Religion - Theological Studies - Everyone must know the figure of the monk known as Tang San Zang (Tong Sam Cong) . This monk with the real name Xuan Zang (Hsuan Tsang) is famous as the teacher of the stone monkey demon Sun Wu Kong (Sun Go Kong) in the story Journey to the West by Wu Cheng En (the film was shown in Indonesia with the title Kera Sakti). However, the true story of Xuan Zang's journey to India to search for sacred books in history is more than just a novel writer's imagination. Xuan Zang actually lived in China and traveled west, but without being accompanied by his disciples who were demons or incarnations of gods, but alone without even the permission of the Tang emperor. Therefore, here we will discuss the life story of Xuan Zang and his journey to India according to historical records along with a brief description of his teachings.
Early Life
Around 600 AD in the village of Chen He in Henan Province during cold and dry weather, Chen Yi was born. No one expected that the Chen family's youngest child would grow up to become the famous Buddhist scholar and pilgrim, Xuan Zang.
The Chen family for generations produced Confucian officials and scholars. Chen Yi is also expected to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. Fortunately, his father Chen Hui was very interested in Buddhism and studied both teachings at home. This influenced little Chen Yi a lot, and when his second brother became a monk at Jing Tu monastery, he also went there to study and practice Buddhist teachings. That same year, when he was only 6 years old, he became a novice. Normally, only children who are at least 7 years old are permitted to be ordained as novices. However, Chen Yi was able to pass the difficult test correctly and was therefore ordained in the Sangha as an exception, taking the Buddhist name Xuan Zang.
He studied Theravada and Mahayana teachings at the Jing Tu monastery and showed an inclination towards Mahayana teachings. From a young age, Xuan Zang's extraordinary intelligence was apparent. Only by hearing the exposition of a sutra once and studying it himself at other times could he memorize the entire sutra. This is extraordinary because usually a sutra contains millions of words. Other monks praised him as a genius. When his father died in 611 AD, he and his older brother continued to study Buddhism at the Jing Tu monastery until political instability forced them to flee to the city of Changan (now Xi An). After that, he went to Chengdu in Sichuan Province to further study Buddhist teachings which made him increase his knowledge and grow his reputation. At the age of 20, Xuan Zang was ordained as a monk.
The more Xuan Zang studied, the more dissatisfied he became with the quality of the existing Buddhist scriptures. There are many different translations of a sutra, most of which contradict each other. This is because the translation of Buddhist books is mostly carried out by foreign monks from India or other countries. The language barrier hindered accurate translation, plus each translator had a different understanding of the original book, which was quite difficult to understand. The different schools of Buddhism also complicate the translation process because each follower has different views on Buddhist teachings, which are often debated by followers of other schools.
In fact, at the beginning of the 7th century AD China had become a battlefield between the followers of the Yogacara school, namely between Yogacara's teachings based on the works of Asanga and the same teachings based on the works of Vasubandhu. Xuan Zang thought the debate between the two was caused by the unavailability of important books of the Yogacara school in Chinese. If the Yogacarabhumi-sastra, the book explaining the stages in the Yogacara to attain Enlightenment written by Asanga were available in Chinese, he thought it could settle all these debates. In the 6th century AD, an Indian monk named Pamartha translated part of the contents of this book. However, Xuan Zang was determined to get the complete version of this book directly from Buddha's birthplace, India.
All of this led Xuan Zang to the conclusion that to gain true understanding, he had to go west to obtain the original scriptures of Buddhism. As if Xuan Zang's good karma was bearing fruit, a disciple of the head monk Silabhadra who was the leader and supreme monk of Nalanda University arrived in Changan via sea travel. When the disciple learned that Xuan Zang was planning a trip to India, he said To understand the true meaning of the scriptures, you must go to Nalanda University and study under the monk Silabhadra. Thus, Xuang Zang set the destination of his trip to Nalanda University which was none other than the Lightning Temple in the Western Paradise in the fictional story Journey to the West.
