Hyecho

Hyecho

Huichao was a monk of Silla state on the Korean Peninsula in the Tang Dynasty. He came to China when he was young. He traveled from China to India, and then returned to China by land via the western regions. He arrived in Anxi (now Kuche, Xinjiang) in 727. Huichao was a witness of the drastic changes in the political situation in the western regions in the early 8th century.

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He describes the confrontation between Tang Dynasty and Tubo in the western regions. In the northeast of Kashmir, there are three kingdoms, namely, dabulu (now kirgite area in northwestern Pakistan province) and yangtongtong, which belong to Tubo. While xiaobolu, which is adjacent to dabulu, is under the jurisdiction of Tang Dynasty, although its "clothes, manners, diet and pronunciation" are the same as dabulu. Da Bolu was once a part of Xiao Bolu and the residence of King Xiao Bolu. Later, under the pressure of Tubo, he had to give up da Bolu and escape to Xiao Bolu. The people who belonged to Da Bolu came under the jurisdiction of Tubo.

During his journey to Gandhara, Huichao recorded the process of Western Turks conquering this country, saying that "the soldiers and horses are always Turks, and the natives are Hu.". Turkic nobles here called queen, by the influence of local culture, converted to Buddhism, "very respect the three treasures". At that time, there were many countries in the western regions where "the natives were Hu" and the soldiers and horses were Turks. In Gudou (today's kuryab in the south of Tajikstan) in the north of penchi River in the upper reaches of Amu Darya River, the king is a Turk, "when the local people, half Hu, half Turk", and his language is "half tuhuoluo, half Turk, half local". Although it has been conquered by Dashi, the king "and the leaders and the people" believe in the three treasures, temples and monks ", and the Hinayana method is popular.

Huichao also recounts the general experience of Persia being destroyed by Dashi, saying that Dashi was originally a "camel herder" of Persia, and later betrayed Persia, killed the king of Persia, and annexed his kingdom. Huichao noticed that Persians were good at doing business. Many Persian husks sailed from the West Sea (today's Arabian Sea) to the South China Sea (today's waters of the Indian Ocean south of India), took "treasures" from the Lion Kingdom (today's Sri Lanka), and "gold" from the Kunlun Kingdom (today's Southeast Asia), and also sailed to "Han land", that is, China's trade.

The oasis farming area to the west of Congling, the so-called "nine surnames of Zhaowu", has become the possession of Dashi. Although there were kings here at that time, they were "under the control of Dashi". Most of these oases believe in Zoroastrianism and "do not know the Dharma". Only the state of Kang (today's Samarkand) "has a temple and a monk", but it is not strict to follow the religious rules. Bahena (today's Fergana basin) to the east of Kang state is a region where western Turks and Dashi forces crisscross. Hu, that is, the north of Sogdian, "north to the North Sea (today's Aral Sea), West to the West Sea (today's Caspian Sea)" and east to the Han state (the mainland of Tang Dynasty), are all Turkic territory.

Seven days to the east of tuhuoluo, Hu Mi met the envoys of the Tang Dynasty. Both of them had different directions, but they both felt the hardship and long journey. Huichao wrote poems for his knowledge. There is a saying in the poem: "you hate the west, but the east road is long."

Personal works

After Hui Chao came back, he wrote a biography of five Tianzhu. According to Huilin of Tang Dynasty, there are three volumes in the book, but the later generations lost it. After the discovery of Dunhuang manuscripts at the beginning of this century, the "explorers" of Western powers swarmed to plunder them. According to scholars' identification, one of the incomplete manuscripts in Percy and Dunhuang transported to France is consistent with the biography of Wu Tian Zhu introduced by Huilin, so it is identified as the remnant of Huichao's works.

Detailed life

The subcontinent

After learning from Vajra wisdom, a Buddhist master, Huichao decided to travel to India, the birthplace of Buddhism. However, the situation on the land Silk Road at that time was chaotic. There were confrontations among Tang Dynasty, Western Turk, Sogdian, Tubo, tuhuoluo, Persia and Arab groups, and they were not very friendly to merchants and tourists. Therefore, Huichao went south from Luoyang to Jingzhou, and then arrived in Guangzhou along the inland water system. In that city full of maritime merchants in the western regions, we found ships that could sail directly to the subcontinent.

After a long voyage, the new monk finally landed on the east coast of India near Bangladesh. After that, he went all the way to visit Maha Bodhi temple, four pagodas and other Buddhist relics. Due to the emotional excitement, I use 1 / 3 of the space to describe the hometown of Buddhism. But this is exactly the least objective part of the book. He himself had a lot of unrealistic expectations for the paradise of the west, so he also described India as smallpox. For example, the king is like the reincarnation of the Buddha. As long as he gives a judgment, he can make people obey and never fight against orders. India was also glorified as an ideal country where the king did not use criminal law, and even the slave trade did not exist. But it's also a common problem for early monk tourists.

