Songyun (Dunhuang)
Songyun ( Chinese 宋雲 / 宋云 , Pinyin Sòngyún ) was a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim from Dunhuang ( Gansu ) from the late period of foreign rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty , who traveled to Central Asia and India together with the monk Huisheng ( 惠 生 , Huìshēng ) .
Life
He traveled from 518 to 522, following the southern route of the Silk Road to Khotan from Dunhuang . He returned to his homeland with 170 Buddhist writings . His travel report Weiguo yi xi shiyi guo shi ( 魏國 以西 十一 國事 / 魏国 以西 十一 国事 ) is lost today. In the fifth chapter of the work Luoyang qielan ji ( 洛陽 伽藍 記 / 洛阳 伽蓝 记 - "Report on the Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang") by Yang Xuanzhi ( 楊 衒 之 / 杨 炫 之 ) from the 6th century, a work called Songyun jia ji ( 宋云 家记 ) quoted, some consider this to be the lost book.
Songyun toured Udyana ( 乌 场 , Wuchang ) and Gandhara . He provided a valuable account of the "white Huns" or Hephthalites (see Iranian Huns ) who ruled Bactria at that time ; however, the group that Gandhara had conquered was rather the Alchon (see also Mihirakula ).
literature
- Samuel Beal: Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun . Asian Educational Service, New Delhi 1993, ISBN 81-206-0824-0
- Samuel Beal: Si-Yu-Ki or the Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang AD 629 . 2 volumes, India Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi 2004
- Edouard Chavannes: Voyage de Song-yun dans l'Udyana et le Gandhara . In: Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient . Volume 3, 1903, pp. 1-63.
- Yang Xuanzhi (Author), Yi-t'ung Wang (Translator): A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-Yang . Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1983
- William John Francis Jenner : Memories of Lo-yang: Yang Hsuan-chih and the Lost Capital (493-534) . Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, New York 1981.
- Fan Xiangyong (范 祥 雍): Luoyang qielan ji jiaozhu (洛阳 伽蓝 记 校 注). Zhonghua shuju, Beijing 1978
- Zhou Zumo (周祖 谟): Luoyang qielan ji jiaoshi (洛阳 伽蓝 记 校 释). Zhonghua shuju, Beijing 1963
See also
Web links
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Songyun |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 宋云 (simplified Chinese); 宋雲 (traditional Chinese); Sòngyún (pinyin); Sung-yün (Wade-Giles) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who toured Central Asia and India |
DATE OF BIRTH | 5th century or 6th century |
DATE OF DEATH | after 522 |