Hsüan-tsang (shüän-dzäng), 605?–664, Chinese Buddhist scholar and translator. He early entered monastic life and later traveled in China, teaching and studying. Between 629 and 645 he made a pilgrimage to India in search of authentic scriptures. He studied at Taxila Taxila (tăk`sĭlŭ), archaeological site of three successive cities, near Rawalpindi, Pakistan. There between the 7th cent. B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. and Nalanda Nalanda (nəlän`də), Buddhist monastic center in what is now Baragaon, Bihar state, E central India.
..... Click the link for more information. , the most celebrated center of Buddhist learning in India, and also visited Kashmir and the major Buddhist holy places. Pious, learned, and fluent in Sanskrit, he was honored by the Indian rulers whom he met, including the Emperor Harsha. After returning to China he translated the texts he had brought back with him and wrote his memoirs. His disciple K'uei-chi is known as the founder of the Fa-hsiang school of Buddhism, the Chinese branch of Yogacara Yogacara (yō'gəkär`ə) [Skt.
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Bibliography

See his Si-yu-ki; Buddhist Records of the Western World (2 vol., tr. 1884, repr. 1969); A. Waley, The Real Tripitaka (1952); T. Loatters, On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India (1961); K. Ch'en, Buddhism in China (1964); R. Bernstein, Ultimate Journey (2001).

Xuanzang

or Hsüan-tsang

(born 600, Guoshi, China—died 664, Chang'an) Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim to India. He received a classical Confucian education before converting to Buddhism. Troubled by discrepancies in the sacred texts, he left for India in 629 to study the religion at its source. He traveled by foot across Central Asia and reached India in 633. After study at the famous Nalanda monastery, he returned home in 645 to a hero's welcome, bringing back hundreds of Buddhist texts, including some of the most important Mahayana scriptures, and spent the rest of his life translating. Influenced by the Yogacara school, he established the Weishi (“Ideation Only”) school of Buddhism, which won many followers in Japan as the Hosso school. The classic novel Xiyou ji was inspired by his life.