Thread by @TheEmissaryCo

The India They Saw: 🇨🇳

India & China’s tryst began with trade but truly matured by the word of the Champion of Āryans, Sage of the Shākyas, Bull amongst Men - Lord Buddha.

His sutras would create a quest for India in the hearts of many Chinese, many of which you’ll find here 🧵

Ancient Chinese called India Yin-Tu or Shin-Tu, again referring to the Sindhu/Indus as Greeks & Persians did in their names for India.

Sea trade especially opened connections early on with traders and eventually monks traveling the eastern seas.

Mauryans & Kushans exported ☸️

An almost Constantine-like early revelation of Chinese Emperors with Buddhism is the idea of encountering a Golden Buddha.

A Yuezhi/Kushan statue of Buddha encountered during a Hunnic conflict is one of the first reports of this golden Buddha that enthralled the Chinese.

The internationalism of Buddhism is quite amazing to see. Parthian, Scythian, Chinese, & Indian monks would work in tandem to translate Sanskrit & Prakrit works into native languages.

Indian monks were frequently invited in by the Chinese to teach the Dharma.

Not everything was rosy though, local Legalists & Confucians weren’t too keen on giving space to this rapidly rising faith. Curiously though, Buddhist relics thrived in demand regardless of pushback (reminds me of a Civ 6 game lol)

Buddhism would capture Kublai Khan’s heart as Buddhism spread past China into Mongolia, Korea, & Japan. China became an epicenter of Buddhist research and study, something steadily supplied by Indian masters.

Mughal era rendition of Kublai’s Kuraltai & court.

Translation & commentary would become major sources of Chinese cultural output as an international coalition of monks would be put to task.

One of the crossroads of these great sādhus was Xinjiang. See frescos in the Kizil caves as well as a statue of Kumarajiva outside them.

Faxian or Fa-Hien had a brush with death before taking on the saffron robes. His commitment to Dharma and monk hood would lead him to travel to India to revolutionize the practices of Chinese monk hood and understanding of Dharma.

He would come primarily as a devotee & pilgrim.

His India trip would touch Kashmir, Punjab, Kutch/Gujarat, Ladakh, Gilgit, Nepal, Awadh, various swaths of north India, and of course the Throne of Nirvana in Bihar at Bodh Gaya.

He would collect various manuscripts and observe the customs of the locals in wonder.

First, Faxian and his companions would cross the Tarim Basin where he got his first taste of India. The kingdom of Shen Shen bowed to the Tathāgata as sramanas spread the Dharma to the Tartar (Turkic?) peoples. An Indic language (Pali, Sanskrit?) became popular devotionally.

Continuing West, Faxian came upon the Uighers of Gosthana (Land of the Cows or Khotan). A wealthy Silk Road land, Sangharamas (monk dwellings & gardens) decorated the land as beautiful Buddhist rituals would regularly be performed communally. Hindu Devas also included in worship.

In the Himalayan highlands, a massive wooden statue of Maitreya Buddha (to be incarnated) was erected. Faxian reaches the Indus and narrated the ancient sramanas who traveled to China with scriptures to spread the Dharma.

He notes during his travels how even Indians in the northern regions such as Udyana (near Swat) carried similar culture as the middle Indian regions.

Buddha is said to have traveled northwest India in past lives sacrificing parts of his body in Gandhara, Taxila, Udyana, Peshawar

Buddha prophesies Kanishka who builds a great Pagoda to honor Buddha at the behest of Indra (who calls him a “very good boi” lol). The highest in India (Jambudvipa).

Kanishka’s forefathers came to India to take Buddha’s alms bowl, but curiously couldn’t move it. So they stayed.

Nagrak is near modern day Jalalabad, Afghanistan. A big theme of the Eastern World at this time was honoring & retrieving relics of Buddha.

Elaborate rituals and temples would be made for these holy objects. Kings would campaign & conquer to capture them.

Bhakti towards Buddha.

Indians near Jhelum were amazed at how far the message of Buddha reached and honored the Chinese sādhus.

In Krishna’s birthplace, Mathura, Faxian observed Buddha reverence as well. Faxian claims the customs they practice derive directly from the time of Buddha.

I came across a supposed curse (forgot where I read) that Krishna took on that in his next birth, he will be born without weaponry and unable to fight. Perhaps some Mathurans took it to heart.

