The Unselfishness of Faxian and Xuanzang
Development of Buddhism In China
The Unselfishness of Faxian and Xuanzang
Buddhism, in todays society, is very popular and holds a lot of influence in Chinese culture. However, during the first century, Buddhism in China was less developed with few believers. For Buddhism to flourish, Buddhists monks had to journey a long and dangerous path to India to observe practices and to recover/translate texts. There were hundreds of monks who had done this. [1] Faxian and Xuanzang were among these monks who had traveled to India. The selflessness of Faxian and Xuanzang, was the most important factor in developing Buddhism in China and this lead to the sophistication of China. Faxian and Xuanzang were unselfish because their goal and self sacrifice lead them to develop Buddhism in China. This caused China to be more sophisticated because it created new ways of thinking increase in economy.
Faxian’s selflessness was the key factor in establishing Buddhism in China. Faxian was one of the first and oldest monk to travel to India. As stated in “A Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms”, Faxian’s main goal in venturing to India was to obtain texts related to monastic rules.[2] This shows that Faxian was a selfless man because he understood that in order for Buddhism to grow in China, important texts were necessary from India. Furthermore, When Faxian started his pilgrimage towards India in 399CE, he was accompanied by 4 other monks. Their travels included deserts that were described as “hot evil” and of snowy mountains where cold storms were taking place. With these harsh environments, all of Faxians companions passed away. [3]This displays the selflessness of Faxian because he did not let the factors of being old, harsh environments and the passing of his fellow companions stop him from completing his pilgrimage. Faxian understood that his goal of enlightening the people of China was more important than his own struggles. Another example of Faxians selflessness is when he did not decide to stay in India and instead went back to China. While in India, Faxian decided to visit a famous Buddhist site called Vulture peak. This caused Faxian to cry from being in such a religious site and having missed Buddha himself.[4] Daozheng, a monk who was with Faxian, was so moved by the sites in India that he decided that he would not return to China and stay in India instead. The fact Doazheng and Faxian was so moved by the sites of India that Doazhang decided to stay demonstrates Faxian’s unselfishness because the decision of going back to China to develop Buddhism was an act of self sacrifice. This shows that Faxian’s selflessness was a key role in the development of Buddhism in China. Xuanzang, another a Buddhist monk also had the same idea.
Xuanzang’s selflessness also another key factor in establishing Buddhism in China. Xuanzang was frustrated with the texts pertaining to Buddhism because there were many words and meanings that were lost in translation. Thus, Xuanzang main goal in venturing to India was to obtain even more texts and clear up mistakes with translations.[5] This illustrates how Xuanzang is selfless because he wanted to improve the texts for not only himself, but for the people of China as well. Like Faxian, Xuanzang also had a relatively rough trip. Xuanzang made an illegal trip to India where he experienced days with out food or water in a desert, lost his companions because they feared government opposition and faced a king that wanted to use force towards Xaunzang to become a teacher. [6] This exemplifies that Xuanzangis selfless because he continued with his pilgrimage to India, despite facing many hardships, to accomplish his goal of obtaining new Buddhist’s texts and to improve the translations for the people of China and himself. Another example of Xuanzang’s unselfishness, like Faxian, he also decided to return to China after visiting India. With a conversation with an Indian monk, Xuanzang was questioned “Why then do you wish to leave, having come so far? Moreover, China is a country of mlecchas, of unimportant barbarians, who despise the religious and the Faith. India is the land of Buddha’s birth.”[7] Xuanzang replies with “Buddha established his doctrine so that it might be diffused to all lands. Who would wish to enjoy it alone, and to forget those who are not yet enlightened? Besides, in my country the magistrates are clothed with dignity.”[8] This indicates Xuanzang’s unselfishness because despite being in the land where Buddha was born, he understands that Buddhism should be shared to those who are not “enlightened” and wishes to spread the word of Buddhism to China. This shows that Xuanzang selflessness was important in the development for Buddhism in China.
