An artist impression of Yi Jing 义净(635～713), Tang dynasty Buddhist monk.

Yi Jing's travel map of 7th century.

Yi Jing or I-Tsing (Yijing, Yiqing, I Ching (monk) or YiChing) (義淨, 三藏法師義淨 635-713) is Tang dynasty Buddhist monk, original name was Zhang Wen Ming (张文明). He contributed to the world the information of ancient Srivijaya (written in Chinese), large numbers of Buddhist scriptures, his adventure stories en route to Nalanda of India in the 7th century and many more. Image File history File links Yi_Jing. ... Image File history File links Yi_Jing. ... Image File history File linksMetadata YiJingMap2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata YiJingMap2. ... For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band). ... Srivijaya empire at its peak. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... Remains at Nalanda Nalanda is a historical place in central Bihar, India, 90 km south-east of the state capital of Patna. ...

Journey to Srivijaya and Nalanda

Zhang Wen Ming became a monk at age 14, admirer of Fa Xian and XuanZang, both famous monk of his childhood. He was funded by someone named Fong and decided to visit Nalanda to further study Buddhism, he came to Guangzhou and hopped on a Persian boat. 20 days later, he arrived at Srivijaya (today's Palembang of Sumatra), he stayed 6 months learning Sanskrit grammar and Malay language and recorded in his journey book where he visited a nation called Malayu (末罗瑜) and later another nation called Kiteh (Kedah), 10 days later he reached 'naked kingdom' (south west of Shu), the year was 673. Yi Jing recorded he saw 'Kunlun peoples' (ancient Chinese word Malay peoples). "Kunlun peoples curly hair, dark body, bare foot and wear sarong." He then arrived at east coast of India where he met a senior monk and stayed a year to learn Sanskrit. Both later followed a group of merchants visited 30 over nations, halfway to Nalanda, Yi Jing fall sick and was unable to walk and gradually left behind the group. He was looted by bandits and stripped to naked. He heard the native would catch white skins to offer sacrifice to god, so he jumped himself into mud and used leaves to cover his bottom part, walked slowly unitl midnight to Nalanda where he stayed 11 years. Buddhism is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni (Siddhārtha Gautama), who probably lived in the 6th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following the Buddhas death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia... Location within China Canton, China redirects here. ... Persian may refer to more than one article: the Western name for Iranian (see Iran/Persia naming controversy) Persian, an Iranian language the Persians, an ethnic group a Persian, a breed of cat Persian, a Pokémon character Etymology English Persian < Old English, < Latin *Persianus, < Latin Persia, < ancient Greek Persis... Location of Palembang Palembang is a city in the south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. ... Malay can mean: The Malay language The Malay people From or related to Malaysia See also Cape Malays Malay nationalism Communes that begin with Malay in Yonne, France: Malay-le-Grand Malay-le-Petit This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... State motto: no State motto Capital Alor Star Royal Capital Anak Bukit Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Chief Minister Syed Razak Syed Zain Barakbah Area 9,426 km2 Population  - Est year 2000 1 572 107 State anthem Allah Selamatkan Sultan Mahkota Kedah (Jawi:قدح, pop. ... Shu may refer to: Scoville Heat Unit is a measurement of how hot a chile pepper is. ... Remains at Nalanda Nalanda is a historical place in central Bihar, India, 90 km south-east of the state capital of Patna. ...

Return home

Year 687 Yi Jing on his way back to Tang (China) stopped at Srivijaya, at that time Palembang was a centre of Buddhism where foreign scholars gathered, Yi Jing stayed there 2 years to translate original Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures to Chinese. Year 689 he returned to Guangzhou to obtain ink and papers (note: Srivijaya then had no papers and ink) and returned again to Srivijaya the same year. In year 695, he completed all translation works and finally returnd back to Tang China at Luoyang, a grand welcome back by Empress Wu. His total journey took 25 years, brought back some 400 Buddhist translated scripts. 南海寄歸內法傳 & 大唐西域求法高僧傳 are two of Yi Jing's best travel diaries, content covered the his adventurous journey to Srivijaya and India, society of India, lifestyles and many more. He translated more than 60 sutras into Chinese, including: Tang could refer to: Tang Dynasty of China Tang (Shang dynasty ruler) Transliteration of Chinese family names such as 唐,湯,鄧,é‚“,滕 Tang Clan of Hong Kong, the first inhabitants to leave China and settle in Hong Kong. ... Srivijaya empire at its peak. ... Location of Palembang Palembang is a city in the south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. ... Srivijaya empire at its peak. ... Srivijaya empire at its peak. ... Tang could refer to: Tang Dynasty of China Tang (Shang dynasty ruler) Transliteration of Chinese family names such as 唐,湯,鄧,é‚“,滕 Tang Clan of Hong Kong, the first inhabitants to leave China and settle in Hong Kong. ... Luoyang (Simplified Chinese: 洛阳; Traditional Chinese: 洛陽; Pinyin: Luòyáng) is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Wu Zetian (武則天) (625 - December 16, 705), personal name Wu Zhao (武曌), was the only female emperor in the history of China, founding her own dynasty, the Zhou (周), and ruling under the name Emperor Shengshen (聖神皇帝) from 690 to 705. ...

• Saravanabhava Vinaya (一切有部毗奈耶)
• Avadana, i.e. stories of great deeds (譬喻經) in 710.
• Suvarnaprabhascottamaraja-sutra, i.e. Sutra of the Most Honored King (金光明最勝王經) in 703.

// Events End of the Asuka period, the second and last part of the Yamato period and beginning of the Nara period in Japan. ... Events Births Deaths Empress Jito of Japan In Other Fields 703 is the area code for telephone numbers in the Northern Virginia region of the United States. ...

Buddhism in Srivijaya

Yi Jing praises the high level of Buddhist scholarship in Srivijaya, he advise Chinese monks to study there prior to making the journey to Nalanda India.

"In the fortified city of Bhoga, Buddhist priests number more than 1,000, whose minds are bent on learning and good practice. They investigate and study all the subjects that exist just as in India; the rules and ceremonies are not at all different. If a Chinese priest wishes to go to the West in order to hear and read the original scriptures, he had better stay here one or two years and practice the proper rules...."

Yi Jing's visits to Srivijaya gave him the opportunity to meet with others who had come from other neighboring islands. According to him, the Javanese kingdom of Ho-ling was due east of the city of Bhoga at a distance that could be spanned by a 4-5 days journey by sea. He also wrote that Buddhism was flourishing throughout island Southeast Asia. "Many of the kings and chieftains in the islands of the Southern Sea admire and believe in Buddhism, and their hearts are set on accumulating good actions."

References

• A Record of the Buddhist Religion : As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A.D. 671-695)/I-Tsing. Translated by J. Takakusu. Reprint. New Delhi, AES, 2005, lxiv, 240 p., ISBN 81-206-1622-7. https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no43511.htm

See also

• I Ching
• Fa Xian
• XuanZang

Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ... Faxian (pinyin, Chinese characters: 法顯, also romanized as Fa-Hien or Fa-hsien) (ca. ... Xuanzang, Dunhuang cave, 9th century. ...

External links

• Personal response to the writing of I Ching
• Translators in Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty
• http://www.buddhanet.net/bodh_gaya/bodh_gaya01.htm
• http://www.andaman.org/NICOBAR/book/history/prehistory+general/prehistory.htm
• http://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/iranian_cultural_impact_southeastasia.php