Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World (in 2 Vols)

The two-volume work presents Xuanzang’s journey as both a Buddhist pilgrimage and a systematic historical-geographical survey of the regions known to Chinese Buddhist literature as the “Western World.” Volume I begins with Beal’s introductory account of Xuanzang’s life, intellectual mission, return to China, and importance as a Buddhist translator and witness to Indian Buddhism. The main narrative first follows the pilgrim through Central Asian territories, recording routes, distances, political conditions, cultural features, monasteries, relics, stupas, Buddhist schools, and local traditions. It then moves into the north-western gateways of India, especially regions such as Kapisa, Lamghan, Nagarahara, and Gandhara, where Buddhist sacred geography intersects with the artistic and institutional legacy of the north-west. Volume I also contains a major general description of India, treating its names, extent, measurements, calendar, cities, buildings, dress, manners, language, literature, religious communities, social divisions, administration, justice, medicine, funerary customs, agricultural life, and commercial practice. Volume II continues the itinerary through the central sacred landscape of Buddhism: Śrāvastī and Jetavana, Kapilavastu and the Buddha’s early life, Rāmagrāma and relic traditions, Kuśinagara and the parinirvāṇa, Vārāṇasī and the first teaching, Vaiśālī and early Buddhist memory, Nepal, and especially Magadha, with Bodhgayā, Rājagṛha, and Nālandā as major centres of Buddhist devotion, learning, and monastic life. The later books extend across eastern, coastal, southern, and western India, preserving information on regional kingdoms, monasteries, temples, relics, schools, sacred legends, and local customs. As a complete set, the work is best understood as a Buddhist itinerary, a sacred geography, and a historical gazetteer that records the religious and cultural landscape of Asia at a decisive moment in Buddhist history.