The Western Regions of Datang has been published 1300 years. As time goes by, it shows the brilliance of this work. This book is the basic historical data for the ancient geography and religion of India with a long civilization. Because of the chaotic historical geography of India around the 7th century, this book has a little light in the dark and a little order in the scattered.
The only literature guide for historical investigation or archaeological excavation of some Buddhist holy places in India is this book by Xuanzang. The archaeological excavation of Narando Temple in India confirmed the correctness of Xuanzang's records. If people want to know the geographical layout of the native country of Tukhoro in Afghanistan, the situation of Kantoro and Uji in Pakistan, and the distribution of Hotan cultural sites in Xinjiang, China, etc. They want nothing but this book. Therefore, archaeological investigations and excavations in Afghanistan and Pakistan often refer to this book. This is especially true of archaeological work in India. 197 1- 1974, an Indian archaeologist rediscovered it in Bi Pravaz, Uttar Pradesh, and confirmed that it was the real site of Kapilovi in Xuanzang's book.
At home and abroad, there are many achievements in local research using the records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty. Many events in Indian history are recorded in the book, which has played a great role in determining the year of birth and death of Sakyamuni. The fifth volume, The Story of the King of the Ring in Japan, is an important historical material for the study of Sino-Indian relations, and historians have written various monographs on the King of the Ring in Japan. The record of King Ganisiga in the book provides valuable information for studying this hot issue. As for Buddhist historical materials, there are even more. At present, it is almost impossible to find a book that talks about ancient India without quoting the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, because there are some materials in Xuanzang's book that can't be found in any other book. No book has been so rich in content, recorded in so many countries and recorded in so much detail for a long time after Xuanzang. In fact, this geographical work left by Xuanzang has gone beyond the scope of China, and will surely play an increasingly important role in academic circles at home and abroad in the future.
/kloc-After the 0/9th century, with the colonial development in Europe and America and the rise of orientalism in the world, Xuanzang's works have attracted the attention of scholars from all over the world, and there have been endless annotations, translations, studies and quotations, which fully affirmed and spoke highly of Xuanzang's contribution. Since then, Xuanzang has become a world cultural celebrity. The earliest study of Xuanzang in foreign academic circles was not because of his translation career and translation characteristics, nor because he established Faxiang Sect in the Tang Dynasty and promoted Buddhism, but because he went back to India to learn from the scriptures and wrote a book, The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang, which introduced many countries in South Asia and provided a lot of useful information for archaeological research in ancient India.
According to the information provided by Mr. Yang Tingfu, the late famous expert on Xuanzang in China, the western countries first began to study The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang, led by Germany and Britain. 1834, the German scholar klapp Lott published a book "Xuanzang's Journey to India in Central Asia" in Berlin, which was one of the earliest western works introducing Xuanzang. 185 1 year, French scholar M. Stella stanislas julien translated and published the biography of Xuanzang and Yanzong in Huili and their travels from 629 to 645 (that is, the biography of kindness). Later, on the basis of this book, in 1857, The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang was translated into French and published, which had a great influence in the academic circles of the East and the West and initiated a new period of Xuanzang's research. For example, in 1837, Alexander Cunningham, a British official of the Bangladeshi local government, discovered stone carvings in the Liuhe Courtyard and Yamazaki Tower where Sakyamuni became a monk. 1854, he collected these inscriptions and published them. 186 1 year, presided over the archaeology of north India for the first time. Ten years later, he was appointed as the first minister of archaeology of the Indian colonial government. Fortunately, thanks to the French translation of stanislav Julien's Records of the Western Regions of Datang, Cunningham was able to verify the excavated archaeological data according to Xuanzang's records, determine the inscription nature of the stone pillars, and point out that they are all relics of Buddhism. By 1885, he had written 24 volumes of Indian Archaeological Report, one of which was devoted to the inscriptions on Ashoka's stone pillars. The archaeological work presided over by Cunningham initiated a new era in the study of ancient Indian history. With the publication of this French translation, the map corresponding to its content has also been drawn.
