Yijing (monk)
I Ching, historical Europeanisation I- Tsing, (Chinese义 净/义 净, Pinyin Yi,, IPA: [ ˧ ˩ ji ˩ ˧ tɕiŋ ] name with title Chinese三藏 法师 义 净/三藏 法师 义 净, Pinyin sān Zang fǎ shī the Yi; * 635, † 713) was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Tang Dynasty. His real name was Zhang Wenming (Chinese张文明/张文明).
He traveled in 25 years more than 30 countries, collected over 500,000 Buddhist verses in Sanskrit and translated 61 manuscripts in the Chinese language. His travelogues owes posterity information about ancient Srivijaya kingdom.
Among his most famous writings include the Nanhai Jigui neifa chuan (Chinese南海 寄 归 内 法 传, Pinyin Nánhǎi Jigui nèifǎ Zhuan, W.-G. Nan -hai chi -kuei nei -fa ch'uan ) and Datang Xiyu chuan Qiufa gaoseng (Chinese大唐 西域 求 法 高僧传, Pinyin Datang Xiyu Zhuan qiúfǎ gāosēng, W.-G. Ta -t'ang hsi -yii ch'iu fa kao -seng chuan ).
His trip to India
Zhāng Wenming was at the age of 14 years a monk and was an admirer of Faxian and Xuanzang, both of which toured India. He decided to visit Nalanda to study Buddhism in its country of origin, and it was financed by a man named Fong. Before his departure, he visited the grave of his teacher and said goodbye to his family.
In the year 671 the Yi ascended in Guangzhou a Persian merchant ship, which after 20 days trip over the Annam coast of Sumatra, then part of the Srivijaya Empire reached. In the bhoga, he spent two months, learned Malay and studied the grammar of Sanskrit. His journey led him further into the lands he named in his notes as Malayu and Kiteh ( Kedah ). He then sailed on to the "land of naked people ", the Nicobar Islands, which he reached after about ten days in the year 673. After two weeks he came to Tamralipti on the east coast of India, where he met a monk from his home. After several months of study in one of the monasteries, they joined a group of traders and moved on to Magadha. On the trip he became ill and was left behind. Bandits had stolen the clothes of the monk, after they found nothing of value in it. After a few days he finally reached his goal and remained over 10 years in Nalanda.
On the way back to China, he again stopped in the year 687 in the Srivijaya empire. At this time the capital of Palembang was a center of Buddhism, which brought together many foreign scholars. He stayed for two years and spent his time translating the collected Sanskrit verses. Because were unknown in Srivijaya paper and ink at this time, he went to Guangzhou 689, but returned in the same year. In the year 695 Yi Jing traveled back to his home and was received in Luoyang by the Empress Wu Zetian.