Faxian: Difference between revisions

| background = #FFA500

| name = Faxian

| image = Faxian statue in Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium Singapore.jpg

| caption = An honorary = Faxian statuesculpture inat athe Singapore museum.Maritime Museum

| religion = [[Buddhism]]

| alias = Fa-hsien,Gong Sehi

| monastic name = Fǎxiǎn

| parents = Tsang Hi (father)

| birth_date = 337 CE

| birth_place = Pingyang Wuyang ({{lang|zh|平陽武陽}}), in modern [[Linfen City]], [[Shanxi]]

| death_date = c. = {{Circa|422 CE}} (aged 85)

| works = ''Foguoji'' (''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms'')

| t = {{linktext|法|顯}}

| s = {{linktext|法|显}}

| p = Fǎxiǎn

| w = Fa³-hsien³

| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|f|a|3|.|x|ian|3}}

|h y =Fap Fat⁵³-hienhin³²

| ci = {{IPAc-yue|f|at|3|.|h|in|2}}

| poj = Huat-hién

| mc = Pjop-xén

| kanji = 法顕

| kana = ほっけん

| romaji = Hokken

| san = फा हियान}}

'''Faxian'''<!--Chinese (法顯in {{IPAc-cmn|f|a|3|.|x|ian|3}}infobox; 337see <small>CE</small[[WP:MOS-ZH]]--> – (337–{{c. |422 <small>CE</small>}}), alsoformerly referred[[romanization toof Chinese|romanized]] as '''Fa-Hienhien''', and '''Fa-hsien''' and '''Sehi''', was a [[Han Chinese|Chinese]] [[BhikkhuChinese Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[bhikkhu|monk]] and translator who traveled byon foot from [[Eastern Jin dynasty|Jin China]] to [[medieval India]] to acquire [[Buddhist textsscripture]]s. His birth name was '''Gong Sehi'''.{{fact|date=May 2024}}{{dubious|1=Sehi isn't pinyin or a set of noises from Middle Chinese; not in any biography; seems to have been made up/garbled by Britannica|date=May 2024}} Starting his arduous journey about age 60, he visitedtraveled west along the overland [[Silk Road]], sacredvisiting Buddhist sites in [[Central Asia|Central]], [[South Asia|South]], and [[Southeast Asia]]. betweenThe 399journey and 412return CE,took offrom which399 to 412, with 10 years were spent in India.<ref{{sfnp|''Enc. name="Britannica" /><ref name="Brit.''|2019}}{{sfnp|Deeg" /><ref name="|2019}}{{sfnp|Sen" />|2006}}

HeFaxian's describedaccount of his journey[[Buddhist inpilgrimage|pilgrimage]], his travelogue,the ''AFoguoji'' or ''[[Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms]]'' (''Foguo Ji'' 佛國記). His memoirs, are a notable independent record of early Buddhism in India. He tookreturned withto himChina with a large number of Sanskrit texts, whose translations greatly influenced East Asian Buddhism and which provide a ''{{lang|la|[[terminus ante quem]]''}} for many historical names, events, texts, and ideas therein.<ref name="Britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Faxian Faxian], {{sfnp|''EncyclopaediaEnc. BritannicaBrit.'', |2019.</ref><ref name="}}{{sfnp|Deeg" />|2019}}

[[File:Faxian zhuan.JPG|thumb|12th-century woodblock print, 1st page of the Travels of Faxian (Record of the Buddhist Countries). The first sentences read: "In [[Chang'an]], Faxian was distressed that the ''Vinaya'' collections waswere incomplete. Therefore, so in the 2nd year of Hóngshǐ,[[Yao Xing|Hongshi]] or jǐthe Ji-hàiHai inyear (36) of the [[sexagenary cycle]] [the [[Chinese calendar|Chinese year]] covering late 399/ and early 400], he agreed with Huijing, Daozheng, Huiying, and HuiwéiHuiwei to go seek out more of the ''Vinaya'' in India."]]

In 399 CE, about age 60, Faxian was among the earliest attested pilgrims to India. He set out with nine others to locate sacredfrom [[Buddhism|BuddhistChang'an]] texts.<ref name="Prusek Slupski p35">[[Jaroslav Průšek]] and Zbigniew Słupski, eds.,the ''Dictionarycapital of Orientalthe Literatures:Buddhist East[[Later Asia''Qin (Charles Tuttledynasty]], 1978):along 35.</ref><refwith name="Sen">Tansenfour Senothers (2006),to "Thelocate Travelsacred RecordsBuddhist oftexts Chineseand Pilgrimswas Faxian,later Xuanzangjoined andby Yijing",five ''Educationmore Aboutpilgrims Asia'',at Volume[[Zhangye]].{{sfnp|Průšek 11,& Number 3, ppal. 24–31</ref>|1978|p=35}}{{sfnp|Sen|2006}} He visited India in the early fifth century. He is said to have walked all the way from China across the icy desert and rugged mountain passes. He entered India from the northwest and reached [[Pataliputra]]. He took back with him a large number of Sanskrit Buddhist texts and images sacred to Buddhism. Upon his return to China, he is also credited with translating these Sanskrit texts into Chinese.<ref{{sfnp|''Enc. name="Britannica" /><ref name="Brit.''|2019}}{{sfnp|Deeg" />|2019}}

