FACE TO FACE
On the Silk Road
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Sun Shuyun set out from Xian in China to Kanchipuram in India, following the route taken by Xuanzang. NIMI KURIAN maps her journey of self discovery.
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An atheist seeking her religious roots: Sun Shuyun.
WHAT would induce a petite young woman to undertake a hazardous journey covering thousands of miles through often-dangerous terrain? Surely, it must be a quest of great personal importance. So it was, says Sun Shuyun, documentary filmmaker, that she came to be on that journey that had occupied her thoughts for almost five years. Sun Shuyun decided to follow the great master Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang or Hsuan Tsang as he is known in India) all the way from Xian in China to Kanchipuram in South India. The Silk Road today, says Sun, is very different from the time Xuanzang travelled on it. At that time, trade flourished and the Silk Road was possible because of the string of oases that supplied the caravans passing through. But today the Silk Road no longer exists and most Chinese have forgotten it. Xuanzang's travels to India and back took him 18 years; Sun took one year to follow in his footsteps.
Growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution, she too believed that there was only one truth and that Mao, the saviour of China would lead the country into the future.
Childhood influences
The two most prominent figures of her childhood were her father and her grandmother. Her father was a member of the Red Guard, and an ardent supporter of Mao. Her grandmother, a deeply religious woman who spent all her time in prayer. She saw the disillusionment of her father and his colleagues and she witnessed the strength her grandmother derived from her prayers. She says her grandmother had two loves, her family and her religion. Sun set out on this journey to find out more about the religion of her grandmother and travel the route of her childhood hero The Monkey King.
The constant indoctrination about the goodness of the communist party and the infallibility of Mao's teachings determined Sun's own beliefs. She grew up an atheist, like many in her generation.
Sun was the third in a line of daughters and hence a great disappointment to her father. As a result she was often beaten and punished. Her grandmother did shield her from many of the blows and beatings. And it was her grandmother who encouraged her to study. She won a seat at the Beijing University and later went on to study at Oxford. It was in Oxford that she found a total new world open up. The revelation was shocking — more so the western perspective of China. She had to do a complete re-thinking of her education. It was part of this re-thinking process that encouraged her to follow the great master Xuanzang.
One woman's journey
Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud is a touching, sensitive account of one woman's journey to find her true self. She begins her journey at Xian, just as Xuanzang did. And as you travel along the Silk Road with her, you too are on a journey of discovery. Her prose is simple, yet vivid and descriptive. In the first chapter she allows the readers a peep into her personal life and her growing up years, thus preparing us for the journey ahead. By following in the footsteps of her childhood hero The Monkey King, she attempts to understand the Buddhist faith of her grandmother, and appreciate the idealism of communist beliefs and ultimately find out her own beliefs.
Xuanzang says that when he set out on his journey he was filled with a sense of excitement. And he records that he wished he could fly like a bird to India. Sun too feels the excitement. Every step of the way she traces she also has a sense of achievement and learningXuanzang had his share of troubles on the Silk Road. He was lost, robbed, members of his caravan were trapped in an avalanche in the Heavenly Mountains and at one time even tempted with the offer of the princess of Gaochang in marriage, just to make him stay on.
Sun too had her share of hardships with civil war and fighting in many of the regions she visited. Perhaps the saddest part of her travels could be the discovery of the looting by Albert von le Coq and Aurel Stein of the Bezelik murals and the 81 richly decorated bodhisattva statues in Rawak.
In India, in central Bihar on the road from Patna to Bodh Gaya Sun is moved by the scenery and she imagines that it is much the same as when Xuanzang passed through. Arriving in Bodh Gaya, she is struck by the deceptively calm and peaceful countryside that hides the caste wars. For Sun, just like Xuanzang before her, her arrival at the bodhi tree was a touching moment. She says she was moved by the idea that "everything began here — under this tree". She travels to Benares and from there to Kushinagar the place of Buddha death or nirvana. But her trip to Lumbini is cancelled because it is election time and her travel agent fears she may not be safe. So she leaves that out of her itinerary and makes her way to Kanchipuram where Xuanzang found more than 100 monasteries and 10,000 monks. It was home to the Dharmapala. Xangzang's teacher Shilabhadra was his student. Sun finds Kanchipuram still a holy city but there was no trace of its Buddhist past.
Two homecomings
When Xuanzang visited India, King Harsha was the most powerful ruler. He was a great patron of Buddhism and an admirer of China. The king was very taken with Xuanzang. And when it is time for him to return, King Harsha sends him home on a white elephant, with an escort.
Xuanzang's arrival in Red Bird Street after 18 years is a grand occasion with monasteries vying with one another to prepare their best banners, tapestries, umbrellas, precious tables and palanquins. And Xuanzang himself rides in on a white horse, waving to the crowd amidst deafening cheers. In contrast, Sun's arrival goes unnoticed and she finds that the once grand boulevard is today a narrow road with two-lane traffic, flanked by characterless office buildings.
Having visited the burial place of Xuanzang and seen for herself the sutras, she is satisfied. It is now time for her to visit her grandmother's village and pay homage to the person who set her on this journey of discovery.
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