China allow worship of skull of Huen Tsang who brought Buddhism from India

[Veeru]

China allow worship of skull of Huen Tsang who brought Buddhism from India

BEIJING: China has permitted public worship of part of a skull believed to be of Xuan Zang, an eminent Chinese monk who travelled to India through the silk route in 630 AD and brought Buddhism to the country.

Remains of Xuan Zang (known in India as Huen Tsang) are available for public worship in east China's Jiangsu Province, official Xinhua news agency reported.

The remains, known as sariras in Buddhism, are believed to be those of the parietal bone of Xuan Zang after cremation. He went on a 16-year adventures journey to India to seek Buddhist sutras more than 1,000 years ago. The sariras were opened for public yesterday in Linggu Temple in Nanjing City, the provincial capital, since they were moved here in 1974.

Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty travelled to India totally on foot to seek Buddhist sutras an brought about 657 Sanskrit texts with him and translated them into Chinese.

China allows public worship of remains of Huen Tsang - Times Of India


Official news agency of Govt. of China:



Eminent ancient monk's remains for public worship in east China

A skull relic of Master Xuanzang is displayed at the Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall of Linggu Temple in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, April 23, 2011. A skull relic purported to be that of Master Xuanzang was open to the public here Saturday. The display of the skull relic lasts until May 17, 2011. Master Xuanzang (A.D. 602-664) was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar and translator who travelled to India to study Buddhism and brought back volumes of Buddhist scriptures in the early Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907). (Xinhua/Sun Can)

NANJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Remains believed to be part of the skull of Xuanzang, an eminent monk in ancient China, are available for public worship in east China's Jiangsu Province.

The remains, known as sariras in Buddhism, are believed to be those of the parietal bone of Xuanzang after cremation, who adventured to India to seek Buddhist sutras more than 1,000 years ago.

The sariras made their first public appearance Saturday in Linggu Temple in Nanjing City, the provincial capital, since they were moved here in 1974.

Xuanzang (602 AD - 664 AD) of the Tang Dynasty pilgrimaged to India, the birthplace of Buddhism, totally on foot to seek Buddhist sutras. He later translated them into Chinese, paving ways for Buddhism's spread in China.

The treasured sariras were preserved in a 138-cm-tall pagoda made of the rare and expensive nanmu, or Phoebe sheareri, also known as "the emperor's wood" in ancient China.

Visitors will have the chance to worship the relics till May 17.

Eminent ancient monk's remains for public worship in east China

 

[SpArK]

Chinese Monk Fa-Hien, Traveller-Scholar Huen Tsang were true gems who visited in early times and drew attention of foreign traders. Since then the knowledge of india's Cultural Diversity, Natural Beauty, Medication and Yoga, Trading Commodities, Heritage Monuments, Religious Significance has had a magnetic effect on travel enthusiasts and traders. They are indeed respectable persons.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

i don't like this

 

[Ajaxpaul]

I think i have studied about Tsang in our textbooks. Great person, who promoted cultural exchanges between 2 countries or empires should i say.

 

[Mirza Jatt]

Huen Tsangs's accounts is one of the major source of knowledge of India's history.

 

[中国万岁-ProsperThroughCo-]

Must have been quite an experience. Imagine walking from China to India, not knowing the language. No signs, no hotels, no telephone. A really big advanture, to experience the world's two most powerful countries of that time.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Notwithstanding, it is good that due regards is being given to those who shaped China's history.

I believe that they have removed the statue of Confucius from the Tienanmen Square that they had recently inaugurated. There is much speculation in the international media.

Mystery of Beijing Confucius statue - Offbeat, Breaking News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

 

[tallboy123]

i don't like this

???

 

[no_name]

Buddhism was in china before XuanZang, but he brought some very important scriptures in sanskrit over to china, include some that today no longer exists anywhere else. He took back 650 scriptures and these were originally stored in 大雁塔:

\


Three of the widely known early buddhists who's made major contribution are: Kumārajīva, Bodhidharma and XuanZang

 

[Rig Vedic]

Book Review:

Kumarajiva: The Transcreator of Buddhist Chinese Diction
Author: Nirmala Sharma
Publisher: Niyogi
Price: Rs 2,000

[...]

So, who was Kumarajiva? Son of Kashmiri father Kumarayana and Kuchean mother Jiva, Kumarajiva was a great transcreator of the Buddhist Chinese diction. He developed a new translation methodology. Of course, the translation of Sanskrit texts into Chinese was a joint enterprise. Among the translators of Buddhist Sanskrit literature in Chinese, six or seven were Chinese, six Indians, and 16 Central Asians.

Kucha, from where Kumarajiva’s mother came, in northern Tarim basin, exists in the present-day Xinjiang/Chinese Turkistan and was a centre of Buddhist learning. Such was the importance of Kucha that it was from here that Indian music had spread to China. The place also excelled in painting and dance. Hundreds of Sanskrit manuscripts, murals and scrolls have been discovered from Kucha and elsewhere in Tarim valley. Here, it needs to be mentioned that Yarkand and Khotan in northern Tarim valley were centres of Mahayana Buddhism, while Kashgar, Kucha, Turfan and Shan Shan near Lobnor were centres of Hinayana Buddhism.

