XUANZANG
Xuanzang (Ci’en, ca. 600–664) was a renowned Chi-
nese pilgrim to India and one of the most prolific Chi-
nese translators. Due to his encompassing knowledge
of Buddhist traditions, he was honored as sanzang fashi
(Trepitaka Dharma Master).
Xuanzang became engrossed in Yogacara thought
at an early age, but came to realize that the scriptures
of that school were only partially available in Chinese.
It was particularly the absence of a full translation of
the encyclopedic Yogacarabhuml-s ́astra(Treatise on
the Stages of the Yoga Masters) that Xuanzang felt
painfully. Therefore, he decided that in order to ob-
tain an authentic interpretation of the teachings of the
YOGACARA SCHOOLhe had to travel to India. In 627
Xuanzang set out on his hazardous journey. On the
way he relied on the support of many, lay and cleric,
humble and noble, as well as on the saving power of
the BODHISATTVAS, particularly of MAITREYA. Xuanzang
spent fourteen years in India (629–643), venerating
virtually all important sacred sites, collecting texts, and
studying with teachers. The most important of his in-
structors was S ́labhadra, a disciple of Dharmapala, un-
der whose guidance Xuanzang studied for five years at
the monastic university of Nalanda. Besides Yogacara,
he studied Sarvastivada, Madhyamaka, and hetuvidya
(Buddhist LOGIC), as well as the Vedas and Sanskrit
grammar. In Nalanda, Xuanzang figured among the
most exalted scholars of his time, and he was enthusi-
astically entertained by the Indian kings Bhaskaravar-
man and Harsa. After his return to Chang’an in 645,
he was received by Emperor Tang Taizong, who
funded Xuanzang’s academy for the translation of
sutras and had him compile the Da Tang xiyu ji(Record
of Travels to the Western Regions). This record, together
with his biography, the Ci’en zhuan(Biography of Xuan-
zang) by Huili, remains the most important source for
the Buddhism of his time.
During the nineteen years after his return, Xuan-
zang translated seventy-five of the 657 works he
brought home. Among these his translations of AB-
HIDHARMA, Yogacara, and hetuvidyatexts have secured
him a foremost place in the annals of dharma trans-
mission. Xuanzang did not work alone. The sources
provide names of more than sixty major collaborators,
some of them scholars famed for their exegetic work,
including KUIJI, Jingmai, Shentai, WO ̆NCH’U ̆K, Wen-
bei, Puguang, and Xuanying.
According to Xuanzang’s biographers, among the
questions he sought to answer were whether all beings
possess an innate capacity to attain buddhahood, what
awakening meant, and how the PATHis to be conceived.
Whereas PARAMARTHA’s translations supported the
TATHAGATAGARBHA (buddha-nature), the Yogacara
(Faxiang) teachings transmitted by Xuanzang included
the notion of the Five Lineages (pañcagotra), one of
which, the so-called ICCHANTIKA, was said not to pos-
sess the capacity for awakening. To many of Xuan-
zang’s contemporaries, this sounded awkward. But, in
fact, this teaching represented just one aspect of the
highly sophisticated Yogacara exegesis, which at the
time constituted the sum of Buddhist learning because
it incorporated the Abhidharma learning on a MA-
HAYANAfoundation. Xuanzang considered the faithful
transmission and preservation of these teachings to be
his duty. For him, it was pointless and an excessive
simplification to assume that one should disregard the
most refined teachings of the Indian sages. He sum-
marized these teachings in the seminal Cheng Weishi909