Mustafa Sakib

Indian Thought
Dr. Hebbar
Final Paper
9 May 2013
Yijing
Yijing was born in 635 A.D as Zhang Wenming, in Qizhou known today as the
Shandong province. At the age of seven, Yijing studied under two monks Shanyu and
Huizhi in the monastery where he lived. Shanyu had great religious and secular
knowledge and Huizhi expert in monastic discipline (Vinaya). Yijing, encouraged by his
teacher, decided to leave the monastery for Chang'an, China. Xuanzangs journey to India
and his translations of Buddhist texts to Chinese was held in high esteem in the capital.
Yijing became inspired by Xuanzangs accomplishments and decided to embark on a
mission of his own to India. He returned to Qizhou to earn his teachers blessings and
proceeded towards Guangfu (Canton). Yijing was joined by one other monk on his
journey to India.
In 671 Yijing and his companion monk boarded a Persian merchant ship and
sailed towards the kingdom of Srivijaya (South Sumatra), where on their arrival Yijing's
companion died. Yijing then journeyed alone to Tamralipti in eastern India through the
kingdoms of Malayu, Kacha, and the Nicobar islands. Yijing studied sanksrit at
Tamralipti for 1 year after which he traveled to Nalanda with Dachengdeng another
Chinese monk. They both went on pilgrimages to Gr dhrakt a at Rjagr ha and to
Mahbodhi at Bodh Gaya. They then traveled to Vail, Amaraba, and K (Banaras),
visited Jetavana Monastery at rvast and the heavenly stairs at Smkya, which were
said to have been built by the god akra for the Buddha so that he could descend from the
Heaven, and journeyed to Srnth and Kukkut apda.

Yijing settled at Nland, and studied Buddhist curricula for nine years. These
were the Abhidharmakoa, monastic discipline (Vinaya), and the Mdhyamika and
Yogcra philosophies. He believed that each of these discipline were for a specific
purpose and that none of them were absolute by themselves.
Yijing departed from central India for Tmralipt in 685. He arrived at rvijaya in
687. After living there for a little over two years, Yijing found that he was short on
supplies for copying Sanskrit manuscripts. He wanted to inform China about the
situation, but the messenger ship unknowingly set sail with him still onboard. Yijing was
back in Guangfu on August 10, 689, but had left all of the Sanskrit manuscripts behind.
Yijing gathered four other assistants and returned to rvijaya on December 18, 689.
Yijing decided to stay in the country in order to copy scripture, and study under the
teacher kyakrti. He wrote accounts of Buddhist practices and reports of a group of
Chinese monks who had also traveled to India for Buddhism. Yijing then sent these
reports, and all his translations and writings to China via one of his assistants in 692.
Yijing returned to Guangfu in 694. After five months he traveled to Luoyang, the
eastern capital, where he was personally received by the empress Wu Zetian. He worked
as an assistant translator in the bureau of translations headed by Siksananda. Yijing
started his own bureau of translation at Luoyang and Changan. He translated a total of
fifty-six works in 230 fascicles which is made up of scriptures, commentaries and Vinya
texts. The foreword to Yijings translations were provided by the empress herself. Yijing
was awarded and honored with the bestowed title of "Master of the Tripit aka."
Yijings works include a large number of Buddhist texts, including the gamas,
the Avadnas, and Mahyna stras and sastras. His version of the Suvarnapra-bhasauttamaraja Stra (Golden light stra) is recognized by scholars as the best Chinese
translation of that scripture. In Inida, his translation of the Sarvstivda Vinaya texts has

helped one of the most influential monastic traditions to survive. Apart from Yijings
translations, his own writings are also valuable. Yijing helped in record the Buddhist
practices of South Asian and Chinese monks who visited India in the seventh century,
which the historians of religion find very valuable to this day. Yijings glossary, Fanyu
qianziwen, serves as the earliest Sanksrit-Chinese dictionary. Yijings translations have
been shadowed by Xuanzangs work, a sample examination of both renderings showed
Yijing to be a better translator then Xuanzang.
Yijing took his last breath on February 16, 713. An inscription was made on
imperial request. The Jin'guangming ("gold light") temple was raised at his burial site in
758.
Source:
Yn-Ha, Jan. "Yijing." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 14.
Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 9886-9887. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Web. 6 May 2013.