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大唐西域記

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Text ID
KR2k0137
Date
646–646
Dynasty
唐

Dà Táng Xīyù jì 大唐西域記

Records of the Western Regions Compiled in the Great Táng by 玄奘 (Shì Xuánzàng / Xuanzang, ca. 602–664) — yì 譯; 辯機 (Shì Biànjī, fl. 645–649) — zhuàn 撰

About the work

The 12-juan canonical Táng-period record of Xuán-zàng’s pilgrimage to India (629–645 CE), composed at the imperial command of Táng Tài-zōng on Xuán-zàng’s return, completed in Zhēn-guān 20 (646 CE). Xuán-zàng dictated; the Dà-zǒng-chí sì (Great Sūtra-Repository Monastery) monk Biàn-jī 辯機 served as the recording-and-organising compiler. The work treats 138 polities of the Western Regions, India, Central Asia, and adjacent territories, in the order encountered or learned of by Xuán-zàng — passing west through Gāo-chāng, the Tarim Basin (Khotan, Kucha), the Pamirs, Tukhāra, Gandhāra, Kashmir, the Punjab, the Gangetic Plain (with juan 8–9 devoted to the great Buddhist site of Magadha and Pāṭaliputra), and outward to Kanchipuram and Sri Lanka, returning by the Pamir route. For each polity, the work systematically records: (i) administrative geography and area, (ii) climate and products, (iii) population and customs, (iv) language and script, (v) religious institutions (Buddhist monasteries, deva temples) and the Buddhist legends localised at each site. It is the foundational pre-modern Chinese-language source for the historical geography, religion, and cultural history of seventh-century India and Central Asia, and remains the principal documentary source on which the modern recovery of north-Indian Buddhist topography (Bodh Gayā, Sarnath, Nālandā, etc.) was built.

The Sìkù tíyào notes a substantial Míng-period interpolation in juan 11 (the Sēngjiāluó / Sri Lanka section), where 370 characters relating to Zhèng Hé’s Yǒnglè 3 (1405) encounter with the Sri Lankan ruler Aliakeshvara / Ālièkǔnàiér 阿烈苦奈兒 have been mistakenly incorporated into the main text in the Wúshì printed edition; the Sìkù compilers correctly identify these as a later annotation that became conflated with the body of the text. The work also contains a glossary apparatus of the form “jiùzuò X é” (the old transcription says X, in error) — corrections of pre-Xuán-zàng Buddhist transcription terminology.

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Dà Táng Xīyù jì in 12 juan: of Táng, shāmén Xuánzàng translated, monk Biànjī compiled. Examining: the Tángshū Xīyù lièzhuàn says: in Táng Zhēnguān (627–649) Xuánzàng travelled west to the various countries of Tiānzhú. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì records this work as composed by Xuánzàng. Zhèng Qiáo’s Yìwén lüè makes it Dà Táng Xīyù jì in 12 juan composed by Xuánzàng, and Xīyù jì in 12 juan composed by Biànjī, separated as two works. Míng Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjí zhì still follows this error. Only Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí makes it: “translated by the Great Táng Sānzàng fǎshī Xuánzàng, compiled by Dàzǒngchí sì monk Biànjī” — agreeing with the present text.

Examining: at the end of this work there is Biànjī’s jìzàn, saying: “Xuánzàng fǎshī in Zhēnguān 3 (629) lifted his garments and obeyed the road, holding his staff and journeyed afar; báoyán (after some time) returned to his cart-shaft, paid audience to the emperor at Luòyáng, reverently received the bright decree, and was charged to translate; Biànjī, as a Dàzǒngchí disciple, compiled this fāngzhì.” Then: this work was translated by Xuánzàng and Biànjī compiled into a book — there can be no doubt.

Formerly Jìn Fǎxiǎn made the Fóguó jì KR2k0136; its prose is rather brief. The Tángshū Xīyù lièzhuàn is comparatively detailed-and-accurate. The countries narrated in this work are all not recorded in the Tángshū. Then what the histories record are the cháogòng zhī bāng (countries paying tribute), and what this records are the jīngxíng zhī dì (places traversed).

In Biànjī’s jìzàn and beneath the lines there are sometimes interlinear notes — sometimes saying “in Táng language so-and-so,” sometimes saying “in such-and-such Yìndù territory” — suspect these are original notes; further there are corrections of translation terminology saying “the old form was so-and-so, in error” — and at the end of each juan there are appended yīnshì (phonetic glosses) — suspect these are added by later persons. In juan 11, in the Sēngjiāluóguó (Sri Lanka) section, there is the matter of Míng Yǒnglè 3 (1405), the eunuch Zhèng Hé seeing the country’s king Ālièkǔnàiér — from “now Xīlánshān is the ancient Sēngjiāluóguó” down to “praying for the people’s increase, performing immeasurable merit,” 370 characters in all — also annotators’ supplementary remarks; the Wú family’s printed edition has wrongly merged it into the main text.

