biography
| name: |
Xuanzang
|
| |
also spelled Hsüan-tsang
|
pronunciation:
[shwantsang]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (600–64)
|
| biography:
| Buddhist pilgrim, explorer, and diarist, born in Chen-lu, C China. Inspired by earlier travellers, he made an epic journey to India (629–45) for Buddhist Scriptures. He crossed the Gobi and Xinjiang, traversed modern Afghanistan, and stayed two years in the Indus valley. He visited all the major historical sites in N India, journeyed 140 mi to the S, and returned up the W coast. He returned to China carrying 150 pieces of Buddha's body, 657 books, and the recipe for making sugar. His vivid account, published in 646, is a major source on 7th-c Asia. |
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