1862 Russian scholar Klass0sky translated it into Russian according to the French translation and published it. The English version was completed after 1884 S Bill translated the French version of stanislas julien. From 1904 to 1905, Thomas Waters retranslated The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang. Due to the various versions of The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang, academic debates and related materials have always been concerned, such as the comparison between stanislav Julien's translation and the later R. Grousset's French translation, and the research monographs on various related materials such as Fa Xian's "Buddhism" have been published continuously, and the related papers are endless.
Japanese scholars' research is a little later than that in Europe. Chronicle of Genjyo Sanzo was published in Buddhist Scholar on 1894, which was the earliest paper. 19 10, Kyoto University in Japan published Textual Research on the Records of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty, and two years later Horizonte Jiande published the book Records of the Western Regions, which was the earliest monograph published in Japan. 1926, the monk juji published "The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang" and a book on the geographical study of southeast India; 1942, Zuli Liu Xi published a two-volume study of the Western Regions of Datang, which represented the highest level of Japanese academic research in this field at that time. However, it wasn't until 1972 that this book was replaced by Shui Gu's sincerely translated and annotated Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty. 1983, Yao Chang of Nomura retranslated "The Story of the Western Regions of Datang".
Korean scholars have made a comparative study of Five Tianzhu Ji of Hui Dynasty and the Western Regions of Tang Dynasty. Indian scholars have further explained some place names recorded in the Records of the Western Regions of Datang.
Influenced by foreign academic achievements, China academic circles began to study the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty and the geography of Central Asia. 1904, A Textual Research on the Unique Work Seen in the Records of the Western Regions and Yue Guo Seen in the Biography of the Western Regions of Hanshu was published in the second issue of Volume 6 of History. This may be China's earliest article on the study of the Western Regions of Datang. Although this article was written by a foreign scholar, it conveys the message that foreign research achievements on the Tale of the Western Regions of Datang have begun to enter China and are attracting the attention of domestic scholars.
19 15 Scholar Ding Qian published Textual Research on the Records of the Western Regions in the second to sixth issues of Local Records Monthly, which was published in Nanjing in 1934, and later included in Penglai Xuan Geography Series, the second episode of Zhejiang Library Series Integration. By the 1950s, domestic scholars had published more than ten articles about the geography of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty, among which the articles of famous scholars Chen Yinque, Chen Yuan and Feng were the most concentrated. In addition, domestic scholars have translated and introduced the works of some foreign scholars.
Liang Qichao talked about Xuanzang's research as early as China's historical research method. After finishing the proofreading of Biography of Ci 'en in 1924, Nanjing Ouyang-led Zhina Inner College published "The Exquisite Biography of Zhina Inner College Following Xuanzang —— About Xuanzang" in Volume 2 1 of the seventh issue of Oriental Magazine.
In the early 1920s and 1930s, Buddhism was revived in China, and many people inside and outside the Buddhist community became interested in the study of epistemology, which became the mainstream of modern Buddhist studies. However, before 1950, there were not many articles on the study of the western regions in Datang, but they laid the foundation for later research.
With the establishment of 1949 People's Republic of China (PRC), China's social science research has entered a new era. By 1956, China's political life was basically normal and academic activities were relatively prosperous.
After 1957, China was disturbed by the "Left" thinking, and Buddhism closely related to Xuanzang's research was regarded as idealism, and Buddhist research was suppressed to varying degrees, and many fields were regarded as forbidden areas. However, the research on the stories of the western regions in the Tang Dynasty has occurred from time to time. Before 1960, there were about 26 kinds of books about the stories of the western regions in the Tang Dynasty published by mainland academic circles.
From 65438 to the Cultural Revolution in 0966, the activities related to academic research basically stopped, as did the activities of Buddhism and even the study of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty.
