The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions (W.M. Keck Foundation Series) Hardcover – May 31, 2006

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Xuanzang traveled for 16 years in India, during which he visited 110 countries and heard accounts of 28 countries. This is an extensive report of these countries, compiled for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. The account includes information on the geography, crops, culture, relics, monasteries, and Buddhist holy sites of many kingdoms. Not only that, he retells several legends of the likes of kings, dragons, demons, and so on. I found it simply fantastic and a marvel, although some parts may be slow or a little confusing.The translation is superbly written. There is a small glossary and a full index in the back of the book. However, the book has so many Buddhist terms and figures that sometimes it was hard to understand. I wish that there had been footnotes with further explanation, and some maps and images to supplement the information.Note that this is a report on the conditions of many countries. It is primarily told from a neutral viewpoint. At first I thought that it would be more of a personal diary of his journey--it is not. Clearly, he suffered many hardships, as he briefly mentioned encountering dangerous wild animals and gangs of bandits. But he doesn't go into detail about it. I believe that his biography may have more details about his personal journey: "A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty (BDK English Tripitaka)".

Good!