Fa Hien was a Buddhist who lived in China more than 1,500 years ago. At that time, many people in China were Buddhists but they did not know much about Buddhism because there were no good books about it in China.

When Fa Hien became a Buddhist, he thought a lot about his people. He was unhappy because there were no Buddhist books. So in the year A.D. 399 he went to India to find some books for his people. Two of his friends went with him and they traveled by land.

After travelling for six years through the west part of China, Fa Hien arrived in India. He stayed in India for ten years and lived with Indian Buddhists who taught him about Buddhism. While he was in India, he learned the Sanskrit language and he copied
several Buddhist books. When he finished copying the books, he left India and went to Ceylon by boat.

Fa Hien studied Buddhism in Ceylon too. Buddhism in Ceylon was a little different from Buddhism in India or China. He also bought more books about Buddhism in Ceylon. After staying there for about two years, he decided to go back to China, so he put all his books on a ship and left Ceylon. It was a big ship and there were a lot of people on it.

Everything went well during the first few days of the voyage, but suddenly there was a strong wind and the sky became very dark. Water began to come into the ship through a big hole in the bottom. In order to save the ship everybody had to throw their things into the sea. Fa Hien threw all his things away except his books. The weather continued to be bad for several days but one night the ship was carried to an island where the people got off the ship and mended it. They waited on the island until the sea was smooth again. When the wind stopped blowing, they continued their voyage and at last they arrived at the island of Java in Indonesia.

The ship did not go on to China, so Fa Hien waited in Java for several months before he got on another ship. At that time, it usually took 50 days to sail from Java to China, but after sailing for a month there was another big storm. The people were afraid but Fa Hien did not do anything. He only prayed. People became angry with him and when they passed a small island, they wanted to leave him on the island. When Fa Hien's friends heard about this, they were angry with the people. They said they would tell the king when they arrived in China, if Fa Hien was left on the island. Then the other people changed their minds and they did not leave Fa Hien on the island. The storm continued for many weeks but one day they suddenly saw land. They were happy because it was China.

Fa Hien was happy, too, because he still had all his books with him. He went back to his home town and spent the rest of his life writing the books in Chinese and teaching his people about Buddhism. His books are very important in the growth of Chinese
Buddhism.

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