Because of the TV series "Journey to the West", the story of the four Tang monks and apprentices in the West Heaven is well-known, after all, it is a novel adaptation, there is a certain fictional component, but it can be determined that the real Tang monk is the monk of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang is his Dharma number, he is a person who traveled to distant India to seek Buddhism.
His Buddhist wisdom has reached its peak. With the supreme respect of all Buddhas, he translated a large number of Buddhist scriptures, not only making great contributions to Sino-Indian cultural exchanges, but also unprecedented even in the history of world culture.
The Tang monks spent nineteen years in the Western Heavens, traveled a total of more than 100 countries, traveled more than 50,000 kilometers, and did not know how many tribulations they had experienced. At that time, there was no modern means of transportation, and many countries along the way did not have diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty, and Master Xuanzang actually accomplished this feat alone, which has to be said to be a miracle.
At that time, from the Capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City, to Tianzhu, which is now India, there were three main passages, so why did Master Xuanzang choose the farthest path?
The nearest road is over the Tibetan Plateau
From Xi'an, cross the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Reach Tianzhu. This road is the closest. As early as ancient times, the Central Plains region has a particularly deep connection with the Tibet region, with the world-famous Tea Horse Ancient Road and the Tang Dynasty Ancient Road.
In particular, the Tang Dynasty Ancient Road was an official road between the Tang Dynasty and Tibet, which is now the national highway, and was the highest level of road at that time.
This ancient road passes through Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet, four vast provinces, throughout the ages, the harsh climatic conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have always been intimidating, although it is a national road, if you take this road must be organized to pass, even experienced explorers do not dare to try.
At that time, there were many uncivilized tribes in this area, especially Tubo and tang dynasties were still in a state of hostility, and once they were caught, the consequences were unimaginable.
To take this road, you must pass through the Hengduan MountainOus Area, which has the most complex, steep and huge mountain system in the world, and between the mountains are countless rivers, such as the Dadu River, the Xianshui River, the Yalong River, the Jinsha River, the Lancang River, the Nu River and other well-known large rivers in Asia. The drop height difference on many roads is up to two or three kilometers.
For example, There is a section of road in Kangding, the straight-line distance is only 30 kilometers, but the altitude has suddenly increased to 2530 meters. The climate environment is complex and changeable, the temperature difference is large, and it may experience several seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter in one day, which is very exhausting.
This area is full of primeval forests, and the mountains are densely covered with various fogs, and if you are not careful, you will get lost. Rain comes and goes, and you can encounter landslides, landslides, or even mudslides at any time.
This place is a paradise for animals, with Bengal tigers, the oldest and most lethal clouded leopard in the big cat family, fearful giant pythons, cobras, and black bears everywhere.
These animals are very fierce, such as the king cobra, once bitten by it, it will undoubtedly die within a few minutes, and the big black bear can shoot thousands of pounds of strength with one slap, which is a disaster for humans.
In addition to the official road, there is also a trade route, that is, the Tea Horse Ancient Road, which originated from the ancient southwest frontier and the northwest frontier of tea and horse trade, and there are three ancient tea horse roads in China.
If you start from Xi'an, Master Xuanzang can only take the Sichuan line, from Ya'an, Sichuan, through Luding, Kangding, Batang, Qamdo to Lhasa, Tibet, and then to Nepal and India, which is the highest terrain and the most dangerous ancient road in the world.
There is also the famous Shu Dao, which is difficult to go to Qingtian, taking this road is more dangerous than the Tang Fan Ancient Road, and Xuanzang alone cannot choose this road at all.
The southern line in the center is even more dangerous
In addition to this nearest road, there is also a road, this road is not far away, starting from Chang'an also takes Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, during which you have to cross the Hengduan Mountains to enter the Myanmar region, and then go west into the Tianzhu boundary.
This road is very dangerous, especially in Yunnan, which is a multi-ethnic region, and many places exist in the form of tribes, which may be independent of small countries. At that time, the tribes often fought, fighting and killing every day, and even changing tribal leaders in a few days.
These places were very civilized, belonged to the wild land, and were called "Southern Barbarians" at that time. Coupled with the language barrier, it is almost impossible to communicate.
Even if Master Xuanzang has a high level of cultivation, it is useless, in this barbaric place it can be said that xiucai encountered soldiers with reason, this place is easy to come in, it is difficult to go out, if you don't pay attention, you may lose your life.
Many local people do not know the world-famous Tang Dynasty, and the story of the idiom "Night Lang Arrogance" comes from here, which shows the degree of isolation of these places.
