In today's Shaolin Temple Stele Gallery, a piece of the stele titled "Dharma Only Walks west to return to the Circle Monument" is inscribed: "Dharma entered the year of Extinction of Taihe, Bears Ears Mountain in the pagoda temple." It is not Song Yunliangling to see, who knows only to go to the Western Heavens. "Seven verses of speech." It is said that when the Northern Wei monk Song Yun traveled west to seek the Dharma and returned to the capital Luoyang through onion ridge, he met Dharma (a famous Zen master of Northern Wei) carrying a staff and going barefoot to the west. Since Song Yun had been traveling west for several years, he did not know that Dharma had long since passed away, so he hurried forward and asked, "Where is the master?" Dharma said, "I'm going to the west." Then he said, "Don't say you see me when you return to Beijing, or there will be disaster." The two of them went their separate ways.
Song Yun returned to Luoyang to meet Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei and told him about his meeting with Dharmasus in onion ridges. The emperor angrily rebuked Song Yun: "As everyone knows, Master Dharma died in Yumen, buried Bears Ears Mountain, built a pagoda in the temple, how can Er say that he met Master Onion Ridge?" Song Yun explained that he had really met the master, and said that Dharma had told him not to say it, otherwise there would be disaster, but he did not dare to deceive the saint, so he reported it truthfully. Emperor Xiaojing then ordered someone to open the coffin for verification, and the coffin was empty, and the only shoe was only.
The Northern Wei Dynasty was a regime established by the Xianbei people during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, implementing the policy of Sinicization and promoting ethnic integration, and the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty respected Buddhism and advocated Buddhist activities. Emperor Wencheng built a statue in the Saikai Grottoes of Xiwu Prefecture in Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi) in the first year of Peace (469), which lasted more than 30 years to build the Lingyan Temple Grottoes (present-day Yungang Grottoes in Datong); the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang in the early Ming Dynasty (500) of Xuanwu Emperor YuanKejing; and the Maijishan Grottoes in Gansu were also excavated during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Because Emperor Xiaoming of Wei was young, his mother Hu Chonghua was in charge of the imperial government as empress dowager, Empress Dowager Hu's aunt was a nun, she was influenced by Buddhism from childhood, and her own entry into the palace was also the act of her aunt entrusting people, Hu Chonghua was later favored by Emperor Xuanwu Yuanke, believing that his glory and wealth were all dependent on Buddhism, and because of Empress Hu's worship of Buddhism, there were more than 500 Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang. She personally laid the foundation for the construction of luoyang Yongning Temple, which is high and magnificent.
The Book of Wei and the Chronicle of Shi Laozhi records: "The Buddha's figure has nine floors and is more than forty meters high, and its expenses are incomparable. "Because there are many sects, the interpretation of the Buddhist scriptures is different, each takes what it needs, and it is difficult to unify, so it is necessary to find an orthodox saying in the birthplace of Buddhism, that is, the so-called going to the Western Heavens to seek the true scriptures. This is a grand event that wins the support of Buddhists, and it is also an important measure to establish one's position in the Buddhist community and consolidate one's rule. Empress Dowager Hu decided to send Song Yun, HuiSheng, and others to Tianzhu to seek the true scriptures. At the same time, in order to publicize the prestige of the country and make a good alliance with the various countries, he also wrote official edicts to the countries along the way, and carried "five colors and a hundred feet of banners, five hundred pieces of brocade incense bags, and two thousand mouths of the prince and secretary of state" to the countries they passed. Song Yun, a member of the Dunhuang clan, was a monk (an official in charge of monks) during the reign of Emperor Ming of Northern Wei. Regarding the time when Song Yun traveled west to seek the Fa, there are currently two theories. The first is the "Biography of the Northern History of the Western Regions" that records: "In Xi Pingzhong, Emperor Ming sent Fuzi to unify Song Yun and Shamen Mana to make the Western Regions visit the Buddhist scriptures, and sometimes there were Shamen Huisheng who also walked with them, and returned in the light." "Xiping" is the era name of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, but it took only two years, that is, 516 to 517. According to this, Song Yun's westward journey should be 516 to 517.
