Faxian

Faxian
Statue of Faxian, The Maritime Experiential Museum, Singapore
Personal life
Born	Gong (surname) 337 CE Pingyang Wuyang (平陽武陽), in modern Linfen City, Shanxi
Died	c. 422 CE (aged 85)
Notable work	Foguoji (A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms)
Other name	Gong Sehi
Religious life
Religion	Buddhism
Monastic name	Fǎxiǎn

Faxian
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	法顯
Simplified Chinese	法显
Literal meaning	Splendor of the Dharma
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fǎxiǎn Wade–Giles Fa-hsien IPA [fà.ɕjɛ̀n] Hakka Romanization Fap5-hien3 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Fat3-hin2 IPA [fɐt̚˧.hin˧˥] Southern Min Hokkien POJ Huat-hién Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Pjop-xén
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	Pháp Hiển
Korean name
Hangul	법현
Japanese name
Kanji	法顕
Kana	ほっけん
Transcriptions Romanization Hokken
Hindi name
Hindi	फा हियान

Faxian (337–c. 422 CE), formerly romanized as Fa-hien or Fa-hsien, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled on foot from the Later Qin state to classical India to acquire Buddhist scriptures. His birth surname was Gong. Starting his journey about age 60, he traveled west along the overland Silk Road, visiting Buddhist sites in Central, South, and Southeast Asia. The journey and return took from 399 to 412, with 10 years spent in India.

Faxian's account of his pilgrimage, the Foguoji or Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms, is a notable independent record of early Buddhism in India. He returned to China with a large number of Sanskrit texts, whose translations greatly influenced East Asian Buddhism and provide a terminus ante quem for many historical names, events, texts, and ideas therein.