玄奘西游 

　　《西游记》里有个和尚唐僧，他去“西天”，也就是今天的印度半岛取经，带着他的徒弟孙悟空、猪八戒、沙和尚，历尽艰辛，经过“九九八十一难”，终于到达西天，取到了真经。故事里的唐僧，心地善良，却又有些糊涂，这是虚构的神话故事。其实在历史上，还真有这么一个去“西天”取经的唐僧。他的法号叫玄奘(xuanzang)。

　　玄奘(公元602～664年)少年时就出家做了和尚，认真研究佛学，精通佛教经典。他发现翻译过来的佛经错误很多，于是就决心到佛教发源地的天竺(今印度半岛)去取经求学。

　　玄奘于唐贞观元年(公元627年)出发西行。他穿过大片沙漠，克服重重困难，整整走了一年，终于到达天竺(zhu)。

　　玄奘西行游历了70多个国家，留学天竺达15年之久，他的壮举感动了许多天竺人，有的国王还派人为他抄录经典，他也把当地失传的佛经介绍给他们。他还学会了天竺的语言，参加那儿研究佛学的盛会，发表演讲。玄奘的博学，受到天竺人民的尊敬。、42岁时，玄奘带650多部佛经回到长安，受到热烈欢迎。回国后，玄奘立即开始大规模的翻译佛经工作，前后翻译佛经74部，约1,300多卷。

　　作为一名高僧，一位大翻译家，中印人民的友好使者，玄奘为中国文化的发展，为中外尤其是中国和印度之间的文化交流作出了巨大的贡献。

　　In the classic novel Journey to the West, a monk, the Tang Priest, goes on a pilgrimage to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures back to China. Together with his disciples Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand, he overcomes 81 hardships and his mission is successful. The novel is a collection of legends, but in history there really was such a monk. His Buddhist name was Xuanzang. 

　　Xuanzang (602-664 AD) renounced the world, and became a monk. He acquired a good command of the Buddhist classics, and he found that there were a great many errors in the translated Buddhist scriptures. Therefore, he decided to go to Tianzhu (today's Indian Peninsula), the birthplace of Buddhism, to study and bring back the authentic scriptures.

　　Xuanzang started his journey to the west in the first year (627 AD) of the Zhenguan reign period of the Tang Dynasty. He crossed mountains and deserts, overcoming numerous hardships, and finally reached Tianzhu after a journey of whole year.

　　During his journey to the west, Xuanzang traveled through over 70 countries, and studied in Tianzhu for 15 years.

　　At the age of 42, Xuanzang returned to Chang'an, bringing back more than 650 Buddhist scriptures. He then commenced the work of translating the Buddhist scriptures. He translated 74 Buddhist scriptures altogether, amounting to about 1,300 volumes.

　　Xuanzang was not only an eminent monk, but also a great translator and an envoy for friendship between China and India. He made great contributions to the development of Chinese culture, and for cultural exchanges between China and India and other countries.