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 ...
A Record of the Buddhist Religion: As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago
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, ...
