[Buddha-l] In the footsteps of Xuan Zhang

[jkirk]

> Joanna wrote:
>
>>  Sort of like launching an Olympics team.........this ain't the way 
>> XuangZhan did it.

> For extra authenticity, it should be remembered that the mortality rate 
> for Chinese monks visiting India were very high -- in the region of 90%, 
> if the accounts by Yijing and others are reliable !   Tibetans visiting 
> India at that time also suffered a very high mortality rate.  I read that 
> they sent people in batches in the hope that at least one or two would 
> survive.  Must be something about India.  In contrast, Indian monks who 
> ended up in China often lived to great ages -- octogenarians, 
> nonogenarians were not uncommon. One or two even made it past 100.
>
> Best wishes,
> Stephen Hodge
================
This is really intriguing...........I wonder what it was about India that 
caused so much mortality. The climate? Did any of your reports speculate as 
to the reasons?
Any evidence that when XuangZhang started out he was doing it with a batch 
of people as well?
As for Tibetans, Marpa wasone who made it back--but he was one tough guy.
Joanna