Fwd: Taking a new journey to the West (China)

[Guest guest]

gandhara , YMalaiya <ymalaiya wrote:

 

 

Taking a new journey to the West

(China Daily)

Updated: 2005-07-09 07:38

 

 

 

Xuanzang (602-664 AD) is probably the most famous Chinese monk and the man

responsible for the imaginative interpretation of his adventures in the classic

Chinese novel " Journey to the West. "

But his talents extended way beyond the representation of fictional tales. A

great ideologist, translator, traveller and diplomat of the Tang Dynasty (AD

618-907), Xuanzang spent 17 years and covered over 20,000 kilometres journeying

to India to obtain Buddhist sutras. And during his lifetime he translated 1,335

volumes of them.

 

Big Wild Goose Pagoda (648 A.D.) in background with the largest Chinese promoter

of Buddhism Monk Xuanzang who went to India and brought back many texts to Xi'an

Sponsored by CCTV, China Xuanzang Research Centre and the Beijing Science and

Education Film Studio, a project entitled " The Pilgrimage Journey of Xuanzang "

will re-trace his footsteps.

Formed by scholars, reporters and social celebrities, a group of some 40 will

spend months following the route Xuanzang took to collect the sacred writings,

with the aim of rediscovering something of his spirit and its influence on

today's China.

The project will be divided into two parts, with the Chinese one realized from

September to November of this year, and that in neighbouring lands from May to

July 2006.

The first will set out from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, moving westwards to

Tianshui, Anxi and Yumenguan in Gansu Province, and Hami, Turpan, Yanqi, Kuqa

and Aksu in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. On this leg, the team will try

to answer a series of historic enigmas, such as the location of Yumenguan Pass

in the Tang Dynasty, the real course of the ancient road of Loulan, and how

Xuanzang passed through the glaciers of the Tianshan Mountain.

The second leg will include Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India

and Nepal. The investigation will focus on several key sites, including the

Great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai's birth place of Suiye (near today's Tokmak in

Kirgizstan), Samarkand in Uzbekistan, once the most important commercial centre

on the Silk Road, the Baminyan Buddha which Xuanzang had described in detail,

Peshawar in Pakistan where the Gandhara arts originated, Buddha's birth place of

Lumbini in Nepal, and Nalanda, the centre of Buddhism in ancient India.

Some of the members will spend some time on camel and horse back to get a more

realistic experience of the hardships of travelling in Xuanzang's days. The

greater part of the journey will be by road.

" As media workers we feel obliged to promote the best of traditional culture, "

said Qu Xiangdong, executive secretary-general of the Preparing Committee of

" The Pilgrimage Journey of Xuanzang, " adding: " The spirit of Xuanzang still has

its meaning and relevance today. "

 

(China Daily 07/09/2005 page9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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