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Jan 1, 602
Birth and early life
Xuanzang was born in 602 in the Lo-yang region of China. -
Jan 1, 614
Enters into a monastery
Xuanzang first joined a monastery when he was 12 years old. He entered the monastery after winning a scholarship contest. His brother, Chang-Chieh, was also in the monastery with him. -
Jan 1, 615
Beginning of search for a teacher
Xuanzang began his journey to find a Buddhist teacher, and entered the religious life along with his brother Chang-Chieh. He wanted to learn about the different Buddhist teachings and practices, and expand his knowledge. -
Jan 1, 622
Becomes an official monk
Xuanzang became an honorary Buddhist monk in an ordation ceremony. He became a monk after 8 years in the monastery. After he had been ordained, he had learned enough in Chengdu and decided to go back to Chang'an to learn more. -
Jan 1, 626
Begins his studies
Xuanzang began his studies in sandskrit in 626 CE, and also became interested in the metaphysical Yogacara school -
Jan 1, 627
Begins quest for teacher in China
Xuanzang first began his quest for a teacher in China. Although he was a renown student his desire to learn more and expand his knowledge led him to many different cities such as Szechuan and Hunan. He found much information and learnt a great deal. -
Jan 1, 630
Arrives in Turpan and continues on
Xuanzang arrives in Turpan and is greeted by a Buddhist king, and is equiped by him to travel on. Then, in the same year, he arrives in Amu Darya and Temez, and there he encountered a community of over 1000 Buddhist monks. He then met a monk named Prajnakara and studied with him, and he joins Xuanzang on his travels, and they went to Bamynan, Gandhara, and then eventually reach India. There were over 100 monasteries, and over 5000 Monks in the monasteries. -
Period: Jan 1, 631 to Jan 1, 634
Studies in Kashmir
In 631 Xuanzang arrived in Kashmir and studies with different monks until 634 -
Jan 1, 636
Reaches the Yogacara school
Xuanzang left Kashmir, and in 636 he arrived in Ayodhya (Saketa) and this is the homeland of the Yogacara school, where he had been wanting to find for a long time. -
Period: Jan 1, 637 to Jan 1, 645
More travels through India
Xuanzang traveled to Kusinagara in 637, and this is the deathsite of Buddha. Then him and some other local monks traveled to Nalanda, which is the great Buddhist university in the Indian start of Bihar. He spends the next two years studying there. He meets Silabhadra there, and that is the monastery's superior who becomes his master. Next, he travels to the kingdom of Kamarupa, or modern day Assam, and then goes to Kanchi, which is a strong centre of Buddhism. Then, he heads back to China. -
Jan 1, 645
Return to China
Xuanzang finally returns to China and arrives in the capital Chang'an. A large processian celebrated his return to China, and he is greeted by the emperor Taizong. The emperor was very impressed by the information Xuanzang brought back to China, including 650 Buddhist texts, and he asked Xuanzang to give up a monastic life and pursue a career in foreign policy. Xuanzang refused the offer -
Period: Jan 1, 645 to Jan 1, 664
Life After Travels
After returning back to China, Xuanzang spent the next 19 years of his life translating Indian text into Chinese. Out of the 657 texts he brought back from India, he had translated 75 of them with the help of collaborators and scholars. -
Jan 1, 664
His death
Xuanzang died in 664, and was revered in China and eventually Japan for centuries after his death. His travels were the topics of different books and is credited with bringing access to the important Buddhist texts. -
Begins travels to India
Xuanzang has a dream, and this convinces him to go to India. Foreign travels were forbidden in this time, so Xuanzang needed to sneak out of China and pursuade some guards to let him through the border and into the Gobi desert. He also wanted to find the complete text of the Yogacara, as the whole text was not fully translated into Chinese and the originial version could only be found in India.
