At the age of sixty, Fa Hsien traveled with his companions over deserts and freezing mountains to India to retrieve books on Buddhist precepts stipulated by the Buddha in 399 ad. During their journey, some withdrew from the challenge, two died, and one stayed behind in India, leaving Fa Hsien the only monk to complete the mission by sailing back to China via Sri Lanka and Indonesia. He spent a total of fourteen years on a journey that shook Chinese Buddhism.

Another interesting thing is that Hsuan Tsang was around the age of thirty when he went to India, but Fa Hsien was already sixty, a very old age considering the normal life span of people at that time. Fa Hsien certainly was less energetic than Hsuan Tsang, but he still had the strong willpower to accomplish this incredible, unprecedented task. His success was truly magnificent.

Background

Fa Hsien was born both the youngest and the only child in his family sometime in 340 ad. Three brothers had been born before him, but none of them lived past the age of eight. Fearing it was because of some curse, young Fa Hsien's parents sent him to a temple to be raised there. Mysteriously, the young boy would fall sick whenever he came home from the temple, and when he was sent back he would recover very quickly. After a few tries, Fa Hsien was reluctant to go home anymore.

During the fourth century, although some monks had either established some precepts or had translated others from Sanskrit to Chinese, they were not widely known, so many temples simply did not have any rules or regulations governing the monks and nuns. Thus there were constant problems, which brought down the dignity and reputation of Buddhism. Fa Hsien found the translated precepts incomplete and unsatisfactory. A monk who had translated a copy of the precepts told Fa Hsien that the clauses he translated came from a country to the west of China, not from India itself. Those clauses were actually incomplete and there was a need to get the complete version of Buddhist precepts from India, so that Chinese monks and nuns could live up to them properly. Upon hearing this, Fa Hsien informed four monk friends, Hui Ching, Tao Cheng, Hui Ying and Hui Wei, of his idea of retrieving the Buddhist precepts from India. They all wanted to follow him and fulfill this significant task.

The route to India was extremely long and treacherous. Now we have cars and airplanes to make our trips easier and more comfortable, but Fa Hsien and the other monks had to journey to India on foot through deserts and snowy mountains in all kinds of weather. Their path took them through today's Xinjiang Province in the northwest region of China (between the Pamirs and the Kyrgyzstan Republic, and still not part of China at that time), the Pamirs (in today's Tajikistan), Kashmir, and finally to India. This region was undeveloped and sparsely populated, so travelers had to depend entirely on their own for survival.

In a city named Changyi (inside China), Fa Hsien and his companions were thrown into jail by mistake and later released. In jail, they met several other monks who were also heading west. Upon hearing Fa Hsien's objective, these monks also joined him. After being released, the whole group headed to Tunhuang.

After staying at Tunhuang for a few days, Fa Hsien and his companions were about to leave again when Li Kao, the good-hearted governor of Tunhuang, sent an envoy to accompany the monks to their next stop, Lolan. Li Kao also provided the monks with some money and food.

Dangerous Journey

The road from Tunhuang to Lolan had no lakes or rivers. There was only a vast, arid desert. It was a dangerous trip, because if they couldn't find the right direction, they would be lost and eventually die in the desert from starvation or dehydration. The weather was blazing hot by day and freezing cold by night. Also, there were constant, devastating sandstorms that could simply bury them alive in a split second.

The monks got lost on the first day. Not knowing where to go, Fa Hsien suddenly had an idea: follow the bones of dead people. More bones might mean they were heading in the right direction, so they split up to find bones. They finally reached Lolan after seventeen days of exhausting travel.

When they reached the city, they went to the largest temple and asked for permission to stay a while and rest. A young novice named Chueh Hsin came out to greet them. The novice was a Chinese who had been born in Lolan, so he was able to speak both Chinese and Sanskrit, the latter being the language used by the monks in Lolan. Realizing the linguistic problem they would face on their trip, Fa Hsien and the other monks decided to learn the language from Chueh Hsin so that they would be able to ask for alms and communicate with local residents.

