On the morning of May 16th, Yi-Jing Research Center of our university invited Professor Wang Bangwei of Peking University to give a lecture entitled "A Chinese Monk in the Ancient Maritime Silk Road: Yi-Jing's Pilgrimage to the Western Country in Search of Buddhist Doctrine and His Contribution”
Professor Wang Bangwei introduced the origin of his research on Yi-Jing's related works, the impact of development of the times he observed on the promotion of Yi-Jing's research, and expressed his expectations for the inheritance of both culture and academy of universities. He spent about an hour and a half representing the value of carrying out research on related issues around Tipwakqcariya Yi-Jing in Tang Dynasty in three aspects: the Maritime Silk Road and the interaction of ancient China and the outside world, the experience and achievements of Yi-Jing during his life, and his significance today. Wang Bangwei said that Yi-Jing came to India to seek the Buddhist doctrine, traveling by boat to and from India, passing today's Southeast Asia, and then reached India. His route to and from India is what is known today as the Maritime Silk Road. Yi-Jing wrote two important books based on his experience and knowledge in the South China Sea and India. These two books provided a lot of important information for understanding the situation of sea traffic at that time. In terms of his significance today, we must highly affirm his spirit of pursuing Buddhist doctrine risking his life for the sake of faith, his role of emissary in the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, his love for hometown and motherland, and his contribution to the inheritance and development of Chinese culture.
After the lecture, Professor Wang Bangwei had a discussion with the teachers of Yi-Jing Research Center in the conference room 709 of the Houde Building. Teachers like Li An, Wang Shoudong, Wang Yanmin, Yang Shukun, Huang Yi and so on, humbly sought advice from Professor Wang on research directions of their own interest. With the help of professor Wang's explanations, the teachers present were more aware of the powers and limitations of Buddhism inheritance, Buddhist doctrine studies, maritime silk road studies, language studies, background studies, and other related researches on Yi-Jing. They were deeply rewarded.
Professor Wang's lecture was the fifth expert lecture since the establishment of Yi-Jing Research Center. Previously, when the center was established on April 15, Mr. Wu Hengcan, Li Jianxin, Chen Jian and Feng Xianglei, gave professional academic reports to the teachers and students of the school based on their own research priorities.
Next, Yi-Jing Research Center will actively invite Yi-Jing research experts from all over the country to guide and participate in the relevant work of Yi-Jing Research Center to jointly promote the long-term and stable development of Yi-Jing Research Center's research work.
