When it comes to the Western Heavens, the first thing that comes to mind is the Tang monk in "Journey to the West" (its prototype is the Tang Dynasty's Master Xuanzang), which is a household name in China.
In fact, as early as More than two hundred years before Xuanzang traveled west, the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Faxian had already embarked on the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, because of the "Journey to the West", Faxian was not as famous as the Tang monk (Xuanzang Master), and we will introduce the story about the high monk Faxian below. , let's introduce the story of the high monk Fa Xian.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > chaotic world practice</h1>
In the third year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Faxian was born in Pingyang, Shanxi, he was born in a peasant family, because the first three children were unfortunate to die, his parents in order to save this child, when he was a child, he sent the child to the Xiantang Temple to become a monk, the monks of the temple helped him name Faxian, hoping that he could grow up safely.
Faxian's family was very poor, and the living conditions were not very good, and when he was ten years old, his parents died, and the helpless Faxian could only come to the Xiantang Temple to officially become a monk.
At that time, in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the forces of all sides were in chaos, the soldiers were in chaos, and the common people were hungry, wandering around, and the people were not happy. Once, when Faxian and the monks of Xiantang Temple were harvesting grain together, they encountered a group of hungry people, and the hungry people saw that there was grain, no matter whether it was three or seven or twenty-one, they rushed up and prepared to snatch all the grain away, the monks stopped and did not give, the hungry people did not give in, and the two sides were deadlocked, at this time Faxian stepped forward and said: "You must have no food to eat before you came out to grab something, right?" We monks can't eat much, so you take all the grain, but do you know why you are poor and hungry, because you didn't do good deeds and accumulate virtue before, and now you come to grab grain, and the fate of the next life will only be worse, and I am worried about you. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > listened to Faxian's words, the victims thought about it, and then slowly left, and the fact that Faxian showed that he was not in danger in response to an emergency made the other monks feel very impressed. </h1>
When Fa Xian was in his twenties, through many tests, he became a real bhikshu monk, and in the process of studying Buddhism, he found that many Buddhist texts could not be found, or were missing, so he often had a lot of doubts about the questions in some of the classics, but he could not find the answers.
At the same time, the situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was more chaotic, the war was more intense, and the people of the world were trapped in the depths of the water, and all countries were independent of each other, and the rulers only thought about their own interests, and did not think about how the common people lived. What a sad thing about the times.
In the chaotic world, let Fa Xian fall into contemplation, as a monk, how can he help the people, how can he save the people from the depths of the water? Without enough Buddhist texts, there is no way to restrain the monks. After thinking about it, Faxian decided to travel west to the Buddha's kingdom of Tianzhu to seek the most complete Buddhist scriptures.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > westbound road</h1>
In the third year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the nearly seventy-year-old Faxian decided to go west to learn the scriptures, and with him on the road were four monks, Hui Jing, Dao Zhen, Hui Ying, and Hui Yue.
The five of them set out from Chang'an and headed west, on the way with the help of the King of Northern Liang, during the Zhangye period, Fa Xian met Baoyun, Zhiyan, Huijian, Monk Shao, and Monk Jing, who were influenced by Fa Xian and decided to join the westward march.
They traveled west together, through Dunhuang at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor, after leaving Dunhuang, it was a desert, the weather was very bad, a deserted area, only by the sun to identify the direction, because of the lack of travel expenses, Zhi yan, Hui Jian, Hui Jing a few people went to Turpan Huayuan, Faxian a few people continued to walk in the southwest direction, a few people were very hard, walking in the desert for more than a month, and then Faxian and his party went to the exhaustion of the fork country to participate in the provincial capital of the Buddha.
In the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (402), the French party continued to advance southwest, climbing the snowy mountains, stepping on the rope bridge, crossing the Indus River, and reaching Pakistan.
In the second year of Yuan Xing (403), the group continued to set out, when they passed through the snow mountain, Hui Jing fell seriously ill and started a fever, Fa Xian and the monks faced this busy snow mountain, there was no way, Hui Jing knew that his life was not long, he said to Fa Xian: "You must get the Buddhist scriptures, so that you can achieve a great cause" After saying this, Hui Jing died, and the monks in the group were very sad, and together they buried Hui Jing's body with white snow, and then they continued to sadly go on the road.
After walking through the snowy mountains, Faxian and his party crossed the mountains and passed through more than thirty small countries, and finally arrived at Tianzhu. Dao Zhen liked the life of Tianzhu very much, Guotai Min'an, and the scenery was pleasant, and he said to Faxian, "I want to spend the rest of my life here, and I like the peace and tranquility here." Fa Xian said: "The reason why the country of Tianzhu is peaceful is because everyone obeys the buddha's precepts to live, and if we bring the sutras back, our country will also be peaceful and peaceful."
