Marking 1600th anniversary of Fa-Hien's visit to Sri
Lanka:
Down the roads of a Buddhist explorer
Janaka PERERA
This year marks the 1600th anniversary of the itinerant Chinese
Buddhist monk Venerable Fa-Hien's (also known as Faxian) visit to Sri
Lanka. The exact day and month of his arrival in the island is not known
but the year, according to Chinese records, is 410 AD - four years after
Bhikku Dhammayana took the first Buddha statue from Sri Lanka to China.
The Sri Lanka-China Society jointly with the Chinese Embassy have
organised special religious events this Vesak month at Anuradhapura in
memory of Ven, Fa-Hien's visit.
In a commemorative lecture on the event, Senior Lecturer,
Sabaragamuwa University Dr. Hao Weimin said that the key aspects of the
age-old ties between his country and Sri Lanka were the Silk Road and
Buddhism. He was speaking in Sinhala on 'China-Sri Lanka Historical
relations: An overview,' at the Royal Asiatic Society auditorium at the
Mahaweli Centre, Colombo. Dr Weimin's own parents were born close to Ven.
Fa-Hein's birth place in the Yellow River Valley in China's Shanxi
Province. Fa-Hien's original name was Kung. Admitted to the Buddhist
Order at the age of three he was given the religious name Fa-Hien which
means Law Manifest.
Fa-Hien's travel record
Dr Weimin observes that Fa-Hien's A Record of the Buddhist Countries,
(also known as The Travels of Fa-Hien) carries some invaluable
historical information on Sri Lanka not found in the Sinhala Chronicle
Mahavamsa. The most noteworthy of these is the vivid description of the
ceremonies connected with the exposition, procession conveying the
Sacred Relic of the Buddha from the then King Mahanama's Palace to the
Abhayagiri Vihara and also of Anuradhapura city, the King and the people
of Anuradhapura at the time was a well-planned, beautiful city.
Fa-Hien's travel record - which gives a complete description of his
journey - is the earliest comprehensive account the world has of the
customs, geography and history of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent
and the Indian Ocean. A Record of the Buddhist Countries has been
published in over 20 official and private editions since the Sung
Dynasty. This well-known Chinese classic is comparable to the later
Record of The Western Regions by Bhikku Xuan Zang (also known as Heung
Tsang) of the Tang Dynasty.
According to Chinese chronicles Buddhism proper was introduced to
China during the reign of Emperor Ming (58-75 AD) of the later Han
Dynasty. During the second Century more Bhikkus arrived in China from
India and other countries. The flourishing caravan trade at that time
greatly helped the spread of Buddhism. Most of the early Buddhist canons
which reached China came from Central Asian Kingdoms and not directly
from India, many though Chinese Turkistan by way of Khotari on the South
route, or Kuch on the North route. However the Buddhist cannons brought
to China during this period could not satisfy the needs of Chinese
Bhikkus, who wanted to make thorough study of Buddhism. This was one of
the two reasons why Chinese Buddhists risked their lives and endured
great hardships to make the journey to the Indian subcontinent in search
of more Buddhist texts and sutras. The other was the rapid growth of
Buddhism in China at the time. The number of monks had risen and
monasteries were growing causing an urgent need for better monastic
rules. This was Fa-Hien's main purpose in travelling Westwards whereas
other Chinese monks who journeyed before him in search of Buddhist texts
had gone no further than North India. When Fa-Hien went there, he found
that the monks handed down the precepts orally and had no written
records. So he pressed on to Central India to obtain monastic rules.
A humble pilgrim
The significant feature of the travels in Asia of the Chinese Bhikkus
Fa-Hien and Xuan Zang was that they were not adventurers but humble
pilgrims in contrast to many European explorers like Columbus who were
hell bent on conquest, exploitation and forced conversions. Fa-Hien and
Heung Tsang dedicated their lives to strengthening ties between their
country and the rest of Asia through faith by example, not compulsion.
Chinese believed that the Buddha Dhamma in its original form was found
only in Sri Lanka.