Xuan Zang, the Original Tong San Cong Bhikshu in History
Journey to the West
In 629 Xuan Zang began his historic journey. At that time, Emperor Tang Zhen Guan had only ascended the throne for 3 years. The Gokturks (Eastern Turks) constantly attacked China's western borders, so the government closed the roads to the west, forbidding anyone except traders and foreigners from traveling in that direction.
At that time Xuan Zang and several other monks with the same goal applied to the government for permission to cross the border (the so-called guo shuo or passport) to the government, but were rejected. The other monks surrendered, but Xuan Zang decided to secretly leave Changan. On his way he was stopped at Liang Zhou because he did not have a passport.
A head monk helped him escape. He rode his horse day and night until he finally arrived at Zhuo Cave. At the same time the government's order ordering his arrest also arrived there. Fortunately, the officials there who were devout Buddhists postponed the order and released Xuan Zang.
Even though he managed to escape capture from the government, the real danger still awaited Xuan Zang. Unlike in the story of Journey to the West where the danger comes from demons who want to kill and eat his flesh, the danger that Xuan Zang faces is more down to earth, but no less deadly. After passing through Gansu, Lanzhou, and Dunhuang at the end of the Great Wall, he took the northern branch of the Silk Road through Yu Men Guan to the Gobi Desert, the first danger he would face.
The vast and dry Gobi Desert with extreme temperatures, scorching heat during the day and freezing cold at night, is deadly for explorers, coupled with thin supplies of water, food and shelter. When Xuan Zang galloped his horse into the desert, he saw human bones, the remains of explorers who had lost their way and met their deaths in the middle of the expanse of sand.
Apart from the dangers from natural conditions, there are also five guard towers in the Gobi Desert. The tower guards were ordered to shoot and kill travelers without passports. When Xuan Zang attempted to sneak in, he was almost killed by an arrow shot. In an attempt to avoid the guard tower, he got lost and wandered for days without water or food. He almost died when his mount, a horse that often roamed the desert, pulled him to a spring that saved his life.
It is recorded in his biographical book written by his students, on the fifth night when Xuan Zang was lying on the sand and unable to move at all, he dreamed that an unknown man with a stature like a giant came to him and told him to get up and walk. After Xuan Zang was able to stand on his two legs and wander aimlessly for a certain distance, his horse suddenly neighed in pleasure and galloped in a certain direction, which led him to a spring that saved Xuan Zang's life. The character of Sha Wu Jing, Xuan Zang's third disciple in the story Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng En was inspired by Xuan Zang's dream.
After escaping death, Xuan Zang arrived at the oasis city of Kumul and followed the Chu River valley towards Central Asia. Then he arrived in Turfan, which was then known as the Gao Chang Kingdom. King Turfan was a devout Buddhist and intended to make Xuan Zang the chief monk of his land. Failing to keep Xuan Zang in his lands, the king of Turfan sent four novices and twenty-five other men to travel with Xuan Zang.
After leaving Turfan, Xuan Zang and his entourage headed for Kara-shahr which then continued to Kucha. Kucha is an oasis city famous for its amazing horses. The land is fertile and very suitable for agricultural land. In Kucha there are 100 monasteries with more than 5000 Sarvastivadin monks. All the monasteries are decorated with Buddha statues which are paraded on special days during the image-bearing ceremony.
King Kucha held a five-yearly celebration which had previously been held since the time of King Asoka, where every five years a large-scale donation was made to the Sangha. Outside the city gate, Xuan Zang saw two Buddha statues 90 feet high and in front of them a special place was built for the five-yearly celebration. After staying there for 2 months, he continued his journey to Aksu and crossed Mount Ling.
When passing through Mount Ling, which was covered in glaciers, a third of Xuan Zang's party died. The luckiest died instantly when they were hit by chunks of ice from the glacier that broke in the wind. Others were buried by avalanches. Others, while walking on the treacherous icy path, lost their footing and fell. Others died because they froze. Some fell into glacier cracks. However, with a strong determination to reach India, Xuan Zang was able to continue his journey towards the Tian Shan Mountains and arrived in the Kyrgyzstan area through the Bedal Pass.
