Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2018 | Page 9

A Journey that Continues to Inspire
Kau Yan School, Gittings, Mark Daniel - 10
W
hy do so many people from all over the world want to follow in the footsteps of Xuanzang, the
Buddhist monk who made a long and dangerous journey along the Silk Road from China to
India more than 1,000 years ago?
For example, American journalist Richard Bernstein explains in his book “Ultimate Journey” how
he was willing to risk arrest by Chinese police because he wanted to “get away from it all” by following the
same 10,000 mile journey as Xuanzang. Then there is Chinese filmmaker Sun Shuyun, who describes in her
book “Ten Thousand Miles” how frightened she sometimes felt as she travelled all alone through remote
parts of China along the same route that Xuanzang took in the monk’s search for Buddhist scriptures from
India. The more I read about Xuanzang’s journey, the more amazed I was about how it had inspired so
many others to undertake risky journeys of their own.
I think one of the main reasons why so many people are inspired to follow in Xuanzang’s footsteps is
because of the famous Chinese novel “Journey to the West”, which is loosely based on the monk’s travels. I
was only five years old when my Mum first read a children’s version of the book to me and, even though
I’m still too young to go travelling by myself, I can understand why such a colourful story might excite
people older than me to set off on adventures of their own.
I’m not alone in being excited by “Journey to the West”. It’s a book that almost every Chinese child
knows and, thanks to the popular English translation by British scholar Arthur Waley, it’s also a book that
has been widely read in many countries around the world. “Journey to the West” has even been described as
one of the three most famous novels in modern Chinese history by author Sally Wriggins, yet another
person who took risks to retrace the monk’s route, in her book “The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang”.
But I think it’s too simple to say “Journey to the West” is the only reason why so many are inspired
to follow in Xuanzang’s footsteps. For example, I read about a famous British archaeologist called Sir
Alexander Cunningham who used the Chinese monk’s writings on his journey to write a book called
“Ancient Geography of India”. Sir Alexander said he relied so heavily on Xuanzang’s work because it was
more detailed than any other ancient records about India.
There are at least four different reasons why people choose to retrace the Buddhist monk’s route. In
her book, Sally Wriggins calls them Xuanzang’s “four legacies”. One is the literary legacy of the novel
“Journey to the West”. Another is the archaeological legacy that encouraged Sir Alexander. In addition to
these two legacies, she also mentions the monk’s art and translation legacies.
Xuanzang’s art legacy has become more important as many of the monuments that he wrote about
have been damaged or even destroyed. This means that the monk’s detailed descriptions of how these
monuments used to look is now essential reading for art historians. For example, art historians often rely on
Xuanzang’s detailed description of the two enormous statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan that were
destroyed by the Taliban government in March 2001.
The translation legacy seems to be the one that was most important to Xuanzang. Although most
people know about the Buddhist monk because of his 10,000 mile journey, his biographer Li Yongshi never
mentioned this journey in his book about the monk called “The Life of Xuanzang”. Xuanzang never
mentioned his long journey either, when he dictated a list of his good deeds shortly before his death. Instead
the monk listed his gifts to charity, making Buddhist statues and, especially, his translations of the Buddhist
scriptures.
Xuanzang brought back 657 Sanskrit texts from India. Together with a translation team, he spent the
rest of his life translating these Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Since the original versions of some
scriptures were later destroyed in India, because of Xuanzang’s efforts China now has the only surviving
copies of these scriptures in the whole world. Modern Buddhist scholar Dan Lusthaus calls Xuanzang the
world’s greatest Chinese translator of Indian Buddhist texts.
Today Xuanzang’s fame has spread far beyond archaeologists, art historians, literary and translation
experts. He has been featured prominently in many television shows about the Silk Road, and his name is
even used as the logo for some travel agencies selling tours along the Silk Road. His name also appears in
Buddhist centres all over the world, and on many Buddhist websites.