After 1978, the study of Xuanzang has become a hot spot and a major topic of concern for scholars, and a multidisciplinary study has been formed around Xuanzang's research and his works, covering a wide range of fields. The earliest published achievement is about the content of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty.
1982, Xiang Da's Three Ancient Books of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty (Zhonghua Book Company) was published, which marked that Chinese academic circles began to study this academic issue again. The following year, Zhou Liankuan's Collection of Historical and Geographical Studies of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty (Zhonghua Book Company) was published. This book focuses on textual research and research. The author gives a comprehensive description of the religions, humanities, geographical history and other phenomena of some countries and nationalities contained in The Story of the Western Regions, makes an in-depth investigation of different viewpoints and statements, and puts forward his own views. In the use of materials, it is also very rich, including China's ancient books, as well as famous scholars and works in Europe and Japan, and has compiled various viewpoints for the convenience of scholars to have a bird's eye view. For example, in the section of "National Examination of Pantuo", the author not only lists the names of the place in various materials, but also points out its present position, and makes a comparative study of Pantuo and Luo Jin, pointing out the differences between them, emphasizing that "the green ridge mentioned by Xuanzang is still with the big snow mountain, although it is extensive." (page 194) to illustrate that the Green Ridge and the Snow Mountain are sometimes concrete two different mountains and cannot be confused. Finally, the author thinks that the titles of all the existing editions of The Tale of the Western Regions are: "Xuanzang, the master of Sanzang, translated the imperial edict, and the master held the Zen master to distinguish the machine" or "Tang Xuanzang's translation machine", which should be changed to "Tang Xuanzang's compilation of the machine".
Collating Notes on the Western Regions of Datang (Zhonghua Book Company, 1985) co-authored by Ji Xianlin and others has the characteristics of accurate collating and detailed explanation, and has certain edition value. Scholars involved in the specific work of this book are highly knowledgeable experts, thus reflecting the advantages of brainstorming and exerting collective strength in academic research at this stage, and changing the situation that academic circles always rely on personal strength to engage in this research in the past. Fan's "Proofreading Examples" sums up the existing editions well and has important reference value. The book also has its own uniqueness in the citation materials, mainly citing many western works, especially the monographs of people in South Asia. Due to the new publishing era, it has new characteristics in data collection.
However, it is a pity that the book has not done enough to introduce the research on the western regions at home and abroad, so that readers can't understand the development and clues of this situation. Xie Fang's "Tang Dynasty Western Regions' Annotation will be collated and published" (China Historical Research Dynamic Trial Publication 1978) makes a brief introduction to this, which can make up for the shortcomings of this book's annotation. China's study of the Western Regions began in Ding Qian in the Qing Dynasty. The author thinks that the fixed number of years can be pushed forward, starting from Wang Mingsheng's "On the Seventeen Histories" during the Qianlong period.
In addition, Ji Xianlin and others have also translated The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang in modern times, while Zhang Xun and Rui Chuanming have done some useful reading guidance. Papers were also published in Tibetan about stories about the Western Regions. It occupied an extremely important position in the field of social sciences in modern China, especially in some academic journals in northwest China, which published articles in this field all the year round.
Scholars have made a comparative study of Fa Xian's Tale of the Buddhist Kingdom and the Tale of the Western Regions of Datang, pointing out that both books have put forward some geographical terms, which are not only scientific, but also the pioneers of modern scientific geographical naming, and some of them are still adopted today. The difference between them lies in: The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang is good at describing the space completely and realistically, while the Biography of Buddhism is famous for its clear concept of time and strong sense of history. Therefore, from a geographical point of view, the value of the Tang Dynasty's record of the Western Regions far exceeds that of Buddhism. Some scholars have studied the relationship between Tang Dynasty's Records of the Western Regions and The Journey to the West, and think that "Wu Cheng'en may not have read Tang Dynasty's Records of the Western Regions in the process of writing The Journey to the West. It is believed that "The Story of the Western Regions of Datang" has no direct influence on The Journey to the West, and all the influences are indirect. "