Faxian's visit to India occurred during the reign of [[Chandragupta II]]. He entered the Indian subcontinent through the northwest. His memoirs describe his 10 year stay in India. He visited the major sites associated with the Buddha, as well the renowned centers of education and Buddhist monasteries. He visited Kapilvastu ([[Lumbini]]), [[Bodh Gaya]], Benares ([[Varanasi]]), [[Shravasti]], and [[Kushinagar]], all linked to events in Buddha's life. Faxian learned Sanskrit, and collected Indian literature from Pataliputra (Patna), [[Oddiyana]], and [[Taxila]] in [[Gandhara]]. His memoirs mention the Hinayana (Theravada) and emerging Mahayana traditions, as well as the splintering and dissenting Theravada sub-traditions in 5th-century Indian Buddhism. Before he had begun his journey back to China, he had amassed a large number of Sanskrit texts of his times.<ref{{sfnp|''Enc. name="Britannica" /><ref name="Brit.''|2019}}{{sfnp|Deeg" />|2019}}

On Faxian's way back to China, after a two-year stay in [[Sri Lanka]], a violent storm drove his ship onto an island, probably [[Java]].<ref>Buswell, Robert E. & Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (2014). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ&q=amala&pg=PA275 The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism]'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 297</ref> After five months there, Faxian took another ship for southern China, but again it was [[blown off course]] and he ended up landing at [[Mount Lao]] in what is now [[Shandong]] in northern China, {{convert|30|km}} east of the city of [[Qingdao]]. He spent the rest of his life translating and editing the scriptures he had collected. These were influential to the history of Chinese Buddhism that followed.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="Deeg">{{cite book sfnp|last=Deeg''Enc. Brit.''|first=Max 2019}}{{sfnp|title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History Deeg|chapter=Chinese Buddhist Travelers: Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.217 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 }}</ref>

Faxian returned in 412 and settled in what is now [[Nanjing]]. He wrote a book on his travels around the year 414, filled with accounts of early Buddhism and the geography and history of numerous countries along the [[Silk Road]], as they were, at the turn of the 5th century CE. He wrote about cities like [[Taxila]], Pataliputra, [[Mathura]], and [[Kannauj]] in [[Madhyadesha]]. He also wrote that inhabitants of Madhyadesha eat and dress like Chinese people. He declared Patliputra to be a prosperous city.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2124/2124-h/2124-h.htm |title=''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms'' (Chapter XXVII: Pataliputra or Patna, In Magadha)|website=gutenberg.org |author=Fa-Hien|publication-date=415 |year=1875 |version=Translated}}</ref> He returned in 412 and settled in what is now [[Nanjing]]. In 414, he wrote (or dictated) ''Foguoji'' (''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms''; also known as ''Faxian's Account''). He spent the next decade, until his death, translating the Buddhist [[sutra]]s he had brought with him from [[India]].<ref{{sfnp|Průšek name="Prusek& Slupski p35" />al.|1978|p=35}}

[[File:FaBEAL(1869) HienFAH-HIAN'S atROUTE theTHROUGH ruinsINDIA ofAND Ashoka palaceTARTARY.jpg|thumb|Faright|250px|Faxian's Hienroute atthrough theIndia, ruinsfrom ofBeal's Ashoka palaceedition{{sfnp|Beal|1884}}]]

Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he himself has told us. Fa-Hien was his clerical name, and means "Illustrious in the Law," or "Illustrious master of the Law." The Shih which often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] as Sakyamuni, "the [[Shakya|Sakya]], mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and Silence," and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes said to have belonged to "the eastern [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Tsin dynasty]]" (317–419 CE), and sometimes to "the Sung," that is, the [[Liu Song dynasty|Sung dynasty of the House of Liu]] (420–478 CE). If he became a full monk at the age.... of twenty, and went to India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been divided pretty equally between the two dynasties.<ref>{{cite booksfnp|last=Legge|first=James|author-link=James Legge|title=Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms by Chinese Monk , Fa-Hien|url=http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/rbddh10.pdf|publisher=Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc.|access-date=August 9, 2019}} {{PD-notice1886}}</ref>}}