What is more troublesome is that this place belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate, the rain forest is dense, poisonous insect miasma and other harmful things are everywhere, and it is impossible to prevent it, which is fierce and less auspicious for Xuanzang Mage living in the north.
Strictly speaking, this road is not actually a local road, but the more adventurous people in the local area have walked it.
Without these people as guides, the locals would not dare to go. For Master Xuanzang, a northerner, it was equivalent to opening up a new passage alone, and even if he had perseverance, it was a task that was simply impossible to complete.
The harsh natural environment is difficult to pass even in modern times, and the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which crossed the northern Region of Burma with good equipment, also sacrificed many people and paid a tragic price because of the bad road conditions.
The ancient Silk Road was the only viable route
According to the international situation and road conditions at that time, the ancient Silk Road is the most suitable, and it has become the only choice for Xuanzang, taking this road, although it will go around a large circle, walk thousands of kilometers, during which you also have to cross a lot of snowy mountains, through a lot of deserts, but it is much safer, there are the following reasons:
The first reason is that this road is the spread route of Buddhism, which spread from India in South Asia, from west to east along the ancient Silk Road, and it is easier for Master Xuanzang to communicate with everyone in areas where Buddhism is widespread.
Secondly, this road has a long history, as early as ancient times, in the Nile River Basin, the Two Rivers Valley, the Indus River Basin and the Grassland North of the Yellow River Basin, human beings have long begun the initial trade, naturally forming many small roads, which is the prototype of the earliest Silk Road.
By the 15th century BC, Chinese merchants traded frequently with Central Asia. Another favorable condition was that at that time, it was the birthplace of world civilization, with vast grasslands and fertile land, and the reason why it became the world-famous Silk Road was inseparable from the good natural environment and humanistic foundation.
Another important reason is that the Silk Roads were actually very prosperous at that time.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Anxi Protectorate was established in the west, covering a large area of areas such as present-day Xinjiang, eastern and southeastern Kazakhstan, all of Kyrgyzstan, eastern Tajikistan, most of Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, eastern half of Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Anxi Capital Protectorate is located in the four towns of Anxi, the Tang Dynasty has a garrison in the local area, the total number of people is about 40,000 people, the army needs a lot of material consumption, but also to supply administrative units at all levels and vassal states, which is a huge expense.
The Tang government did not allocate any funds at all, and only settled it through taxes on merchants on the Silk Road, and you can imagine how frequent trade and how prosperous commerce was on the road.
The biggest difficulty for Master Xuanzang was not the difficulty of the journey, but the attitude of the Tang government, when Tang Taizong Li Shimin respected Taoism, but Buddhism was more prevalent at that time.
There are many temples all over the country, incense is exuberant, the treatment of Buddhist disciples is very rich, and the threshold for becoming a monk is very low. A large number of young and middle-aged people became monks, resulting in the Loss of a large number of laborers in the Tang Dynasty.
For the Tang Dynasty, which had just experienced war and turmoil and the destruction of the country's economy, this situation seriously affected the economic development of the Tang Dynasty, and the dissatisfaction with Buddhism at all levels of the imperial court was also very obvious.
In particular, Tang Taizong had a serious tendency to respect the Buddha, and often used the story of Emperor Liangwu sacrificing himself to enter the Buddhist gate as a negative teaching material, warning everyone that this would lead to the demise of the country, so curbing the development of Buddhism was the general will of the imperial court at that time.
Under these circumstances, Tang Taizong clearly stated that he did not agree to Xuanzang's going to India, but Xuanzang's determination was already determined, so he "risked the charter and went to Tianzhu privately", that is, he disregarded the state decrees and went to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures.
In the second year of Zhenguan (628 AD), Master Xuanzang carried simple luggage and resolutely embarked on a difficult journey to the west.
Therefore, strictly speaking, Xuanzang's going abroad was a smuggling, he did not pass the customs clearance, from Lanzhou to Liangzhou, he had to go all the way out day and night, and even mixed with the displaced people to escape the Tang army's checkpoint.
Out of the Tang Dynasty, into the Western Regions, everywhere he went were countries that advocated Buddhism, and his profound knowledge of Buddhism benefited him a lot.
At that time, it was the Western Turks who ruled the western part of Central Asia, and had formed an alliance with the Tang Dynasty for many years, and they had common interests with each other, and the two countries had very close contacts.
In 629 AD, the third year of the Tang Dynasty's Zhenguan, Master Xuanzang traveled along the ancient Silk Road to Shanye City, which is now Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan.
