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Faxian was born in the Shaanxi Province and was originally named Sehi.
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At age 3, Faxian went to live in a Buhhdist monastery.
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It took him 25 days to go to the caravan town of yarkland
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He started his journey in the year 399 and traveled across North China via the cities of Xi'an and Xining.
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Summer retreat
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Cave of a thousand Budhhas
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Ruins of Loulan, lost in the sand
Faxian stayed a moth before crossing the dessert -
"There is not a bird to be seen in the air above, nor an animal on the ground below. Though you look all round most earnestly to find where you can cross, you know not where to make your choice, the only mark and indication being the dry bones of the dead (left upon the sand)." -Faxian
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After 15 days on foot he get to what today is Kucha
About 4,00 monks, despicable living conditions -
Meili Kawat Ruins of Hotan
He went along the south side of the Nan Shan Mountains to dunhuang and Makan desert to the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan centered on the present-day town of hetian. -
he followed a difficult route through the Pamir Mountains
Then Faxian headed to the headwaters of the Indus River. -
"The way was difficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly precipitous, which rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock . . . When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes become unsteady; and if he wished to go forward in the same direction, there was no place on which he could place his foot; and beneath where the waters of the river called the Indus."- Faxian
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After crossing the Indus River Faian when on to Gandhara
According to his thi dome, stupa used to be plate with gold and silver -
Faxian visited more stupas in Taxila an 8 day journey
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Faxian arrives in the kingdom on Peshawar and leaves the companions he was travelling with for a while, from here he walks alone
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Here Faxian says to have seen the flat-bone of Buddha's skull.
This is said to be the same and is now workshipped as a sacred relic to some -
In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha's tooth, where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of his skull.
This is the modern-day entrance to the shrine for the relic -
Faxian lost a new companion to the "snowy little peaks" before arriving in Bannu
The Koh Range -
" on the northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law to his disciples"-Faxian
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Ayodhya
Sravasti
Kapilavastu
Kushinagar
Vaishali
Patna
Varanasi -
A very important site for Buddhism
Here Buddha attained nirvana -
Faxian ended his journey through several places and stopped in India in 414 CE and then traveled back to China through as sea route.
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From here he set sail in a large vessel towards Sir Lanka
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Here Faxian stayed one year and became homesick at the sight of a white silk fan from China as an offering to Buddha
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He spent five moths here before going on his way to China
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This was the first Chinese city he had set foot on since he left.
Here he stayed translating the scripts he gathered on his whole journey -
Here he finished translating his collection of scriotures with Buddha Bhadra, an Indian Buddhist.
He aslo related his story to this Indian monk and he wrote down his journey in his work "record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms" -
When he reeached adulthood in the late fourth century, Faxian was ordained as a Buddhist priest.
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A death at age 88 in a peaceful monastery
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At age 20, Faxian became an official monk.
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When Faxian was 10, his father died.
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At 25, he traveled to India to bring back original manuscripts in order to make accurate translations.
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He stayed in the local monastery of more than a thousand monks for 15 days before continuing his journey
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Faxian travelled extensively for nearly three months throughout the region
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"level plain... there are no large hills with streams (among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers"-Faxian
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He spent some time with a monastery of about 700 monks
Modern day monastery -
From here he set sail to Java and encountered many pirates at the ports
