Foreign traveller in India ---I-tsing or Yijing

 

 

I-tsing

 

I-tsing is known as Yijing was a Tang-era Chinese Buddhist monk famed as a traveler and translator. His famous book is “A record of the Buddhist religion”; give socio, religious history during that period of India. His account of his travels is an important source for the history of the medieval kingdoms along the sea route between China and India, especially Srivijaya in Indonesia. He came to India for connection for Buddhism in 7^th century A.D. A student of the Buddhist university at Nalanda (now in Bihar, India), he was also responsible for the translation of a large number of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Pali into Chinese.

 

  

 

He became a monk at age 14 and was an admirer of Faxian and Xuan zang, both famed monks of his childhood. Provided funding by an otherwise unknown benefactor named he decided to visit the renowned Buddhist university   of Nalanda, in Bihar, India, to further study Buddhism. Halfway to Nalanda, I- tsing fell sick and was unable to walk; gradually he was left behind by the group. He walked to Nalanda where he stayed for 11 years. Then he returned to Srivijaya, and stayed for 2 years. Then he returns to China. His total journey took 25 years. He brought back some 400 Buddhist texts translated into Chinese.