A Study Of Wukong Pilgrimaged To India

Among pilgrimages to India of ancient China, there was a very special person, who left for India and the western regions (including Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia) for forty years. His name is Che Fengchao, Buddhist name Wukong (Ou-Kong), original Buddhist name Fajie (sanskrit:Dharmadhatu). Previous researches on Wukong mainly focused on his life and whereabouts, lack trimming of the historical materials, and ignore the differences between diverse versions. Meanwhile, there are some misunderstandings need to clarify.When sorting the documentaries, the author of this paper found that the volume of Datang Zhenyuan Xinyi Shidi Deng Jingji (also named Foshuo Shili Jingxu or Ou-Kong’s Account, especially known as the latter) in Chinese Tripitaka was a copy of that in Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka. This volume is very different from other versions, and it has many mistakes and omissions. With the enlightenment of Dr. Katsutoshi Ono, the author of this paper finally unearthed another version that is the foreword of Foshuo Shidi Jing in Songzang Yizhen, and named it the Yizhen Version.Compared with the Konghai version (copied by hand), the Jinzang version (from Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka), and the Gaoli version (from Tripitaka Koreana), the author of this paper found the Yizhen version is probably one of the earliest and the most accurate complete version, which should be regarded as the first-hand material for Wukong study, as well as the best original record for phrasing, collating and being published alone of Datang Zhenyuan Xinyi Shidi Deng Jingji. At the same time, the author has made his trial to punctuate and collate it based on this version.On this basis, the author of this paper investigates the life and thoughts of Wukong by stages, and makes objective evaluation on Wukong’s contribution and status. During Wukong’s lifetime, he was affected by the ideas of Chinese Confucianism, Indian Buddhism, and Zen, that is why he had his own three corresponding identities. During the changes of identities, Wukong is loyal to the empires and filial to his parents, which pushed him overcame all difficulties, and returned home in the end.