Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road

Rating:
Summary: Best book on Xuan-Zang I've read
Review: Among the educated of the half of the planet that lives in China and India, the name of Xuan-Zang is very well known. The records of his journey from China through India and back provide a great deal of insight into the culture along his route at the time, as well as the state of Buddhism. The texts he brought back had a strong influence on the development of Buddhism in China. This is an excellent book. I visited many of the Buddhist sites in India and found Xuan-Zang's descriptions to still be of use to the pilgrim today. If you're interested in the history of the silk road and central asia, this book will be of use to you also.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile but Incomplete
Review: By all means read this book if you are interested in the history of the Silk Road.

However there is a significant omission in this book. Xuanzang embarked on this epic journey because he wanted to learn Buddhism from the original source. But if you think you'll be able to learn much about 7th century Buddhism from this book, think again. Of course there are tid-bits and small blurbs about Buddhist ideas but it is more an expedient to advance the story rather than an effort to explain. This book is basically a travelogue, not a book of ideas.

Of course researching the various schools and thoughts of 7th century Buddhism would have been difficult and explaining it to the layperson without being confusing or boring would have also been difficult. But still I feel that writing a book on Xuanzang without attempting to explain the Buddhism of that era is incomplete.

Despite the above reservation, I still give it 4 stars because the rest of the book is quite well done.


Rating:
Summary: A voyage on the ancient Silk Route, visually seminal
Review: Since the destruction of the famous Buddhas at Bamiyan, Afghanistan in March 2001, the importance of this book has rocketted from its original publication.

Xuanzang wrote some eyewitness accounts of these gigantic statues around 630AD, and this book is an important starting point to finding out more about these monuments and what they originally looked like.

This is not an academic book but more a detailed compilation of events connected with a personage with whom the author has obviously felt a close connection. The text is well sectioned with good maps and useful information, notes and an extensive bibliography that makes the work substantive (e.g., it highlights the wider territory of ostriches in the past). Xuanzang becomes a portal through which we view the art and history of a predominantly Buddhist India before she entered a chaotic phase to re-emerge as a Mughal and Hindu civilisation later.

There is staggering insight into the mentality of the Chinese and Kings at the time and the art they bestowed on the world. The importance of the Chinese civilisation is highlighted at a time when Europe was in the grip of the dark ages.

The book contains minor errors, could have been more critical and Xuanzang's feet on the cover need alteration. Leaving this aside, there is a stunning picture from Bamiyan and we can see what was lost as well as related paintings and statues which are quite exquisite (at least one of them lost from the Kabul museum since the destructive episode recently).

A book worth treasuring as written by a professional, well travelled and strong minded author (and she found the time).

Rating:
Summary: a really beautiful book
Review: XuanZang's story has got to be one of humanity's most amazing adventures of discovery. I had heard brief references to him in various books about Buddhism, but when I read this book I was just amazed at what a prodigy he was. The amazing synchronicities that helped him on his travels really bespeak a divine providence.

I just wish there were longer direct quotes from his original book, so you could get a feel for his own writing. Also wish there was more discussion of his own spiritual journey or experience with the abbot of the Nalanda university, and the Yogacara/Vasubandhu philosophy.

Great pictures of Nalanda ruins. The story of Nalanda is really interesting in itself and the book gives you a good feel for what was happening there at its height.

All in all makes you want to read XuanZang's original book.

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