Faxian (337 – c. 422) became a monk at a young age and studied Buddhism all his life. Yet he realized that the Buddhist texts in China were incomplete and had mistakes in them. At the age of 62 he decided to travel to India in search of the Dharma. At the age of 74 (!), he finally returned to China and spend the rest of his life teaching and translating the texts he had brought with him, until his death at the age of 87. Before his death, he also wrote his Record of Buddhist Kingdoms, without which we would know near to nothing about India during that age.
"During my journey to India, I traversed numerous mountains and braved turbulent seas,
I managed to bring the sutras and precepts back to China because I stuck to my core beliefs.
If your principles are unwavering nothing can stand in your way."
His paved the way for later explorers and translators, like the great translator Xuanzang about whom I wrote earlier.
A fantastic documentary about his life can be seen at CCTV:
Part 1 and 2
Part 3 and 4
"During my journey to India, I traversed numerous mountains and braved turbulent seas,
I managed to bring the sutras and precepts back to China because I stuck to my core beliefs.
If your principles are unwavering nothing can stand in your way."
His paved the way for later explorers and translators, like the great translator Xuanzang about whom I wrote earlier.
A fantastic documentary about his life can be seen at CCTV:
Part 1 and 2
Part 3 and 4
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