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Who was Fa Hien?
Fa Hien also written as Faxian lived around the fourth and fifth centuries CE in China. He was a devout Buddhist monk who felt that the Buddhist monastic rules in China were incomplete and sometimes confused.
Because of this problem he decided to travel to the land of the Buddha. He left China around 399 CE with a few other monks and traveled on foot through Central Asia to reach India.
His main aim was to collect original Buddhist scriptures especially the Vinaya texts on monastic discipline.
He wanted accurate texts so the Buddhist community in China could follow proper rules and understand the teachings better.
Fa Hien spent many years in different parts of India including Pataliputra Mathura and other major Buddhist centers.
He then went to Sri Lanka where he found more texts before returning to China by sea.
What he recorded in his travel notes?
Fa Hien wrote a book after he returned usually known as Fo Kuo Ki or A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. In this work he described the countries he visited the condition of Buddhism there and details of daily life.
He recorded how monasteries worked how monks lived and how Buddhist rituals were practiced in India and Sri Lanka. He also noted things like charity houses hospitals criminal law travel safety and the general peace and prosperity under the Gupta rulers.
His book mentions many holy places such as Lumbini Bodh Gaya Sravasti and other important pilgrimage sites. Because local written records from that time are limited his clear observations are a major source for the history of early fifth century India.
When he visited Nalanda?
Most sources agree that Fa Hien visited India between 399 and 414 CE during the reign of Chandragupta Second. However they do not clearly state a specific year of his visit to Nalanda.
Many historians also point out that Nalanda became a major fully developed university a little later in the fifth century. So it is likely that if Fa Hien passed through the Nalanda region he saw an early Buddhist center there not yet the famous large university known from later times.
Because his surviving book does not give an exact date for Nalanda itself no precise year can be given for that visit. What can be said with confidence is that any visit to Nalanda by Fa Hien would have happened sometime within his overall journey between 399 and 414 CE.
Disclaimer:
The information provided is based on historical accounts of Fa Hien’s travels and his writings, particularly A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Dates and specific details are drawn from available historical sources and may be subject to interpretation.
