The Travels of I-Ching
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I Ching or Yi Jing (Yijing, Yiqing, I-Tsing or YiChing) (635-713) was a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk, originally named Zhang Wen Ming.

I-Ching also known as Yi Jing was a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk, originally named Zhang Wen Ming became a monk at age 14. Traveling by a Persian boat out of Guangzhou, he arrived at Srivijaya (today's Palembang of Sumatra) after 22 days, where he spent the next 6 months learning Sanskrit grammar and Malay language. Yi Jing praises the high level of Buddhist scholarship in Srivijaya and advised Chinese monks to study there prior to making the journey to Nalanda India. In the year 687, Yi Jing stopped in the kingdom of Srivijaya on his way back to Tang (China). At that time Palembang was a centre of Buddhism where foreign scholars gathered, and Yi Jing stayed there for two years to translate original Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures to Chinese. In the year 689 he returned to Guangzhou to obtain ink and papers (note: Srivijaya then had no paper and ink) and returned again to Srivijaya the same year.

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Yi Jing Map

The written records of his travels contributed to the world knowledge of the ancient kingdom of Srivijaya, as well as providing information about the other kingdoms lying on the route between China and the Nalanda Buddhist university in India. He was also responsible for the translation of a large numbers of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese.

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