Nomenclature, orthography and etymology

Less common romanizations of "Xuanzang" include Hyun Tsan, Hhuen Kwan, Hiuan Tsang, Hiouen Thsang, Hiuen Tsang, Hiuen Tsiang, Hsien-tsang, Hsyan-tsang, Hsuan Chwang, Huan Chwang, Hsuan Tsiang, Hwen Thsang, Hsüan Chwang, Hhüen Kwān, Xuan Cang, Xuan Zang, Shuen Shang, Yuan Chang, Yuan Chwang, and Yuen Chwang. Hsüan, Hüan, Huan and Chuang are also found. The sound written x in pinyin and hs in Wade–Giles, which represents the s- or sh-like [[Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant|ɕ]] in today's Mandarin, was previously pronounced as the h-like [[Voiceless velar fricative|x]] in early Mandarin, which accounts for the archaic transliterations with h.

Another form of his official style was "Yuanzang," written 元奘. It is this form that accounts for such variants as Yuan Chang, Yuan Chwang, and Yuen Chwang.

Tang Monk (Tang Seng) is also transliterated /Thang Seng/.

Another of Xuanzang's standard aliases is Sanzang Fashi (三藏法師 Sānzàngfǎshī, literally Sanzang Dharma (or Law) Teacher): 法 being a Chinese translation for Sanskrit "Dharma" or Pali/Prakrit Dhamma, the implied meaning being "Buddhism".

"Sanzang" is the Chinese term for the Buddhist canon, or Tripiṭaka ("Three Baskets"), and in some English-language fiction and English translations of Journey to the West, Xuanzang is addressed as "Tripitaka."

Early life

Xuanzang was born Chen Hui (or Chen Yi) on 6 April 602 in Chenhe Village, Goushi Town (緱氏鎮), Luozhou (near present-day Luoyang, Henan) and died on 5 February 664 in Yuhua Palace (玉華宮, in present-day Tongchuan, Shaanxi). His family was noted for its erudition for generations, and Xuanzang was the youngest of four children. His ancestor was Chen Shi (陳寔, 104-186), a minister of the Eastern Han dynasty. His great-grandfather Chen Qin (陳欽) served as the prefect of Shangdang (上黨; present-day Changzhi, Shanxi) during the Eastern Wei; his grandfather Chen Kang (陳康) was a professor in the Taixue (Imperial Academy) during the Northern Qi. His father Chen Hui (陳惠) was a conservative Confucian who served as the magistrate of Jiangling County during the Sui dynasty, but later gave up office and withdrew into seclusion to escape the political turmoil that gripped China towards the end of the Sui. According to traditional biographies, Xuanzang displayed a superb intelligence and earnestness, amazing his father by his careful observance of the Confucian rituals at the age of eight. Along with his brothers and sister, he received early education from his father, who instructed him in classical works on filial piety and several other canonical treatises of orthodox Confucianism.

Although his household was essentially Confucian, at a young age, Xuanzang expressed interest in becoming a Buddhist monk like one of his elder brothers. After the death of his father in 611, he lived with his older brother Chén Sù (陳素), later known as Zhǎng jié (長捷), for five years at Jingtu Monastery (淨土寺) in Luoyang, supported by the Sui state. During this time he studied Mahayana as well as various early Buddhist schools, preferring the former.

In 618, the Sui Dynasty collapsed and Xuanzang and his brother fled to Chang'an, which had been proclaimed as the capital of the Tang dynasty, and thence southward to Chengdu, Sichuan. Here the two brothers spent two or three years in further study in the monastery of Kong Hui, including the Abhidharma-kośa Śāstra. When Xuanzang requested to take Buddhist orders at the age of thirteen, the abbot Zheng Shanguo made an exception in his case because of his precocious knowledge.

Taking the monastic name Xuanzang, he was fully ordained as a monk in 622, at the age of twenty. The myriad contradictions and discrepancies in the texts at that time prompted Xuanzang to decide to go to India and study in the cradle of Buddhism. He subsequently left his brother and returned to Chang'an to study foreign languages and to continue his study of Buddhism. He began his mastery of Sanskrit in 626, and probably also studied Tocharian. During this time, Xuanzang also became interested in the metaphysical Yogacara school of Buddhism.

