The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang

The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li is a companion volume to the Si-Yu-Ki or the Buddhist Records of the Western World of Hiuen-Tsiang. It is an indispensable source book for the scholars interested in the history of ancient India in general and Buddhism in particular. The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang contains a biographical account of his life by his disciple Hwui Li. It elucidates the details relating to the events in the life of the great scholars, saint and pilgrim-traveller. The life is divided into five books and covers the entire life-span of Hiuen-Tsiang, beginning with his birth till his death in the year 664. The description of the eventful life of his master which was an much occupied by travels as by an almost unbelievably gigantic task of translating a large number of original Buddhist works from Sanskrit into Chinese, is marked by reverential attitude and makes a fascinating reading. But more than that, it is a compendium of information on contemporary China, India and those remote parts of Central Asia which the great pilgrim traversed during his journey to India. Samuel Beal’s translation of the Life from original Chinese is an authentic rendering with copious notes on controversial matters. It also contains an account of the works of I-Tsing who also journeyed into India in the footsteps of Hiuen-Tsiang. Besides a preface by L. Cranmer Byng, the present edition also contains a detailed introduction by Samuel Beal wherein various controversial matters including those pertaining to the identification of names and places have been discussed.