Guo Jianlong
The long and dangerous Silk Road, and the equally long and complex history that surrounded it, the rise and fall of many countries and civilizations are inseparable from it. As its starting point and end point, China's ancient travelers have explored and recorded it more, from Zhang Qian to Faxian, from Xuanzang to Du Huan... In the Yuan Dynasty, there was also the Chinese Bazoma, who went the farthest in the Middle Ages.
In the book "The Great History of the Silk Road", the author Guo Jianlong focuses on excavating the legendary stories in these Chinese historical materials, and outlines the history of the Silk Road from the Chinese perspective through the dual narrative clues of character stories and the fusion of civilizations, showing how the crisscrossing geographical passages between China and the West have shaped the world pattern in history.
He summed up the different stages in the history of The Silk Road in China – the era of conquest, the era of faith, the era of trade, the era of empire, and the era of empire and the era of the central government. From the different national faces at these different stages, the reader can truly feel that while China is constantly deepening its understanding of the world, the world has also profoundly changed China.
Authorized by the publishing house, The Paper's private geographical excerpts the experience of the high monk Faxian of the Southern and Northern Dynasties who went to Tianzhu to seek sutras, showing the style of The Buddha's country of Afghanistan more than a thousand years ago, as well as the hardships and dangers of the journey.
The Great History of the Silk Road; Guo Jianlong; Tiandi Publishing House; 2021-9
Leaving the exhausted fork country, they marched towards the green ridge where the color of the conversation changed.
The Pamir Knot, an important part of the Green Ridge, can be counted as a miracle on Earth. When people talk about mountains, most people think that mountains are a strip of land, even if they are as large as the Himalayas and Kunlun Mountains. But in the Pamir, the so-called mountains are not strips, but a mess, where many mountains knot.
The Pamir knot is terrifying because it is related to several famous mountain ranges in the world, namely the Himalayas, the Kunlun Mountains, the Karakoram Mountains, and the Hindu Kush Mountains, which are like four streamers, and suddenly tie knots in the Pamir to form a highland. For this reason, the Pamir is called the "real roof of the world", the harshest environment for life. Legend has it that the Green Ridge hides poisonous dragons, often spewing poisonous winds, rain and snow, flying sand, and gravel, killing pedestrians, in fact, this is just a harsh natural environment.
In fact, going to the "Western Heavens" does not necessarily take the Onion Ridge, there are roughly three main passages in western Xinjiang, which can lead to foreign countries, namely: the first, from the north of the Tianshan Mountains or the Ili River Valley into the territory of modern Kazakhstan, where the grasslands are the mainstay, which is the road of nomadic people; the second, the road from the south of the Tianshan Mountains to modern Kyrgyzstan, that is, into the Fergana Valley, from the road to the Dawan region; the third is the road that crosses the Onion Ridge into Afghanistan or Pakistan.
For example, earlier Zhang Qian took the road to Dawan (the second one), which was north of the Onion Ridge. Once in Dawan, you can bypass the main mountain range of the Green Ridge and enter Afghanistan from the river regions of Central Asia (Samarkand, Bukhara, etc.), and then cross the relatively small Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan into India.
The Green Ridge Road taken by Faxian is the most difficult one, but it is a short road to South Asia, which can bypass Central Asia and Afghanistan and directly enter the territory of present-day Pakistan, similar to the route of the modern China-Pakistan Friendship Highway.
It took Fa Xian a month to cross the Green Ridge and directly enter the Northern Tianzhu in Pakistan. Next to a river called Darel (xuanzang called it the Darilao River), there was a small country called the Torah, located in what is now Dardistan in Pakistan. This small country no longer exists, but was once an important location on the western road. When the Dharma appeared, there was a wooden statue of 8 feet tall and 8 feet long, which was said to have been built according to the true body of Maitreya Bodhisattva by an arhat who sent the craftsmen to Tushi Heaven. According to legend, the statue was created more than three hundred years after the Buddha's death, and another legend believes that after the statue was built, it happened to be when the monks of Tianzhu crossed the river to reach the Han Dynasty and brought Buddhism to China.
It took Fa Xian a month to climb over the onion collar
On the 15th day of the 15th day of the Thammauri, up and down the valley of the Xintou River (present-day Indus), where the river was cut off from the Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains. On the desolate lunar surface, a muddy river rushes down with almost no banks. In order to walk along the river valley, one had to cut a path through the cliffs. Today, the road connecting China and Pakistan is built nearby. This road built with life, in fact, has an extremely limited carrying capacity, but it bears a huge responsibility in the China-Pakistan corridor.