Pilgrimage

In 627, Xuanzang reportedly had a dream that convinced him to journey to India. Tang China and the Göktürks were at war at the time and Emperor Taizong of Tang had prohibited foreign travel. Xuanzang persuaded some Buddhist guards at Yumen Pass and slipped out of the empire through Liangzhou (Gansu) and Qinghai in 629. He subsequently traveled across the Gobi Desert to Kumul (modern Hami City), thence following the Tian Shan westward.

He arrived in Turpan in 630. Here he met the king of Turpan, a Buddhist who equipped him further for his travels with letters of introduction and valuables to serve as funds. The hottest mountain in China, the Flaming Mountains, is located in Turpan and was depicted in the Journey to the West.

Moving further westward, Xuanzang escaped robbers to reach Karasahr, then toured the non-Mahayana monasteries of Kucha. Further west he passed Aksu before turning northwest to cross the Tian Shan's Bedel Pass into modern Kyrgyzstan. He skirted Issyk Kul before visiting Tokmak on its northwest, and met the great Khagan of the Göktürks, whose relationship to the Tang emperor was friendly at the time. After a feast, Xuanzang continued west then southwest to Tashkent, capital of modern Uzbekistan. From here, he crossed the desert further west to Samarkand. In Samarkand, which was under Persian influence, the party came across some abandoned Buddhist temples and Xuanzang impressed the local king with his preaching. Setting out again to the south, Xuanzang crossed a spur of the Pamirs and passed through the famous Iron Gates. Continuing southward, he reached the Amu Darya and Termez, where he encountered a community of more than a thousand Buddhist monks.

Further east he passed through Kunduz, where he stayed for some time to witness the funeral rites of Prince Tardu, who had been poisoned. Here he met the monk Dharmasimha, and on the advice of the late Tardu made the trip westward to Balkh (modern Afghanistan), to see the Buddhist sites and relics, especially the Nava Vihara, which he described as the westernmost vihara (monastery) in the world. Here Xuanzang also found over 3,000 non-Mahayana monks, including Prajnakara (般若羯羅 or 慧性), a monk with whom Xuanzang studied early Buddhist scriptures. He acquired the important text of the Mahāvibhāṣa (大毗婆沙論) here, which he later translated into Chinese.

Prajñakara then accompanied the party southward to Bamyan, where Xuanzang met the king and saw tens of non-Mahayana monasteries, in addition to the two large Buddhas of Bamiyan carved out of the rockface. The party then resumed their travel eastward, crossing the Shibar Pass and descending to the regional capital of Kapisi (about north of modern Kabul), which sported over 100 monasteries and 6000 monks, mostly Mahayana. This was part of the fabled old land of Gandhara. Xuanzang took part in a religious debate here and demonstrated his knowledge of many Buddhist schools. Here he also met the first Jains and Hindu of his journey. He pushed on to Adinapur (later named Jalalabad) and Laghman, where he considered himself to have reached India. The year was 630.

Arrival in India

Xuanzang left Adinapur, which had few Buddhist monks, but many stupas and monasteries. His travels included passing through Hunza and the Khyber Pass to the east, reaching the former capital of Gandhara, Purushapura (Peshawar), on the other side. Peshawar was nothing compared to its former glory, and Buddhism was declining in the region. Xuanzang visited a number of stupas around Peshawar, notably the Kanishka stupa. This stupa was built just southeast of Peshawar, by a former king of the city. In 1908, it was rediscovered by D.B. Spooner with the help of Xuanzang's account.

