IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.8 |
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Citation Information
CHIH-MENG AND FA-YUNG.
35
In this rather meager report it is of special interest to notice that the ascent to the Ts ung-ling is regarded as beginning 2000 li southwest of Khotan. By this he obviously means the same passage across the Chiragh-saldi=davan which a few years earlier had been used by Fa-hien (cf. above, p. 29). In other sections of the itinerary as well, Chih-meng seems to have followed the same road as his predecessor ; only on the Hsin-t ou (Indus) he turned south and directed his steps to Kashmir. Here he was much impressed by Buddhist pilgrims, who as Arhats had reached a higher stage of perfection. They had just returned from a pilgrimage to the sacred lake of Anavatapta. This is the first time that the Sacred Lake of Southern Tibet is mentioned by a Chinese pilgrim, and especially, as will be shown by the following remarks on the division of the earth, as its centre. This is a reference to the Buddhist cosmology which later on was dealt with in the most detailed way by the Hsi-yü-chi of the great pilgrim HSVAN-CHUANG.
FA-YUNG.
The reports on the wonderful experiences which Fa-hien and his companions had in the country where Buddha was born, soon stimulated a greater number of priests to follow in their footsteps. Thus a party of 55 priests and other men gathered together in the region where Peking is now situated, and began the difficult journey in the year 420 under the leadership of FA-YUNG it . Regarding their passage to and beyond the Tsung-ling only the following few words remain':
D'abord ils arrivèrent dans le royaume de Ho-nan, puis ils sortirent par la commanderie de Hai-si.2 Poursuivant leur route, ils entrèrent dans les sables mouvants et parvinrent à la commanderie de Kao-teliang (Tourfan). Ils passèrent par les divers royaumes tels que K`ieou-tseu (Koutcha) et Cha-lei (Kachgar). Ils montèrent sur les monts des Oignons (Ts ong-ling) et franchirent les montagnes neigeuses (Siue-chan).3
In connection with the reports of the routes of other travellers of this epoch, the road of Fa-yung — as far as it is situated within the Tsung -ling — is fixed by the following points : Kashgar, the valley of Gez, Little Kara-köl, Sarikol, Kanjut (Hanging Passage, cf. above, p. 6), and the valley of Gilgit.
SUNG YON.
Nearly one hundred years later an imperial embassy, amongst the members of which
were also a few priests, as SUNG YÜN ¶ , HUI-SHENG E and TAO-SHENG /, informs
us of a new road of pilgrimage.4 While the narrative of Huei-sheng passed over into the above-mentioned 97 th book of the Pei-shih, the still more valuable annotations of Sung Yün from the year 547 were collected in the Loyang-chia-lan-chi, »Treatises on the Monasteries of Lo-yang (Ho-nan-fu) » .5
I CHAVANNES, 10C. Cit., p. 435-
2 Read Ho-hsi (North-western Kansu).
3 Follows a description of the passing of the Hsüeh-shan and as the next station the kingdom of Chi-pin (Kashmir).
4 E. CHAVANNES, Voyage de Song Yun dans l'Udyåna et le Gandhåra (518-522 p. C.), Bull. de l'Ecole franç. d'Extréme-Orient, Vol. III, 1903, p. 379 et seq.
5 Regarding the editions containing the Lo-yang-chia-lan-chi. see Chavannes loc. cit., p. 382, note 3; p. 441.
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