Legend of The Silk Road-Xuanzang
In the Sui Dynasty, there was a prominent Chen clan in Chenhe Village in Luoyang. Xuanzang, the central character in our story, was born in this village. Xuanzang's father was noted for erudition, who was raised with good education and also showed great virtue and wisdom. When Xuanzang was eight, his father once taught The Classic of Filial Piety at home. When hearing the story of "The Withdrawal of Zengzi", Xuanzang immediately tided up his clothes and stood up.
His father asked,"What happened to you?" Xuanzang answered,"If Zengzi would stand up when his teacher gives a lecture to him, how can I still sit here when I receive the lecture given by my father?" His father was so happy to hear that, thinking that this kid would have great achievements in the future.
Unfortunately, Xuanzang's parents both died when he was ten years old, and thus Xuanzang had to live with his older brother. Xuanzang followed his brother and displayed interest in Buddhism.
Soon afterwards, the state began to widely recruit Buddhist monks. The state made an exception in Xuanzang's case because of his precocious knowledge and then Xuanzang was fully ordained as a monk. During the five or six years in the monastery, Xuanzang concentrated on his studies and his profound knowledge of Buddhism as well as unique perspective made him well-known throughout Luoyang City.
When the Tang Dynasty was established aftr the Sui Dynasty, eighteen-year-old Xuanzang came to Chang'an for the first time. However, the emperor did not value Buddhism at that time. Xuanzang was disappointed and decided to travel to the south. During the next seven years, he traveled all over the country, visted the local monks wherever he went, and studied scriptures of different Buddhist shcools. Thus, people respectfully called him the "fast colt" in Buddhism.
Feeling confused, Xuanzang came to Chang'an again. This time, he was lucky to meet a senior monk named Bopo. The monk traveled furthest to preach Dharma in the Central Plain, which deeply moved Xuanzang.
"Bopo the sage, please tell me where to find the truth of Dharma?"Xuanzang asked.
"There is a monastery called Nalanda in India, which is the most prestigious institution to study Dharma. " Bopo answered.
The answer of Bopo served as guidance for Xuanzang. From then on, Xuanzang began to study Sanskrit, and was determined to go to India.
Xuanzang was on his road. Along the Hexi Corridor, Xuanzang walked straight to Liangzhou. He stayed there for a few days, explaining the Dharma to people. The activity became unexpectedly popular and was soon noticed by the local magistrate, who commanded Xuanzang to return to Chang'an.
At this crucial moment, a Buddhist leader in Liangzhou was moved by Xuanzang's intention and helped Xuanzang slide off at dawn. From then on, Xuanzang had to travel incognito and at night to cross the long frontier.
Xuanzang arrived in Guazhou, the city nearest to the West. This time the court sent an official named Li Chang to arrest Xuanzang. Forturnately, Li Chang, a Buddhist, tore up the warrant and gave Xuanzang a horse. However, before Xuanzang reached the gateway, he lost his way. He came to a temple, knelt down and recited sutras, hoping that the Buddha would guide him out. At that moment, he found a man following him. This man was called Shi Pantuo, a Buddhist from Hu. He asked Xuanzang to accept him as a disciple and promised to guide Xuanzang through the gateway.
The next day, Xuanzang and Shi Pantuo met an old man on the road, who wanted to trade his burgundy horse from Xuanzang' horse. "An old hand is a good guide. The old horse can help you find the way. " the old man said. Xuanzang agreed. He took the burgundy horse, parted from Shi Pantuo, and moved on. Passing through Yumen Pass with five eastward beacon towers, Xuanzang headed for the eight-hundred-mile-long desert. He felt unprecedentedly lonely, for no adventurer successfully walked through the desert before.
With the sun burning him, hungry and thirsty torturing him and sandstorms hitting him, Xuanzang stopped and recited sutras to overcome his fear, but he could not eliminate the physical tiredness.
In such a predicament, Xuanzang lost his only kettle. Too tired to take one more step, Xuanzang felt that his life might come to an end and that he might die in the desert at any time. Amazingly, his horse led him to a lake. Lying in the lake and resting for a few days, Xuanzang was finally restored to health and set out again. Xuanzang went through the desert and the Xingxingxia, and then arrived at the first kingdom outside the Tang Dynasty_Yiwu.
Hearing news about Xuanzang staying in Yiwu, Ju Wentai, the king of Gaochang, made a request for a meeting with him. As the king of the biggest country in the Western Regions, Ju Wentai was a Han Buddhist who had tremendous respect for Xuanzang, hoping that Xuanzang would stay as a religious leader in Gaochang.
Xuanzang refused to stay regardless of all Ju Wentai's persuasion. "I am determined to go to India to study Dharma. One can only stop me over my dead body." He said. Resigning himself to the fact but moved by Xuanzang's determination, Ju Wentai became sworn brother to Xuanzang. Xuanzang promised that he would preach Buddhism to Gaochang people for three years after he came back with Buddhist scriptures. With enough food, horses, and entourages prepared by Ju Wentai, Xuanzang continued the journey.
Xuanzang reached Karasahr, and then stayed in Kucha for a time. Thanks to the document from the king of Gaochang, Xuanzang received warm hospitality by every leader all the way. When spring came and snow melt, Xuanzang would climb over mountains and pass through Western Turkic steppe to India. Xuanzang escaped robbers, merchants, and people of different religious beliefs all along the way, and reached Suyab.
Xuanzang went through Suyab and came to Samarkand, where people were Zoroastrians and monks were not welcomed. In the evening, people spontaneously lift torches to drive Xuanzang away. However, Xuanzang recited scriptures and did not move, so people brought him to the king.