Xuanzang left Peshawar and traveled northeast to the Swat Valley. Reaching Oḍḍiyāna, he found 1,400-year-old monasteries, that had previously supported 18,000 monks. The remnant monks were of the Mahayana school. Xuanzang continued northward and into the Buner Valley, before doubling back via Shahbaz Garhi to cross the Indus river at Hund. He visited Taxila which was desolate and half-ruined, and found most of its sangharamas (temples) still ruined and desolate with the state of having become a dependency of Kashmir, with the local leaders fighting amongst themselves for power. Only a few monks remained there. He noted that it had some time previously been a subject of the Kingdom of Kapisa. He went to Kashmir in 631 where he met a talented monk, Samghayasas (僧伽耶舍), and studied there. In Kashmir, he found himself in another center of Buddhist culture and describes that there were over 100 monasteries and over 5,000 monks in the area. Between 632 and early 633, he studied with various monks, including 14 months with Vinītaprabha (毘膩多缽臘婆 or 調伏光), 4 months with Candravarman (旃達羅伐摩 or 月胃), and "a winter and half a spring" with Jayagupta (闍耶毱多). During this time, Xuanzang wrote about the Fourth Buddhist council that took place nearby, ca. 100 AD, under the order of King Kanishka of Kushana. He visited Chiniot and Lahore as well and provided the earliest writings available on the ancient cities. In 634, Xuanzang arrived in Matipura (秣底補羅), known as Mandawar today.

In 632 AD, he went to Kasur, and in 634, he went east to Jalandhar in eastern Punjab, before climbing up to visit predominantly non-Mahayana monasteries in the Kulu valley and turning southward again to Bairat and then Mathura, on the Yamuna River. Mathura had 2,000 monks of both major Buddhist branches, despite being Hindu-dominated. Xuanzang traveled up the river to Shrughna, also mentioned in the works of Udyotakara, before crossing eastward to Matipura, where he arrived in 635, having crossed the river Ganges. At Matipura Monastery, Xuanzang studied under Mitrasena. From here, he headed south to Sankasya (Kapitha, then onward to Kannauj), the grand capital of the Empire of Harsha under the northern Indian emperor Harsha. It is believed he also visited Govishan, present-day Kashipur in the Harsha era, in 636; Xuanzang encountered 100 monasteries of 10,000 monks (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana), and was impressed by the king's patronage of both scholarship and Buddhism. Xuanzang spent time in the city studying early Buddhist scriptures, before setting off eastward again for Ayodhya (Saketa), the homeland of the Yogacara school. Xuanzang now moved south to Kausambi (Kosam), where he had a copy made from an important local image of the Buddha.

Xuanzang now returned northward to Shravasti Bahraich, traveled through Terai in the southern part of modern Nepal (here he found deserted Buddhist monasteries) and thence to Kapilavastu, his last stop before Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.

In 637, Xuanzang set out from Lumbini to Kusinagara, the site of Buddha's death, before heading southwest to the deer park at Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon, and where Xuanzang found 1,500 resident monks. Travelling eastward, at first via Varanasi, Xuanzang reached Vaisali, Pataliputra (Patna) and Bodh Gaya. He was then accompanied by local monks to Nalanda, the greatest Indian university of the Indian state of Bihar, where he spent at least the next two years, He visited Champa Monastery, Bhagalpur. He was in the company of several thousand scholar-monks, whom he praised. Xuanzang studied logic, grammar, Sanskrit, and the Yogacara school of Buddhism during his time at Nalanda. René Grousset notes that it was at Nalanda (where an "azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade") that Xuanzang met the venerable Silabhadra, the monastery's superior. Silabhadra had dreamt of Xuanzang's arrival and that it would help spread far and wide the Holy Law. Grousset writes: "The Chinese pilgrim had finally found the omniscient master, the incomparable metaphysician who was to make known to him the ultimate secrets of the idealist systems." The founders of Mahayana idealism, Asanga and Vasubandhu, trained Dignaga, who trained Dharmapala, and Dharmapala had in turn trained Silabhadra. Silabhadra was thus in a position to make available to the Sino-Japanese world the entire heritage of Buddhist idealism, and the Cheng Weishi Lun, Xuanzang's great philosophical treatise, is none other than the Summa of this doctrine, "the fruit of seven centuries of Indian Buddhist thought."

From Nalanda, Xuanzang traveled through several kingdoms, including Pundranagara, to the capital of Pundravardhana, identified with modern Mahasthangarh, in present-day Bangladesh. There Xuanzang found 20 monasteries with over 3,000 monks studying both the Hinayana and the Mahayana. One of them was the Vāśibhã Monastery (Po Shi Po), where he found over 700 Mahayana monks from all over East India. He also visited Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur in the district of Naogaon, in modern-day Bangladesh.

