A chinese pilgrim who visited india.

1. HIEUN TSANG
A
CHINESE
BUDHIST
PILGRIM

2. INTRODUCTION
• Born in Henan
province of China in
603 AD, he displayed
signs of intellectual
and spiritual
greatness even at an
early age.
• From boyhood he
took to reading
sacred books, mainly
the Chinese Classics
and the writings of
the ancient sages.

3. ROUTE TAKEN BY HIEUN TSANG
He travelled over
land, along the Silk
Road west toward
India. However, the
further west he
travelled 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.

4. GLIMPSE OF HIEUN TSANG’S LIFE
• While residing in the city
of Luoyang, Hiuen-Tsang
entered Buddhist
monkhood at the age of
thirteen. Due to the
political and social
unrest caused by the fall
of the Sui dynasty, he
went to Xingdu in
Sichuan (Szechuan),
where he was ordained
at the age of twenty.
• From Xingdu, he
travelled throughout
China in search of sacred
books of Buddhism. At
length, he came to
Changan, then under the
peaceful rule of the Tang
emperor Taizong
Starting from China in AD
629, Hiuen-Tsang passed
through Central Asia by
the northern trade route
via Kucha and reached
Northern India, where, at
the city of Kanauj, he was
the guest of
Harsavardhana, the great
Indian emperor. He visited
the sacred Buddhist sites
in Magadha and spent
much time studying at the
great Nalanda monastery,.