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After the introduction of Buddhism into China, A.D. 67, Fa-hien was the first to make a pilgrimage in India, the holy land of the Buddhists. His journey, which lasted about sixteen years (A.D. 399-414), was detailed in his Fo-kue-ki. Next followed the travels of Sun-yun and Hwui-seng, A.D. 518; unfortunately, however, their narrative is very short, and not to be compared with that of the other travelers. Much later, in the T'ang dynasty, the ...
Among early Chinese Buddhist travelers to India, the names of three stand out: Fa-Hsien (340?-420?; Japanese pronunciation, Kokken), Hsuan-tsang (660-664; J., Genjo), and I-Tsing (635-713; J. Gijo). Both Fa-hsien and Hsuan-tsang were able to use an overland route to India, but by the time I-tsing set out in 671 C.E. that option had been closed by the Arabs. But the detour did have a bonus: had I-Tsing been able to go directly to India, as he would have preferred, ...