孟宪实

内容摘要：张骞出使西域，作为世界大动脉的丝绸之路开辟完成，中国與世界更全面的联系终于建立起来。一方面，中国与世界的联系加强，交流程度不断加深。另一方面，中国与当时世界各个地区的联系并不平衡。相对于西亚、欧洲，与中国联系最为密切的是南亚地区。中印之间因为佛教而显现出特别之处。中国僧人纷纷前往取经，构成了丝绸之路的特别景观，佛教成了吸引中国僧人的唯一原因。僧人的西域求法记录，是当时丝绸之路留下来的珍贵文献。与使者代表的国家层面不同，僧人的记录不仅关涉到国家、地理、历史和风土人情，他们更重视当地的佛教情形，成为研究丝绸之路非常重要的原始资料。前往印度的中国僧人，除了瞻仰胜迹之外，如何服务于当时的中国，是求法僧人的主要目的。经过求法僧人的努力，佛教传入中国的状况，一改以往的被动接受局面，主动前往，为佛教中国化做出很重要的贡献。

关键词：丝绸之路;中国;南亚;唐代;取经僧人

中图分类号：K878.6;K928.76  文献标识码：A  文章编号：1000-4106（2021）03-0024-08

Abstract：During the Han Dynasty， the statesman Zhang Qian journeyed to the Western Regions as a diplomat and opened up the Silk Road， which soon became one of the busiest transportation routes in the world. Although the tie between China and the world was greatly expanded by this new connection， the relations between China and its neighbors were by no means stable. Compared with West Asia and Europe， South Asia had the closest link to China， while the connection between China and India was unique because of the common influence of Buddhism. India continued to attract the attention of Chinese monks， who became a common sight on the Silk Road as they trekked west to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. The records of these monks travels to the Western Regions are precious documents about the Silk Road. Different from the accounts left by diplomats working toward political goals， these monks not only focused on the countries， geography， history and local customs of the places they visited， but also paid special attention to the state of local Buddhist practices and institutions. Besides visiting legendary Buddhist sites， another purpose of Chinese monks in India was to discover things that would be beneficial to China. Because of the efforts of these Buddhist monks， the transmission of Buddhism turned from a passive activity into a proactive movement that ultimately led to the successful Sinicization of Buddhism. The records written by monks as they traveled throughout Asia are extremely valuable first-hand materials for the study of the Silk Road.

Keywords：China; South Asia; Silk Road; Tang dynasty; monks

丝绸之路是贯穿欧亚大陆的交通孔道，在前近代发挥着联络世界、沟通文化、传递文明成果的重大作用。当时中国与世界的联系，几乎都是通过丝绸之路（陆上、海上）完成的。中国的文明成果（如四大发明等）与世界分享，接受来自域外的文明结晶，在促进文化发展，为世界文明的交融做出贡献，都是与丝绸之路分不开的。但就中国与世界上的主要文明体的交往而言，不得不承认，印度是极具特殊意义的。……