What if Xuanzang converts to another religion while in India?

Thande

Donor
I think most people have at least heard of the Chinese epic Journey to the West a.k.a. Monkey or The Monkey King, which describes the journey of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (a.k.a. Tripitaka) to India to bring back more intact versions of the Buddhist scriptures (the "Greater Vehicle", as opposed to the "Lesser Vehicle" which was already known in China).

The story is a dramatisation of real events, with real lands replaced by fictional and fantastic ones: Xuanzang really existed, and made his epic journey to India and back between the years of 629 and 645 AD. He travelled as far west as Peshawar and the Hindu Kush, before returning and being received with honour by the Taizong Emperor in Chang'an (the then-capital, modern Xi'an).

The WI I propose here is that Xuanzang converts to another religion while in India and brings it to China on his return. Hinduism is the obvious one but was I believe already known to Chinese travellers and had not set them alight. Islam would be interesting but it's really pushing it given that Islam hadn't broken out of Arabia yet at this point (I suppose you could really push it by having an early Muslim trader out of Arabia meet him at an Indian seaport). Then there's Thomasine Christianity: Nestorian Christianity would already have been known in China, but India's version might be sufficiently different to make an impact.

Any ideas on this score?
 

Philip

Donor
Any shot at it being Jainism?

If he goes the Hindu route, I think there is the interesting possibility that he brings a specific flavor of Hinduism back.
 

Susano

Banned
Well, Hinduism isnt a conversion religion, really, even if it did happen in a way in whats nowadays Indonesia. But its not... missionary. And Christianity and Islam realyl were only much rppresent in the south.

So Jainism sounds good. Or maybe Farsi Zoroastrism?
 
Well, Hinduism isnt a conversion religion, really, even if it did happen in a way in whats nowadays Indonesia. But its not... missionary. And Christianity and Islam realyl were only much rppresent in the south.

So Jainism sounds good. Or maybe Farsi Zoroastrism?

It certainly isn't a missionary religion, but conversion isn't exactly unknown. But If (a somewhat modified version, in all probability) of it reaches Xi'an, and the emperor converts and orders his subjects to, then I think the conversion, or at least the establishment of a chinese branch of hinduism which is open to conversion, is certainly possible.

Jainism certainly is interesting. off the top of my head, though, I don't think that there were too many Zoroastrians in Peshawar, although I'm pretty sure that it reached China at some point.
 
Jainism would be interesting, especially given it's Pacifist and Veganistic (not a correct word, I know) philosophy.

If it is Jainism I wonder which version he'd bring back as their were three sects at the time; Digambara, Svetambara
and Yapaniya, which itself went extinct in the 13th century.
 
I think most people have at least heard of the Chinese epic Journey to the West a.k.a. Monkey or The Monkey King, which describes the journey of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (a.k.a. Tripitaka) to India to bring back more intact versions of the Buddhist scriptures (the "Greater Vehicle", as opposed to the "Lesser Vehicle" which was already known in China).

The story is a dramatisation of real events, with real lands replaced by fictional and fantastic ones: Xuanzang really existed, and made his epic journey to India and back between the years of 629 and 645 AD. He travelled as far west as Peshawar and the Hindu Kush, before returning and being received with honour by the Taizong Emperor in Chang'an (the then-capital, modern Xi'an).

The WI I propose here is that Xuanzang converts to another religion while in India and brings it to China on his return. Hinduism is the obvious one but was I believe already known to Chinese travellers and had not set them alight. Islam would be interesting but it's really pushing it given that Islam hadn't broken out of Arabia yet at this point (I suppose you could really push it by having an early Muslim trader out of Arabia meet him at an Indian seaport). Then there's Thomasine Christianity: Nestorian Christianity would already have been known in China, but India's version might be sufficiently different to make an impact.

Any ideas on this score?
:confused:
We've got someone who is so dedicated a Buddhist that he makes that kind of incredible epic journey, and he's going convert!?!

That'd be like Mother Theresa converting on arriving in India, no?

Wierd things happen, so I'm not going to call this ASB, but... doesn't it have to verge on that?
 

Hendryk

Banned
It wouldn't have made a difference for China--by then Buddhism was firmly rooted in Chinese soil and I don't see it replaced by another imported religion.
 
It wouldn't have made a difference for China--by then Buddhism was firmly rooted in Chinese soil and I don't see it replaced by another imported religion.

Agreed. Xuanzong wouldn't have been able to single handedly import a new religion. His conversion however will significantly weaken Buddhism in East Asia, from China to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Daoism would be the primary beneficiary.
 
It wouldn't have made a difference for China--by then Buddhism was firmly rooted in Chinese soil and I don't see it replaced by another imported religion.

Might Buddhism, as practiced in China at the time, be influenced by whatever religion he converts to?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Though I do have a soft spot for Zoroastrianism, and while the thought of a Zoroastrian China is awesome, it really is not a prostelyzing religion. IIRC, there are actually rather strict Zoroastrian tenants against conversion into the faith. One needs to be born into it.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Might Buddhism, as practiced in China at the time, be influenced by whatever religion he converts to?
Well, Buddhism as practiced in China at the time was already noticeably hybridized with preexisting local religions. The Chan (Zen) school, for example, borrows a lot of elements from Daoism. As for the Pure Land school, it already had the concept of a Heaven-like place where the faithful go after death.
 

Keenir

Banned
Though I do have a soft spot for Zoroastrianism, and while the thought of a Zoroastrian China is awesome, it really is not a prostelyzing religion. IIRC, there are actually rather strict Zoroastrian tenants against conversion into the faith. One needs to be born into it.

Well, there's a pretty strict rule in Judaism against associating anyone or anything with God.
(my point is: exceptions arise)
 

Philip

Donor
Though I do have a soft spot for Zoroastrianism, and while the thought of a Zoroastrian China is awesome, it really is not a prostelyzing religion. IIRC, there are actually rather strict Zoroastrian tenants against conversion into the faith. One needs to be born into it.

All of this is post-Islam. Before Islam overran Persia, Zoroastrianism was very much a proselytizing religion. Temples could be found from the Caucuses to Zhenjiang. In the Byzantine-Sassanid fights over Armenia, treaties often included clause to prevent the proselytizing of Christians by Zoroastrians (and the reverse too).

As for Zoroastrianism in China, it arrived in the 6th Century and remained until (probably) the 12th Century. It was never a dominant religion there, but it certainly was present.
 
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