Xuanzang
Also called: Hsüan-tsang, Tripitaka
Tang monk who travelled to India in 629–645, brought back and translated the scriptures he studied at Nalanda, and wrote the travel account Great Tang Records on the Western Regions
Born into the Chen family near Luoyang, he became a monk at thirteen. In 629, defying a ban on leaving the country, he set out alone for the west and spent five years studying Yogacara under Silabhadra at Nalanda. After winning fame in debates in India, he returned to Chang’an in 645. Declining Taizong’s offer of office, he devoted himself to translation at the Hongfu and Ci’en temples and the Yuhua Palace. His Yogacara teaching, organised by his disciple Kuiji as the Faxiang school, reached Korea and Japan through monks such as Woncheuk of Silla and Dōshō of Japan.