634-712

Chinese Pilgrim

As a Buddhist monk who traveled to India from China, I-ching followed in the footsteps of earlier pilgrims Fa-hsien (c. 334-c. 422) and Hsüan-tsang (602-664). He did not, however, follow them in a literal sense: instead of crossing the mountains that divided China and India in the west, I-ching took an easterly route, via the waters between the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

After hearing of Hsüan-tsang's exploits, I-ching, along with 37 other monks, resolved to visit the homeland of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama; 563-483 B.C.) himself. The group traveled to Canton in order to board a ship for India, but at the last minute, the other monks got cold feet; therefore I-ching was alone when in 671 he boarded a Persian ship bound for what is now Indonesia.

Sailing past Poulo Condore off the southern coast of the Malay Peninsula in what is now Vietnam...