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{{Short description|Chinese Buddhist monk (635–713 CE)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Yijing
| image = Yi Jing.JPG
| caption = Artist impression of Yijing
| birth_date = 635{{nbsp}}CE
| birth_place = Fanyang ([[Yanjing]]), [[Tang Empire]]
| death_date = 713{{nbsp}}CE
| death_place = [[Chang'an]] (now [[Xi'an]])
| occupation = [[bhikkhu|Buddhist monk]], traveler
| module = {{Infobox religious biography
| embed = yes
| religion = [[Buddhism]]
| teacher = Shi Huen{{clarify|date=February 2019}}
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
}}
}}
{{Chinese
|pic = Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia.jpg
|caption=Excerpt of a scroll from Yijing's ''[[Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia]]''. [[Tenri, Nara]], [[Japan]]
|t={{linktext|義|淨}} |s={{linktext|义|净}}
|p=Yìjìng |w=I-ching<br />I Ching |l=
|altname=Buddhist title
|t2={{linktext|三藏|法|師|義|淨}} |s2={{linktext|三藏|法|师|义|净}}
|p2=Sānzàng Fǎshī Yìjìng |w2=San-tsang Fa-shih I-ching |l2=[[Tripitaka]] [[Dharma]]-Master Yijing
|altname3=Zhang Wenming
|t3={{linktext|張|文|明}} |s3={{linktext|张|文|明}}
|p3=Zhāng Wénmíng |w3=Chang Wên-ming
}}
[[File:YiJingMap2.jpg|thumb|right|Yijing's travel map of the 7th century.]]
{{family name hatnote|[[Zhang (surname)|Zhang]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Yijing''' (635–713{{nbsp}}CE), formerly [[romanization of Chinese|romanized]] as {{nowrap|'''I-ching'''}} or {{nowrap|'''I-tsing'''}},<ref>{{citation |editor-last=Schoff |editor-first=Wilfred Harvey |title=[[:s:Periplus of the Erythraean Sea|Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]] |date=1912 |page=[[:s:Periplus of the Erythraean Sea/Notes#213|213]] |publisher=Commercial Museum |location=Philadelphia }}.</ref> born '''Zhang Wenming''', was a [[Tang dynasty|Tang-era]] [[Chinese people|Chinese]] [[bhikkhu|Buddhist monk]] famed as a traveller and translator. His account of his travels is an important source for the history of the medieval kingdoms along the [[maritime Silk Road|sea route]] between China and India, especially [[Srivijaya]] in [[Indonesia]]. He also gave accounts of the Gupta Period. A student of the Buddhist university at [[Nālandā]] (now in [[Bihar]], India), he was also responsible for the translation of many [[Buddhist texts]] from [[Sanskrit]] and [[Pali]] into [[Chinese language|Chinese]].

==Journey==

===To Srivijaya and Nālandā===
Yijing was born {{nowrap|Zhang Wenming}}. He became a monk at age 14 and was an admirer of [[Faxian]], a famed monk who traveled to India in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. Provided funding by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Fong, he decided to visit the renowned Buddhist university of [[Nālandā]], in [[Bihar]], India, to further study [[Buddhism]]. Traveling by a boat out of [[Guangzhou]], he arrived in [[Srivijaya]] (today's [[Palembang]] of Sumatra) after 22 days, where he spent the next six months learning [[Sanskrit]] grammar and the [[Malay language]]. He went on to record visits to the nations of [[Melayu Kingdom|Malayu]] and Kiteh ([[Kedah]]).

In 673 after ten days of additional travel reached the "naked kingdom" (south west of [[Sichuan|Shu]]). Yijing recorded his impression of the "Kunlun peoples", using an ancient Chinese word for Malay peoples. "Kunlun people have curly hair, dark bodies, bare feet and wear [[sarong]]s." He then arrived at the East coast of [[India]], where he met a senior monk and stayed a year to study [[Sanskrit]]. Both later followed a group of merchants and visited 30 other principalities. Halfway to Nālandā, Yijing fell sick and was unable to walk. Gradually he was left behind by the group. He walked to Nālandā where he stayed for 11 years.{{fact|date=March 2023}}

===Returning to Srivijaya===
In 687, Yijing stopped in the kingdom of Srivijaya on his way back to Tang China. At that time, [[Palembang]] was a centre of Buddhism where foreign scholars gathered, and Yijing stayed there for two years to translate original Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. In the year 689 he returned to Guangzhou to obtain ink and papers{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} (note: Srivijaya then had no paper and ink{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}) and returned again to Srivijaya the same year.{{fact|date=March 2023}}

===Return to China===
In 695, he completed all translation works and finally returned to China at [[Luoyang]] and received a grand welcome back by Empress [[Wu Zetian]]. His total journey took 25 years. He brought back some 400 Buddhist texts translated into Chinese.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.buddhist-canon.com/history/T540204c.htm |title=南海寄歸內法傳 ''Account of Buddhism sent from the South Seas'' |access-date=8 July 2006 |archive-date=23 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223162818/http://www.buddhist-canon.com/history/T540204c.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.buddhist-canon.com/history/T510006c.htm |title=大唐西域求法高僧傳 ''Buddhist Monk's Pilgrimage of the Tang Dynasty'' |access-date=8 July 2006 |archive-date=23 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223162559/http://www.buddhist-canon.com/history/T510006c.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ''[[A Record of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea|Account of Buddhism sent from the South Seas]]'' and ''Buddhist Monk's Pilgrimage of the Tang Dynasty'' are two of Yijing's best travel diaries, describing his adventurous journey to Srivijaya and India, reporting on the society of India, the lifestyles of various local peoples, and more.