Fa-Hien set out from Changan in China in 399 AD at the age of 65 on a
14-year odyssey with eight or nine fellow monks, who soon found
themselves in the trackless Gobi wastes, where even today high-powered
vehicles and modern communications can hardly guarantee safe passage. So
not surprisingly, one member of the team died of thirst. He crossed the
deserts and the Pamir Plateau, traveled through the North, Central and
East India, down to South India, Sri Lanka and Sumatra before returning
to China by sea in 413 AD.
During his two year period in Sri Lanka Fa-Hien stayed in Abhayagiri
which was a vast monastic complex where every third month of the year
the Sacred Tooth Relic was exhibited for 90 days for the public to pay
homage. Today it is the site of the Mahatissa Fa-xian Cultural Complex
which also houses a museum (to house the artefacts found during the
excavation). an information centre, a book stall, a storehouse for
archaeological finds and a record room and residential quarters for
Bhikkus built according to the ancient plan of five-unit complex as
found at Abhayagiri. The cultural complex is in fact a gift from China
to Sri Lanka.
Fa-Hien had been away from China for many years and associated only
with people of foreign lands. All the mountains, rivers, plants and
trees he saw were strange to him. Moreover his companions had left him,
some had remained behind and others died. Looking at his lonely shadow,
he was often filled with sadness.
After leaving Sri Lanka by ship in pirate-infested seas and braving a
hurricane that lasted 13 days Fa-Hien reached Sumatra (then known as
Yavadvipa). On his return journey to China from Sumatra on board a
Kwangchow-bound merchant ship, they were caught in another heavy storm
that nearly sank the vessel. Among the passengers were a number of
Brahmin merchants who imagined that Fa-Hien being a Buddhist monk was
the cause of ill-luck and decided that they should put him ashore. But
Fa-Hien's patron reacted strongly to this attempt by threatening to
report them to the Chinese Emperor if they dared to do so. This threat
made the troublemakers hesitate and the monk was able to reach home with
copies of valuable Buddhist texts not found in China at the time.
Momentous turn of events
On his return to China, he was so eager to translate these documents
as quickly as possible that instead of going to Changan to rejoin his
former teachers and companions as he had first intended, he went to
Chienkang (Nanjing) where he translated the sutras with the help of the
Indian monk Buddhabhandra. Fa-Hien was 79 by the time he finally made
his way back to China. In 414 AD the year after his return to Chienkang,
he wrote the record of his travels; and later, by request .added certain
material to make the version which we have today. (From the Foreword by
Ho Chang-chun to the English translation of A Record of the Buddhist
Countries published by The Chinese Buddhist Association, Beijing 1957)
In a postscript by another Chinese monk, Fa-hien is quoted as saying,
"When I look back on what I have been through my heart begins to
pound and I start to sweat. I risked all those dangers with no thought
for myself, because I had a fixed purpose and - simple as I am - was
single-minded. That was why I embarked upon a journey in which death
seemed almost certain, and had one chance only in ten thousand of
surviving."
Dr Weimin said that Fa-Hien's writings and those of Xuan Zang as well
as other ancient Chinese records referred to Sri Lanka as the land of
Sinhalas. The different Chinese names Shizi guo, Sit Tio, Si Tiao, She
Tiao, Seng-Kia-lo denoted the same meaning - Simhala, Sinhaladipa or
Kingdom of the Lions. (Xuan Zang's plan to visit Sri Lanka in 638 AD did
not succeed due to internal strife in the island at the time)
Dr Weimin made a special reference to the period that saw momentous
turn of events in 433 AD when a Sinhala ship-owner called Nandi took
with him eight Theravada Bhikkunis from Sri Lanka to China. These nuns
led by Ayya Sara (Devasara) established the Order of the Buddhist Nuns
in that country where it survives to this day continuing the same Higher
Order introduced to Sri Lanka in the 3rd Century by the Arahant Bhikkuni
Sanghamitta.
According to Dr Weimin the biggest ships that called at Chinese Ports
during this period were from Sri Lanka, proving the marine engineering
skills of the ancient Sinhalas.
Today when the two countries enjoy the best of relationships it is
vital that the Sri Lankan-Chinese cultural - religious connection be
well-maintained for the benefit of future generations. |