Dà Táng Dà Cí’ēnsì sānzàng fǎshī zhuàn 大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳
Biography of the Tripiṭaka-Master of the Great Cí’ēn Monastery of the Great Táng
original by 慧立 (Huìlì, fl. mid-7th c., 本); annotated and supplemented by 彥悰 (Yàncóng [Cí’ēn], fl. late 7th c., 箋); presented in 688
About the work
The standard, full biography of 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 602–664) — the great Táng pilgrim, translator, and founder of the Dharma-Characters (Fǎxiàng / Yogācāra) school — in ten juan, composed by his disciple 慧立 (Huìlì) in the years immediately after Xuánzàng’s death and supplemented decades later by 彥悰 (Yàncóng of Cí’ēnsì, not to be confused with the Suí translator or the disciple of 法琳). 彥悰 is reported to have completed the supplementation in 688, presenting the text to the throne at that time. This is one of the foundational documents of medieval Chinese Buddhism and the principal source for Xuánzàng’s life, his Indian journey, and his Cháng’ān translation activity.
Abstract
The structure follows the canonical East Asian Buddhist biographical form, expanded to ten juan. Juan 1 covers Xuánzàng’s birth, family, and entry into the saṃgha. Juan 2–5 give the overland journey to India through Central Asia (629–631), the years at Nālandā monastery (635–642), the southern Indian itinerary, and the return journey (643–645). Juan 6–10 cover the Cháng’ān years (645–664): the imperial reception by Tàizōng, the establishment of the translation bureau at Hóngfú-sì 弘福寺 and then Dà Cí’ēn-sì 大慈恩寺, the great translations of the Yogācārabhūmi, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā in 600 juan, and the Abhidharma corpus, and finally the death at Yùhuá-gōng 玉華宮 in 664.
慧立 composed the original draft (the běn 本) shortly after Xuánzàng’s death, but the completed work was buried with him at his death. 彥悰 retrieved the manuscript, expanded it with annotations and supplementary documents (the jiān 箋 / 箋注), and presented the completed work in 688 (Wǔ Zétiān Chuígǒng 垂拱 4). The combined text is the most detailed biography of any Chinese Buddhist monk before the Sòng.
The biography contains the only extant detailed narrative of Xuánzàng’s overland journey, his interactions with the Central Asian and Indian polities (including King Harṣavardhana of Kanyakubja), his debates at Indian monastic universities, and his philosophical disputes with non-Buddhist scholars. It is the principal source for the geography of seventh-century Buddhist India as seen by an East Asian eyewitness — supplementary to Xuánzàng’s own Dà Táng xīyù jì 大唐西域記 (KR6t0011).
Translations and research
- Samuel Beal, The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li (London: Trübner, 1888) — the foundational English translation, dated but still cited.
- Li Rongxi, A Biography of the Tripiṭaka Master of the Great Ci’en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty (Berkeley: BDK America / Numata, 1995) — modern English translation, the standard.
- Stanislas Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen-Thsang et de ses voyages dans l’Inde (Paris, 1853) — French translation; foundational for European Sinology.
- Sally Hovey Wriggins, The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang (Boulder: Westview, 2004) — accessible biography drawing on the Chinese sources.
- Étienne Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien (Louvain, 1958) — uses KR6r0043 extensively.
- Max Deeg, “Has Xuanzang Really Been in Mathurā?” and other articles by the same author — modern critical philological work.
Other points of interest
The 688 presentation date of the completed work places it within the early reign of 武則天 (Wǔ Zétiān). The biography supplied a foundational hagiographic frame for later vernacular elaborations — most famously the late-Yuán / early-Míng Xīyóu jì 西遊記 (“Journey to the West”) of Wú Chéng’ēn 吳承恩, in which the Xuánzàng of KR6r0043 becomes the historical kernel around which the fictional Tang Sānzàng / Sūn Wùkōng narrative was elaborated.
Links
- CBETA: T50n2053
- Wikipedia: Da Tang Da Ci’en Si Sanzang Fashi Zhuan