The monk and scholar Xuanzang left Tang China for Central and South Asia, crossed the Tian Shan and Hindu Kush, studied for years at Nalanda and other Buddhist centres, and returned with manuscripts that transformed Buddhist scholarship in East Asia.
Sources and further reading
Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan. Museum catalogue record for an early manuscript tradition of Xuanzang’s account, with context for the journey, return, and transmission of Buddhist knowledge.