Đường Huyền Trang và hòa thượng Tam Xa tinh thông ngoại ngữ 💕🙏🙏🙏

Описание: Master Xuanzang and the “Three-Cart Monk” Tam Xa — Masters of Foreign Languages

Among the many talented linguists in ancient translation circles, Buddhist monks accounted for a remarkably large proportion.

The eminent monk Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty traveled west to Tianzhu (India) for a total of seventeen years. Upon returning to the Great Tang, he had become proficient in the languages of five Indian kingdoms. His foreign-language ability had reached such a level that reading Sanskrit was no different from reading Chinese, with no obstacles or errors whatsoever.

Xuanzang brought back more than 600 Buddhist scriptures. In order to translate them as quickly as possible, Emperor Taizong of Tang specially selected talented individuals who were proficient in foreign languages and well-versed in Buddhist teachings—regardless of whether they were monks or laypeople, officials or commoners—to fully support Xuanzang in his translation work.

Image of Xuanzang requesting scriptures, from Dunhuang murals. (Public domain)

Kuiji, originally a young man of noble lineage, was nurtured and trained under Xuanzang and eventually became a leading expert at the translation institute. How did a young aristocrat enter the Buddhist monastic path? There is an anecdote preserved about this.

The Tang-dynasty eminent monk Kuiji was the nephew of the famous Tang general Yuchi Gong. Kuiji’s mother, Lady Pei, once dreamed during pregnancy that she held a bright, full moon in her hands. Curious, she raised it up to look at it, and unexpectedly swallowed the glowing moon into her belly. When the time came, she gave birth to a baby boy. The Left Jinwu General Yuchi Tong named him Yuchi Kuiji, with the courtesy name Hongdao (Biographies of Eminent Monks of the Song Dynasty, vol. 4).

Born into an aristocratic family, Kuiji grew up amid wealth and privilege, dressed in fine silks and brocades. One day, he went outside Chang’an with other noble youths. Suddenly, Kuiji’s horse bolted toward a monk. Frightened, Kuiji pulled tightly on the reins; the horse reared and neighed loudly, throwing Kuiji from its back right in front of the monk. That monk was Dharma Master Xuanzang.

The moment Xuanzang saw the young man, he felt a sudden stir in his heart, as if he had met him before.

Although Kuiji was of noble birth, he had followed his parents in paying homage to the Buddha since childhood and deeply respected monks. He clasped his hands and bowed to Xuanzang. Xuanzang asked, “Whose son are you?” Kuiji replied that he was the son of Left Jinwu General Yuchi Tong. Xuanzang felt a strong sense of familiarity but could not recall where he had met the boy. He waved his hand and let him leave.

After returning to the monastery and entering meditation, Xuanzang suddenly understood who the young man was.

During Xuanzang’s journey to Tianzhu, when he reached northern India and was about to cross snow-covered mountains, he encountered an elderly monk deep in meditation in a desolate, icy wilderness. The monk had been in samādhi for so long that his body was covered with thick dust. Xuanzang cleaned the dust from the old monk’s body and rang a bell once.

The clear sound awakened the old monk, who asked Xuanzang why he had disturbed his cultivation. Xuanzang explained that he was a monk from the Great Tang of the East, traveling to Tianzhu to seek the scriptures of Śākyamuni Buddha. Upon hearing this, the old monk’s eyes lit up in astonishment and he exclaimed, “Has Śākyamuni Buddha already appeared in the world?”

Xuanzang was shocked and replied, “Śākyamuni Buddha passed into nirvāṇa more than a thousand years ago.” The old monk said regretfully that he had been a bhikṣu during the time of Buddha Kāśyapa and had entered deep meditation to await the coming of Śākyamuni Buddha, but had unknowingly missed him by over a thousand years. He therefore intended to enter meditation once more to await the Dharma of Maitreya Buddha.

Fearing that the monk would miss the opportunity again, Xuanzang advised him instead to be reborn in the Great Tang. When Xuanzang returned with the scriptures, he would transmit the Dharma to him, thus not wasting his thousand years of waiting. Xuanzang instructed him to be reborn in a golden palace roofed with glazed tiles, meaning the Tang imperial palace, so that he could form an affinity with Emperor Taizong. The old monk agreed.

During the Tang Dynasty, many civil and military officials were enfeoffed as nobles, and some aristocratic mansions were also roofed with glazed tiles. The old monk did not notice these details. Seeing a golden, glazed-roof residence, he was reborn there—into the household of General Yuchi.

Thus came the encounter outside Chang’an. Kuiji’s horse, possessing spiritual sensitivity, carried him straight toward Xuanzang. This was likely karmic affinity.