Buddhist Art from Mathura, also a former capital of the Kushan Empire.

Faxian gives an account of the Middle Country of India (location debated, probably near UP/MP).

Ahimsa, abstinence from tamasik onion & garlic, and a type of untouchability was practiced in a Buddhist society. The Chandalas were labeled as hunters from outside the village.

Something extremely underrated in the analysis of Indian history is the traveling & interaction of roaming sādhus across India.

Bhikshinis=female monks. Samaneras=novice monks. Abhidharma/Vinaya reference shows reverence of shāstras.

& once again Brahmins honoring Sramanas.

Faxian arrives at Sankasya, the site of Buddha’s descent after his heavenly discourse

The devotee Mogalan marveled at the marks on Buddha’s feet, one of which he called as Vishnu’s divine chakra.

Buddha also explicitly mentions the name of the sacred subcontinent - Jambudvipa.

Did not know the Han identity was this old but Faxian exclaims that he is from the land of Han to Indian Buddhist priests!

Indians seem to really like pilgrims :)

Buddha’s birthplace in Kapilavastu was fairly deserted for whatever reason. Faxian throughout his journey notes “towers” (maybe spired temples?) built on holy sites across India. Or perhaps a Stambha/pillar style architecture that was prevalent and gave rise to the Pagodas.

Faxian reaches a town with a legendary story.

1000 sons of a concubine who are adopted downstream a river, rise up against their father, and are then appeased by their mother’s milk then laying down their bows & clubs.

This was an ancient tale by Buddha’s time, his past life.

It’s amazing how congruent so many aspects of Indian society are to its ancient past. Couldn’t help but think of the Rath Yatra celebrations reading this account of Faxian’s “Procession of Images” in Patna.

Ancient Patna and the surrounding land (Bihar) is said to have had a practice of the nobles and landowners founding hospitals and sponsoring treatment for the poor and destitute of all countries.

Heartwarming moment for Faxian as he is overcome with emotion and devotion when he visits the cave where Lord Buddha delivered the Surangama Sutra.

Depiction from Nalanda below.

Asoka was born much after Buddha, so some have assumed this legend refers to his past life- a young child gives alms to Buddha, Buddha gives India in return

Asoka’s “Hell” is also described & his conversion. Some Buddhists believed some hells are in the valleys of high mountains

Faxian continues East crossing Kashi eventually reaching Sarnath - known as the Deer Park of Rishis.

We also hear of the “Panj Pyāre” of Buddha (there are soooo many cross references across Dharma over the ages).

Faxian goes south to visit the Ellora caves and marvels at the temples and sculptures carved from the rock itself.

You may have noticed Faxian referring to “dragons” in some of his accounts and retelling of Buddhist lore.

I believe he is referring to serpentine Nagas of Indian mythos. Possibly an inspiration for the Chinese dragon or just convergent ideological evolution?

Faxian observed a unique aspect of the Buddhist priests of northern India - they would frequently not write down the sutras, instead preserve them by memory, akin to the Vedas

Faxian became inspired to learn Sanskrit as he scoured India for sutras to learn & replicate for China

Faxian’s accomplice, To-Ching, lamented at the quality of monks in India versus the border region of China where he descended from. Then vowing to stay in the holy land of India and gain company of the legendary śramanas he encountered.

Faxian spends time in Bihar transcribing sutras. He then sails to Sri Lanka where he observes the great reverence to Buddhist relics once again fused with Vedic rite & ritual***. He also obtains copies of valuable manuscripts unknown to the Han.

***I have observed this across Faxian’s accounts & want to make it very clear - Buddhism & Hinduism existed in a syncretic & even fused manner in 🇮🇳. Beliefs & rituals were borrowed & observed by lay people, elites, & even priests.

“Brahminism” vs Sramanism is a farce on ground

Faxian now begins his dangerous journey home. He is faced with storms, pirates, & suspicion from his own crew (funny enough it seems Brahmins were wary of him - there are ofc rough edges between panths at times, but tiffs should be weighed against the syncretism for context 🙂)

Faxian returns home. Initially met with suspicion, but eventually it gives way to intense gratitude and reverence for the monk’s journey of a lifetime and eternal knowledge he brought back.

Hwui Seng & Sung Yun were sent by Empress Tai Hau to collect Buddhist manuscripts. They begin their journey through the kingdom of Khotan, near Xinjiang today & populated by Iranian Saka folk. Some of their foundation legends point to Indian settlement during Ashoka’s reign.

