Tang Sanzang

Xuan Zang

Xuanzang (602-664), an eminent monk in the Tang Dynasty, is one of the four great translators of Buddhist scriptures in Chinese Buddhism, and the founder of weishizong in Chinese Buddhism.

Life story

Xuanzang, originally surnamed Chen, was born in the gous family of Luoyang (now gous town in Yanshi, Henan Province). He became a monk at the age of 13, and received the full commandment at the age of 21. He has traveled all over the world, visited famous teachers, and studied Nirvana Sutra, theory of taking Mahayana, theory of zaabi Tanxin, and theory of gishe. Because he felt that the teachers had different opinions and different classics, he decided to go west to find a way to solve the puzzle. Zeng Chen's request to go to the West for Dharma was not approved. In the third year of Zhenguan (629), the imperial court allowed the people to survive on their own because of famine. He started from Chang'an, went out of Dunhuang through guzang, and then traveled through Xinjiang and Central Asia to shecheng, the king of mogatuo in central India. After entering Nalanda temple, the Buddhist Center of India at that time, he studied the Buddhist scriptures such as the earth theory of yogi, the theory of manifesting the holy religion, the theory of Dharma, the theory of lumps, the theory of Zhonglun, the theory of Bailun, the theory of jushe, the theory of dabivasa, the theory of shunzheng, the theory of Yinming, and the theory of declaration under the guidance of Jiexian, focusing on the earth theory of yogi and the theory of declaration in Sanskrit. Soon, it became famous. Five years later, he visited dozens of countries in eastern, southern, Western and northern India. After returning to nalandao temple, Jiexian asked him to give lectures on Mahayana photography and on the choice of knowledge. He wrote three thousand odes of huizonglun, which integrated two empty schools and refuted shiziguang's view that he opposed the land theory of yogi, so he was praised by Jiexian. He once won the debate with the shunshi theorist, and he also won the debate with the Hinayana theorist on his own. The king of Jie RI set up a general meeting for Xuanzang in Qunu city. Xuanzang preached Mahayana doctrine and gained a greater reputation. He returned to Chang'an in the 19th year of Zhenguan. According to historical records, Xuanzang traveled fifty thousand miles to seek Dharma in his seventeen year journey to the West and brought back 520 sutras and 657 sutras. After returning to China, he was summoned by Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty and lived in Hongfu temple in Chang'an, and then in dacien temple.

Translation of classics

From the 19th year of Zhenguan, about 20 years ago, he was mainly engaged in the business of translating scriptures. He successively translated a total of 7335 volumes of great and small sutras, including Daban ruojing, jieshenmi Sutra, great Bodhisattva's Tibetan Sutra, yogi's theory of earth, dabivasha's theory, Chengwei's theory of knowledge, Chushe's theory, etc. He also translated Lao Tzu and Mahayana Qixin Lun into Sanskrit and introduced them to India, and wrote twelve volumes of records of the western regions of the Tang Dynasty.

disciple

There are thousands of Xuanzang's disciples. The famous ones are peeping base, yuancha, Puguang, magic weapon, Shentai, Jingmai, Huili, Xuanyao, shenfang, etc.

Chinese PinYin : Tang San Cang