In the Northern Wei Yang Xuan's "Luoyang Jialan Record", there is "Song Yun Ji Xing", which records that Song Yun and other westward journeys were in November of the first year of the Shen Gui (518), and the Song Yun Ji Xing is based on the "Song Yun Family Record", which should be said to be more accurate and reliable. Song Yun traveled west in 518 and returned to Luoyang, Kyoto, in 522, a five-year journey that was more realistic. At that time, Song Yun and his party traveled westward, with a large number of people, riding horses and camels, carrying a lot of money, and carrying out diplomatic activities along the way; the road was long, the mountains were high and the water was dangerous, and they had to pass through complex areas such as snowy mountains, deserts, Gobi, and swamps, and it would be difficult to complete them in any case for more than a year. There is also a question of why Song Yunyi did not take the Hexi Corridor, but instead passed through the Qilian Mountains, which were blocked by mountains, and traveled west along the Tubo Ancient Road. Let's first look at the social environment at that time, in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Li Yan, the assassin of QinZhou, was violent, and the people of the Han, Qiang, and Xian nationalities launched an uprising in Qinzhou, and the rebel army captured and killed Li Yan. The Qiang people Mo Zhi Dati was promoted to the chief, because he was born in Qin Prefecture (present-day Tianshui, Gansu), so he was called the King of Qin, and later beheaded Shi Cuiyou, conquered the town of Gaoping (高平镇, in modern Guyuan, Ningxia), and killed the town generals Helian Liu and Xingtai Gao Yuanrong. In the fifth year of Zhengguang (524), Mo Folding Died of Illness, and the rebel army was led by the fourth son, Mo Fold Niansheng, who called himself the Son of Heaven and the name of the country, Qin. Later, his brother Mo Fold was born out of Longdong to occupy the area around Liupan Mountain. In the Battle of Qi Prefecture (岐州, in present-day northeast baoji), the Northern Wei governor Yuan Zhi (元志) and Shi Peifenzhi (裴芬之) were captured, and the Liangzhou people could lead the people to respond by taking Advantage of the victory, and the People of Liangzhou could respond with The People of Hexi, and the Northern Wei Dynasty lost control of the Hexi region. The rebel army then took the longdong prefectures, took advantage of the victory and went straight down to Tongguan, and the soldiers pointed directly at Luoyang, threatening the regime of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Later, due to the rebellion of the general Du Cang, Mo Zhongniansheng was assassinated, and the whole family was also killed.
It can be seen from this that at that time, a huge uprising broke out in the Guanlong area, which affected the Hexi Corridor, and Song Yun and his party could only take the Tuguhun Road to Tianzhu. The Tuguhun Dynasty (313-663) was originally a branch of the Xianbei Murong Clan of Eastern Liaoning, an ethnic minority state located in the Qilian Mountains and the upper valleys of the Yellow River during the Western Jin Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. At its peak, its nomadic range was "west of Linqiangcheng (southeast of present-day Huangyuan County, Qinghai), east of Qilian (present-day Qilian County, Xinjiang), south of Qilian (present-day Qilian Mountain), north of Xueshan Mountain (present-day Kunlun Mountain, Bayankara Mountain, and Anima Qingshan Mountain), 4,000 miles from east to west, and 2,000 miles from north to south", and the capital city of Fuqicheng was 45 miles west of present-day Qinghai Lake. Song Yun, along with Fa Li, Hui Sheng, and others, set out from Luoyang in November 518, traveling through Shaanxi to Jincheng Commandery (at that time the county system was in western Lanzhou), to Xiping (present-day Xining, Qinghai), to Linqiang (present-day Huangyuan, Qinghai), and then southwest to Chiling (present-day Yueshan) into the desert area west of the Republic of Qaidam Basin. According to the "Records of Song Yunxing" in the "Luoyang Jialan Chronicle", the desert in this area is described as "quicksand", describing it as "a lot of wind and snow, flying sand and gravel, and full of eyes".
