[Buddha-l] In the footsteps of Xuan Zhang

[Jim Peavler]

On May 2, 2006, at 1:04 AM, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> The last one, a guide he had picked up along the way, was planning to
> steal his horse and leave him to die in the wilderness. Xuanzang  
> did almost
> die in the desert, saved only because after he had already passed  
> out, his
> horse smelled water in the distance and brought him there.

The history of the western US is full of stories of pioneers, miners,  
and cowsboys being saved from death from dehydration by their horses.  
Apparently, donkeys are even better at finding water, and some  
donkeys in the southwestern deserts were kept around and used  
especially to find water and forage.

So far as I know none of the people saved in the US were Buddhist  
monks, however.