[Buddha-l] In the footsteps of Xuan Zhang

[Stephen Hodge]

Dear Kate,

> Fa Hsien was known by so many different names.
No, he wasn't known by so many different names -- just the one.  The 
plethora of names for him and also Xuanzang has arisen because of the 
different methods of romanization that were used over the past 150 years. 
Some dimwitted writers don't seem to realize this -- I have seen  two 
different versions of "Xuanzang" mentioned in one paragraph as though they 
were different people !   The "Yuan-chwang" one sometimes sees is still 
Xuanzang.

> Are you saying that Xuan Zhang and Hsuan-tsang are the same person
Yes, just different romanizations.  Note that it is Xuanzang -- no "h" whoch 
would completely change the pronunciation.

> Fa Hsien/Faxian is someone else entirely different?
Yes, he lived amost 200 years before Xuanzang !

> Sometime ago I read two different references to 'Buddhist Records of 
> Western Countries,'
> one saying that Fa Hsien was the author, the other citing Hsuan-tsang
The problem is that there are actually two different works with very similar 
titles.  One was by Faxian, but Xuanzang also wrote a travelogue which is 
much longer and more detailed than that by Faxian,
I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge