Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms: The Travels of Fa-Hsien

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FROM this little book of travel the unbiased reader may perhaps obtain a furtive glimpse of the grandeur of the Buddhist religion in the early years of the 5th century A.D.

What indeed must have been the cogent influence of that Faith which could impel several of its ministers to undertake, and one to carry through for the Faith's sake, a supremely dangerous expedition, in the glow of which the journeys of St. Paul melt into insignificance? For Fahsien, the hero of this adventure and the recorder of his own travels, practically walked from Central China across the desert of Gobi, over the Hindu Kush, and through India down to the mouth of the Hoogly, where he took ship and returned by sea, after manifold hairbreadth escapes, to China, bringing with him what he went forth to secure-books of the Buddhist Canon and images of Buddhist deities.

The story of Shakyamuni Buddha's entry into religious life has often been told; by none better than by Professor Rhys Davids, on whose Buddhism the following paragraph is based. Buddha was the son of a king. In his 29th year an angel appeared to him in four visions under the form of a man broken down by age, of a sick man, of a decaying corpse, and of a dignified hermit.

Shocked by these sights, he realized the impermanency of all things; and one night, after gazing in an eternal farewell upon his wife who was sleeping with one hand on the head of their child, he tore himself away, mounted his horse, and accompanied only by his charioteer, went out into the world, a poor and homeless wanderer, to achieve the salvation of mankind.

Enough will be gained from Fahsien's work to enable the general reader to complete the picture of Buddha's future career on earth.