Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Fa Xian’s Spiritual Journey, 3 & 4

Posted on November 11, 2016March 9, 2022 by Dharma Documentaries
The third and fourth films tracing the life of the famous Chinese Buddhist scholar monk Fa Xian, and his journey to India in search of Vinaya texts.

Fa Xian's Spiritual Journey, 1 & 2

This is a reconstruction of the life of one of the great Chinese monk-scholars who travelled to India in the 5th century. It is in four parts and two segments, the first of which we showed last week.

In this week’s episodes Fa Xian travels through India in search of Buddhist scriptures, and particularly of authoritative Vinaya texts, he has many adventures along the way, and records the customs of the lands he travels through.

When he finally gets to the Buddha’s home town of Kapilavastu he is surprised to find that it is in a state of decay, that Buddhism has all but died out, and that no scriptures can be found there.

He continues his journey though and eventually comes to the capital of the Magadha kingdom, Pataliputra, which is the most magnificent city in India at the time. Here he does find the long desired texts, and starts collecting and copying them.

After several years he travels to Sri Lanka, and to the Mahayana Abhayagiri Monastery, which is thriving at the time, and there he finds many texts that were unavailable in India, which he also stops to collect.

The journey back to China is full of troubles, but eventually he arrives and makes his way to Jiankang, which he where he starts his translation work in his mid-70s. Later he moved to Jiangling, which is where he completed his work, and eventually passed away.

Despite the occasional inaccuracy, and the appalling pronunication of all the Indian names, the films are full of information, and throw a lot of light on the journey of this great Indian monk, who risked his life to improve the condition of Buddhism in his home country.

 

if this video is no longer available please leave a comment so I can update the page
(the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Culture, Central Asia, China, Mahayana, Missionaries, Monastics

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please Note: Comments are Moderated before Publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/3VR

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

or Bank Transfer to:
Mr. Ng Choon Aun, Public Bank Berhad (Malaysia), Acc. No. 6352323912, Swift: PBBEMYKL

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Popular Posts

  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
  • The Silk Road Series 7/16: Khotan-Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • The Tibetan Oracles
  • The Mountain Yogi, Lama Govinda
  • Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth
  • Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
  • Avalokiteshvara (Chinese Movie)

Recent Posts

  • Buddha’s Lost Children
  • Zen Buddhism – In Search of Self
  • Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • From Myanmar to the World 2, Caves to Pagodas
  • From Myanmar to the World 1, Overland to India
  • The Rise of Dhamma
  • Lempad of Bali
  • Bagan, City of Temples (Fall of Civilizations)
  • Escape from Tibet

Random Posts

  • Kashi Vishwanath Gange by Krishna Das
  • Until Space Remains, the Dalai Lama and India
  • The Teachings of Pra Acharn Tippakorn Sukhito
  • Mustang, a Kingdom on the Edge
  • Indiana Jones 15, The Guardians of Dunhuang
  • Lost Oasis on the Silk Road, Parts 1-3
  • Amazing Laos
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • Buddhist Laos (Folkways of Indochina)
  • The Rise of Dhamma

Related Posts

  • Fa Xian's Spiritual Journey, 1 & 2
  • Dunhuang, Edge of the World 5, Hong Bian
  • A Bright Moon, the Life of Hong-yi
  • Xuan Zang, Eminent Monk
  • Chinese Buddhism
  • The Great Pilgrim Xuanzang
  • Shaolin Zen Meditation, Martial Arts and Medicine
  • The Journey of Xuanzang 11 & 12
  • The Journey of Xuanzang 7 & 8
  • The Journey of Xuanzang 5 & 6
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme