In 399 AD, at about the age of sixty, the Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian left Chang'an with a few companions to travel to India to find authentic texts on monastic discipline. He crossed the Taklamakan desert and the Karakoram, visited holy sites in the Gupta kingdom, lived for years in Pataliputra and Sri Lanka, and returned by sea in 412, surviving a storm and shipwreck. His Record of Buddhist Kingdoms is the earliest eyewitness account of India and Central Asia by a Chinese traveller, describing the cities, customs and Buddhism of the time. It inspired later pilgrims such as Xuanzang.
Before and after
- 386 CEConstruction of Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls
- from 386 CE to 535 CENorthern Wei
- from 5 September 394 CE to 6 September 394 CEBattle of the Frigidus
- 17 January 395 CEThe Roman Empire is permanently divided
- 399 CEThe monk Faxian sets out for India
- 5th centuryOrigins of Monastery of Stoudios
- 5th centuryConstruction of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
- 5th centuryConstruction of San Pietro in Vincoli
- July 403 CESynod of the Oak
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century.