== FaxianWorks memoir==

HeFaxian noted that central Asian cities such as Khotan were Buddhist, with the clergy reading Indian manuscripts in Indian languages. The local community revered the monks. InHe mentions a flourishing Buddhist community in [[Taxila]] (now in Pakistan), states Faxian, he mentionsamid a flourishinggenerally non-Buddhist community midst non-Buddhists. He describes elaborate rituals and public worship ceremonies, with support of the king, in the honor of the Buddha in India and [[Sri Lanka]]. He wrote about cities like Pataliputra, [[Mathura]], and [[Kannauj]] in [[Madhyadesha]]. He also wrote that inhabitants of Madhyadesha eat and dress like Chinese people. He declared Patliputra to be a prosperous city.{{sfnp|Legge|1886|loc=Ch. 27}} He left India about 409 from Tamralipti –, a port he states to be on its eastern coast. However, some of his Chinese companion pilgrims who came with him on the journey decided to stay in India.<ref name="{{sfnp|Sen" />|2006}}

{{Quote|The cities and towns of this country [Magadha] are the greatest of all in the Middle Kingdom [Mathura through Deccan]. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every year on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession of images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure of four storeys by means of bamboos tied together. This is supported by a king-post, with poles and lances slanting from it, and is rather more than twenty cubits high, having the shape of a tope. White and silk-like cloth of hair is wrapped all round it, which is then painted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers and canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a Buddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on him. There may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one different from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity within the borders all come together; they have singers and skillful musicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and incense. The Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so in order, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep lamps burning, have skillful music, and present offerings. This is the practice in all the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya families in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and when they are better, they go away of themselves.|Faxian, c. 415 CE<ref>{{Cite websfnp|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2124/2124-h/2124-h.htm Legge|title=''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms'' (Chapter XXVII: Pataliputra or Patna, In Magadha)1886|websiteloc=gutenbergCh.org |author=Fa-Hien|publication-date=415 |year=1875 |version=Translated}} {{PD-notice27}}</ref>}}

{{Quote|At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the sailing-masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than seventy days passed (from their leaving Java), and the provisions and water were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for cooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) water, each man getting two pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel and said, “At the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;—must we not have held a wrong course?” Immediately they directed the ship to the north-west, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for twelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao, on the borders of the prefecture of Ch’ang-kwang, and immediately got good water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils and hardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many days together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing those (well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh, they knew indeed that it was the land of Han.|Faxian, c. 415 CE.<ref>[[James {{sfnp|Legge|Legge, James]] (1886)|loc=Ch. ''[http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/ ''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399–414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline''] (Chapter XL: After Two Years Takes Ship for China. Disastrous Passage to Java) 40}}}}

;====French====

* {{citation |author=Faxian |author-link=Faxian |display-authors=0 |editor-last=Abel-Rémusat |editor-first=Jean-Pierre |editor-link=Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat |editor2-last=Klaproth |editor2-first=Julius |editor2-link=Julius Klaproth |editor3-last=De Landresse |editor3-first=Ernest Augustin Xavier Clerc |display-editors=1 |ref={{harvpSfnRef|Abel-Rémusat & al.|1836}} |date=1836 |publisher=[[Royal Printing Office (France)|Royal Printing Office]] |location=Paris |lang=fr |url=https://archive.org/details/fokoukiourelatio00fahs/page/n3/mode/2up |title=''佛國記'' Foé Koué Ki, ou, Relations des Royaumes Bouddhiques: Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan, et dans l'Inde Exécuté à la Fin du IVe Siècle par ChyChy̆ FaFă Hian |trans-title=The Foguoji ''[(佛國記)''The Foguoji, or, Relations of the Buddhist Kingdoms: The Voyage through Tartary, Afghanistan, and India Carried Out at the End of the 4th Century by Shi Faxian'']'' }}.

;====English====

{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170206185521/http://dev.ddbc.edu.tw/han2e/tableFormatHtmls/T51n2085ARecordOfBuddhistKingdoms.html Legge's translation with original Chinese text, T 2085]{{Dead link|date=November 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080911144832/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/index.html ''Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401115243/https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/index.html |date=2015-04-01 }}, [[University of Adelaide]]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/2016082820391420100726195545/httpshttp://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/complete.html ''Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms (Complete HTML at web.archive.org)''] , [[University of Adelaide]]

[[Category:Liu Song Buddhist monksBuddhists]]

[[Category:Later Zhao Buddhist monksBuddhists]]

[[Category:Later Qin Buddhist monksBuddhists]]