Hyecho's Journey

The World of Buddhism

Donald S. Lopez Jr.

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780226517902
• eBook ISBN: 9780226518060
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Art

In the year 721, a young Buddhist monk named Hyecho set out from the kingdom of Silla, on the Korean peninsula, on what would become one of the most extraordinary journeys in history. Sailing first to China, Hyecho continued to what is today Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, before taking the Silk Road and heading back east, where he ended his days on the sacred mountain of Wutaishan in China.
            With Hyecho's Journey, eminent scholar of Buddhism Donald S. Lopez Jr. re-creates Hyecho's trek. Using the surviving fragments of Hyecho's travel memoir, along with numerous other textual and visual sources, Lopez imagines the thriving Buddhist world the monk explored. Along the way, Lopez introduces key elements of Buddhism, including its basic doctrines, monastic institutions, works of art, and the many stories that have inspired Buddhist pilgrimage. Through the eyes of one remarkable Korean monk, we discover a vibrant tradition flourishing across a vast stretch of Asia. Hyecho's Journey is simultaneously a rediscovery of a forgotten pilgrim, an accessible primer on Buddhist history and doctrine, and a gripping, beautifully illustrated account of travel in a world long lost.
 

• Index •

Abābīd, 195

Abbasid period, 200

Abhidharmakośa (Vasubandhu), 26, 92, 108, 152

Aesop’s Fables, 181

Afghanistan, xviii, 4, 6, 25, 28–30, 32, 42, 122–25, 136, 138, 184, 197–98, 221

Ajātaśatru, 21, 156

Ajita Keśakambala, 147

Akṣobhya, 39, 80

al-Budd, 194

Alexander the Great, 29, 123, 136

Amitābha, 39, 66, 80, 194, 207–8

Amoghapāśa, 39

Amoghasiddhi, 39

Amoghavajra, 11–14, 34–38, 41–42, 211–12, 215, 228n18

Anahita, 199

Ānanda, 3, 19, 87–91, 111, 148, 156–57

Anāthapiṇḍada, 17, 123, 147, 156–57

Andaman Islands, 80

An Sheng, 212–13

Antiochus II, 136

Arabia, xv, 6, 31–32, 42, 147, 193, 196–98

Armenia, 196

Asaṅga, 29–30

Aśoka, 4, 21, 29, 64, 89, 95, 126, 133, 136–38, 164, 184, 210

Atiśa, 78

Avalokiteśvara, 28, 35, 39, 63, 65–66, 74–78, 186, 207, 212, 215

Avataṃsaka Sūtra, 207, 210–11

Avīci, 39, 103

Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun), 40

Bactria, 30, 123

Baekje, 61, 140

Baghdad, 200

Bālaputra, King, 78

Bali, 77

Bāmiyān, 30, 198

Bareau, André, 137

Barlaam and Josaphat, 195–96

Battle of Peshawar, 29, 198

Bengal, 6, 16

Bezeklik Thousand Buddha caves, 155

Bhadraśilā, 177–79. See also Takṣaśilā

Bhaiṣajyaguru, 80

Bhallika, 210

Bharhut, 95–96, 152–53, 157, 183

Bhāviveka, 152

Bhṛkutī, 28

Bilawhar, 194–96

Bimar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• About This Book
• About the Maps
• Introduction: Tracing Hyecho’s Route
• ONE  Dunhuang: The Discovery of the Pilgrim’s Account
• TWO  Silla: The Birthplace of the Pilgrim
• THREE  At Sea: The Pilgrim Sails for the Holy Land
• FOUR  Kuśinagara: The Buddha Enters Nirvāṇa
• FIVE  Vulture Peak: Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side
• SIX  Bodh Gayā: The Buddha Attains Enlightenment
• SEVEN  Lumbinī: The Buddha Is Born
• EIGHT  Śrāvastī: City of the Buddha’s Miracles
• NINE  Sāṃkāśya: The Buddha Descends from Heaven
• TEN  Gandhāra: Past Lives of the Buddha
• ELEVEN  Arabia: Buddhism Encounters Islam
• TWELVE  Wutaishan: The Pilgrim Passes Away
• Coda
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliographic Note
• Index