In the novel Journey to the West, Tang Monk is a kind, somewhat stubborn monk who is devoted to the Buddha. The story of Journey to the West tells the story of him taking a few disciples to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, in fact, in the history of China, there is really a Tang Xuanzang. The difference was that there were no demons who wanted to eat him, and there were no disciples with great powers, but he did get the sutra. The historical Tang Xuanzang was born in the second year of Renshou (602, 600 years) of the Sui Dynasty, and he was still a famous person, influenced by his family lineage, he studied Confucian classics from an early age.
After his father's death, his second brother first became a monk at the Pure Land Temple in Luoyang, also known as Master Changjie. At the age of eleven, he began to study Buddhism with his brother, and Xuanzang's understanding was higher than that of his brother, and he was very much appreciated by Dali Siqing. The next year he also dealt with the price at the Jodo-ji Temple, and since then he has spent six years at the Jodo-ji Temple, where he has studied both the Nirvana Sutra and the Mahayana Sutra. In the first year of Tang Gaozu Wude (618), due to the war, Xuanzang went to Luoyang with his brother, and his reputation gradually spread. Because there has always been a debate in the Buddhist circles about whether sentient beings have Buddha-nature or not, Tang Xuanzang wanted to solve this problem, and the solution to this problem was to go to India.
Unlike the novel, there was still war at that time, so he was not Li Shimin's righteous brother before leaving, and Xuanzang himself also deliberately concealed this matter. After his return, he brought 657 Buddhist scriptures back to Chang'an, and Li Shimin received him for the first time. At the time of the reception, Li Shimin also asked him why he did not ask the imperial court for help. In the first year of Lin De (664), he translated the last volume of the Five Songs of Mantras and stopped writing. By this time he was very old and no longer had the strength to translate, and before he died, he deliberately left his experience to future generations.
Therefore, he dictated and wrote the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", which recorded the 110 countries and regions that Xuanzang passed through and the 20 countries and regions that he was rumored to know, almost all of which were available. It can be used not only to study East Asia, but also to study important historical materials in Middle and South Asia. Xuanzang was famous in Chang'an City at that time, and after his death, millions of people sent him away and buried his bones in Bailuyuan.
In the second year of Tang Zongzhang (669), it was moved to the Xingjiao Temple of the Tang Protectorate, and Tang Suzong personally inscribed the two characters of Xingjiao. However, after several turns, his spiritual bones became scattered, and it is recorded that a parietal bone was removed to Changgan Temple (i.e., Tianxi Temple, later renamed Dabao'en Temple). It was later destroyed in the war, and in this area, the Jinling Machine Manufacturing Bureau, also known as the Jinling Arsenal, was established in the late Qing Dynasty. Xuanzang's parietal bone was destined to be unrestful, because it was followed by a 14-year-long War of Resistance Against Japan, and Nanjing was a very important place, but it was still lost.
Shortly after the defeat at the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese set their sights on Nanjing, the capital at the time. On December 1, 1937, the base camp issued an order to capture Nanjing in three ways. At that time, the city of Nanjing was garrisoned by about 150,000 people, while the Japanese army had 200,000 people, and with the loss of the Yellow River defense line, Nanjing fell on December 13. From then until 1945, Nanjing was occupied by the Japanese army, destroyed by one-third, and the property damage was countless.
The founding of Xuanzang's parietal bone was in December 1943, when the Japanese army was under construction and inadvertently dug up a stone letter containing Xuanzang's parietal bone. Originally, they didn't know what it was, but they just knew that it was a Cultural Relic of China, and they only subconsciously protected it. What they found was the handwriting on both sides of the stone letter, which clearly stated that this was the Xuanzang parietal bone, and together with historical records, it could be determined whether it was true or false.
Many people may not want to hear it, but the Japanese understand the value of Chinese cultural relics to a certain extent, even if it was during the war years. After knowing the source of the parietal bone, they immediately wanted to transport the parietal bone back to Japan, so they blocked the news. However, the matter was still passed out, and Wang Fu was forced to find the Japanese to negotiate under pressure. Therefore, the Japanese had to smash the parietal bone into three parts, and one part was placed on the xiaojiuhua Mountain on the shore of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing to build a special pagoda to worship.
A copy was kept by Wang Pseudo at the foot of the Jiming Temple in Nanjing, and this one was later invited to the Pilu Temple in 1945 to be enshrined. Another copy was initially sent to Peiping, but part of this one was brought back to Japan by the Japanese and was placed in various monasteries such as Shōjo-ji Temple, Ci'en-ji Temple, and Nara Yakushi-ji Temple. The Japanese regard it as a national treasure, cherish and cherish the place of choice, and will protect it everywhere they go. In 1955, a small part of the Japanese one was divided up and put inside the Ci'en Pagoda of Xuanzang Temple on the edge of Sun Moon Lake. But other than that, it is impossible to get them back, after all, they have robbed more than one national treasure.
The remaining piece of the spirit bone in Beiping was later divided into four parts, which were sent to Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Chengdu, and the one in Tianjin was applied for by India to be sent to India for worship. At the end of 2019, xuanzang's previous parietal bone was finally divided into nine pieces. They are in Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Taipei, Hsinchu, Tokyo, Nara and India for future generations to visit. In fact, his skull was so popular because of its different meaning, and he devoted his life to the cause of translating scriptures. In the past 20 years, 74 Buddhist sutras and 1353 volumes have been translated, which far surpasses the quality of its predecessors and is an outstanding model in the history of translation.