In total it lists 138 countries; among them Mójiétuó (Magadha) is set as juan 8 and 9 — recording it especially in detail. What it tells is largely Buddhist yīnguǒ affairs, taking the place to substantiate them. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì says: “Xuánzàng arrived at Tiānzhú seeking Buddhist books; therefore he recorded the various countries he passed — their fitting customs, their dress system, their territorial extent, the abundance of their products […]”

(Continues — full tíyào omitted for length, but Xuánzàng’s pre-eminent role as translator of the Yogācāra corpus and compiler of the Chéng wéishí lùn is noted.)

Abstract

The Dà Táng Xīyù jì is among the most important pre-modern works in any language for the historical geography of India, Central Asia, and the Buddhist world of the seventh century, and is the principal source on which the nineteenth- and twentieth-century European archaeological recovery of north-Indian Buddhist sites (especially Alexander Cunningham’s identifications of Bodh Gayā, Sarnath, Nālandā, Kapilavastu, Lumbinī, and others) was systematically based.

The work was composed at the imperial command of Táng Tài-zōng on Xuán-zàng’s return from his sixteen-year pilgrimage to India (629–645). Xuán-zàng 玄奘 (DILA Authority A000294; ca. 602–664) was the greatest of the Chinese pilgrim-translators, founder of the Fǎ-xiàng (Yogācāra / Vijñānavāda) school in China, and translator of more than 1,335 juan of Buddhist scripture; the Xī-yù jì was completed in Zhēn-guān 20 (646) and presented to the throne. The actual writing was by his disciple Biàn-jī 辯機 (DILA Authority A001966; fl. 645–649), of the Dà-zǒng-chí sì — a monk known to scholarship principally through this work and through his subsequent execution after a scandal involving Princess Gāo-yáng (the daughter of Tài-zōng).

The work surveys 138 polities. Particularly important sections include: (i) the Tarim Basin and trans-Pamir circuit (juan 1, 12) — primary source for seventh-century Sogdian, Khotanese, Kashgarian, and Tukhāran cultural history; (ii) the Gandhāra section (juan 2–3) — primary source for the post-Fó-tuó-bá-tuó (post-Hephthalite) state of Buddhism in north-west India; (iii) the Magadha-Pāṭaliputra section (juan 8–9) — the core treatment, including detailed accounts of Nālandā monastery and the great Buddhist sites of the Buddha’s life; (iv) the Kanchipuram section (juan 10) — early evidence for the Pallava south; (v) the Sri Lanka section (juan 11) — based on second-hand report rather than personal visit. The work is preserved both in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 593.5) and in the Buddhist canon as T 51, no. 2087.

Translations and research

  • Samuel Beal, Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, 2 vols. (London: Trübner, 1884; numerous reprints). The classic English translation; still widely used.
  • Thomas Watters, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, 629–645 A.D., 2 vols. (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1904–1905). The principal English-language critical companion-and-commentary.
  • Li Rongxi, The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions (Berkeley: Numata Center, 1996). Modern English translation.
  • Max Deeg, Miscellanies about the Buddha Image and his ongoing project on Xuán-zàng’s Xī-yù jì (multiple volumes, in progress, with critical apparatus).
  • Stanislas Julien, Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales par Hiouen-thsang (Paris, 1857–1858). The classic French translation.
  • Jean Boisselier and others on the archaeological identifications.
  • Hwui Li (慧立), Dà Cí’ēn-sì sānzàng fǎ-shī zhuàn 大慈恩寺三藏法師傳 — the official biography of Xuán-zàng, the indispensable companion to the Xī-yù jì; English: Li Rongxi (Numata, 1995).
  • Jan Nattier and others, in Mahāyāna Buddhism: Origins, Transmission, Texts.
  • Wilkinson §39.7 and §73.5 with bibliography.

Other points of interest

The textual interpolation flagged by the Sìkù tíyào — the 370-character passage in juan 11 on Zhèng Hé’s encounter with the Sri Lankan king Aliakeshvara in 1405 — is now universally identified as a Míng-period editorial note that was incorporated by mistake into the main text in some printed editions; the canonical T 51, no. 2087 (CBETA) does not contain this passage.

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