Xuanzang turned southward and traveled to Andhradesa to visit the Viharas at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. He stayed at Amaravati and studied the 'Abhidhammapitakam' texts. He observed that there were many Viharas at Amaravati and some of them were deserted. He later proceeded to Kanchi, the imperial capital of Pallavas, and a strong center of Buddhism. He continued traveling to Nasik, Ajanta, Malwa; from there he went to Multan and Pravata before returning to Nalanda again.

At the invitation of Assamese king Kumar Bhaskar Varman, he went east to the ancient city of Pragjyotishpura in the kingdom of Kamarupa after crossing the Karatoya and spent three months in the region. Before going to Kamarupa he visited Sylhet, what is now a modern city of Bangladesh. He gives a detailed account of the culture and people of Sylhet. Later, the king escorted Xuanzang back to the Kannauj at the request of the king Harshavardhana, who was an ally of Kumar Bhaskar Varman, to attend a great Buddhist Assembly there which was attended by both of the kings as well as several other kings from neighboring kingdoms, Buddhist monks, Brahmans, and Jains. King Harsha invited Xuanjang to Kumbh Mela in Prayag where he witnessed king Harsha's generous distribution of gifts to the poor.

After visiting Prayag he returned to Kannauj where he was given a grand farewell by king Harsha. Traveling through the Khyber Pass of the Hindu Kush, Xuanzang passed through Kashgar, Khotan, and Dunhuang on his way back to China. He arrived in the capital, Chang'an, on the seventh day of the first month of 645, 16 years after he left Chinese territory, and a great procession celebrated his return.

Return to China

On his return to China in AD 645, Xuanzang was greeted with much honor but he refused all high civil appointments offered by the still-reigning emperor, Emperor Taizong of Tang. Instead, he retired to a monastery and devoted his energy to translating Buddhist texts until his death in AD 664. According to his biography, he returned with "over six hundred Mahayana and Hinayana texts, seven statues of the Buddha and more than a hundred sarira relics." In celebration of Xuanzang's extraordinary achievement in translating the Buddhist texts, Emperor Gaozong of Tang ordered renowned Tang calligrapher Chu Suiliang (褚遂良) and inscriber Wan Wenshao (萬文韶) to install two stele stones, collectively known as The Emperor』s Preface to the Sacred Teachings (雁塔聖教序), at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

Chinese Buddhism (influence)

During Xuanzang's travels, he studied with many famous Buddhist masters, especially at the famous center of Buddhist learning at Nalanda. When he returned, he brought with him some 657 Sanskrit texts. With the emperor's support, he set up a large translation bureau in Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), drawing students and collaborators from all over East Asia. He is credited with the translation of some 1,330 fascicles of scriptures into Chinese. His strongest personal interest in Buddhism was in the field of Yogācāra (瑜伽行派), or Consciousness-only (唯識).

The force of his own study, translation, and commentary of the texts of these traditions initiated the development of the Faxiang school (法相宗) in East Asia. Although the school itself did not thrive for a long time, its theories regarding perception, consciousness, Karma, rebirth, etc. found their way into the doctrines of other more successful schools. Xuanzang's closest and most eminent student was Kuiji (窺基) who became recognized as the first patriarch of the Faxiang school. Xuanzang's logic, as described by Kuiji, was often misunderstood by scholars of Chinese Buddhism because they lacked the necessary background in Indian logic. Another important disciple was the Korean monk Woncheuk.

Xuanzang was known for his extensive but careful translations of Indian Buddhist texts to Chinese, which have enabled subsequent recoveries of lost Indian Buddhist texts from the translated Chinese copies. He is credited with writing or compiling the Cheng Weishi Lun as a commentary on these texts. His translation of the Heart Sutra became and remains the standard in all East Asian Buddhist sects; as well, this translation of the Heart Sutra was generally admired within the traditional Chinese gentry and is still widely respected as numerous renowned past and present Chinese calligraphers have penned its texts as their artworks. Additionally, he was known for recording the events of the reign of the northern Indian emperor, Harsha.