The customs of the Khotanese is described and the subsequent Buddhism on a monk’s miracle.

An elaborate headdress worn by the king. Cremation being the rom. Women riding horses.

Yerkiang (probably near Bukhara in Uzbekistan) was an interesting Indo-Saka crossroads with a Khotanese-like language spoken but written in a Brahmic script. Vegetarianism was also the norm in this land.

Seng & Yun cross Kashmir to Oudyana (maybe near Swat?) and encounter the king. He is a religious Buddhist and vegetarian (vegetarian seems to be quite congruent with the spread of Dharma).

An interesting Indo-Chinese cultural exchange follows about China’s history & place in 🌍

Sung Yun travels to Gandhara, presently under the rule of the White Huns, barbarians who did not bow to Dharma (yet).

The people of Gandhara are described as entirely being Brahmins who worship Buddha (yes I know PhD in SoUTh AsiAN studies says Brahmins can’t worship Buddha)

A legendary prophecy of Kanishka was supposedly said by Buddha. We also have a curious pagoda that was initially made by children via (cow?) dung. Then expanded and protected by subsequent kings.

Our next traveler, Yuan Chwang comes to India once again as a pilgrim & seeke. He encounters King Harshavardhan, a Hindu Shaivite, but like many Indian kings in the past, he sponsored many strains of Dharma, including Buddhism - including sponsoring Nalanda.

Yuan provides ancient Chinese names for India eventually settling on In-Tu, meaning the moon. He then compares the moon to India, solidifying the translation as he claims India provides light & wisdom to the world just as the moon does.

He also outlines the borders of India.

Yuan (or Xuanyang) provides a description of the dress of Indians during the era (600s). A bit similar to the Mauryan era outfits in some ways.

Xuanzang would describe the cut throat nature of Buddhist debate in India as the loser would be public ally humiliated after defeat.

FYI the Chinese actually made a movie on Xuanzang that depicts ancient India better than any Bollywood movie ever has.

Xuanzang observes the 4 castes of India & their relations with each other.

Xuanzang observes that in many Indian societies, corporal punishment wasn’t a thing.

The Indian society he encountered had fairly lower taxes, no forced labor amongst citizens, and a fairly well functioning bureaucracy.

Indian food and drink are described. Those who transgressed the dietary measures would be exiled outside the city. Interestingly, onion & garlic were highly frowned upon (very tamasik foods I believe).

The Shudra king of Matipura (presently Rohilkhand) is described as well as the religious pluralism of the land.

The Akshayavat of Prayag is described by Xuanzang as well as a macabre suicidal impulse involving a resident demon near the sacred tree.

The description of Varanasi 1500 years ago still is fitting today in more ways than not.

A Sanātan City.

People from across India would regularly make pilgrimage to great Temple of Aditya in Multan. Rulers from across India would compete to patronize the deity and temple.

India-consciousness once again encountered. Sri Lankan Sinhalese monks came to a Kanchipura in south India. They praise the land of Jambudvipa as a rich country, filled with holy sites, where Lord Buddha was born.

Ancient description of Maharashtra, depictions of drunken war, & humiliating defeat.

Side note - Xuanzang viewed Buddhism as the astika way of Dharma & saw Hinduism as heretical worship of Devas. Not necessarily with disdain, just theological difference.

Xuanzang’s return journey crossed through the Buddhist land of Khotan (Xinjiang). The king claimed descent from King Ashoka as well as the deva, Vaisravana (Kubera).

Note: Ancient Buddhists, like all other early Dharmic panths, worshipped Hindu devas.

Xuanzang returns with bountiful sculptures and scriptures. Much of which was carried by his entourage that was sponsored by kings across his journey - whether Indian, Hun, Scythian, Turk, or Chinese - as they saw the monk’s commitment to Dharma as an admirable cause.

Xuanzang became renowned and remembered amongst some Indians, including 2 monks from Magadha.

Xuanzang would reply to Jnanaprabha and Prajnadeva. Notice the colorful Indianized analogies and metaphors.

The Tang King would make sure to spread Xuanzang’s translations across his kingdom as a service to Dharma.

Yijing was a Chinese monk who came to India in the 600s to learn Buddhist Vinaya. He first observes the concept of food purity. He recounts a scorning of uncouth Mongols.

