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

[Guest guest]

gandhara , Azfer Iqbal <azfer007 wrote:

 

there are recently discovered sites of very rare

budhist mural paintings in district Taxila in

Pakistan.

 

--- 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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