In the autumn of 627 AD, the newly established Tang Dynasty was in ruins, but the great drought mercilessly attacked the young capital Chang'an. The city was dwindling with food, the people were wailing, and a young monk, alone in the midst of a crowded tide of refugees, walked resolutely out of the city with his bags, at the age of twenty-eight.
The fall of the family path and the coldness of the world made him know the cold and warm of the human world prematurely, and he was determined to learn the Dharma and purify all sentient beings. Leave Chang'an, head west, Liangzhou, Guazhou, Yumenguan, and cross the five beacon towers. The swamp in reality, quicksand, hunger and thirst, was created by Wu Cheng'en eight hundred years later and written into the ninety-nine eighty-one difficulties. A thin old horse given by a merchant in Guazhou City drove the young Xuanzang alone in the endless desert.
The tragedy of "the curtain is lonely and the sun is set" only exists in Wang Wei's poems and wine. Between Yumen Pass and yiwu, the first small country in the western region, is a vast desert---- eight hundred miles of the Sha River: no birds passing by, no wild beasts passing through, only the ancient road west wind thin horses. Under the setting sun, a long thin shadow was projected long on the sand dunes in the distance, like a bloody remnant of the sun shining on Xuanzang's face, his eyes were full of yellow sand, yellow sand, he was lost, unconscious, only the horse slowly moved forward. As soon as he stepped into the air, he fell off his horse and overturned the water belt, he wept bitterly, but did not dare to drop a tear, the corners of his cracked mouth were full of yellow sand, his body wanted to return, but the heart of the west did not stop. I'd rather go west and die. Never come back to life. The persistent spirit of seeking Buddhism and studying the Fa made him stand up from scratch.
The desert during the day is merciless, and the sand dunes at night are sad. He meditated silently for four days and five nights, dripping water. Let the yellow sand fill the sky, and with the charm of the fish, he will not move. After countless times of coma, he woke up and saw that the sky was full of stars, and the brightest star had been guiding him westward. A miracle occurred, and the old horse who knew the way found the water source.
In the winter of 627 AD, Xuanzang, who was traveling west to seek the Dharma, came to Gaochangguo and was about to cross the Flame Mountain. He refused the king's lifelong offering, only to go west to seek the Dharma, and hunger strike became his only choice, and finally the noble character of the great monk impressed the king, a king, a monk, and became a brother in front of the Buddha. Alone when he came, he became a party at the time of the farewell, thirty horses, twenty-five retinues, and four apprentices. All the way to the west, an avalanche was encountered, and half of the personnel folded in Lingshan, and Xuanzang's heart was broken. A year later, in the end Central Asian broken leaves. Seventy-three years later, the poet Li Bai was born here, and in the darkness, it was as if Xuanzang brought this clear stream to the human world, bringing "embroidery mouth spit, that is, half a sheng Tang".
India is getting closer and closer, and the voice of the Buddha is calling in the ear. The customs clearance documents along the way, the official guards along the way, and the rising Datang had a major impact on xuanzang who traveled far away. In the spring of 631, nearly four years after leaving Chang'an, Xuanzang, who was heading west, finally reached the Ganges. The setting sun turns the river golden, and pilgrims and the poor bathe in the river, enjoying the tranquility and grace. They believed that the waters of the Ganges could wash away all the suffering and sin of the world. Xuanzang, who was full of ambition, also leaned down and reverently picked up a handful of holy water and wept bitterly. The sea of life and death, who is the boat? Long night of ignorance, who is the torch?
In the autumn of 631 A.D., after four years of trekking, after all kinds of difficulties, we finally reached the sacred place in our hearts---- Nalanda, which means "tireless charity" in Sanskrit, which is also the essence of Buddhism. After nine deaths, only for this day, that year, he was thirty-two years old, and in the year of his establishment, he had no wife and no children, only a heart to the Buddha. For the next five years, he was hungry for Buddhist nourishment in Nalanda.
Returning from school and returning to Datang is not all smooth sailing, Xuanzang is the first person recorded in the history of world exploration to cross the Pamir Plateau, which the ancients called Onion Ridge. The same desert, the same mountains, the same forests, the same difficulties and obstacles, but this could not stop Xuanzang's heart. If it is said that going west is to seek Buddhahood for oneself, then returning to the east is only for a heart to serve the country.
In 645, Xuanzang returned to the capital Chang'an, nineteen years later, and he was already forty-seven years old. Thirty miles outside the city, the whole city is sensational, hundreds of thousands of people rush to see the style of the monk, people see a middle-aged man's old tears, a pair of dry hands and an eternally straight backbone. When you go to the space and space, you return with a large number of classics and Buddhist holy relics: 657 Buddhist scriptures, 150 Buddha relics, and 7 precious Buddha statues. Xuanzang spent 19 years, 50,000 miles, traveled 110 countries, he brought back to the Tang is a precious and incalculable spiritual wealth, this westward journey, but also the manifestation of the strong national strength of the Tang Empire and the spread of the spirit of the ancient country of Oriental civilization.
The returning Xuanzang did not enjoy a moment of comfort, and soon completed the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", guided the construction of the Great Ci'en Temple and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and used the national power to dominate the translation of Buddhist scriptures. Nineteen years of wind and rain, overloaded work, he finally fell ill, and on the night of February 5, 664, the monk died at the age of sixty-three. On the day of the burial, from the emperor to the people, from the Buddhist gate to the secular world, there were one million mourners outside Chang'an City. In the hearts of the people, Xuanzang is Shakyamuni, he is the Buddha. Emperor Gaozong of Tang wrote a prayer to express sorrow: the bitter sea is wide, the boat is heavy; the dark room is dark, and the torch is hidden.
As travelers, explorers, translators, diplomats, and Buddhist monks, Xuanzang left us with a national spirit, a great power responsibility, never giving up on ideals, and always adhering to faith!
[This article is a special writer of Star Media--- Walker Boundless Original, any individual reprint please indicate the source, or contact Star Media to obtain authorization, the copyright belongs to Star Media, illegal will be investigated】
The depth of history, the temperature of society, the breadth of years, the height of thought! Star Media analyzes society from a unique perspective, takes you to taste history and taste life. Long press the QR code to pay attention, every day is different and wonderful.