For those unavoidable facts, Huichao has to admit that many of the temples and pagodas that used to be prosperous are now scarce, monks are in depression, and Buddhism has shown a declining trend in India. Moreover, Huichao also mentioned that the temples and the residences of the dignitaries are all "triple buildings" of brick and wood structure. The first floor is the warehouse, and the upper two floors are occupied by people, while most of the poor people only have a small hut.

On the whole, Huichao tried his best to beautify the paradise he saw. However, for later observers, these records reveal that Indian civilization had entered a bottleneck at that time. In addition to the gap between the rich and the poor, there is also a caste system that leads to a lack of vitality in society. The most important thing is that Huichao could not have realized that the Buddhist monks had become corrupt. Although he has been adhering to the upper class line for a long time, he has been lack of strong monarchical support. All these are important factors for the decline of Buddhism in India. It's just that outside India, the widespread order is quite prosperous.

Arabia and Persia

After leaving India, Huichao entered the Persian plateau through tuhuoluostan, and then entered the Arab Empire from there. At this time, the tuhuoluo area had been ruled by the white Huns and Turks, and began to be gradually eroded by the eastward Arabs. However, relying on the support of local and northern Indian feudal lords, there is still a Buddhist culture in the region. In addition, Nestorianism and Manichaeism from the West are also distributed, and the pagan culture has not been completely eliminated.

Because most of Persia had been conquered by the Umayyad Dynasty, Huichao called Persia and Dashi together. He was very sure of the Persians' trade ability and said that many businessmen went to Guangzhou to trade through Sri Lanka's Lion Kingdom. It is also mentioned that the Persians have a large number of livestock, and their language differs greatly from that of the surrounding ethnic groups, especially the Arabs. But they did not mention their military, which confirmed the social structure of the early Arab Empire. In other words, a small number of conquerors bear military obligations, while the pagan conquered bear production and taxes.

Huichao also left a corresponding record of the new Arab overlord. He was surprised at the simple style of the Arab aristocracy, and did not pay attention to luxury life. I also saw that the Arab nobles would share the food with their subordinates equally. Everyone believed in Allah, but they liked to kill and crusade. They conquered tuhuoluostan in 705 and most of Sogdian cities in 706-712. Its aggressive expansion situation has caused the uneasiness of various forces. Huichao also recorded many early Arab customs, including members only worshipping Allah and not kneeling kings. This tradition once caused serious diplomatic disputes in Tang Dynasty.

Still in the Arab Empire, Huichao heard a few words about the Eastern Roman Empire. Knowing that the country was strong and powerful, the capital defeated the Arab invasion many times by virtue of the danger of mountains and seas, and the domestic products were rich. Huichao said that it was the two encirclement of Constantinople in 676 and 717-718. In addition, he also mentioned that the Arabs went deep into the Little Buddha, that is, the peninsula of Asia Minor, and further plundered the Byzantine Empire. At this time, it will take time for Byzantium to attack. However, Huichao didn't distinguish Persian culture from Greek culture, so he left the saying that Persian and Eastern Roman costumes were similar.

When he returned from the two river basins under Arab rule, Huichao passed through the Sogdian city-state area in the river. Under the Arab invasion, Huichao was also very clear about the situation in the middle of the river. The flame of the local temple is flickering, which makes it more and more unstable. He saw that the local government had passed the golden age and was constantly facing continuous attacks from Arabs.

Huichao mentioned that the Sogdians had a small territory and few soldiers, so it was difficult to resist the invasion of strong enemies. So we need to make an alliance with Turks in the north to protect our city-state and caravan. The main local cities, including Kang, Shi, Shi and other countries, all believe in fire worship. They like to wear hair braids and white felt hats. They also maintain the system of intermarriage. In addition, Huichao also noticed that there was a tradition of polygamy similar to that of ancient India.

Huichao also noted that the Sogdians had to rely on Turks to fight against the Arabs

The southwest states of the Pamirs

After leaving Sogdian, Hui went to Gandhara, where Buddhism flourished for a time. And attached to Gandhara, namely kapisa in Western classical literature. These places are now governed by Turkic princes and their vassals.

In Huichao's time, the main force that prevented the Arabs from expanding was these Turkic kings and military Lords. Although they failed in the confrontation with the Tang Dynasty, they still had a strong influence on the western regions and the surrounding areas. For example, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shule state, which won 30000 soldiers, was controlled by Turks at the turn of Sui and Tang Dynasties, leaving only 2000-3000 people. The extortion and oppression of these small countries by Turks can be seen. The vassal state should not only be called nunagong, but also be bound by Tutun appointed by the Turkic Khan court and the army. As Tutun Turks are mostly hereditary, it is not long before local kings are replaced.

In Gandhara in the Indus Valley, Huichao also found a good place rich in barley and wheat. Experience

Chinese PinYin : Hui Chao