Latest / The Srivijaya Empire: Southeast Asia's Forgotten Maritime Superpower — Fexingo History / Srivijaya's Chinese Buddhist Pilgrim Yijing: A Monk's Journey
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Srivijaya's trade networks, its relationship with the Cholas, its mandala structure — but I want to take us back to something that's a direct window into Srivijaya life. A person. A Chinese Buddhist monk named Yijing. Luna: Yijing — we mentioned him a bit in the episode on the Nalanda connection, right? Lucas: Exactly. But he deserves his own episode. Yijing is one of the three great Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to India — along with Faxian in the 5th century and Xuanzang in the 7th. But unlike Xuanzang, who went overland via the Silk Road, Yijing took the maritime route. And that choice makes his records uniquely valuable for understanding Srivijaya. Lucas: He left China in 671 CE, during the Tang dynasty. He sailed from Guangzhou — then called Canton — on a Persian merchant ship. And after about twenty days, he arrived in Palembang, the capital of Srivijaya. And he didn't just pass through — he stayed for six months to study Sanskrit grammar, preparing for his journey to India. Luna: So he basically treated Srivijaya like a study abroad program before heading to India. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the part that's often overlooked. Yijing wrote that Srivijaya had over a thousand monks living there, all following Buddhist rules faithfully. They studied the same texts as in India, and he felt it was a perfect place to start his education. He later called it a 'land of superior learning'. Luna: Over a thousand monks — that's a massive monastic community for a port city. Lucas: It really is. And it tells us how deeply Buddhist Srivijaya was. Remember, this was around the same time that Borobudur was being built in central Java — the Sailendra dynasty, which was closely tied to Srivijaya. So the whole region was a major center for Mahayana Buddhism. Yijing's records confirm that Palembang was not just a trading hub but also a religious and scholarly one. Lucas: From Palembang, he sailed to the Malay Peninsula, then across the Bay of Bengal to the port of Tamralipti in eastern India. From there he traveled to Nalanda, the great Buddhist university in the Pala Empire. He stayed at Nalanda for ten years, studying and translating texts. Luna: Ten years — that's a long time. Did he ever go back to Srivijaya? Lucas: He did. After his decade at Nalanda, he returned to Palembang and stayed for another four years, from 687 to 691. This time he was translating the Buddhist scriptures he'd collected — he had over 400,000 verses. He wrote to China asking for paper and brushes, and he translated a huge number of texts into Chinese. Lucas: While in Palembang, he also wrote two books that survive today. One is his autobiography, 'The Great Tang Biographies of Eminent Monks Who Sought the Dharma in the Western Lands'. The other is his record of Buddhist practices, 'The Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and the Malay Archipelago'. Together, they give us an eyewitness account of life in Srivijaya. Luna: So we actually have a firsthand description of Srivijaya from a monk who lived there. That's incredibly rare for this period. Lucas: It is. And it's specific. He describes the layout of the city, the way the monks dressed, the kinds of food they ate. He mentions that the Srivijayan king supported the monastery and provided for the monks. He also talks about the ships — the large ocean-going vessels that plied the Maritime Silk Road, carrying merchants, pilgrims, and diplomats. Lucas: One of the most fascinating details he records is about the Vinaya — the Buddhist monastic code. Yijing was himself a Vinaya master. He notes that the Vinaya practiced in Srivijaya was the same as in India, which shows how closely connected the Srivijayan sangha was with the Indian Buddhist tradition. He even sent copies of the Vinaya back to China from Srivijaya. Luna: So Srivijaya was not just a consumer of Buddhism but a center that actively transmitted it. Lucas: Absolutely. Yijing's work helped establish the Vinaya tradition in China. He eventually returned to China in 695, after 24 years abroad. He brought back over 500,000 Sanskrit verses and translated 56 texts into Chinese. His translations became standard in East Asian Buddhism. Luna: And his writings are still used by historians today? Lucas: They're one of our best sources for 7th-century maritime Southeast Asia. Without Yijing, we'd know much less about Srivijaya's role in the Buddhist world. He gives us names of Srivijayan kings — though he doesn't name them directly, he mentions the ruler who supported him. He also describes the port facilities, the customs regulations, and the multi-ethnic population of Palembang. Lucas: He even mentions that there were thousands of foreign merchants living in Palembang — Persians, Arabs, Indians, Chinese. And he notes that the local Malays were expert sailors and navigators. All of this fits with what we know from other sources like the Chinese dynastic histories and Arab geographers. Luna: It really brings the city to life. I can almost imagine the harbor filled with ships from all over. Lucas: Exactly. And one thing that strikes me is the personal dimension. Yijing was a frail man — he suffered from seasickness and ill health. But he was determined. He studied Sanskrit in Srivijaya because he knew he'd need it for his studies in India. He wrote that if he hadn't prepared in Srivijaya, he would have been lost at Nalanda. Lucas: He also had companions — other Chinese monks who traveled with him. Some died on the journey. One of them, a monk named Da Lin, turned back and never made it to India. Yijing's accounts are full of these human stories — the hardships, the friendships, the dedication to the Dharma. Luna: Was Yijing the only Chinese monk to visit Srivijaya, or were there others? Lucas: He wasn't the only one, but he's the best documented. There were others — for example, a monk named Huining who traveled to Srivijaya in the 7th century and translated a text there. But Yijing's writings are the most comprehensive. He gives us the names of at least 60 Chinese monks who traveled to India and Southeast Asia during the Tang period. So there was a whole network of Buddhist pilgrims using the maritime route. Lucas: And they were part of a larger movement. The Tang dynasty was a golden age of Buddhism in China, and emperors like Gaozong and Empress Wu supported the translation of Buddhist texts. Yijing's work was sponsored by the imperial court. So his journey wasn't just personal — it was part of a state-sponsored effort to bring Buddhist scriptures to China. Luna: That makes sense. The Tang court would have seen it as a way to legitimize their rule through Buddhism. Lucas: Exactly. And Srivijaya, as a powerful Buddhist kingdom controlling the Strait of Malacca, was a natural partner. The Srivijayan kings — who called themselves maharajas — were happy to support Chinese pilgrims because it strengthened their ties with China. There was a mutual benefit: Srivijaya got prestige and trade, China got access to Buddhist learning. Lucas: Yijing's legacy is that his translations shaped Chinese Buddhism, especially the Vinaya school. But his travel records also give us a rare glimpse into a lost world — the world of Srivijaya at its height. And it's thanks to his meticulous note-taking that we can still hear the voices of those monks and traders from over 1,300 years ago. Luna: It's amazing that one person's journey could tell us so much. Lucas: It really is. And it makes you wonder — what other stories are out there, waiting to be rediscovered? Yijing's texts were translated into English in the 19th century, but there's still much to explore. Maybe one day we'll find more inscriptions or manuscripts that fill in the gaps. Luna: Something to look forward to. Thanks, Lucas.