Recording journeys and losses
Yijing's preface describes travellers crossing deserts and mountains or taking southern sea routes. Some died abroad; even arrivals in India could struggle to find a stable residence. He arranged accounts broadly by departure and survival, seeking to preserve lives otherwise liable to disappear.
The main list counts fifty-six people and includes monks from Silla and other regions, alongside unnamed individuals. An appended account records Zhengu and three companions returning to the southern seas. The collection extends beyond successful or celebrated pilgrims.
Meetings, manuscripts, and reports
The accounts distinguish several kinds of evidence. Yijing had not met Daoxi but visited his former room. For the Silla monk Huiye, he describes finding a copying inscription in a text and asking resident monks about its writer.
The story of Changmin's shipwreck is attributed to survivors. Other entries retain uncertain destinations or outcomes. These indications allow readers to separate a meeting, a surviving written trace, a report, and an inference.
References: [1]
Moving texts and finding support
Huining's translation work with Jnanabhadra at Heling connects to Yunqi carrying texts to Tang China, receiving support, and returning south. Copying, translating, funding, and transport emerge as linked activities undertaken by identifiable people.
Dajin carried this collection and A Record of Buddhist Practices home in 691 while seeking support for accommodation in India. The practical request answers the preface's concern about displaced monks: circulating knowledge required lodging and sustained assistance as well as manuscripts.