After bidding farewell to Dao Zhen, Faxian could only continue to move forward alone, he heard that the Ling Vulture Mountain was the place where the Buddha taught the Fa, at this time Faxian wanted to visit it, and people nearby reminded him: "That mountain is very dangerous, there are often black lions, and black lions also like to eat people."
Fa Xian said, "I came to the Buddha's kingdom with all my hardships, and I think the Buddha will bless me," and then he came to the Vulture Mountain and bowed down to the Buddha statue, and in the process of praying devotion, three black lions appeared, and the appearance of the black lion did not alarm Fa Xian, and Fa Xian said lightly: "If you are hungry, then eat me, if you are not hungry, let me continue to worship the Buddha." The black lions nodded thoughtfully, then left.
The next day, when he went down the mountain, Faxian met a monk, this monk showed a special aura, there was power in silence, Faxian was secretly amazed, but did not care too much, and then met a monk, Faxian asked, "Who is that monk just now?" The monk replied, "He is the great disciple of the Buddha, the head of the Mahabharata" Dharma Xian wanted to turn back to catch up, but he encountered a large stone blocking him, and he could no longer find the miraculous monk.
After that, Faxian came to nantenwang Temple, where he lived for four years, studied Buddhism diligently every day, humbly learned Sanskrit from the monks in the temple, and copied many classics such as the Mud Huan Sutra.
In Tianzhu, Faxian also traveled to many large temples, and he also came to the Bodhi tree where he witnessed the Buddha's enlightenment, and he stood under the Bodhi tree and secretly made a wish in his heart to bring the Buddhist scriptures back to China and carry them forward.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > return to the east with the meridian</h1>
In the eighth year of Yixi (413), Fa Xian was alone, carrying Buddha statues and scriptures on a merchant ship to the east, and when he encountered a storm on the merchant ship, everyone was very panicked, and everyone threw useless things into the sea, and Fa Xian hugged the Sutras and Buddha statues tightly, not letting go, he would rather die than throw them away. Thinking of returning to China to promote Buddhism, the merchant ship drifted for more than ten days and drifted to the country of Yevati, where Fa Xian lived for several months.
In the eighth year of Yixi (413), Fa Xian took a boat to Guangzhou again, and this time encountered a storm, and everyone panicked, and some merchants said that monks are unlucky, and only monks can have these bad things happening, and the owner of the ship was very angry: "Monks clean the rules and precepts for the benefit of the common people, if you harm him, you will be punished by heaven." The merchants looked at each other and had to give up, and the ship drifted at sea for more than eighty days to the Laoshan area.
Qingzhou Taishou Li Doubt knew of Faxian's arrival, treated Faxian as a guest, warm hospitality, Faxian wanted to return to Chang'an, Li Doubt was worried that there would be difficulties on the way to Faxian, so he dissuaded: "Now that the soldiers are in chaos and wars are frequent, it is safer for you to stay here." Fa Xian replied, "I have gone through many hardships in order to return to my homeland to promote the Dharma, and now my ambition has not yet been realized, and I should not stay here for long." ”
In the ninth year of Yixi (414), Fa Xian came to Nanjing and translated many sutras at the Dojo Monastery and the monks, so that the precepts of Chinese Buddhism were gradually perfected, the monks also had strict and specific behavioral constraints, and Buddhism in our country was greatly developed.
Fa Xian's translation of the "Mud Huan Sutra" was widely circulated, according to legend, there was a Chang'an family, their whole family was devout to the Buddha, he copied the "Mud Huan Sutra", because there was no extra place to put the scriptures, he put the "Mud Huan Sutra" and other scriptures together, one day, the house caught fire, the other scriptures were destroyed together, only the "Mud Huan Sutra" was intact, people think that this "Mud Huan Sutra" is very magical.
Faxian recalled his life's arduous path of learning the scriptures and seeking the Dharma, experiencing the endless desert of war in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the cold and dangerous snowy mountains, and the terrifying waves when riding on a merchant ship, he was full of emotion, so he wrote a "Record of the Buddha's Kingdom" to record his life experience, as well as the customs and customs of various countries, the development of local Buddhism, so that future generations can understand the things of the westward journey.
In the second year of Yuan Xi (420), Fa Xian died at the New Temple in Jingzhou at the age of 83.
This article is original by "Legendary Ji", welcome to pay attention, take you along with long knowledge!