Fa Xiang and XuangZang were pilgrims …

Xuanzang, world-famous for his sixteen-year pilgrimage to India and career as a translator of Buddhist scriptures, is one of the most illustrious figures in the history of scholastic Chinese Buddhism. Born into a scholarly family at the outset of the Tang (T’ang) Dynasty, he enjoyed a classical Confucian education. Under the influence of his elder brother, a Buddhist monk, however, he developed a keen interest in Buddhist subjects and soon became a monk himself at the age of thirteen. Upon his return to Chang’an in 645, Xuanzang brought back with him a great number of Sanskrit texts, of which he was able to translate only a small portion during the remainder of his lifetime. In addition to his translations of the most essential Mahayana scriptures, Xuanzang authored the Da tang xi yu ji (Ta-T’ang Hsi-yu-chi or Records of the Western Regions of the Great T’ang Dynasty) with the aid of Bianji (Bian-chi). It is through Xuanzang and his chief disciple Kuiji (K’uei-chi) (632-682) that the Faxiang (Fa-hsiang or Yogacara/Consciousness-only) School was initiated in China. In order to honor the famous Buddhist scholar, the Tang Emperor Gaozong (Gao-tsung) cancelled all audiences for three days after Xuanzang’s death. Pilargrims are men and women who undertake journeys to holy places in order to offer worship. The best-know of these are the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, Fa Xian, who came to the sub-continent about 1600 years ago, Xuan Zang, who came around 1400 years ago and I-Qing, who came about 50 years after Xuan Zang. They came to visit places associated with the life of the Buddha as well as famous monasteries. They spent time studing in the monasteries. Xuan-Zang and other pilgrims spent time studing in Nalanda (Bihar), the most famous Buddhist Monastery of the period.