With the success of pilgrimages to India which caused a flourishment of Buddhism in China, Buddhism allowed China to become more sophisticated. After Faxian collected and translated the texts, like the Mahāparinirvana Sutra, the Mahāsāmghika Vinaya and many more, his accounts influenced the Chinese perception of India as an advanced and mature society.[9] The Chinese considered everyone that was not Chinese to be barbaric. However, with Faxians accounts on India for the development of Buddhism, lead people to realize that there were other people who were as sophisticated as themselves. This conveys that with the development of Buddhism brought sophistication of the Chinese people because it showed that there are other people out there that are as culturally advanced as the Chinese. Also, Buddhism sophisticated Chinese people because it educated about thoughts of the afterlife. Buddhism teaches its students that there are continues births which is determined by good or bad deeds. With having good deeds as the only way to escape suffering and purgatory. [10] This change in thought sophisticated Chinese culture because it educated people that there was more to life than their own life. With the thought of an afterlife brought questions life is truly about and made Chinese people more conscious of their own behaviour to try and escape suffering.
As well as a new way of thinking, Buddhism brought sophistication of China by improving economy. Buddhism brought sophistication to China by increasing infrastructure. China experienced a “borderland complex. The country of India is important for Buddhism because Buddha was born there, certain landmarks and relics left behind by buddha made the land sacred. In comparison to China, India was far more sacred.[11] This caused China to try and make to change that and made it a respectable Buddhist center by building infrastructure. This caused China to become more sophisticated because infrastructure brought new buildings and thus lead to tourism. This increased Chinas economy by increasing culture which lead to a more sophisticated China. Also, Buddhism sophisticated China by forming new relationships with other nations. While Buddhism was still progressing in china, the demand of Buddhist relics caused a circulation of items between Buddhist monks and itinerant traders.[12] This relationship caused China to become sophisticated because it let commodities to be easier to attain which lead to a more relaxed life. Also, another relationship that was formed from Buddhism that help to sophisticate China was with India. Xuanzang seeked a lot of authoritative relationships when pilgrimaging to India. Kings were interested because they wanted to build a loyalty beyond ethnic or language barriers and Buddhism served the perfect solution. [13] This formed a relationship with China and India. This relationship sophisticated China because both India and China had similar goals where they worked together to achieve them. These goals included trade possibilities and keeping Tibet in check, which thus made China grow as a nation and this growth sophisticated china to be a more advanced economy. This shows that Buddhism sophisticated China by growing its economy.
Faxian and Xuanzang was both selfless monks because their overall goal was to develop Buddhism in China to help enlighten the people. They were also unselfish because they underwent many self sacrifices, like the passing away of friends, starvation, and leaving the land where buddha was born, in order to fulfill their goal. Buddhism had successfully developed in China because of the monks and this lead to a sophistication of China. Buddhism sophisticated china by allowing people to see life in a different way and change their perception of India. Buddhism also sophisticated China by increasing economy by building new infrastructure and increasing relationships with different nations to accomplish trade and similar goals. Buddhism is a major part of China’s culture and without the selflessness of the monks, Buddhism would have never had happened in China which would lead to a very different China then we know today.
Bibliography
Li, Xican. “Faxian’s Biography and His Contributions to Asian Buddhist Culture: Latest
Textual Analysis.” Asian Culture and History 8, no. 1 (2015).
Sen, Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”
Education About Asia 11 no.3 (Winter 2006).
Sen, Tansen. “Introduction,” in Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade: the realignment of
Sino-Indian relations, 600-1400. University of Hawaii Press, 2003.
Stewart, Gordon. “Chapter 1: Monasteries and Monarchs: Xuanzang (618-632 A.D.)” in
When Asia Was the World. Cambridge: De Capo Press, 2008.
[1] Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”24
[2] Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”25
[3] Xican. “Faxian’s Biography and His Contributions to Asian Buddhist Culture: Latest
Textual Analysis.” 40
[4] Xican. “Faxian’s Biography and His Contributions to Asian Buddhist Culture, 40
[5] Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”27
[6] Gordon. “Chapter 1: Monasteries and Monarchs: Xuanzang (618-632 A.D.)” in
When Asia Was the World, 2
[7] Tansen. “Introduction,” in Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade: the realignment of
Sino-Indian relations, 11
[8] Tansen. “Introduction,” in Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade: the realignment of
Sino-Indian relations, 11
[9] Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”27
[10] Tansen. “Introduction,” in Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade: the realignment of
Sino-Indian relations, 7
[11] Tansen. “Introduction,” in Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade: the realignment of
Sino-Indian relations, 11
[12] Tansen. “The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzhang, and Yijing,”26
[13] Stewart, Gordon. “Chapter 1: Monasteries and Monarchs: Xuanzang, 4