This book is a tribute to another famous Chinese pilgrim, Shih Fa- hsien, who had travelled to India and Ceylon in the early 5th Century and who had left a Record of his pilgrimage. Fa-hsien's achievement gave inspiration, two centuries later to Hsuan Tsang to undertake the same mission in quest for Dharma and Truth.

Both Fa-hsien and Hsuan Tsang shared in common a deep yearning for the Dharma, an indomitable fearlessness in face of dangers and a faithful dedication to the service of the Buddhaśāsana. It is this quest for Truth, this devotion to the Dharma that urged them on their wonder- ful pilgrimage, sustained them through untold sufferings and hardships and brought them to a sucessful end of their mission.

But Fa-hsien is a pilgrim with a difference. If Hsuan Tsang can claim to be at the same time a pilgrim, a learner, a preacher, a debater, a translator, a writer and a mystic, the only epithet which describes Fa- hsien's aspiration and character best, contains in this simple expression: "Fa-hsien, The Unassuming Pilgrim". Hsuan Tsang set out on his pilgrimage for the purpose of learning the Yogacarabhūmi Sastra and in search of Teachings which he had not yet heard of; Fa-hsien wanted only to observe how the monastic discipline was practised in the Middle Kingdom so as to improve the religious condition at home which seemed to be in a very bad shape. If Hsuan Tsang's wide field of interest covers both the Suttapiţaka and mostly the Abhidharmapitaka, Fa-hsien's atttention veered round the Vinayapiţaka and what was closely connected with the life of a monk. Hsuan Tsang was a Mahayanist to the core of his heart and all his activities in India as well as in China served solely to promote and advocate the doctrine of the Bodhisattva ideal.