Faxian: The Monk Who Walked from China to India

In The Deep Dive, we follow Faxian, a Chinese Buddhist monk who, around age 60, set out on foot from Chang’an to India and back in the late 4th–early 5th century. His decade in India, his quest for a complete Vinaya, and the Sanskrit texts he gathered push the boundaries of our understanding of early Buddhism. We’ll explore his observations of Hinayana and Mahayana, his encounters with Buddhist centers from Kapilavastu to Bodh Gaya, and the lasting impact of his record, the Foguji, on Buddhist practice in East Asia—and what terminus ante quem means for dating these texts.

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