Faxian (flourished 399–414) was a Buddhist monk whose pilgrimage to India in 402 initiated Sino-Indian relations and whose writings give important information about early Buddhism. After his return to China he translated into Chinese the many Sanskrit Buddhist texts he had brought back.

Sehi, who later adopted the spiritual name Faxian (“Splendour of Dharma”), was born at Shanxi during the 4th century ce. Living at the time of the Eastern Jin dynasty, when Buddhism enjoyed an imperial favour seldom equaled in Chinese history, he was stirred by a profound faith to go to India, the “Holy Land” of Buddhism, in order to visit the sites of the Buddha’s life and to bring back Buddhist texts that were still unknown in China.

The historical importance of Faxian is twofold. On the one hand, a famous record of his journeys—Foguoji (“Record of Buddhist Kingdoms”)—contains valuable information not found elsewhere concerning the history of Indian Buddhism during the early centuries ce. Because of the fairly detailed descriptions by Faxian, it is possible to envision Buddhist India before the Muslim invasions. On the other hand, he strengthened Chinese Buddhism by helping provide a better knowledge of Buddhist sacred texts. After studying them for 10 years in India, he brought back to China a great number of copies of Buddhist texts and translated them from Sanskrit into Chinese. Among them, two of the most important were the Mahaparinirvana-sutra, a text glorifying the eternal, personal, and pure nature of nirvana—on which the nirvana school in China then based its doctrines—and the Vinaya (rules of discipline for the monks) of the Mahasanghika school, which thus became available for the regulation of the numerous monastic communities in China.

Faxian first crossed the trackless wastes of Central Asia. His trip across the desert he recalled in a terrifying way:

In the desert were numerous evil spirits and scorching winds, causing death to anyone who would meet them. Above there were no birds, while on the ground there were no animals. One looked as far as one could in all directions for a path to cross, but there was none to choose. Only the dried bones of the dead served as indications.

After arriving at Khotan, an oasis centre for caravans, he defied the terrors of snow during his crossing of the Pamirs; the mountain path was terribly narrow and steep:

The path was difficult and rocky and ran along a cliff extremely steep. The mountain itself was just one sheer wall of rock 8,000 feet high, and as one approached it, one became dizzy. If one wished to advance, there was no place for him to place his feet. Below was the Indus River. In former times people had chiseled a path out of the rocks and distributed on the face of the cliff over 700 ladders for the descent.

(Kenneth K.S. Ch’en, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey, Princeton University Press, 1964)

In northwestern India, which he entered in 402, Faxian visited the most important seats of Buddhist learning: Udyana, Gandhara, Peshawar, and Taxila. Above all, however, he was attracted by eastern India, where the Buddha had spent his life and had taught his doctrines. His pilgrimage was completed by visits to the most holy spots: Kapilavastu, where the Buddha was born; Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha acquired the supreme enlightenment; Banaras (Varanasi), where the Buddha preached his first sermon; and Kushinagara, where the Buddha entered into the perfect nirvana.

Then he stayed a long time at Pataliputra, conversing with Buddhist monks, studying Sanskrit texts with Buddhist scholars, and transcribing the Vinaya of the Mahasanghika school—a dissident group of the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) born from the Council of Vesali (c. 383 bce). He also acquired another version of the Vinaya worked out by the Sarvastivada school—an early Buddhist group that taught the equal reality of all mental states (past, present, and future)—and the famous Mahaparinirvana-sutra. When he had deepened his knowledge of Buddhism and was in possession of sacred texts that were not yet translated into Chinese, he decided to go back to China. Instead of once more taking the overland route, however, Faxian took the sea route, first sailing to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), at that time one of the most flourishing centres of Buddhist studies. There, by securing the Mahishasaka Vinaya—a recension of the Hinayana Vinaya—and a selection of the Sarvastivada canon, he added to the number of Buddhist texts that he had collected.

After a two-year stay in Ceylon, he set sail for China, but the perils of the sea were as great as the hardships and dangers of desert and mountain he had faced in coming to India. A violent storm drove his ship onto an island that was probably Java. He took another boat bound for Canton. Instead of landing at the south China port, Faxian’s ship was driven astray by another storm and was finally blown to a port on the Shandong Peninsula. In all, Faxian spent more than 200 days at sea. After returning to his homeland, Faxian resumed his scholarly tasks and translated into Chinese the Buddhist texts he had taken so much trouble to bring back.