Text: T2092; 洛陽伽藍記

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• T2086; 北魏僧惠生使西域記
• T2092; 洛陽伽藍記

Deeg discusses the relationship between Huisheng's 惠生 Bei Wei Huisheng shi xiyu ji 北魏僧惠生使西域記 T2086 and the travelogue of Song Yun 宋雲 preserved in Yang Xuanzhi's 楊衒之 Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記 T2092. He states that although the account in the Luoyang qielan ji is presented as if it is Song Yun's, it is in fact an amalgam of three sources: Huisheng's, Song Yun's, and an account by a third traveller, Daorong 道榮. Further, although, according to Deeg, scholars to date have tended to assume, even when they acknowledge the composite nature of the text, that Song Yun is Yang Xuanzhi's main source, in fact, he relies much more heavily on Huisheng. "Yang himself clearly states that he 'completed' his own compilation by using Song Yun's and Daorong's reports. The implication...is that Yang's main source was Huisheng's travelogue." Deeg argues further that T2086, which is presented expressly as Huisheng's travelogue, is "is an abridged version of...what has been labeled Song Yun's record in [T2092]". Deeg further speculates that Yang Xuanzhi may have been motivated to downplay the dominant place of Huisheng among his sources by his "anti-Buddhist position", which led him to prefer to present his information as deriving from Song Yun, who was an official emissary rather than a monastic traveller. "Yang Xuanzhi...had to rely on Huisheng's text, but he could and would not admit it expressly."

Entry author: Michael Radich

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