The Silk Road
The story of one of the world's oldest and most historically important
trade routes and its influences on the culture of China, Central Asia
and the West
By Oliver Wild, 1992
The region separating China from Europe and Western Asia is not the
most hospitable in the world. Much of it is taken up by the Taklimakan
desert, one of the most hostile environments on our planet. There is
very little vegetation, and almost no rainfall; sandstorms are very
common, and have claimed the lives of countless people. The locals have a
very great respect for this `Land of Death'; few travellers in the past
have had anything good to say about it. It covers a vast area, through
which few roads pass; caravans throughout history have skirted its
edges, from one isolated oasis to the next. The climate is harsh; in the
summer the daytime temperatures are in the 40's, with temperatures
greater than 50 degrees Celsius measured not infrequently in the
sub-sealevel basin of Turfan. In winter the temperatures dip below minus
20 degrees. Temperatures soar in the sun, but drop very rapidly at
dusk. Sand storms here are very common, and particularly dangerous due
to the strength of the winds and the nature of the surface. Unlike the
Gobi desert, where there there are a relatively large number of oases,
and water can be found not too far below the surface, the Taklimakan has
much sparser resources.
Xuanzang's (Hiuen Tsiang) Record of the Western Regions
(Book One) Composed by the Buddhist pilgrim in 646 at the request of the Tang Emperor Translated by Samuel Beal (1884)
Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled across
the Tarim basin via the northern route, Turfan, Kucha, Tashkent,
Samarkand, Bactria, then over the Hindu Kush to India. He departed the
Tang capitol (Chang'an) in 629 and returned via the southern route in
645. The remainder of his life was spent translating into Chinese the
sutras which he had collected in India. At the request of the Tang
Emperor Taizong (r.626-649) he composed a description of the lands
through which he traveled. After his death, his travels and story became
fantastic legends which were used in plays and novels. The following
text constitutes Book One of his description. It is taken from the
translation of Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World
(London: Trubner & Co. Ltd., 1884).
Digital Rare Book :
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms Being an Account by the Chinese Monk
Fa-Hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of
the Buddhist Books of Discipline By James Legge (Published in Oxford, 1886)
Between 399 and 414 CE, the Chinese monk Faxian (Fa-Hsien, Fa Hien)
undertook a trip via Central Asia to India seeking better copies of
Buddhist books than were currently available in China. Although cryptic
to the extent that we cannot always be sure where he was, his account
does provide interesting information on the conditions of travel and the
Buddhist sites and practices he
witnessed. For example, he indicates clearly the importance of the seven
precious substances for Buddhist worship, the widespread practice of
stupa veneration, and his aquaintance with several of the jataka tales
about the previous lives of the Buddha Sakyamuni, tales which are
illustrated in the paintings at the Dunhuang caves. The extracts below,
covering the early part of his journey, are from James Legge, tr. and
ed., A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms Being an Account by the Chinese
Monk Fa-Hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search
of the Buddhist Books of Discipline (Oxford, 1886), pp. 9-36.