After crossing the Xintou River and entering the Swat River Valley, we arrived at the authentic Northern Tianzhu Wuchang Kingdom, which was considered authentic at that time. The country's capital was in what is now Manglor, Pakistan, not far from the big city of Mingora. Today, Pakistan's complex Northwest ethnic region, bordering Afghanistan, is one of the most prevalent areas of Taliban activity.
There are 500 temples in the country, all of which practice Theravada Buddhism. It is said that the Buddha wandered to the North Tianzhu and stopped when he reached the country of Wuchang. As a result, a series of Buddhist relics have been left here, such as the footprints of the Buddha, the stone of the Buddha's clothes, and the place where the Buddha lived in the dragon. The clothes-drying stone is four feet high and two feet wide, and one of the sides is flat.
When you arrive in the country of Wuchang, the most difficult places along the way will pass.
Here, Hui Jing, Dao Zhen, and Hui Da set off again in advance and went to na Jie Guo to see the miracle of the Buddha's shadow. Although their route bypassed Pakistan without crossing the Hindu Kush Mountains or northern Afghanistan, there were also many Buddhist relics on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, that is, in the southeast of modern Afghanistan, some of which were world-famous (most famously the Buddha's shadow) and were more famous in Central Asia than Bodh Gaya. Many Buddhist monks in the Western Regions go on pilgrimage with the highest goal of seeing the buddha's shadow. Monks from China naturally did not miss it, and needed to take a little detour to see the sights located in today's Afghanistan. Hui Jing and the other three people set off first, which did not mean that the others did not go, Faxian and the others just had to turn around other places first, and then go to na jie guo to see these places.
After sending the three people away, Faxian and the others completed the summer sitting in the kingdom of Wuchang in 402 AD (the first year of Yuan Xing). This year, Faxian crossed the Green Ridge, the land of death, and came to the country of Wuchang, where the terrain was relatively gentle. The tallest mountain range was left behind by him.
After xia sat down, Faxian and the others headed south to the many countries of Suhe (along the Swat River). Buddhism believes in reincarnation, and legend has it that the Buddha's previous life, King Vishnu, once came here, and in order to test his benevolence, Emperor Shi tian turned into an eagle and a dove, and because the eagle wanted to eat the pigeon, the pigeon asked the corpse king for help, and the corpse king had to cut his own flesh in exchange for the pigeon's life. It is also famous for cutting meat to save pigeons.
After traveling east for 5 days from the many countries of Suhe, we reached a famous country in the history of the Western Regions: the Kingdom of Gandhara. Gandhara is located around what is now Peshawar, Pakistan, and in eastern Afghanistan, with a large area and many cities. But Peshawar was historically one of the capitals of the famous Kushan Empire, and was once the center of world trade and the most important transit point on the southern route of the Silk Road. Instead of entering the capital of Gandhara, Dharmakaya initially reached Gandhara, a small city in Gandhara, which belongs to the Theravada Buddhist area and has a large stupa decorated with gold and silver.
Gandhara-style Buddha statue
Seven days east from Gandhawi, it is close to Islamabad, the capital of pakistan, and there is a country in the nearby Rawalpindi region called the Chucha Corpse State. Here, and at the two-day trip to the east, there is a holy place, the former is where the Moonlight King in the buddha's previous life gave his head to people, and the latter is where the Buddha's previous life, Prince Sakina, fed himself to the tigers, and there are large towers in both places, and the kings everywhere give countless alms.
Although Buddhism originated thousands of miles away, when the gandhara was converted to Buddhism, its level of devotion was obviously one level higher than in the authentic areas of Buddhism such as Bodh Gaya. In places like Bodh Gaya, Buddhism has evolved to the point of exploring theories, but in the outer regions, Buddhism has been transformed into a belief based on myths and legends. As a result, the Buddha's various past life identities had to come here again and again, suffering from various disasters to manifest miracles.
Most of the Buddhist sites in India are places where the Buddha actually visited and practiced. However, because the Pakistani region is too far away, it is obvious that the Buddha has not been to this life, and people have to publicize his previous life.
In ancient times, people traveled from present-day Afghanistan to India without passing through Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The capital is a brand new city that was established after Pakistan's independence. In ancient times, to go to India, it was from Gandhawei to the south, and further south into India. So Fa Xian returned to Gandhara and traveled south for 4 days to a city called Fulu sha, which he called Fulu Sha Guo. The so-called Frausha Kingdom is the real capital of Gandhara in the Dharma Dynasty and the location of the modern city of Peshawar. The State of Fulusha had a world-famous building at the time: a huge stupa more than 40 meters high. This height is nearly 100 meters, which is 1.5 times the height of the Leshan Giant Buddha. The pagoda has existed for hundreds of years, until the Xuanzang period.