Central Asia, like India, had great centres of learning. No wonder, Kumarajiva, after learning Buddhist scriptures in Kashmir, studied four Vedas, five sciences, Brahmanical shastras and astronomy in Kashgar. This shows that the scholarly environment was not of Hindu-Buddhist dichotomy, but of continuum, as the scholarship was not confined to the study of the Buddhist scriptures.

Kumarajiva, like scores of other Central Asian scholars, contributed immensely towards the dissemination of Buddhist religion and thought in Central Asia and China. However, the tradition of translation of Sanskrit texts in China was well-established before he arrived there. A Parthian crown prince, An Shih-kao (Chinese name), had abdicated his throne in favour of his uncle, and dedicated his life to Buddhism. He went to the East (China) and settled in Loyang in 148 AD. He ended up translating up to 170 Sanskrit texts in Chinese.

Kumarajiva was a great scholar. The “nations of the west” (India and Central Asia), in Chinese parlance, acknowledged his genius. Soon, his fame spread towards the east, provoking Chinese king Fu Chien to first dispatch an envoy and then an army to bring Kumarajiva to China. Kumarajiva advised the king of Kucha not to fight the Chinese, but the king ignored his advice, and was killed in the battlefield. Kumarajiva was taken to China as a captive, but was honoured by the emperor.

In China, Kumarajiva translated a large number of texts into Sanskrit; many of them have been lost and only their references are available today. However, he is particularly famous for the translation of Lotus Sutra, completed in 406 AD, and The Treatise on the Great Prajnaparamita. Kumarajiva improved the technique of translation prevailing in China. The procedure was simple but rigorous: First Kumarajiva used to explain the meaning of the text twice; the monks then discussed the same among themselves and translated it in literary Chinese. Thereafter, Kumarajiva would repeatedly compare the translation with the original Sanskrit text, thus arriving at definite version both in terms of thought and Chinese aesthetics. Being concerned with the essence of the text, he avoided word-to-word translation; he shortened the text by deleting repetitions and ponderous verbosity intolerable to Chinese literati, making the final version more appealing to Chinese literary tastes.

Kumarajiva, it is said, had more than 3,000 monk disciples, including Tao-sheng, Sheng-chao, Tao-jung and Seng-jui. Shramana Seng Jui, the biographer and constant companion of Kumarajiva, possessed extraordinary talent and wisdom. Whenever the two disputed about the rhythmic structure of the Indian language, and its common features and differences, Jui would say: “The national custom of India emphasises the literary form and considers those forms good whose music and rhythm suit that of stringed instruments.” In this case, a remark about the Chinese translation is worth mentioning: “When one translates the Indian language into Chinese, it loses its elegance. Even though the general meaning is reproduced, the style is to a large extent lost. It is as if one (first) chews the rice before giving it to another; not only does it deny him the taste, it also makes him spit it out.”

This reviewer shares the view expressed in the book that “Kumarajiva’s charismatic diction has cast its sheen on the succeeding centuries in East Asian lands”. His style has been the radiance of Buddhism. And it was his translation of Satya-Siddhi Shastra that gave rise to Hsieh-ho’s Six Principles of Chinese Painting, which still remains the basis of theoretical discussions on the aesthetics of poetry, painting, sculpture and calligraphy in East Asia.

The book must be read by one and all.

--The reviewer, editor of quarterly magazine Dialogue, is co-author of the book, India and Central Asia

 

[BigTree.CN]

I am wondering how Xuan Zang communicated with people on this way to India and when he was staying in India. I think it was almost impossible to find someone who could speak both Chinese and Hindi back then.

 

[applesauce]

I am wondering how Xuan Zang communicated with people on this way to India and when he was staying in India. I think it was almost impossible to find someone who could speak both Chinese and Hindi back then.

6 months is more than enough time to learn a new language at a simple level when you have no choice, and those journeys back in the days generally take years

 

[Tractor]

I only notice the great Himalaya do a great job long time even nowadays.

 

[roadrunner]

It's all bullsh!t of course.

Huen Sang visited Pakistan and Afghanistan, specifically the Swat area, but not India.

I'll provide a list in a bit.

 

[roadrunner]

Huen Tsang visited Udyana (Ujjana) which was the name for the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan in the 7th century.

Darel was the second place he visited and Taksasila or Taxilla in Pakistan was the third place he visited.

He also visited Kashmir on another visit and also Afghanistan where Buddhism grew. References by Huen Tsang to the underground Buddha in Afghanistan have led people to believe the presence of a subterranean Buddha the size of the Eiffel Tower in Central Afghanistan. "Inside a Buddhist temple located about 10 kilometres from the palace, there is a statue of Buddha in a state of passing into nirvana. The image of the supine Buddha is as long as 300 metres."

But he did not visit India.