When he left, Xuanzang was in his prime, and when he returned, Xuanzang was old and serious. When he stepped into the homeland of Chang'an City again, it was already 645 AD. It has been seventeen years since the day he left. Xuanzang, who returned to China, was received by Tang Taizong and was highly praised: "Master Zhenguan is elegant in words and noble in style, not only is he not inferior to the ancient monks, but he is still surpassed." ”
Tang Taizong "also inspected the send-of-life of the mage and the public auxiliary", so he asked Xuanzang to abandon the reins and return to the customs. But Xuanzang politely refused: "I have longed for Buddhism since I was a child, and I don't know anything about being an official." You let me become an official, but it's hard for me, not only can I not do well, but I am also prone to bad things. Therefore, I am willing to spend my life doing the right thing to repay the country. ”
However, Xuanzang, who is highly respected and well-informed, is exactly the strength that Tang Taizong needed to build the Tang Dynasty, so Tang Taizong still did not give up, and often "forced him to return to the world, causing him to be left and right, and conspiring with the government".
However, Xuanzang has his own pursuit in his heart, that is, to translate the Buddhist scriptures brought back from Tianzhu. In 648 AD, Xuanzang presented the translated "Treatise on the Land of Yogis" to Taizong, and asked Taizong of Tang to write a preface. After reading this hundred-volume Buddhist classic, Tang Taizong personally wrote the "Three Tibetan Holy Orders of the Tang Dynasty" with more than 700 words, and praised it: "Master Xuanzang is also the leader of the Dharma."The pearl of fairy dew can be moistened. ”
It can be said that Xuanzang, who returned to China, devoted all his efforts to translating Buddhist scriptures, and this translation took 19 years. In addition to translating the scriptures, Xuanzang also dictated and completed the famous book "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", which comprehensively recorded what he saw and heard when he traveled to a foreign country. This is the source of Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West".
In 664 AD, the sixty-three-year-old master Xuanzang was still working on the front line of translating Buddhist scriptures. However, due to years of hard work, after translating the Great Prajna Sutra, he felt exhausted, and even felt that he was about to die. Therefore, he said to his assistants and **: "I'm afraid I'll die here, but when I see the huge project of translating the scriptures, I am always worried that I will not be able to complete it and leave regrets, so please everyone must work hard to help each other, and do not give up your hard work." ”
In Master Xuanzang's life, this was the first time that he had made such a worried statement of unconfidence. Soon, he said to the ** people: "I am afraid that my death is near, and I no longer have the energy to translate the scriptures." From then on, he passed away in the middle of the night on February 5. The news of Xuanzang's death reached the imperial court, and the whole country mourned, and Tang Gaozong lamented: "I have lost a national treasure!""Even for the sake of Master Xuanzang, he stopped for a few days. After 17 years of truth-seeking and 19 years of translating scriptures and propagating the Dharma, Xuanzang finally sought the right result and went to the Maitreya Pure Land that he longed for all his life safely.
As soon as he entered Shamen, he sacrificed himself to seek the law, in order to find the truth and save all sentient beings, this is Xuanzang's life. His life has always been down-to-earth and upward. Mr. Liang Qichao once praised him as "the first person in the ages". Time flies, Buddhist scriptures are still being chanted, and Xuanzang has already incarnated as a relic to protect all people. Throughout Xuanzang's life, he has been unhurried for more than 60 years, and "Far Shao is like coming, and the near light is the best footnote he wrote for himself.