Song Yun also lived for a time in Tuguhun Wangdu (present-day Dulan County, Qinghai). In early 519, Song Yun entered the territory of the Western Regions (present-day Xinjiang) and then reached the city of Shanshan (present-day Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang). The state of Shanshan, which previously belonged to the Northern Wei Dynasty, has now been occupied by Tuguhun, who not only occupied Shanshan, but also "land and end", and the vast area southeast of the Taklamakan Desert and the middle and upper reaches of the Chelchen River has also become the territory of Tuguhun. From Shanshan (present-day Ruoqiang) to the end of the left (present-day and the end), "there may be a hundred inhabitants of the city, the land has no rain, the water is divided into wheat, and the cattle are not used. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the city are without Hu appearance, and the visit to the ancient clouds was made by Lü Guangfahu. In 382, former Qin king Jian Jian sent the cavalry general Lü Guang to lead an expedition to the western regions, king Shanshan and king Cheshi acted as guides and led their troops to participate in the war, Yanqi fell without a fight, and after the guizi state was captured, the original small states and distant states submitted one after another, and since the Wei and Jin dynasties after the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains regime once again exerted a major influence in the western region. Further west, Song Yun and his party went to the end of the city (present-day Cele), "the city is like Luoyang with flowers and fruits, but the flat head of the earthen house is different." Twenty miles west of the city, that is, the Han Dynasty Lyrical, the south of the city "has a great temple, more than three hundred monks, a golden statue, a body, six feet high, superb appearance, good looks; facing Heng Dongli, refusing to look west." ...... And the statue towers and even thousands, there are also tens of thousands of hanging flag covers, and more than half of the banners of the Wei Kingdom are complete. Hatakami wrote the nineteenth year of Tadamun Taihe (495), the second year of Jingming (501), and the second year of Yanchang (513), but there was only one banner, and its era name was Yao Qin Shiwan." The three lords of Later Qin, Yao Xing reigned from 394 to 415, and fa xian's westward journey was in this period, and it is conceivable that Song Yun saw here that according to him, the emissaries of Later Qin left in a foreign country more than a hundred years ago, and his heart was full of emotion.
Further westward toward the kingdom of Khotan (in present-day Hotan County), "the king's head was wearing a golden crown, resembling a chicken, and his head was two feet of raw silk, five inches wide, and he thought it was an ornament." Wei Yi has a drum horn golden hammer, a bow and arrow, two halberds, and five hammers. There are no more than a hundred people with knives on the left and right. His lay woman wore a belt in her pants and rode away on a horse, no different from her husband. The dead are burned with fire, the bones are buried, and the floating slaughter is raised. Relatives cut their hair and split their faces for mourning." This custom is very similar to the ancient Turkic custom. It is said that when King Khotan did not believe in Buddhism, a senior monk said to him, "The Buddha asked me to come to you and make you build a raspberry stupa, and if you obey the order, you can make your community last forever." King Yu Khotan replied, "As long as you let me see the Buddha, I will obey my orders immediately." The monks chimed the bells and drums, and the Buddha sent his son, Rahu Luo, to transform into a Buddha and appear from the void. The king of Khotan was busy meeting himself on the ground and since then he has firmly believed in Buddhism, so the Dharma gradually spread in Khotan. This account reflects the constant travel of monks from all over the world to Khotan, and the frequent exchange of Buddhist studies between the Central Plains and Khotan.
After leaving Khotan, Song Yun and his party entered the kingdom of Zhu Jubo on July 29, 519, the second year of the Shengui dynasty. "Zhu Ju" is a different translation of "depressed canal", in the south of the county seat of present-day Yecheng County, Xinjiang, which was the key point of the ancient Silk Road. Passing through this area from Khotan, you can go northwest through Kashgar to the west; from this point to the southwest, you can cross the Green Ridge and head west. According to the Song Yun Xing, the customs and language of the area are similar to those of Khotan, while the script uses the Tianzhu alphabet. In early August, they began to enter the Green Ridge (present-day Pamir Plateau). "It's very cold, with snow in winter and summer. There are pools in the mountains, and poisonous dragons dwell in them... Since then, to the west, the side of the mountain road, nagasaka thousand miles, the cliffs, the obstacle of the extreme heavens, it is really Yusi. Taihang Mengmen, Piz is not dangerous; Kunguan Longsaka, Fang this is Yi. Song Yun and his party gradually rose step by step along the rugged mountain road, and they reached the ridge: "The Han Pantuo Kingdom is on the top of the mountain." Since the Onion Ridge has been west, the water has flowed west. The clouds of the world are in the midst of heaven and earth. The people broke the water and planted, smelled the Chinese fields to wait for the rain to plant, there was the Mengjin River in the east of the city, and the northeast flowed to Charle. The green ridges are tall and steep, and there are no grasses and trees. It was August, the weather was cold, the north wind drove geese, and the snow flew for thousands of miles. "This is a true account of the Tashkurgan region during the Northern Wei Dynasty.