==Distribution of Buddhist traditions==
In the great majority of areas in India, Yijing writes that there were followers of both "vehicles" (Skt. ''[[Yana (Buddhism)|Yana]]''), with some Buddhists practicing according to the "[[Hinayana]]" and others practicing according to the [[Mahayana]].<ref>Yijing. Takakusu, J. (tr.) ''A Record of the Buddhist Religion As Practiced in India and the Malay Archipelago.'' 1896. p. xxv</ref> However, he describes Northern India and most of the islands of the South Seas (i.e. [[Sumatra]], [[Java]], etc.) as principally "Hīnayāna." In contrast, the Buddhists in China and Malayu are described as principally following the Mahāyāna.<ref>Yijing. Takakusu, J. (tr.) ''A Record of the Buddhist Religion As Practiced in India and the Malay Archipelago.'' 1896. p. xxv</ref>

Yijing wrote about relationship between the various "vehicles" and the [[early Buddhist schools]] in India. He wrote, "There exist in the West numerous subdivisions of the schools which have different origins, but there are only four principal schools of continuous tradition." These schools are namely the [[Mahāsāṃghika]], [[Sthavira nikāya|Sthavira]], [[Mulasarvastivada]], and [[Saṃmitīya]] nikāyas.<ref>Walser, Joseph (2005) ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'': pp. 41</ref> Explaining their doctrinal affiliations, he then writes, "Which of the four schools should be grouped with the Mahāyāna or with the Hīnayāna is not determined." That is to say, there was no simple correspondence between a [[Monasticism|monastic]] sect and whether its members learned "Hīnayāna" or "Mahāyāna" teachings.<ref>Walser, Joseph (2005) ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'': pp. 41-42</ref>

==Buddhism in Srivijaya==
{{Main|Srivijaya}}
[[File:Yi Jing Srivijaya 1.jpg|right|thumb|The depiction of I-Tsing (Yi Jing) 7th century pilgrim that visited [[Srivijaya]]. Displayed in ''Kedatuan Sriwijaya'' temporary exhibition, November 2017, in the [[National Museum of Indonesia]].]]
Yijing praised the high level of Buddhist scholarship in Srivijaya (modern-day [[Sumatra]]) and advised Chinese monks to study there prior to making the journey to Nalanda in India.
{{quote|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....}}
Yijing's visits to Srivijaya gave him the opportunity to meet with others who had come from other neighboring islands. According to him, the [[Java]]nese kingdom of Ho-ling ([[Kalingga Kingdom]]) was due east of the city of Bhoga at a distance that could be spanned by a four or five days' journey by sea. He also wrote that Buddhism was flourishing throughout the islands of 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."

==Translations into Chinese==
Yijing translated more than 60 texts into Chinese, including:
* ''Mūlasarvāstivāda [[Vinaya]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|一切有部毗奈耶}})
* ''[[Golden Light Sutra]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|金光明最勝王經}}) in 703
* ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|能斷金剛般若波羅蜜多經}}, T. 239) in 703
* ''Sūtra of the Original Vows of the Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Radiance and the Seven Past Buddhas'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|藥師琉璃光七佛本願功德經}}, T. 451), in 707
* ''[[Avadana]]s'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|譬喻經}}) in 710

==See also==

* [[Faxian]]
* [[Chinese Buddhism]]
* [[A Record of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea]]
* [[Song Yun]]
* [[Xuanzang]]
* [[Vikramashila]]
* [[Hyecho]]
* [[Great Tang Records on the Western Regions]]
* [[Wang ocheonchukguk jeon]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Dutt S, ''Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India'', with the translation of passages (given by Latika Lahiri to S. Dutt, see note 2 p. 311) from Yijing's book: ''Buddhist Pilgrim Monks of Tang Dynasty'' as an appendix. London, 1952
* I-Tsing, ''A Record of the Buddhist Religion : As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A.D. 671-695)'', Translated by J. Takakusu, Clarendon press 1896. Reprint. New Delhi, AES, 2005, {{ISBN|81-206-1622-7}}. [https://archive.org/details/arecordbuddhist00takagoog Internet Archive]
* I-Tsing, ''Chinese Monks in India, Biography of Eminent Monks Who Went to the Western World in Search of the Law During the Great tang Dynasty'', Translated by Latika Lahiri, Delhi, etc.: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986
* Sen, T. (2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20140713172856/http://www.fom.sg/tours/ChinesePilgrims.pdf The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing], Education About Asia 11 (3), 24-33
* Weerawardane, Prasani (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20140713174328/http://microsite.nl.sg/PDFs/BiblioAsia/BIBA_0502Jul09.pdf#page=14 Journey to the West: Dusty Roads, Stormy Seas and Transcendence], biblioasia 5 (2), 14-18
* Yijing, Rongxi, Li, transl. (2000). [https://bdkamerica.org/product/buddhist-monastic-traditions-of-southern-asia/ A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas](pdf available on the page), Berkeley CA: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai. {{ISBN|1-886439-09-5}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* http://www.buddhanet.net/bodh_gaya/bodh_gaya01.htm
* http://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/iranian_cultural_impact_southeastasia.php

{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Chinese travellers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yijing (monk)}}
[[Category:635 births]]
[[Category:713 deaths]]
[[Category:Chinese scholars of Buddhism]]
[[Category:7th-century Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:8th-century Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty translators]]
[[Category:Monks of Nalanda]]
[[Category:History of Malaysia]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–Chinese translators]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Pilgrimage accounts]]
[[Category:Writers from Jinan]]
[[Category:Chinese spiritual writers]]
[[Category:Explorers of India]]
[[Category:7th-century Chinese translators]]
[[Category:Srivijaya]]

Yijing (monk) - Revision history

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