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Editorial
January 2005, volume 29, No 1

The famous Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (more familiar in India in the old transliteration Hiuen Tsang) has left a deep imprint on his own country, on India where his journey led him, and on several lands in between. He was a profoundly significant figure of his time, an elevated spirit of unmatched learning and unbelievable drive. His determination to learn about Buddhism in its original home sent him along the hazardous overland route to India, a hugely dangerous venture across brigand-infested and barely charted deserts and mountains. So determined was he that he took the grave risk of defying an imperial order that would have confined him to China so as to take his place among a chain of Chinese pilgrims drawn to India. Today, he is acknowledged to be the greatest of them, as scholar, teacher, analyst—and also as folk hero, for his journey inspired the unfading popular Chinese classic The Monkey King which is a story invested with high romance and fantastic adventure, stirring stuff that has delighted audiences for centuries. Xuanzang’s own Record of the Western Regions, written after his return, is an indispensable account of what he saw, a priceless historical source.

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