Here he met the Western Turk Sha Bao Luo Khan, who greatly admired Xuanzang's Buddhist realm, warmly received him, gave him a lot of financial support, and sent a young man who was proficient in Chinese as his assistant to escort Xuanzang all the way to the west.
Master Xuanzang not only popularized Buddhism all the way, but also publicized the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, many countries found for the first time that there were still such powerful countries in the world, Master Xuanzang invisibly became the cultural messenger of Datang, compared with these countries, Datang's economy, culture and even science and technology are so advanced.
Therefore, many countries began to send people to the Tang Dynasty to study, so Master Xuanzang's westward journey played an immeasurable role in promoting the cultural development of the countries along the way.
Master Xuanzang's sutras in India were a complete success
After all the hardships, Xuanzang finally came to India, starting with Gashmila, in order to better communicate, Xuanzang studied Sanskrit while studying Buddhism, and his Buddhist attainments continued to improve.
For the first time since the birth of the Indian Buddhist community, monks from the most developed countries in the world have visited, which immediately caused a great sensation.
In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, the 42-year-old Xuanzang received the highest standard of courtesy in the Indian Buddhist world.
That year, the World Buddhist Debate Conference was held in Qunu City, India, and almost all the Buddhist leaders at that time were present, and there were 18 kings, more than 3,000 Buddhist monks and more than 2,000 believers in the audience.
Ruins of the Indian City of Qunu
In India, Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism are two buddhist sects, they often deny each other, very rarely, Xuanzang is recognized by both Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism, revered by Mahayana Buddhism as "Mahayana Heaven", and revered by Hinayana Buddhism as "Liberation Heaven".
Not only that, the famous Buddhist king of India also solemnly invited him to participate in the five-year, 75-day unshaked conference, which was a more down-to-earth Buddhist event, with all kinds of indiscriminate questions and debates, which can be said to be a hundred schools of thought.
If the Buddhist debate conference held in Qunu City will reflect a kind of courtesy of international exchange, then the unobstructed conference is a war of words that goes straight to the theme and has no taboos.
The Buddhist king of the Precepts
However, slowly everyone's eyes gradually turned to Master Xuanzang, and later there was only the voice of Master Xuanzang alone. In this way, Master Xuanzang participated in almost all the high-level Buddhist conferences in India and received countless praises, so that Xuanzang was able to learn the sutras and returned home calmly.
In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the 45-year-old Xuanzang embarked on the road back to China with 658 Buddhist scriptures, 150 Buddha relics, and 7 Buddha statues.
When Master Xuanzang returned, he still had a difficulty, that is, Tang Taizong's disapproval, Tang Taizong put forward a request as a condition for him to translate buddhist scriptures, asking Master Xuanzang to introduce the situation of the country along the way, saying that it was to prepare for the unification of the western region.
So Master Xuanzang wrote a 100,000-word "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty". This was a rare and important document at that time, with a very wide range of contents, covering the history, culture, geography, agriculture, commerce, language, writing, religion and other contents of more than 100 countries on the ancient Silk Road.
Many contents are not recorded in local countries, this book has become an important archaeological basis for these countries, has become a classic existence, "Tang Dynasty Western Regions" has made indelible contributions to the promotion of the development of world culture.
In order to obtain Tang Taizong's permission, Master Xuanzang also translated a large number of documents for Tang Taizong, and for the first few years after returning from India, he worked for the imperial court.
After completing these tasks, Master Xuanzang began his own translation work, correcting mistakes in the Buddhist scriptures, clearing the source of the original text, and exhausting the rest of his life. He translated 75 books of scripture, up to 1335 volumes.
In order to make Buddhism legal in the Tang Dynasty, Master Xuanzang did the work of Tang Taizong many times, and under his almost stubborn efforts, Tang Taizong finally agreed, and also wrote the "Tang Sanzang Sacred Order", and the crown prince Li Zhi was also infected and wrote the "Shusheng Ji".
These two articles enabled Buddhism to spread in the Tang Dynasty and played an escort role, and it can be said that Master Xuanzang has immeasurable merit in this regard.
On the map of the Silk Road, it can be seen that the center of the Silk Road is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, Xi'an, from Xi'an to the world, is the world's largest trade route, which was also the center of the world at that time.
The reason why Master Xuanzang's Western Heavenly Sutra is so sensational is that his pure Buddhist achievements are pure fire, and there is also an important factor, that is, the powerful Tang Dynasty made the world yearn, and Xuanzang's Buddhist achievements plus the Tang Dynasty culture that led the development of world culture, like two dazzling stars, jointly reflected that era.
bibliography
"Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", "Biography of the Three Tibetan Masters", "Classic General History of China"