From Chang’an to Nālandā

From Chang’an to Nālandā: The Life and Legacy of the Chinese Buddhist Monk Xuanzang (602?–664). Edited by SHI Ciguang 釋慈光, CHEN Jinhua 陳金華, JI Yun 紀贇 and SHI Xingding 釋行定, 2020.

 

Xuanzang was a unique figure in Chinese history who was able to have a profound impact on monks and lay followers, the elite and the general public, the bureaucracy and the common people, the entire East Asian and South Asian world, and the history and reality of the seventh century onward. In the monastic world, he was a once-in-a-millennium monk who was not only extremely learned but also a devoted practitioner, thus inspiring generations of monks from all over the world. For lay people, even if they were not Buddhists, Xuanzang’s character was worthy of study. In terms of academic significance, Xuanzang’s outstanding translation achievements, his faithful introduction and profound understanding of the latest ideas in Indian Buddhism and logic, and his founding of the widely influential Yogācāra school have been well established in past academic studies. In folklore, he had been gradually sanctified since the day of his death, and eventually evolved into numerous legends until he became a household name with the image of the Tang monk in Journey to the West. During his lifetime, Xuanzang was worshipped by emperors and dignitaries, and since his death, he has become an object of worship for thousands of people. But even so, there are still many enigmas surrounding this remarkable figure who lived more than fourteen hundred years ago that remain to be studied.

 

Therefore, from August 16–19, 2018, we held the First International Conference on Xuanzang and Silk Road Culture. Soon after the conference, we collected meticulously drafted papers by some of the participants and published them in both Chinese and English. A total of thirteen papers in English are included in these proceedings, which are just one part of this conference’s achievements.

2.  Historical And Biographical Studies

2.1. Biography as Narrative: Reconsideration of Xuanzang’s Biographies Focusing on Japanese Old Buddhist Manuscripts
Shigeki Moro 師茂樹

2.2. Chinese State and Buddhist Historical Sources on Xuanzang: Historicity and the Da Ci’en Si Sanzang Fashi Zhuan 大慈恩寺三藏法師傳
Jeffrey Kotyk

2.3. Context and Text: Historicizing Xuanzang and the Da Tang Xiyu Ji
Guo Wu 伍國

 

3.  Transborder And Transcultural Perspectives

3.1. How to Create a Great Monastery: Xuanzang’s Foundation Legend of Nālandā in Its Indian Context
Max Deeg

3.2. The Mahābodhi Temple: Centre of Indo-Chinese Cultural Exchange
Arun Kumar Yadav

3.3. Archaeological Evidence, Cultural Imagination and Image of the Medieval World: New Perspectives on Treasures from Qiuci
Yu Xin 余欣

3.4. On Xuanzang and Manuscripts of the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā- sūtra at Dunhuang and in Early Japanese Buddhism
George Keyworth

 

4.  Appendix

4.1. The Xuanzang Project at the University of Göttingen
Siglinde Dietz

 

Author Biographies