Where the historical Xuanzang studied Buddhism in the 7th century

Xuanzang      Thich Nhat Hanh

Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng’ En is based on the extraordinary historical seventeen-year pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk, Xuanzang from China to India. In 629 CE, he left Chang’an (Xian) to find wisdom, to find the dharma, the understanding of reality that would bring an end to suffering. He wanted to see the many places in India where Buddha lived and taught, to study Yogacara, the essential and esoteric questions of Buddhism at Nalanda University, the greatest place of Buddhist teaching of the time. And he wanted to bring back the original Buddhist scriptures to the people of China so that they could understand Buddha’s words firsthand.

However, in order to go to India, he was forced to flee China. Travel was forbidden outside the borders of China, and the Tang Emperor, T’ai Tsung, refused to give him permission to go to India, for at that time the borders were not secure and T’ai Tsung had no interest in Buddhism. For the first few months of his journey, Xuanzang snuck from Chinese gatepost to gatepost, hiding in the day, traveling at night, and was nearly killed by those he paid to help him escape. Once outside the borders of China, the princes of the region, of various spiritual faiths, welcomed him and begged him to teach so they could learn from the Master of the Law. They gave him many gifts  and a grand entourage to accompany him to India. In India, he studied with many branches of Buddhism, learned Sanskrit, and spent five years in Nalanda.

Ironically, when Xuanzang returned to China, the city of Chang’an greeted the exile with festive music and bright banners, for he had been where no one in China had been. He had crossed glaciers, mountains higher than birds fly, raging rivers, deserts, and had brought back true treasures. The emperor was eager to gain information on the lands and rulers of the many countries that Xuanzang had visited. He offered Xuanzang an official post, but Xuanzang said that his mission was to bring Buddhism to the peopel. Still, T’ai Tsung insisted that he write an account of his travels. Xuanzang’s book Records of Western Lands of the Great Tang  provided an invaluable detailed source for the cultures of India, Afghanistan, and Mongolia in the seventh century. The Emperor T’si Tsung and Xuanzang became bond-brothers. The Emperor built The Wild Goose Pagoda to house the Indian sutras and offered Xuanzang a staff of twenty-four  monks to help with the translations. The Emperor became a fervent Buddhist. Xuanzang was at the Emperor’s side when he died. He served the next Emperor and his wife Empress Wu and spent the last twenty years of his life translating the Buddhist texts that he had brought back from India.

Years after Buddha’s death, in the fifth century CE, a university of Buddhism developed in Nalanda. At its height, 10,000 monastics lived and studied there with the greatest minds of the Buddhist world. For five hundred years it was the most important place of study in India as Cluny or Clairvaux were in medieval Europe. When Xuanzang, now called Master of the Law because of his wisdom, arrived in Nalanda in 637 CE, he was received with great honor and brought before its revered abbot, Silabhadra (Treasure of the Good Law) and chosen to be one of nine students to be personally taught by the the abbot.  Xuanzang studied five years at Nalanda. He was given ten servants to attend to his needs so he could devote himself completely to study. At the end of his stay, King Harsha of Northern Indian arranged an 18 day public debate in which Xuanzang outdebated the greatest Sanskrit scholars. The abbot Silabhardra passed on to him his spiritual inheritance; his knowledge of Yogacara--seeing into the true nature of reality.  Xuanzang returned to China bringing seven Buddha statues from the important places Buddha lived as well as 657 palm leaf sutras.

Thich Nhat Hanh

As a young novice in the 1930’s, Thich Nhat Hanh read about the great scholars at Nalanda and hoped to have the opportunity to study with them, not realizing  that the university had stopped functioning in the 12th century CE. In fact, the university has just begun to flourish again since 1950. It was therefore an unexpected highlight of the trip to India that Nalanda University awarded Thich Nhat Hanh, surrounded by his sangha of 250 lay people and 50 monastics, a doctorate on October 26th, 2008.  

In Thay’s acceptance speech, he said, “How do you know who is a Buddha? By the way he or she breathes. We can breathe in such a way that brings harmony. Allow the Buddha to manifest in yourself. Let the in-breath be peaceful and bring peace to your body and feelings. When you walk, let the Buddha walk with you with solidity. If you want society to change, you need to change yourself. Instead of blaming the other. realize that you are co-responsible. Your suffering is created in part by yourself. When you don’t know how to handle your suffering, you make others suffer. The peace and safety of others is yours. You have many good seeds; be sure to water them every day. Water your partner or children’s good seeds, their seeds of joy and understanding; do not water their seeds of anger, jealousy or irritation.“

“Buddhism disappeared from India because it became theory and debate rather than practice. To restore Buddhism don’t indulge in complicated speculations, rather apply it every moment of your life.  We have tried to bring Buddhism to Europe and America to make it simple and practical so people can improve the quality of their lives. This is because that is.”

Like Xuanzang, Thich Nhat Hanh also made a Journey to the West. Xuanzang chose to accept a self-imposed exile for seventeen years in order to learn the truths he could not find in his own country. Thich Nhat Hanh was forced into political exile from his country for 39 years. His government refuted the truths he lived by—right action and no-killing. During this time, he found new ways of integrating Buddhist teachings to make their message of right action and non-suffering more accessible to westerners as well as to Asians. Both monks revived Buddhism in their countries as well as enlightened the understanding of Buddhists in other countries.

After Thay’s talk, during lunch at Nalanda, I spontaneously told the life story of Xuanzang to my sangha (Yellow Bus 6). I shared with them my awe at one person’s passion to find wisdom, compelling him to journey across deserts, mountains, rivers, overcoming brigands and administrators. Xuanzang was a person of extraordinary intelligence and vision; above all, no barrier could stop him in his search for the truth. There is a lovely statue of Xuanzang in the Memorial Hall. It is also inspiring that after nearly nine centuries of ruin, Nalanda University is rising again.

Resources:
Bernstein, Richard, Ultimate Journey, retracing the path of an ancient Buddhist Monk who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment, Vintage, 2001.
Watters, Thomas, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in China, Munshi Ram Manohar Lal, Naj Sarak, Delhi, 1961, volumes 1 and 2.
Wriggins, Sally Hovey, The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang,  Westview Press, 2004
Shuyun, Sun, Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud, HarperPerennial, 2004
Yu, Anthony C., The Journey to the West, University of Chicago Press, 1977