The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra

Xuanzang returned to China with three copies of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra. Xuanzang, with a team of disciple translators, commenced translating the voluminous work in 660 CE, using all three versions to ensure the integrity of the source documentation. Xuanzang was being encouraged by a number of his disciple translators to render an abridged version. After a suite of dreams quickened his decision, Xuanzang determined to render an unabridged, complete volume, faithful to the original of 600 chapters.

Autobiography and biography

In 646, under the Emperor's request, Xuanzang completed his book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (大唐西域記), which has become one of the primary sources for the study of medieval Central Asia and India. This book was first translated into French by the Sinologist Stanislas Julien in 1857.

There was also a biography of Xuanzang written by the monk Huili (慧立). Both books were first translated into English by Samuel Beal, in 1884 and 1911 respectively. An English translation with copious notes by Thomas Watters was edited by T.W. Rhys Davids and S.W. Bushell, and published posthumously in London in 1905.

Legacy

Xuanzang's work, the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, is the longest and most detailed account of the countries of Central and South Asia that has been bestowed upon posterity by a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim. While his main purpose was to obtain Buddhist books and to receive instruction on Buddhism while in India, he ended up doing much more. He has preserved the records of the political and social aspects of the lands he visited.

His record of the places visited by him in Bengal — mainly Raktamrittika near Karnasuvarna, Pundranagara and its environs, Samatata, Tamralipti and Harikela— have been very helpful in the recording of the archaeological history of Bengal. His account has also shed welcome light on the history of 7th century Bengal, especially the Gauda kingdom under Shashanka, although at times he can be quite partisan.

Xuanzang obtained and translated 657 Sanskrit Buddhist works. He received the best education on Buddhism he could find throughout India. Much of this activity is detailed in the companion volume to Xiyu Ji, the Biography of Xuanzang written by Huili, entitled the Life of Xuanzang.

His version of the Heart Sutra is the basis for all Chinese commentaries on the sutra, and recitations throughout China, Korea, and Japan. His style was, by Chinese standards, cumbersome and overly literal, and marked by scholarly innovations in terminology; usually, where another version by the earlier translator Kumārajīva exists, Kumārajīva's is more popular.

In fiction

Xuanzang's journey along the Silk Road, and the legends that grew up around it, inspired the Ming novel Journey to the West, one of the great classics of Chinese literature. The fictional counterpart Tang Sanzang is the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, a disciple of Gautama Buddha, and is protected on his journey by three powerful disciples. One of them, the monkey, was a popular favorite and profoundly influenced Chinese culture and contemporary Japanese manga and anime (including the popular Dragon Ball and Saiyuki series), and became well known in the West by Arthur Waley's translation and later the cult TV series Monkey.

In the Yuan Dynasty, there was also a play by Wu Changling (吳昌齡) about Xuanzang obtaining scriptures.

The movie Da Tang Xuan Zang was released in 2016 as an official Chinese and Indian production. It was offered as candidate for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards due to its amazing camera work, but ultimately was not nominated.

Relics

A skull relic purported to be that of Xuanzang was held in the Temple of Great Compassion, Tianjin until 1956 when it was taken to Nalanda - allegedly by the Dalai Lama - and presented to India. The relic was in the Patna Museum for a long time but was moved to a newly built memorial hall in Nalanda in 2007. The Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province also claims to have part of Xuanzang's skull.

Part of Xuanzang's remains were taken from Nanjing by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942, and are now enshrined at Yakushi-ji in Nara, Japan.

Works

• Volume 2. Reprint. Hesperides Press, 1996. .

• Beal, Samuel (1884). Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols. Translated by Samuel Beal. London. 1884. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969. Vol. 1, Vol. 2

• Julien, Stanislas, (1857/1858). Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, L'Imprimerie impériale, Paris. Vol.1 Vol.2

• Li, Rongxi (translator) (1995). The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California.