After leaving Lolan, they continued their trip on foot. They passed through several small states and more deserts and finally reached the Pamirs. This area was treacherous with snow and hard-blowing wind. While struggling to walk through the snow, one companion, Hui Ching, suddenly lost consciousness, due to the lack of oxygen in the high mountain air, and fell down. Fa Hsien and the other monks rushed over to surround him and keep him warm. Hui Ching slowly came to his senses and the monks, taking turns to support him, started moving again.

India

It took a month for the monks to traverse the Pamirs and reach northern India. Since leaving Tunhuang in China, they had traveled for about a year through various small countries and the Pamirs. They finally reached a country in northern India called Touli. It was a small state with only a few hundred households. However, Maitreya Temple, the largest in the country, had hundreds of monks.

When they entered the temple, they were surprised to see a gigantic statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva that was more elegant than any they had ever seen before. The statue dazzled them as though the bodhisattva himself was alive before them. Soon after they had entered the temple, the abbot came out and greeted them warmly, since the temple had never had any monks from China before.

The abbot told them the legend behind the statue. A sculptor was asked to create the statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva, but the problem was he had no idea what the bodhisattva looked like. An arhat used his supernatural power to send the sculptor to the bodhisattva's residence in heaven, so that he could have a close look at the bodhisattva. When the sculptor had half finished the statue, he forgot what Maitreya looked like, so the arhat needed to send him again to heaven. This happened three times before the sculptor finally completed the statue.

From there to the next state, Wuchang, they had to cross a very steep valley. The path was very dangerous, and it ended entirely after a few miles. There were two rows of holes on a rocky hill: the upper row for travelers to insert their hands and the lower row for them to insert their feet. The monks had to move forward slowly by moving their hands and feet from one hole to the next. After that, another dangerous path appeared. Here rectangular stone steps had been inserted into holes on the face of the rock, with one third of each step inside the hole and two thirds outside of it for travelers to step on. There were no handrails. Some steps were broken and some were cracked after years of weathering, so that a careless step would send a traveler down to the river several thousand feet below.

The monks carefully walked over all seven hundred steps. Just as they thought that they were now safe from all danger, they were shocked to see that a rope stretched from their side of the chasm to the other side. They could not return, but were forced to go forward. They found some rattan stems hanging down from above, so they tied themselves to the rope with the rattan and crossed the river one by one.

After that, the group faced no more treacherous paths inside India. They visited many of the historical Buddhist sites and heard many stories about the Buddha. In Udyana, for instance, there was once a man who used his magic power so that the village could have a good harvest every year. The villagers would bring him a portion of their harvests as a token of their appreciation. However, as time went by, they brought him less and less, and they even slandered him with foul language. He swore to be reborn as a vicious dragon in his next life. Indeed, he came back as a dragon and ravaged the village he used to help. For some years the village had no harvests due to the destruction caused by the dragon, and the villagers were starving. One day, the Buddha arrived at this village. When he heard what was happening, he went to the dragon to persuade him to stop his evil deeds. However, the dragon refused to stop, so the Buddha brought down a mountain with his supernatural power. The dragon immediately gave in and repented of his ways. Although the dragon promised that he would not destroy any more crops, he still needed food for himself, so the Buddha agreed that the dragon could bring water to the village once every twelve years to irrigate the crops.

Before coming to a state named Sohetou, three of the monks--Hui Ta, Hui Ching and Tao Cheng--went to a state named Nagara to visit the Buddha's image there while the others went on to Sohetou. In Nagara, they heard another famous story about the Buddha. The Buddha was a king in one of his lifetimes, and he vowed to save all living beings. Sakra, the ruler of the heavens, decided to test the king. One of his servants became a dove and Sakra himself became an eagle and chased after the dove. The dove kept flying and finally reached the king, who then said to the dove, "Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

The eagle wanted to eat the dove, but since the king had promised to save the dove, the king decided to offer his own flesh to the eagle in exchange for the dove's life. But the eagle made one proviso: the king's flesh had to be equal in weight to the dove. The king cut off a piece of his flesh and placed it on a scale, but it was too light, so the king kept cutting off more and more flesh. But it was all useless because Sakra had put a hex on the scale. The king finally threw his whole body onto the scale. Touched by the king's noble act, Sakra appeared in his human form before the king and asked him if he regretted doing so just to save a dove. The king swore that if he had any regrets, no flesh would grow back on his body; but if he had no regrets, all of his flesh would grow back. Miraculously, the king's body became as it was before. Sakra and all the deities praised the king for his selfless act of compassion.

In almost every country they went, the monks would hear stories about the Buddha. The Buddha had gone to many places in India and had thus left behind many legends.

Although they could travel safely in India, the monks still encountered some setbacks that finally caused their group to break up. In a state called Kaniska, in what is now northern Punjab, one of Fa Hsien's companions, Hui Ying, suddenly fell ill and died. After that, Hui Ta, one of the three who had gone to Nagara, came and informed Fa Hsien that Hui Ching had became ill, but fortunately not seriously. After Hui Ying died, Hui Ta and two other monks who were with Fa Hsien decided to go back to China. Perhaps the death reminded them of their own hometowns, and they decided to die in their hometowns rather than in India. Fa Hsien decided to go to Nagara to see how Hui Ching was doing.

On his way to Nagara, Fa Hsien went to a city called Hida, which was famous for possessing the top of the Buddha's skull. Because of the holy nature of the skull, the king had ordered that the eight major families in the state would each hold a golden seal. Each morning a person from each family would come with their seal to the temple where the skull was kept. Once the abbot of the temple had seen all eight seals, he would open the temple gate. Two of the seal holders would bring out the skull so that the public could pay tribute. Fa Hsien fortunately arrived just at that time and paid tribute to the Buddha's skull. After that, he went to other states and venerated the Buddha's tooth, robe and walking stick.

He finally arrived in Nagara and found Hui Ching and Tao Cheng, but in order not to upset them with the bad news, he didn't tell them about Hui Ying's death. In the spring, they set out to visit a cave where an image of the Buddha could be found.

Image in the cave

It was said that during the Buddha's time, a cattle farmer was responsible for providing cheese to the king of this state. One day the farmer was late in sending the cheese, so the king became angry and ordered his servants to kill all the farmer's cattle. The farmer went crazy and jumped off a cliff. After he died, he was transformed into a dragon which came out of his cave every three days to wreak havoc and kill the residents of the state. One day, the Buddha passed by the place and went to pacify the dragon. The beast lost his hatred and became the Buddha's disciple. One day, the Buddha told the dragon that he would pass away soon. Fearing that the dragon would start killing again, the Buddha left behind his own image on a wall in the dragon's cave. Whenever the dragon wanted to kill again, he would look at the image and it would calm his anger.

Fa Hsien and the other two monks went to this cave to pay tribute. After they had made three hundred prostrations, an image of the Buddha in a posture of meditation suddenly appeared on the wall. As Fa Hsien continued his prostrations, the images of the Buddha's disciples and several bodhisattvas also appeared. The whole scene was quite vivid, as though they were alive before him, and this moved Fa Hsien very deeply.

Unfortunately, several people came, brawling loudly and carrying torches in their hands. That disturbed the monks' tranquillity, and the images disappeared immediately.

After that, the three of them went to central India. They had to climb over a snowy mountain, and that was where Hui Ching died.

In tears, Fa Hsien informed Tao Cheng of Hui Ying's death and the return of the others to China. Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng were the only two left from the original group, and this made them feel very sad and forlorn. However, Fa Hsien felt that he had not finished his task and he did not want to go home. They thus continued their travels, hoping to make pilgrimages to Buddhist places and to receive copies of the Buddhist precepts.

Realizing their dream

More than six years after leaving China, Fa Hsien still hadn't received a copy of the Buddhist precepts. The Indian monks that they had met had no written copies of the precepts. They always passed down the precepts to their disciples by word of mouth. In Pataliputra, in the state of Magadha, Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng finally realized their aspiration.

In the biggest temple in the city, they went to visit a famous monk, Manjusri. After learning of the purpose of their journey, Manjusri kindly took out a pile of books, a forty-volume set of monastic rules. That brought tears to the eyes of Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng. After so many terrible ordeals, they finally got what they wanted.

While in that country, the monks again went to visit many historical Buddhist sites. They went to Mrgadava, a famous park in northern India where the Buddha gave his first sermons. There Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng went to a temple. The abbot of the temple came out and asked them if they were Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng. The monks then realized that Manjusri had already contacted this abbot and asked him to help them with any need they had. They were again moved by Manjusri's friendliness and kindness, so they asked this abbot if he had any copies of the Buddhist precepts. The abbot took them to his study, and they found two copies of different sutras.

However, both Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng felt this was not enough, so they decided to go back to Manjusri's temple to copy more precepts. On the way back to Pataliputra, Tao Cheng's leg became swollen and every step was extremely difficult for him. Fa Hsien also caught a cold. After seven days of travel, they finally reached the temple and collapsed on the steps. When they woke up the next day, both of them were lying in bed in the temple.

Fa Hsien and Tao Cheng spent three years at the temple improving their Sanskrit and copying more Buddhist precepts. One day, Tao Cheng said to Fa Hsien: "To tell you the truth, my leg is getting worse and I don't think I can walk any further. I have decided not to go back to China with you. The precepts here are much more strict than the ones in China, so I have decided to stay here for the rest of my life to cultivate my spirituality."

Upon hearing this, Fa Hsien's eyes filled with tears. He had also thought of staying in India. However, he had come there to bring the Buddha's precepts back to China. Staying behind would go against his commitment, and the whole journey would have been wasted. He was also sad that after so many years of traveling, the original group had shrunk down to only himself. The thought of going back to China without Tao Cheng made him feel very lonely.

Returning home

Fa Hsien knew he had to go back home, but he might not want to take the same land route. He heard that if he went by sea, he would reach a big island where he could take a boat back to China, although he knew quite well that travel on the ocean was also dangerous.

Fa Hsien first walked for about a month to a state named Tumluk, and there he successfully caught a boat to Sri Lanka. On the boat, he was amazed by the vastness of the ocean and the insignificance of human beings.

After fourteen days, the boat finally reached Sri Lanka. Fa Hsien heard that the Mahapilalo Temple had a huge collection of Buddhist precepts, so he went there. Unfortunately, the abbot had just left for India, so Fa Hsien decided to stay until the abbot came back.

He waited for two years. His patience paid off when the abbot finally returned in the third year. After hearing Fa Hsien's dramatic story, the abbot brought out the precepts and many sutras. Fa Hsien looked at the titles and took out four books of sutras and precepts that were not available in China. After that, he found a ship that was setting out for China, so he gave the boat owner all his money and also prepared some bottles of drinking water for emergency.

The boat ran aground and tore a hole in the bottom. The hole was sealed, but they had lost their direction. After more than ninety days at sea, the ship finally reached what is now Java.

The same ship was not going to China anymore, so Fa Hsien had to look for a new one. Five months later he found a merchant ship heading to China. He had already given all his money to the owner of the previous boat, so he had no money at all. The owner of this new boat insisted that if Fa Hsien wanted to take his boat, he would have to pay the fare. Fa Hsien explained to him that he was a monk from China and was penniless.

The boat owner asked Fa Hsien, "You are a Chinese monk? So you can speak Chinese?"

Fa Hsien nodded his head. The boat owner then allowed Fa Hsien to go on board, since the monk could translate for him once they reached China.

Scapegoat

The boat carried more than two hundred people, including some Hindu Brahmans. The weather was very good and people could see fish clearly in the water. Some days later, a storm suddenly blew up, bringing huge waves down on the boat and sweeping everything from the deck out to sea.

Many passengers cried and clung to each other. Fa Hsien prayed to the Buddha for blessings. Slowly the storm subsided and the weather became clearer. One Brahman pointed to Fa Hsien and yelled, "It's all his fault that we almost died! If there is an island ahead, let's throw him onto the island!"

Ever since the Buddha's time, the Brahmans had hated the Buddhists. The major reason was that any number of Brahmans converted to Buddhism after hearing the Buddha's teachings. This hatred against Buddhists had been passed down for centuries. Thus, this Brahman placed all the blame for the ship's misfortune on Fa Hsien. All the other Brahmans shouted in unison. The captain suddenly shouted sternly, "If you want to throw him overboard, you'll have to throw me off too, for I'll report what you have done to the Chinese king. He respects Buddhist monks. Just think what will happen to you!"

All the Brahmans drew back in silence.

After sailing for over two months, the captain realized he was lost, so he ordered the boat to sail to the west. The boat was originally heading northeast to Guangzhou in southern China, so he figured that if they turned west, they should be able to reach that city or somewhere near it.

After twelve more days, they finally reached land. No one knew where it was, but seeing the familiar scene, Fa Hsien knew they had reached China. A few passengers jumped into a small boat and sailed upstream into a river. A few hours later, the boat returned with two Chinese hunters. Fa Hsien talked to the hunters and discovered that they were on the southern coast of what is now the Shandong peninsula, in northeastern China.

After a fourteen-year journey through some thirty countries, Fa Hsien had finally returned home. The year was 412 ad. When Li Yi, a devout Buddhist and governor of the province, heard the great news, he immediately went with his entourage to invite Fa Hsien to his residence. As for the boat and its passengers, they all went south to their original destination.

Later, Fa Hsien went south to modern Nanjing. It was difficult to go back to Changan, where he had started his journey, due to civil wars.

Translating work

At that time, there was a great Buddhist monk named Hui Yuan [see the Tzu Chi Quarterly Fall 2000 issue] who was devoted to translating Sanskrit sutras into Chinese. He was acquainted with a famous Indian monk named Buddhabhadra, who was a good translator. When Hui Yuan heard about Fa Hsien's return from India, he immediately went to see him. He brought him to a temple in Nanjing where they could work together to translate the sutras and precepts that Fa Hsien had brought back from India.

After several years of hard work, they had translated a large number of sutras and precepts, but there were still hundreds of sutras that Fa Hsien had not translated when he passed away in 422 at the age of eighty-two.

Master Fa Hsien has always been considered by the Chinese Buddhist world as one of the greatest traveling monks of China. Despite his age, he insisted on going to India to collect copies of the Buddhist precepts so that monks and nuns in China could follow the precepts established by the Buddha. Through many hardships in arid deserts and snowy mountains, Fa Hsien and his companions finally reached India. However, after traveling around India, his friends either returned to China, died or stayed behind, leaving only Fa Hsien to complete the great mission alone.

His trip home was also full of danger. Seafaring was very risky, mostly because ships had no compasses to pinpoint the right direction. Nevertheless, Fa Hsien conquered all difficulties and safely returned home some fourteen years later. He then spent his remaining years translating the Buddhist scriptures and precepts. Thanks to his great courage and efforts, Buddhist monks and nuns in the Far East today have precepts to abide by and know what they are allowed or not allowed to do. They are able to act properly. Furthermore, other monks, such as the "Tang Monk" Hsuan Tsang, followed his footsteps and traveled to the west in search of more scriptures or to study the Buddha's teachings. What is equally important on a broader scale is that we should emulate the good examples set by these great monks and complete all hard tasks with courage and determination.