Author: Lokesh Chandra
Li Yung-his/
Publisher: Akshaya Prakashan
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 294
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8188643165
Description
Hsuan-tsang stands out as a pilgrim-scholar, master-translator, epic hero of Chienese narrative literature, and as the most outstanding source for the history and archaeology, philosophy and geography of India, Central Asia and China. His Record has been translated and annotated in full and several times. His Life written by his direct disciples Hui-Li and Yen-ts’ung was summarized in French by S Julien in 1853. Its first Samuel Beal in 1888, but the second half was just summarized. As late as 1951, the famous British sinologist Arthur Waley regretted: almost everything European writers have said about him is taken, directly or indirectly, from an incomplete or very imperfect French translation of his biography by Stanislas Julien, published nearly a hundred years ago.
Mr Li Yung-his was the first Chinese scholar to translate the complete ten chapters of the Life of Hsuan-tsang into English. They were published in 1959 by The Chinese Buddhist Association, Peking. This translation presents the personality of the Master in vivid terms. It is a fresh and lively narrative that captures the ambience of the master and his disciple-biographers. It contains interesting correspondence between Hsuan-tsang and Indian teachers Jnanaprabha and Prajnadeva. It is reproduced in this volume by the gracious permission of Mrs Zhang Hui Ji, the wife of late Mr Li Yung-his.
It differs in details from the renderings of Beal and is an important work to be compared with the earlier translation. The limpid flow of the language gives a flavour of the Chinese style and a first-hand account by the disciples of Hsuan-tsang who were witnesses to his strenuous efforts. This translation is a valuable addition to literature on Buddhism, Hsuan-tsang and the Silk Route. It will deepen our knowledge of the history of a seminal period. Interest: Buddhism, History of India, Central Asia and China, Ancient Geography, Archaeology and allied disciplines.
Contents
PREFACE
FOREWORD
BOOK I
Beginning from his Birth at Koushih and Ending with His Arrival at Kaochang
BOOK II
Beginning from the Country of Agni and Ending with the Country of Kanyakubja
BOOK III
Beginning from the Country of Ayodhya and Ending with the Country of Hiranyaparvata
BOOK IV
Beginning from the Country of Champa and Ending with the Invitation of the King of Kamarupa
BOOK V
Beginning from the Divination of a Nirgrantha about his Homeward Journey
BOOK VI
Beginning from his Return to the Western Capital in the First Month of the Nineteenth Year and Ending with the Composition of the Imperial Preface to the Holy Scriptures in the Sixth Month of the Twenty-second Year of Chen Kuan
BOOK VII
Beginning from the Composition of the Preface to the Holy Scriptures by the Crown Prince in the Sixth Month of the Twenty-second Year of Chen Kuan and Ending with a Letter by the Mater in the Second Month of the Fifth Year of Yung Hui
BOOK VIII
Beginning from the Completion of the Translation of the Nyayadvataraka Sastra in the Fifth Month of the Sixth Year of Yung Hui and Ending with the Imperial Inscription for the Tzu En Monastery in the Third Month of the First Year of Hsien Ching
BOOK IX
Beginning from a Letter of Thanks for the Inscription of the Tzu En Monastery in the Third Month of the First Year of Hsien Ching and Ending with a Letter of Thanks to the Emperor for Inquiring After the Master’s Illness
BOOK X
Beginning from the Emperor’s Return to the Western Capital in the First Month of the Third Year of Hsien Ching and Ending with the Death of the Master at the Yu Hua Palace in the Second Month of the First Year of Lin Teh