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Yang Xuanzhi (Chinese:楊衒之) was a Chinese writer and translator of Mahayana Buddhist texts into the Chinese language, during the 6th century, under the Northern Wei Dynasty.
He wrote "Stories About Buddhist Temples in Luoyang" (Chinese: 洛陽伽藍記 Luo Yang Qie Lan Ji) in 547.
Yang Xuanzhi relates the first introduction of Buddhism to China around 70 CE:
- "The establishment of the Baima Temple (Temple of the White Horse) by Emperor Ming (58-75 CE) of the Han marked the introduction of Buddhism into China. The temple was located on the south side of the Imperial Drive, three leagues (li) outside the Xiyang Gate. The Emperor dreamt of the golden man sixteen Chinese feet tall, with the aureole of sun and moon radiating from his head and his neck. A "golden god", he was known as Buddha. The emperor dispatched envoys to the Western Regions ("遣使向西域求之") in search of the god, and, as a result, acquired Buddhist scriptures and images. At the time, because the scriptures were carried into China on the backs of white horses, White Horse was adopted as the name of the temple." (Translation: Ulrich Theobald).
His book also contains the first known account of the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, founder of Zen, whom he met in Luoyang aroud 520. He describes him as a man of Central Asian origin, who claims to be 150 years old and to have traveled extensively throughout Buddhist lands. He also wrote that Bodhidharma expressed praise for the beauty of the Buddhist temples in Luoyang, and that he chanted the name of the Buddha frequently.
External links
References
- "Zen-A way of life", by Christmas Humphreys ISBN 0071419810
- "A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-Yang" by Yang Xuanzhi（杨衒之)，translated by Yi-tÂ’ung Wang（王伊同，Princeton University Press，Princeton，New Jersey，1983
- "Memories of Lo-yang: Yang Hsuan-chih and the Lost Capital (493-534)" Jenner, William John Francis. New York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1981.
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