There is also a famous sacred relic called the Buddha Bowl in the Kingdom of Fulusha, which is said to have been used by the Buddha in that year. After the Guishang King captured this place, he converted to Buddhism under the inspiration of Buddhism, and wanted to pull this bowl away, but 8 elephants could not be pulled, so they had to build a pagoda in the same place. Just as Muslims from all over the world go to Mecca to worship, Buddhists also like to go to the country of Phra Shah to put their offerings in a bowl, the capacity of the bowl is about 2 buckets, but it is said that some poor people put a little and the Buddha bowl is full, while some rich people put a million axes, and the Buddha bowl is not full.
In northern China, Buddhism was introduced from Central Asia, and Buddhism in Central Asia was established under the influence of the Kushan Empire, and in the eyes of many Chinese at that time, the so-called Western Heaven pilgrimage was not to Bodh Gaya in India, but to Flosha, the capital of the Kushan Empire. Among those who were traveling with The Fa Xian, Baoyun and Sangjing traveled west to make offerings to the Buddha, and they did not want to go to the Middle Tianzhu area. Now, now that they have completed their mission, they are going to return home.
Hui Jing, Hui Da, and Dao Zhen had already gone to na Jie Guo in Afghanistan to worship The Buddha's shadow, Buddha teeth and other Buddha relics, according to the plan, they should return to the Fu Lou Sha Country to meet with Fa Xian, but Hui Jing fell ill on the road, Dao Zhen stayed behind to take care of him, only Hui Da came back alone, and met with Fa Xian in the Fu Lou Sha Country.
After the meeting, Hui Da, Sang Jing, and Baoyun left together and embarked on the road back to their hometown, Hui Ying died at the Buddha Bowl Temple, plus the three monks who were separated in Yanqi, Zhi Yan, Hui Jian and Hui Wei, and the monks who were separated in Khotan, the backpackers finally had to separate and do their own things after some gathering. At this time, Fa Xian's companions were left with Hui Jing, who was recuperating from illness, and Dao Zhen, who took care of him, and had not yet met.
The Safed Mountains
Although there were fewer and fewer people, Faxian still decided not to go in the direction of Tianzhu first, but to see the Buddha's shadow in the country first.
From the kingdom of Fulousha to the west for 16 years, we will arrive at the country of Najie. Roughly equivalent to Jalalabad in present-day Afghanistan, it is now the main transportation route from kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and the center of contention between U.S. forces and the Taliban in the Afghan war.
In the Time of the Fa Xian, Na Jie Guo was a place where holy relics were gathered, and next to it there was a small city with Buddha top bones, Na Jie Guo itself had a buddha tooth pagoda, and there was a Buddha tin staff in the northeast of the city, and the most sacred one was the Buddha shadow in a stone chamber in the southern half of the city, which was a major miracle in ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The so-called Buddha shadow may be a natural Buddha-like mark on the stone, more than ten steps away from the observation, this mark appears relatively clear, after approaching, it becomes dim and looming.
These miracles all disappeared after the arrival of muslims and were replaced by modern Islamic miracles.
Fa Xian spent three months of winter in Na jieguo, and after meeting with Hui Jing and Dao Zhen, he finally rushed to his final goal, Zhongtian Zhu. They crossed the small snow-capped mountains to the south. The so-called small snowy mountains are the Safed Koh mountains south of Jalalabad, which is also the place where the Taliban are entrenched, and due to the complex mountain and the caves, the US military bombs cannot blow them out of the caves. It is also a place where poppies are everywhere, because the war has destroyed water sources and it is impossible to grow food, so people have to grow poppies to solve economic problems.
Xiaoxueshan also caused a huge blow to Fa Xian and others. Heavy snow fell on the mountain and a storm suddenly broke out, trapping several Han Monks. Due to his weak body, Hui Jing finally couldn't eat or walk, and he spat out white foam and entered a state of dying. He told Faxian: I can't do it anymore, you go fast, don't all die.
After Hui Jing died, Fa Xian's corpse wept bitterly and had to move forward over the mountains. This may be the saddest moment for this indomitable man.
Afghanistan is a tragic region for the whole world, it has made countless heroes look forward to the peak, but also buried countless lives and ambitions, this time, several stubborn Chinese monks have also tasted the coldness of this wall of the world.
Editor-in-Charge: Qian Chengxi
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang