Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Chinese 大雁塔)is a pagoda located in China, southern Xi'an, Shaanxi province.The structure was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and had originally five stories. The pagoda was first located in a monastery in the southeastern sector of the Tang capital, Chang'an. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist traveller and translator Xuanzang.
A skull relic suposedly to belong to Xuanzang was held in the Temple of Great Compassion, Tianjin until 1956 when it was taken to (allegedly by the Dalai Lama)and presented to India. The relic is now in the Patna museum. The Wenshu monestary in Chengdu, Sichuan province also claims to have part of Xuanzang's skull.
(PATNA MUSEUM)
this book can be divided into 3 sections.
The first is about Sun Wu Kong's origin.
The second section is about xuanzang's origins.
His father was killed and impersonated and his mother was taken away forcibly by thieves. He himself was abandoned to float down a river by his mother to prevent him from being killed by the thieves. Luckily, he was found by the head monk of a monastery. Eventually, he manages to save his mother and avenge his father. Happily, his father is resurrected by a dragon king. This section also describes the Emperor of Tang, who failed to save the dragon king, resulting in his death. He manages to return to life and held a religious ceremony, 'Shui Lu Da Hui', for the dead. The all grown-up San Zang was chosen to conduct this ceremony. The Goddess Guanyin and her disciples disguise themselves as monks and told him to go to the Western Heaven to fetch the holy scriptures. After that, they revealed their true forms and left. Thus Tang San Zang started on his pilgrimage to the Western Heavens.
The third section is the main section of the book.
Xuanzang rescueed Sun Wukong from the mountain. They met Zhu Ba Jie and Sha Wu Jing later who became San Zang's disciples. Throughout the journey, Tan San Zang was regularly attacked and kidnapped by demons as they want to gain immortality by eating his flesh.
This section describes the difficulties they meet, the demons they fight, and all the adventures they have on the way.
Sun Wu Kong is the strongest of the group and the main fighting power but he faced conflicts with his master a few times because of his tendency to kill. Zhu Ba Jie was significantly weaker and he was also lazy, greedy and lustful, although he was of great help when fighting demons in rivers or seas. He and Wu Kong are constantly quarrelling .Wu Kong often likes to play tricks on him. Sha Wu Jing is the weakest one but he was hardworking and patient. He also does his best to help his elder brothers.
The fourth and last section is the shortest. They finally reach the Western Heavens and brought back the scriptures to China. At the end of the book, Tang San Zang and his disciples attained the Buddhahood.
Tang San Zang (Hsuan-tsang) was born in AD 602. When he was a child,he became absorbed in the study of the Sacred Books of Chinese literature. He was ordained as a Buddhist priest to the Temple of Heavenly Radiance in Hangchow when he was still a child. He was then transferred to the Temple of Great Learning in Chang-an, a community of monks who devoted their lives to the translation of the Sacred Books from India. Listening to the variety of their interpretations young Hsuan-tsang conceived the bold plan to travel to India and bringing back more Sacred Buddhihs Books to China.
Hsuan-tsang traveled between AD 627-643. His detailed account provides the first reliable information about distant countries, terrain and customs. He traveled over land, along the Silk Road, west toward India. However, the further west he traveled it became increasingly difficult to cross desert and mountain ranges. Of the Taklamaken desert he reports:
"As I approached China's extreme outpost at the edge of the Desert of Lop, I was caught by the Chinese army. Not having a travel permit, they wanted to send me to Tun-huang to stay at the monastery there. However, I answered 'If you insist on detaining me I will allow you to take my life, but I will not take a single step backwards in the direction of China'."
The officer himself a Buddhist, let him pass. In order to avoid the next outpost, he left the main foot-track and made a detour, which brought him to a place 'so wild that no vestige of life coult be found there. There is neither bird, nor four-legged beasts, neither water nor pasture'. At the point of final exhaustion his only companion, his horse, turned of in another direction, following its animal instinct, and led him to a place where there was water and pasture. His life was saved. Few days later he arrived at Turfan, where he stayed for some time. The king of Turfan enchanted by the monk's knowledge of the sacred Buddha books, refused to let him leave, only reluctantly relenting when Hsuan-tsang threatened a hunger strike. Thus, Hsuan-tsang had peaceable conquered to royal will. The king gave him letters of introduction the rulers of the oases along the way, thereby providing the assistance that made his pilgrimage successful.
Traveling through Samarkand (today's Tukestan) he describes that "...this great imperial city is surrounded by a wall, about seven miles in circumference, which governs a powerful state. This is a rich land, where the treasures of distant countries accumulate, where there are powerful horses and skilled artisans, and the climate is most pleasant."
Fifteen years later Hsuan-tsang reappeared on the northern side of the Great Mountains again, but this time with his face turned toward China. He was aware of the dangers between Khotan and Tun-huang---the Taklamakan desert. He comments: "...a desert of drifting sand without water of vegetation, burring hot and the hound of poisonous fiends and imps. There is no road, and travelers in coming and going have only to look for the deserted bones of man and beast as there guide". Hsuan-tsang crossed the dread waste of desert safely, reaching Tun-huang and deposited his precious manuscripts in the monastic library at the caves of the Thousand Buddhas.
(Return of Xuanzang with the Buddhist Scriptures, Silk scroll at Dunhuang) His detailed travel accounts from the Silk Roads provides reliable information about distant countries whose terrain and customs had been known, at that time, in only the sketchiest way. In later centuries he was immortalized as a saint and his journey popularized in fables and vernacular literature. However, for the historian and explorer he contributed a precise and colorful account of the many countries along the Silk Road.
Note: During the Sui (589-618) and the Tang (618-906) dynasties, the Chinese Buddhist schools were sophisticated, and the monasteries were numerous, rich and powerful.