This man legendarily lived in a cave in western Sri Lanka now named for him and returned to his homeland via being shipwrecked on Mount Lao in Shandong. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this Chinese monk who recorded his journey to Gupta India to collect religious texts in Records of the Buddhist Kingdoms. This man’s journey preceded a similar one by Xuanzang (“shwen-zahng”) by two centuries.
ANSWER: Faxian (“fa-sh’yen”) [or Gong Sehi; accept Fa-hien; accept Fa-hsien]
[10h] One of the earliest Buddhist missionaries to China, An Shigao, was supposedly a prince of this empire, which was known as “Anxi” (“an-shee”) in China. The diplomat Gan Ying visited this empire on a fact-finding mission.
ANSWER: Parthia [or Parthian Empire; accept Arsacid; reject “Persian Empire”]
[10e] After returning to China, Xuanzang taught students including the monk Dōshō, who introduced a variety of Indian Yogācāra (“yoga-CHAR-uh”) to this country. This country’s Zen tradition emphasizes meditation and the study of koans.
ANSWER: Japan [or Nihon]
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