Faxian zhuan

The first page of the Faxian zhuan, 12th-century woodblock print. The first sentences read: "In Chang'an, Faxian was distressed that the Vinaya collections were incomplete. Therefore, in the [the year 399], he agreed with Huijing, Daozheng, Huiying, and Huiwei to go seek out more of the Vinaya in India."

Faxian zhuan (J. Hokken den; K. Pŏphyŏn chŏn 法顯傳; “Record of Faxian"). Also known as Foguoji ("Record of Buddhist Countries"). A text by the Chinese monk Faxian that details the author's seventeen years of travel through India and Western Asia.

This text became a valuable record for the state of Buddhism in Central Asia, India, and Sri Lanka during the early fifth century.

Title variations

Title variations for this text include:

• Faxian zhuan 法顯傳, “The Record of Faxian.”
• Gaoseng Faxian zhuan 高僧法顯傳, "Record of the Eminent Monk Faxian"
• Foguoji 佛國記, "Record of Buddhist Countries"
• Liyou tianzhu jizhuan 歷遊天竺記傳, "Report on Travel to India"

Contents

The Princeton Dictionary states:

Faxian left the Chinese capital of Chang'an in 399 and visited numerous cities and kingdoms in Central Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and the island of Java. He traveled to many sacred sites in India and Sri Lanka until his return to China in 413. Faxian left a fairly detailed record of the various ways in which Buddhism was practiced in these kingdoms.

Translations

French

• Abel-Rémusat, Jean-Pierre; et al., eds. (1836), 佛國記 Foé Koué Ki, ou, Relations des Royaumes Bouddhiques: Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan, et dans l'Inde Exécuté à la Fin du IVe Siècle par Chy̆ Fă Hian [The Foguoji (佛國記), or, Relations of the Buddhist Kingdoms: The Voyage through Tartary, Afghanistan, and India Carried Out at the End of the 4th Century by Shi Faxian] (in français), Paris: Royal Printing Office .

English

• Laidlay, John Watson; et al., eds. (1848), The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian from the French Edition of the Foe Koue Ki of MM. Remusat, Klaproth, and Landresse with Additional Notes and Illustrations, Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press .
• Beal, Samuel, ed. (1869), "Records of Buddhist Countries by Chi Fah Hian of the Sung Dynasty", Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims, from China to India (400 A.D. and 518 A.D.), London: Trübner & Co., pp. 1–174 .
• Beal, Samuel, ed. (1884), "Travels of Fa-hian or Fo-kwŏ-ki, Buddhist-Country-Records", Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World by Hiuen Tsiang, Trübner's Oriental Series, I, London: Trübner & Co., pp. xxiii–lxxiii .
• Giles, Herbert Allen, ed. (1877), 佛國記 Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh ; revised and republished as The Travels of Fa-hsien (399-414 a.d.), or, Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1923 .
• Legge, James, ed. (1886), A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fâ-hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline, Oxford: Clarendon Press .

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University