How did South Asian Buddhism catch on in China? How did the interaction between South and East Asia shape the intellectual and economic evolution of Eurasia? Luckily for us, in the early 400s CE, the remarkable 60-year old Chinese monk Faxian actually walked all the way to India to collect scriptures from his holy land in an epic journey of nearly twenty years, helping us answer these difficult questions. This is his story, a tale of human resilience and grit that still resonates 1600 years from now.

Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-17 You can also get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram.

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