Huisheng (monk)

Huisheng or Hui Sheng (fl. 510s & 520s), also known as Hoei Sing, Hwei Sang, and by other romanizations, was a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled to medieval India with Songyun and others.

Huisheng
Chinese	惠生
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huìshēng Wade–Giles Hui-sheng
Huisheng
Chinese	慧生
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huìshēng Wade–Giles Hui-sheng
Daosheng
Chinese	道生
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dàoshēng Wade–Giles Tao-sheng

Huisheng and his companions were dispatched from the Tuoba Northern Wei to seek Buddhist scriptures in AD 518. They only reached as far as Gandhara but, receiving 170 sutras, they returned in 521.

Works

Huisheng and Songyun both composed accounts of their travels. Huisheng's is variously known as The Travels of Huisheng (t 《惠生/慧生行傳》, s 《惠生/慧生行传》, Huìshēng Xíngzhuàn), The Record of Huisheng, Envoy to the Western Regions (t 《惠生/慧生使西域傳》, s 《惠生/慧生使西域传》, Huìshēng Shǐ Xīyù Zhuàn), and the Account of the Northern Wei Monk Huisheng, Envoy to the Western Regions (t 《北魏僧惠生/慧生使西域記》, s 《北魏僧惠生/慧生使西域记》, Běiwèi Sēng Huìshēng Shǐ Xīyù Jì). It and Songyun's record are now lost in the original, but were largely preserved through quotes and commentary in books by other authors. Samuel Beal's account was based on the version in the 5th book of Yang Xuanzhi's 6th-century History of the Temples of Luoyang.

Editions

• Neumann, Karl Friedrich, ed. (1833), "Pilgerfahrten Buddhistischer Priester von China nach Indien: Song Yun Tse und Hoei Seng" [Pilgrimages of Buddhist Priests from China to India: Songyun and Huisheng] (PDF), Zeitschrift für die Historische Theologie [Journal of Historical Theology], Vol. III (in German), pp. 152–177.
• Beal, Samuel, ed. (1869), "The Mission of Hwui Seng and Sung Yun to Obtain Buddhist Books in the West (518 A.D.)", Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims, from China to India (400 A.D. and 518 A.D.), London: Trübner & Co., pp. 174–208.
• Beal, Samuel, ed. (1884), "The Mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei Săng to Obtain Buddhist Books in the West (518 A.D.)", Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World by Hiuen Tsiang, Trübner's Oriental Series, vol. I, London: Trübner & Co., pp. lxxxiv–cviii.

References

Bibliography

• Julien, Stanislas Aignan (October 1847), "Renseignements Bibliographiques sur les Relations de Voyages dans l'Inde et les Descriptions du Si-yu, Qui Ont Été Composées en Chinois entre le Vᵉ et le XVIIIᵉ Siècle de Notre Ère", Pt. II: "Seng-hoeï-sing-sse-si-yu-ki 僧惠生使西域記 Mémoire du Samanéen Hoeï-seng Envoyé dans le Si-yu" [Bibliographic Information on the Accounts of Voyages to India and the Descriptions of the Xiyu Which Were Composed in Chinese between the 5th and 18th Centuries of Our Era", Pt. II: "Seng Huisheng Shi Xiyuji 僧惠生使西域記 Recollections of the Samanean Huisheng Sent to the Xiyu], Journal Asiatique... [Asiatic Journal...], 4th Series, Vol. IX (in French), Paris: Royal Printing House, pp. 273–274.
• Yang Han-sung; et al., eds. (1984), "Sung Yün and Hui Sheng", Hye Ch'o Diary: A Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India, Fremont: Jain Publishing Co., p. 9, ISBN 978-0-89581-024-3.
• Yule, Henry (1866), Cathay and the Way Thither, Being a Series of Medieval Notices of China, vol. I, London: Hakluyt Society.