生平

早期生活

玄奘的曾祖陳欽曾任東魏上黨（今山西長治）太守，祖父陳康為北齊國子監博士官，父親陳惠在隋初曾任江陵縣令，大業末年辭官隱居，此後潛心修養。他有三個哥哥，二哥名陳素，早年於洛陽淨土寺出家，以講經說法聞名于世，號長捷法師。

《大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳》卷一這樣記載：幼年的玄奘人品高貴、智慧聰明、個性獨立，在八歲那年父親陳惠坐在旁邊為他的孩子講授《孝經》，玄奘聽到「曾子避席」時，忽然整理好衣服站起來，陳惠問玄奘為什麼突然起身，年幼的玄奘回答：「曾子聽聞老師的教誨就起身聆聽，今天我要奉行慈父的家訓，怎麼還能坐著呢！」父親陳惠很高興，認為這個孩子將來一定有所成就，還特別召告族人宗親這件事。玄奘的智慧從小時候已經是這樣成熟，之後更是精通經書妙義，因此童年的玄奘就喜歡閱讀先聖先賢的書籍，不是高雅正派的書不看、不是聖賢哲人的門風不學，而年幼的玄奘不結交童蒙稚友、足跡不曾到過市集，也不曾參與旁雜無義的言談，就算街頭鑼鼓喧天、巷尾戲曲歌舞叫聲、男女聚集交談笑聲等嘈雜喧囂，玄奘都不曾因為好奇而前往觀看。

玄奘於隋朝仁壽二年出生，少時因家境困難隨自己二哥長捷法師住淨土寺，學習佛經五年。在這期間他學習了聲聞乘和緣覺乘，而他本人偏好後者。他十一歲（613年）就熟讀《妙法蓮華經》、《維摩詰經》。十三歲時（615年）洛陽度僧，玄奘向被派來考查的大理卿鄭善果表示自己出家的意願是「意欲遠紹如來，近光遺法」，因而被鄭善果破格入選。玄奘出家以後看見諸位沙彌聚集放逸，大談戲論，於是告訴諸位沙彌說：「經中不是這樣說嗎！『出家之人是為了求證無為法。』豈能再像無知小兒一般一直嬉戲，徒然浪費一生光陰。」其間聽景法師講《涅槃經》，執卷閱讀愛不釋手，直到廢寢忘食的地步，隨從嚴法師學《攝大乘論》更加喜愛，乃至將《攝大乘論》一次讀完，再覽就沒有遺漏，大眾皆感驚異，乃至令玄奘升座複述，玄奘法音或高或低分析詳盡，盡得嚴法師宗旨，因此博得大眾的欽敬，少年時期的玄奘已經顯露出積極的修學態度，並獲得美好的名聲。

隋煬帝大業末年，兵亂饑荒，618年隋朝滅亡。玄奘提議長捷法師一同前往唐朝首都長安參學，後得知當時名僧多在蜀地，因而又建議同往成都。在那裡聽寶暹講《攝論》、道基講《雜心論》、惠振講《八犍度論》。三、五年間，究通諸部，聲譽大著。唐高祖武德五年（622年），玄奘在成都（據傳在成都大慈寺）受具足戒。

武德七年（624年）玄奘私下與商人結伴離開成都，沿江東下參學。先到了荊州天皇寺。講《攝論》、《雜心》，淮海一帶的名僧聞風來聽。六十高齡的大德智琰也對他執禮甚恭。講畢以後，再次北上尋覓先德參學，到相州訪休法師質問疑惑滯礙之法，繼往趙州從道深學《成實論》，又到揚州聽惠休講《雜心》、《攝論》。貞觀元年（627年），玄奘重遊長安學習外國語文和佛學。先後從道岳、法常、僧辯、玄會諸師鑽研《攝論》、《俱舍論》、《涅槃論》，他很快就窮盡各家學說，其才能倍受稱讚，聲譽滿京師。僕射蕭瑀奏請令他住莊嚴寺。

西行求法

玄奘感到多年來在各地所聞異說不一，特別是當時流行的攝論宗（後併入法相宗）、地論宗兩家有關法相之說多有乖違，因此渴望得到總賅三乘學說的《瑜伽師地論》，以求融匯貫通一切，于是決心前往印度求法。因得不到唐朝發放的過所（護照），所以始終未能如願以償。

