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634-712
Chinese Pilgrim
As a Buddhist monk who traveled to India from China, I-ching followed in the footsteps of earlier pilgrims Fa-hsien (c. 334-c. 422) and Hsüan-tsang (602-664). He did not, however, follow them in a literal sense: instead of crossing the mountains that divided China and India in the west, I-ching took an easterly route, via the waters between the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.
After hearing of Hsüan-tsang's exploits, I-ching, along with 37 other monks, resolved to visit the homeland of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama; 563-483 B.C.) himself. The group traveled to Canton in order to board a ship for India, but at the last minute, the other monks got cold feet; therefore I-ching was alone when in 671 he boarded a Persian ship bound for what is now Indonesia.
Sailing past Poulo Condore off the southern coast of the Malay Peninsula in what is now Vietnam...
This section contains 433 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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