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Buddha on the Silk Road
In 1907 explorers discovered a vast treasure of ancient scrolls
some of which were Christian. Dating from the 7th Century, the
Jesus Sutras are Chinese accounts of the life and teachings of
Jesus. The legendary Chinese monk, poet, and scholar Xuan
Zang traveled the Silk Road to India and back approximately
1,400 years ago in search of the teachings of Buddha. When he
returned to China, he brought with him Buddhist manuscripts and
is thus credited with having brought the religion to his homeland.
In this documentary, the route taken by Xuan Zang, the Silk Road,
a collection of routes snaking across Eurasia from the first
millennium BCE through to the middle of the second millennium
AD, is followed by a film crew, and the fascinating history of
Central Asia, and the life of the traveling monk, is seen to be
resonating to the present day.
Ancient sites visited by Xuan Zang are seen today, including
meditation cells carved into rock walls in the desert and remote
monastery ruins that were once enormous art galleries
containing thousands of murals. The fabled cave temples
where hundreds of Buddhist scrolls, including the famous
Diamond Sutra, were discovered in a phenomenal
archaeological find, is visited. Xuan Zang is a revered figure
in the East to this day, with thousands of people visiting
shrines in his honor.
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