It passes the shore of the Issyk Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan which is a lake in the mountains with a height of 5200 feet above sea level and the largest lake in the world covering an area of 6200 square km. Then continuing his journey northwest, he passed the Kyrgyz lake area of Myn-bulak, known as the Thousand Springs. Walking west he passed the Tartar city of the Taras and the land of Nujkend and arrived at Tashkent in Eastern Uzbekistan which was controlled by the Huns. The next stop was Samarkand, a densely populated country located at the confluence of the ancient trade routes of China and India. This city was a trading center on the Silk Road where traders exchanged their goods. According to Xuan Zang
Trade goods from various countries are stored here. The residents are skilled in art and trade more than residents of other countries. The people here are brave and high-spirited and are emulated by the people of the surrounding countries in terms of their hospitality and manners.
From Samarkand the pilgrim continued to Kesh (Karshi) and walked south into the mountainous area. After climbing a steep and steep path, he arrived at the Iron Gate, a mountain pass whose left and right borders were high, rocky walls the color of iron. Here double wooden doors have been made and many bells have been installed there. These doors are reinforced with iron and are attack resistant.
Because of the protection provided to the gaps when these doors were closed, they were called Iron Gates. Then he arrived in Tukhara, a country controlled by the Turks, and crossing the Oxus river (Amur Darya) near Termez, he arrived at Kunduz in Afghanistan. Here Xuan Zang met the eldest son of the Khan king of the Turks, the brother-in-law of the king of Turfan, from whom Xuan Zang obtained a letter of permission.
After stopping for some time, Xuan Zang continued his journey with several monks from Balkh to the city which was the former capital of the kingdom of Bactria, the kingdom of King Milinda in Milinda Panha. In this country there are 1000 monasteries and 3000 monks. Here he visited the famous Nava Vihara (meaning New Vihara, now known as Navbahar) where he acquired the Mahavibhasa (explanation of the Abhidharma) and studied Theravada teachings under a teacher named Prajnakara. After paying homage to the holy relics there, Xuan Zang set out from Balkh along a dangerous and difficult road to the Hindu Kush mountains and arrived at Bamiyan.
In Bamiyan people believe in the Triple Ratna, but still worship hundreds of gods to which traders make offerings when their business fortunes turn sour. There are 10 monasteries here with around 1000 Lokuttaravadin monks. Here, Xuan Zang also witnessed two giant Buddha statues, about 55 and 35 meters high respectively, which were carved into the side of the mountain in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. At that time, Xuan Zang mistakenly thought that the small statue was made of bronze. because the surface is coated with bronze. He also saw a statue of the reclining Buddha and paid homage to some of the Buddha's tooth relics. (Unfortunately, this historical giant Buddha statue was destroyed by the Taliban government in 2001).
Walking eastward, Xuan Zang entered the gap in the Hindu Kush mountains and crossing the Siah Koh hill, he arrived in the land of Kapisa. Here there are approximately 100 monasteries with 6000 Mahayana monks and a large monastery with 300 Theravada monks. Here are also found 10 god temples with around 1000 Hindu ascetics from various schools such as naked ascetics (Digambara), ascetics who cover their bodies with ashes (Pasupata), and ascetics who wear bone beads on their heads (Kapaladharina).
Every year the king would make a silver Buddha statue and give alms to the poor, destitute, and those left alone. After spending the summer of 630 AD in Kapisa, Xuan Zang went to Nagarahara (Jalalabad). Here he found many monasteries but with few monks. The stupas have been damaged and remain in ruins. He visited the Naga Gopala cave, which according to legend once contained the shadow of the Buddha that he left behind after conquering the dragon. At the monastery which kept the head bone relic, he found that the guards there were brahmins appointed by the king and they asked the pilgrims for a certain amount of money to come in to see the relic.
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