But a key thing here: Indian tradition = Buddhist tradition. He implored the Chinese to copy Indians.

Yijing observes methods of water purification and how Indians would take care of sparing even insects of death. Ahimsa/non-violence is invoked as a sacred law.

As I’ve said prior in this thread, Hinduism and Buddhism were *extremely* syncretic. Yijing observes the Black God, Mahakala, related to Shiva, being worshipped at Buddhist monasteries as a prime deity.

Interesting parallels to the present in Indian wheat vs rice consumption! Again another testament to the preponderance of vegetarianism in ancient India as well as abstinence from onions & other tamasik food.

Villages would reserve 1/6 of the farm harvest for monks. Monks were forbidden from doing agriculture themselves as it led to loss of insect/animal life.

India is referred to as the “Divine Land” by Yijing. A popular Dharmic practice today, chanting the names of a deity repeatedly, is shown to also have occurred amongst ancient Indian Buddhists.

Hye Ch’o was a Korean Buddhist monk who traveled extensively across India providing accounts of various kingdoms.

Vaisali (in Bihar): Banned slavery
Kushinagar: Fairly Abandoned
Varanasi: Shaivite yogis & lament at recent mleccha (Hunnic or Muslim?) desecration of Sarnath.

In East Asia, India was commonly referred to as the 5 Indies or parted into 5 regions. Hye remarks similar overlapping customs amongst all the regions he visited.

-Similar languages tho southern India sounded a bit diff
-No capital punishment
-Reverence of Gurus
-Vegetarianism

Hye remarks how south, west, and north India all feature similar customs & culture as central India and each other.

The first Arab invasions into India are referenced to in his journeys into West India (who apparently had best singers)

Hye travels to Sindh, of which half is currently under Arab rule. The people are mild mannered & not prone to drink.

Kashmir is mentioned explicitly as a part of India. A rich, impervious province filled with a zeal to build monasteries & temples.

I wonder where they went…

Buddhist Turks dominated Afghanistan during this time with various regions under their control.

Gandhara, Zabulistsan, & the infamous Bamiyan.

Tokharistan, supposedly from the Sanskrit Tūshāra (snowy, frigid), was in control by Arab (maybe non-Arab Muslim?) forces. A Buddhist land, but not for long…

Location map and contemporary reliefs from the region.

Hye provides an account of an Umayyad Persia. He recounts the enterprising nature of Persians and their worship of the heavens, most likely an early description of Islam (possibly Zoroastrianism but you’ll see the heavenly link next…)

Hye continued West to encounter Arabs. Lesser Fu-Lin is Damascus, the Umayyad capital (see Umayyad Mosque)

The rulers would wear similar clothes as their subjects & all would eat together. This was a radical egalitarianism that was in this “Heaven-worshipping” religion of Arabs.

Central Asia was Arab ruled but the populace was predominantly Zoroastrian. A remnant monastery was left in Samarkand.

The common custom of incestuous marriage repulsed Hye. Perhaps this gives a clue of how it got into certain areas of the Subcontinent today…

The mixed lands of Ferghana & Khuttal are described, as well as the nomadic Turks of the north & west. Hye wasn’t fond of their violent and amoral ways.

We see the backdrop of Turko-Arab conflict & an Abbasid revolution.

Bonus territory here as we enter the legendary founding of the Funan kingdom of Khmer. Supposedly founded by a descendent of the Brahmin who received a spear from Ashwatthaman.

Angkor Wat was built originally only to house the gods (especially dedicated to Vishnu) with locals including rulers not living inside the colossal complex.

The Bayon temple was built by the great Jayavarman VII. A compassionate ruler that seems to have been deified the utmost as even being compared to Buddha.

Fanun of Khmer would eventually collapse on itself with the jungle taking back its territory, lost in view & only living on through local whispers

A prophecy would be fulfilled 500 years later as French explorers found the spires of Khmer mandirs and Angkor Wat would rise again.

Khmer Architecture

The tale of the Princess of Ayodhya who came to Korea. Her tomb still bears the twin fish of Ayodhya.

The accounts of the Orient meeting the Indies is done. One big takeaway is how Dharma spread & synchronized so easily in this age of traveling monks & pilgrims. When Gautama’s Jnan reached the ends of the Earth. India was a very different land back then.

Unroll @threadreaderapp