Calm and unafraid in the palace, Xuanzang preached to the king by his spirituality and verbal skills the whole night like a cultural ambassador. At dawn, the king was impressed by culture of Tang and decided to be a Buddhist. The next day, followed by relatives and nobles, the king escorted Xuanzang out of the city.
Xuanzang passed through seven small countries in the northern India, and finally came to Ganges River. At this time in India, most people believed in Hinduism and rejected Buddhism. Noticing that Xuanzang was decorous, people surrounded him, chanting, singing and dancing, trying to sacrifice Xuanzang to their Goddess Durga. Suddenly, the waves in Ganges River became so strong and the weather changed so much that people were afraid and thought that Goddess Durga must be angry, so they released Xuanzang. Xuanzang had a narrow escape once again.
Since then,Xuanzang traveled everywhere Buddha had been. He visited the bathing pool where Buddha was born, the plain where Buddha practiced Buddhism, and Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment. He was chanting sutras under the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment and looked up at the heavens under the sal where Buddha realized nirvana. He saw countless pagodas and statues Ashoka built along the way. However, at that time, Buddhism had declined in Buddha's hometown. Gazing at the empty temples, Xuanzang began to weep and said," When Buddha attained enlightenment, I wasn't here; when I am here, Buddhism already declined."
Since leaving Chang'an, Xuanzang had been on the road for four years. Finally, he reached the sacred site in his heart, Nalanda. It was a grand monastery in northern India and became the center of studying Buddhism after Buddha and his chief disciple Sariputta gave their sermons there. Xuanzang was taught by the venerable Silabhadra Master, who renewed lectures for him. Xuanzang worked hard every day and improved enormously in five years. At last he found the guiding light in his heart.
Xuanzang finished his study and became well-known in the distant land, where he had lived for fourteen years. Regardless of persuasion from the king and the abbot, Xuanzang was determined to return to China to disseminate what he had learned. With a lot of Buddhist scriptures and statues, Xuanzang travelled through snowy moutains and deserts again, enduring all kinds of hardships and suffering. Eventually, he arrived in the capital, Chang'an, and a great procession celebrated his return. Unfortunately, Ju Wentai, the sworn brother of Xuanzang and the king of Gaochang, already died when Xuanzang was in India. And Gaochang was ruined follwing his death.
Xuanzang left lots of material and spiritual wealth for later generations. He devoted the rest of his life in translating Buddhist scriptures, designing and building the Wild Goose Pagoda, which were great contribution to the dissemination of Buddhism in China. In addition, he agreed to the request of Emperor Xuanzong for recording his journey in detail. The narrative of his journey is called The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions now.
The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions provided the inspiration for a novel written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming Dynasty. In the novel, a Buddhist monk in the Tang Dynasty traveled with his three disciples to India to obtain sacred scriptures. The story spread so fast that it is widely known around the world nowadays. The novel is called Journey to the West, and the prototype of the Buddhist monk in it is Xuanzang.
Two stories about beans:
There was a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Gai, who was a loyal minister through three generations of emperors: Song Renzong, Song Yingzong, and Song Shenzong. Because he was given the posthumous title "Kang Jing" by the emperor, he was also called Duke Kangjing of Zhao in history. Not only was he exceptionally upright and honest as an official, but he was also cautious and self-disciplined throughout his life, open-minded, and he was also very generous in his treatment of others. Kang Jinggong has attached great importance to self-examination and reflection since he took the examination at the age of seventeen, and found a good way to urge himself to self-examination and self-cultivation:
He keeps three small jars in his study room. One contains white beans, one contains black beans, and one is empty.
Every day he used white beans and black beans to record the good and evil of his words and deeds throughout the day. If he did a good deed or said a good thought, he would take out a white bean and throw it into the empty jar;
If he did something bad, or had an evil thought or bad word, he would take out a black bean and throw it into the empty box. He will summarize it after a while.
He poured out the beans thrown into the empty box and counted how many white beans there were and how many black beans there were. He used this method to check how many mistakes he had made during this period and whether he had made any progress in his moral cultivation.
If he found that there were still mistakes, he would find ways to correct them; if he made progress, he would encourage himself to work harder and persevere.
In this way, he kept insisting on self-examination at all times, repenting and doing good every day. Later, the number of white beans in the bottle gradually increased, and the number of black beans stopped increasing.
Duke Zhao Kangjing also gradually improved his cultivation and became a famous official with high moral character. "Zhao Gai throws beans" has also become a famous historical allusion and left its name in history.
Coincidentally, there was a similar historical allusion of "Xu Pu stored beans" in the Ming Dynasty:
Xu Pu placed two bottles on the table in his study room.
Whenever he had a kind thought in his heart, said a kind word, or did a kind deed, he would throw a white bean into the bottle.
If he had an evil thought or said a bad word in his heart, he would throw a black bean into another bottle. He poured out the beans every day, counted the black beans and white beans, and made summary and reflection.
At the beginning, there were less white beans and more black beans. As he continued to improve, he reflected more and more deeply, made fewer and fewer mistakes, and made greater and greater progress in self-cultivation. There were more and more white beans in the bottle, while the number of black beans in the other bottle remained almost unchanged.
This diligent and self-cultivated scholar is also very remarkable. He was ranked second in high school at the age of 27. He is the famous first minister Xu Pu of the Ming Dynasty.
The two ancient wise ministers Zhao Kangjing and Xu Wenjing both started from the simple and easy method of "white beans and black beans", starting from the smallest words, deeds and thoughts, and constantly cultivated their bodies and minds. Every self-examination of body and mind is the path to wisdom beyond oneself.