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November 19, 2024
Join the Asian Studies Center and the Department of History at Michigan State University for the Global Speaker Program An Epic Pilgrimage and a Pilgrimage Epic: The Eternal Travels of a Chinese Buddhist Monk, a talk by Dr. Benjamin Brose, Professor of Buddhist & Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan on November 19th at 4:30 p.m. in room 303 of the International Center.
About the talk: In the seventh century, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang (600/602–664) set off on a seventeen year pilgrimage through Central Asia to India. During that time, he met with regional kings, trained under eminent Buddhist masters, and gathered hundreds of scrolls of Sanskrit texts. When he finally returned home to China, Xuanzang was revered as one of the most accomplished clerics of his generation. Stories of his extraordinary travels continued to circulate throughout East Asia after his death. These accounts, which took on mythic proportions in later retellings, eventually infused the popular cultures and ritual forms of China. They form the basis of the famous novel Journey to the West (Xiyou ji) and many other narrative traditions. This talk will consider Xuanzang’s eventful life and his even more consequential afterlives.
This event is hosted by Dr. Ethan Segal, Associate Professor of History.
