Hyecho's Journey: The World of Buddhism (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780226517902)

In the year 721, a young Buddhist monk named Hyecho set out from the kingdom of Silla, on the Korean peninsula, on what would become one of the most extraordinary journeys in history. Sailing first to China, Hyecho continued to what is today Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, before taking the Silk Road and heading back east, where he ended his days on the sacred mountain of Wutaishan in China.
With Hyecho's Journey, eminent scholar of Buddhism Donald S. Lopez Jr. re-creates Hyecho's trek. Using the surviving fragments of Hyecho's travel memoir, along with numerous other textual and visual sources, Lopez imagines the thriving Buddhist world the monk explored. Along the way, Lopez introduces key elements of Buddhism, including its basic doctrines, monastic institutions, works of art, and the many stories that have inspired Buddhist pilgrimage. Through the eyes of one remarkable Korean monk, we discover a vibrant tradition flourishing across a vast stretch of Asia. Hyecho's Journey is simultaneously a rediscovery of a forgotten pilgrim, an accessible primer on Buddhist history and doctrine, and a gripping, beautifully illustrated account of travel in a world long lost.


Author: Donald S. Lopez Jr
ISBN-10: 022651790X
ISBN-13: 9780226517902
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 12/21/2017
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.35lbs
Size: 10.30h x 7.40w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2018