貞觀三年（629年），玄奘毅然由長安私發，冒險前往天竺。經八百里莫河延蹟到高昌國時，得高昌王麴文泰禮重供養，復欲強留玄奘以為國之導師，玄奘「水漿不涉於口三日，至第四日，麴文泰發覺玄奘氣息漸惙，深生愧懼，乃稽首禮謝」，遂與玄奘結為義兄弟，相盟自天竺返國時更住高昌三載受其供養，講經說法。離開高昌後，玄奘繼續沿著西域諸國越過帕米爾高原，在異常險惡困苦的條件下，終於到達天竺。

在天竺的十多年間，玄奘跟隨、請教過許多著名高僧，停留過的寺院包括當時如日中天的著名佛教中心那爛陀寺，向該寺的住持戒賢法師學習《瑜伽師地論》與其餘經論；瑜伽行派大師戒賢是護法的徒弟、世親的再傳弟子。在貞觀十三年，他曾在那爛陀寺代戒賢大師講授《攝大乘論》和《唯識抉擇論》。此後，玄奘還徒步考察了整個南亞次大陸。

貞觀十七年（643年）學成以後，他立真唯識量論旨，在曲女城無遮辯論法會上等待十八天，結果無人敢出來辯難使其不戰而勝，由此名聲鵲起、威震天竺，被當時大乘行者譽為摩訶耶那提婆（iAST Mahāyānadeva महायानदेव），亦即「大乘天」，被小乘佛教徒譽為木叉提婆（iAST Mokṣadeva मोक्षदेव），亦即「解脫天」。

翻譯經文

643年，玄奘載譽啟程歸國，帶回657部佛經。貞觀十九年（645年），回到長安，受到唐太宗的熱烈歡迎。玄奘初見太宗時即表示希望前往嵩山少林寺譯經，但沒有得到批准，被指定住長安弘福寺。652年（永徽三年），玄奘在長安城內慈恩寺的西院築五層塔，用以貯藏自天竺攜來的經像。即今天的大雁塔，在唐太宗（李世民）大力支持下，玄奘在長安設立譯經院（國立翻譯院）、大慈恩寺與今西安北部約150公里的銅川市玉華宮內，將約1,300卷梵文經論譯成漢語，參與譯經的優秀成員來自全國及東亞諸國。玄奘本身最感興趣的是「唯識」部分。這些佛經後來從中國傳往朝鮮半島、越南和日本。顯慶二年（657年）五月，高宗下敕，要求「其所欲翻經、論，無者先翻，有者在後」。九月，玄奘借著陪駕住在洛陽的機會，第二次提出入住少林寺的請求，「望乞骸骨，畢命山林，禮誦經行，以答提獎」。次日，高宗回信拒絕。

玄奘依翻譯佛典與對經文的闡釋而開創了中國法相唯識宗，其學說卻深深地影響了其他諸多宗派。玄奘一生所翻經論，合七十四部，總一千三百三十八卷（目前學界流行說法為七十五部，一三三五卷），為中土一切譯師之最。

考古證驗

由玄奘口述、弟子僧辯機筆撰的《大唐西域記》，堪稱中國曆史上的經典遊記。尤有甚者，由於印度歷史紀錄的缺乏，這本珍貴的遊記更成為歷史文化學者研究古天竺地理歷史時不可或缺的文獻，而近現代以來，根據該書記載所進行之考古遺跡挖掘，亦證明玄奘當時所述真實可信，允為瑰寶。

鳳棲原野

龍朔三年（663年）十月玄奘譯完最後一部佛典《大般若經》之後感慨說：「向在京師，諸緣牽亂，豈有了日？」玄奘于麟德元年二月五日深夜、六日子時（664年3月8日0～1時）圓寂，享壽六十二歲。初葬于白鹿原雲經寺；669年，改葬于少陵原（又稱鳳棲原），建有舍利塔，並在此興建興教寺。

玄奘初葬于白鹿原古籍記載明確，但葬于雲經寺缺少証據，仍需考証。

名號

玄奘的生日

玄奘出生月日，史書都無記載。但在玄奘故里偃師市緱氏鎮陳河村，陳氏後裔們世代傳承，于每年農曆三月初九舉行玄奘誕辰紀念活動。但還有一種說法，說玄奘生日是農曆正月十四。現徵求部分學者意見，普遍認為在確無歷史記載的情況下，陳氏後裔的傳承也應是一種依據，所以採用隋文帝仁壽二年農曆三月初九（602年4月6日）為玄奘誕辰紀念日。

