms / retranslated by H.A. Giles.

  • Faxian
Date:
1923
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The travels of Fa-hsien (399-414 A.D.), or Record of the Buddhistic kingdoms / retranslated by H.A. Giles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    104/124 (page 84)
    韻鑛韻鑛韻鐵潑鑛獨鑛纔簾戀鑛 NOTE BY SHEN SHIH-LUNG [Not identified] AS regards records of the bringing back of Sacred Books from India, we have only the narratives of the two priests Fa-hsien and Hsiian-tsang in the Tripitaka, and the accounts of Sung-y社n and Hui-sheng in the Record of the Lo-yang Monastery which have a claim upon our attention. Yet although the Record of the Monastery is exact and agreeably written, the narratives in the Tripitaka go more into detail and are more elegant in style. Pre-eminently is this true of the Record of the Buddhistic King¬ doms, which in general scope, elegance, terse¬ ness, and comprehensiveness, is not inferior to the best models of the Chin dynasty (a.d. 265- 420). These travels, however, differ somewhat as to the places visited. Fa-hsien went westwards by way of Tun-huang, and returned by sea from Ceylon. The predicant, Hsiian-tsang, left Liang- chou by the Jade Gate (Sha-chou in Kansuh) and came back by way of Khotan. Sung-yiin left by way of the Red Mountain (west of Hsi- ning Fu, forty days’ march from Lo-yang), reached the Tu-yu-han (on the shores of Late Kokonor) and came back by the same way. Thus