132. Journey to Nalanda and the Library of Jewels

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In late autumn, 629 AD, Xuanzang set out for the great university of Nalanda from Chang’an. Across the desert, over the Pamirs, and through multiple robberies, it was an epic journey. As he neared the Buddhist heartlands, he saw Buddhism in decline with its monasteries increasingly dilapidated, and he feared disappointment. However, after 6 years on the road he arrived at Nalanda and was awestruck by its splendour. In particular, he was blown away by the library. Nine storeys high, split into the Sea of Jewels, the Ocean of Jewels, and the Jewel-Adorned. It was a haven of scholarship. Through years more of work, he would transcribe the ancient scripts to be taken back to China and lay the groundwork for a moment of great civilisational collaboration. Listen to William and Anita in the final instalment of this miniseries as they discuss Xuanzang and the mark he left on history. For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, reading lists, book discounts, a weekly newsletter, and a chat community. Sign up at https://empirepod.supportingcast.fm/ Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:18.6	This episode is brought to you by Lanova Yoga.
0:23.0	Inspiration is all around us,
0:25.0	and with the Lanova Yoga laptop, you'll be ready when it strikes.
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0:34.4	Powering your passion and supercharging your creativity.
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0:40.0	com slash yoga.
0:41.8	Engineer to do it all. That's a laptop evolved with Intel Evo Platform Lecter at Nalanda, we're given in a hundred different halls each day, wrote
1:05.8	Shunzang and the students studied diligently without wasting a single moment.
1:10.3	He described the lecture halls, stupas, five temples and 300 individual apartments which housed the 10,000 monks and international scholars who gathered there.
1:20.0	Between them they studied the texts of different schools of Buddhism as well as the Vedas
1:24.8	logic, Sanskrit, grammar, philosophy, medicine, metaphysics, divination, mathematics, astronomy,
1:31.8	literature and magic. The priests of Nelander, to the number of several
1:37.0	thousands, are men of the highest ability and talent, he wrote. Their distinction is very great at the present time. The day is not sufficient for asking and
1:46.4	answering profound questions. From morning until night they engage in discussions, the old and the young
1:52.4	mutually help each other.
1:54.0	Above all, Shantang described the glories of Nalanda's library,
	...

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