"Mengjin" is the present-day Tashkurgan River, which is the western source of the Yarkand River; "Shale" is also known as Shule, and its capital is in present-day Kashgar. In the middle of September, Song Yun and his party arrived at The Bowl and The Kingdom, which was a famous ancient country in the Western Regions during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which the Tang Dynasty called "Protecting Secrets." The king lived, because the mountain was the city. The people's clothing, only felt clothes, the land is very cold, and they live in caves. The wind and snow are fierce, and people and animals are dependent on each other. On the southern border of the country, there are great snow-capped mountains, which are knotted towards the sun and the sunset, and look at the jade peak." It's about the mountainous terrain, the rough roads, the cold climate, people wearing woolen clothes and living in caves. It depicts the Hindu Kush mountain region in northern Afghanistan, where even now people use felt houses as their home and migrate by water and grass. "Jade Peak", that is, the present-day Xingdu Kush Mountain, snow all year round, like white jade. In early October of the second year of the Divine Turtle (519), Song Yun and his party crossed the Hindu Kush Mountain and came to the kingdom of Khwada, which bordered Khotan to the east and Persia to the west, and more than 40 countries submitted to it. Song Yun said that he was "the most powerful of the four Yi", and then presented the edict of Emperor Xiaoming of Wei, and the king of Wei "bowed down to receive the edict", gave him a good gift, entertained him for a week, stayed for a month, and continued to travel west. In early November it reached the persian state of Persia (Bochi), which was not a Persian state (present-day Iran). The "History of the North" records: "The Bozhi Kingdom is located in the southwest of the Bowl and The Kingdom, the earth is narrow and the people are poor, relying on the valley, there are three pools, the Chuanyun Big Pool has the Dragon King, the second has the Dragon Woman, and the small one has the Dragon Son." The Book of Song Yunxing says that the Persian kingdom "has a very narrow territory, the people live in the mountains, the capital is poor, there are two pools, the poisonous dragon lives in it, and the pedestrians pass by here, sacrifice the dragon king, and then calm down." The reason why the History of the North writes "Persia" as "Bozhi" is to show the difference between it and Persia (present-day Iran). Both "Persia" and "Bochi" are transliterations, and "Bozhi" is located in Zebak, southwest of present-day Ishkashim, Afghanistan, at the southern foot of the Hindu Kush Mountains.
In mid-November, Song Yun traveled southeast from the Bozhi Kingdom to the kingdom of Chumi (in present-day Chitral, Pakistan), then to the kingdom of Baolule (the "Bolor" of the Qing Dynasty, around the Gilgit River Basin in present-day Kashmir), into the country of Wuchang (present-day the upper reaches of the Indus River and the Swat River basin of Pakistan), and introduced to the king the geographical location of China, knowing that it was bordered by the sea in the east, the sunrise was above it, the products were abundant, and there were the teachings of Zhou Gong, Confucius, Zhuangzi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the techniques of divination, medical taoism, and alchemy, and the kingdoms were fascinated by it. It means that if there is an afterlife, it is willing to be born in China. In the spring of 520, Song Yun and his party arrived at the Gandhara kingdom (the capital city of present-day Peshawar, Pakistan), visited the monastery, visited the Buddhist relics, and returned to Luoyang in February of the third year of Zhengguang (522) with 170 Mahayana sutras. Song Yun traveled westward from Luoyang, Kyoto, Northern Wei, through Chang'an in Shaanxi, Lanzhou County in Gansu, and Xiping in Qinghai, over the Riyue Mountains, into the Qaidam Basin, on the Tuguhun Ancient Road, into Shanshan, past Zuomeicheng, along the northern foothills of the Kunlun Mountains, along the Onion Ridge (Pamir Plateau), through the Wakhan Corridor (present-day northeast Afghanistan) to Peshawar (in present-day Pakistan). The round trip lasted five years, experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers, traveled to dozens of countries, and brought back a huge number of scripture scrolls.
Song Yun wrote "Family Records" and Hui Sheng wrote "Xing Ji," recording their experiences and observations in the west. Unfortunately, some of these writings have been lost, but I have the honor of compiling these works into the "Records of Luoyang Jialan" written by Yang Xuanzhi in the same era, which completely recorded the history of the rise and fall of the Luoyang Buddhist Temple in northern Wei and the documentary notes of the characters, and comprehensively included the accounts of Song Yun's westward journey, and later generations compiled these works into the "Song Yun Xingji". The book not only records the transportation route from the Central Plains to Tianzhu at that time, but also makes a detailed account of the geographical properties, social politics, customs and customs, and religious beliefs of the countries and regions along the way. Song Yun is no less than the great feat of Faxian and Xuanzang in seeking the Law in the west, and he has made outstanding contributions to promoting political, economic, cultural, and religious exchanges between China and the world. The three works of "Song YunXing" and "Records of the Buddha's Kingdom" and "Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty" that are continuous in time and content have become valuable historical materials for posterity to understand the political economy, geography, transportation, customs, and culture of the countries in the Western Regions, as well as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other countries and regions.
(Wang Yanfeng, Yang Xiuchuan)