然根據《大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳》卷十紀載，唐高宗顯慶五年(660年)玄奘開始翻譯大般若經，當時曾對玉華寺僧眾說道：「玄奘今年六十有五，必當卒命於此伽藍…」，依此推算玄奘生年應不晚於隋文帝開皇十七年(597年)。

玄奘唐麟德元年二月五日夜半圓寂（公曆664年3月7日）。

評價

道宣在《續高僧傳》指出玄奘西行具有「宣述皇猷」之效。玄奘本人對唐太宗歌功頌德，如說唐太宗「握乾符，清四海，德籠九域，仁被八區，淳風扇炎景之南，聖威鎮蔥嶺之外」。玄奘每天都要應付來自朝臣權貴的訪問和供養，最終使他感到身心疲憊。

玄奘翻譯了數千卷的佛經，但陳寅恪認為譯文過於艱澀生硬，遠不如鳩摩羅什的譯文通俗易讀。黃念祖居士謂：「羅師乃七佛譯師，應秦人尚簡之機，所譯文約義豐，精妙暢達，至理圓彰。玄奘大師之譯經，準確完備，力保原面，雖篇幅稍增，而原語具存，辭義詳明，可免誤解杜撰之弊。」

日本語中就有一句格言提及玄奘：「弘法奪『大師』之名，秀吉奪『太閤』之名，玄奘奪『三藏』之名」（）。

玄奘頂骨舍利

一般認為，玄奘的頂骨舍利現供奉于世界上九個地方，分屬于中國大陸、台灣、日本、印度，有不少學者撰文論証此觀點。

1944年被掠奪到日本，最早安放在東京佛教聯合會所在的增上寺，後為了防止被戰火毀壞改放到埼玉縣的慈恩寺。第二次世界大戰結束後，當時在慈恩寺寄居的日本佛教聯合會顧問水野梅曉就舍利是否歸還的問題徵求蔣中正的意見，蔣答覆說：「頂骨不用歸還了，中日合作在于文化交流，能在日本弘揚三藏法師的遺德，我感到很高興，而且，因為祀奉之地是和法師有一些因緣的地方，所以我覺得可以把這裡定為祀奉之地。」日本佛教界決定將頂骨舍利供奉在慈恩寺。1949年，日本東部鐵道公司根浸先生捐贈十六噸重花崗岩，在多方協助下開始修建玄奘塔；1953年5月落成。1980年，慈恩寺開啟玄奘塔取出部分舍利，由住持大島法師分贈與奈良法相宗藥師寺高田法師。1981年，藥師寺舉行落成典禮。

台灣玄奘寺的頂骨舍利係於1955年自日本慈恩寺迎回供奉，而玄奘大學的頂骨舍利則為1998年自南京迎回。

印度那爛陀大學所供奉者係於1955年迎自中國。

關于玄奘法師是否遷葬紫閣寺、可政和尚發現玄奘頂骨之事尚存爭議（也就是說日本人在南京發現的玄奘頂骨的真偽尚存爭議）。

有關圖片

File:玄奘故居.jpg|玄奘故居

File:CeilingofDayanTemple.jpg|陝西西安大雁塔中的天花板

File:Xuanzang Da Yan Ta statue.jpg|西安大雁塔前玄奘雕像側影

File:慈恩寺玄奘靈骨塔.JPG|玄奘靈骨塔

File:Xuanzang Memorial Hall Nalanda.jpg|印度那爛陀寺遺址旁的玄奘紀念館，2007年落成

File:Xuanzang_w.jpg|玄奘西行圖，東京國立博物館藏

流行文化中的玄奘

• 神魔小說《西遊記》中唐三藏以玄奘三藏為原型。一般人對玄奘的印象多來自《西遊記》。

• 手機遊戲《Fate/Grand Order》中以魔術師職階的女性從者登場，其寶具為《五行山：釋迦如來掌》。

• 搖滾樂《藍蓮花》

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