In 67 A.D., the Tianzhu monks Jiaye Moteng and Zhu Falan came to Luoyang, China, translated the scriptures, and the translated forty-two chapters became the earliest translation of Buddhist scriptures in the history of Chinese Buddhism. The White Horse Sutra, Xuanzang traveled westward, bringing Indian culture back to China. The great Chinese navigator Zheng He made seven voyages and arrived in India six times, bringing with him the friendship of China's friends. Indian song and dance, astronomy, calendrical calculations, literature, architecture, sugar technology and other technologies were introduced to China, and Chinese papermaking, silk, porcelain, tea, music and other products were introduced to India, which has become the historical evidence of the interconnection and mutual learning between the two peoples since ancient times.

-- "Pursuing the Dream of National Rejuvenation: Speech at the Indian Council on World Affairs" (September 18, 2014)

More than a week ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited my hometown of Shaanxi Province, and I joined him in Xi'an to trace the history of ancient cultural exchanges between China and India. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Xi'an was also an important gateway for friendly exchanges between China and Japan, and many envoys, students, and monks from Japan studied and lived there. Among them, the representative figure Abe Zhongmalu formed a deep friendship with the great poets of the Tang Dynasty in China, Li Bai and Wang Wei, and left a moving story.

——Speech at the China-Japan Friendship Exchange Conference (May 23, 2015)

Further reading:

Buddha prospers in the west, and Faliu flows in the east. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the Western Regions to seek the law. The envoy traveled all the way to the west to the Da Yue clan (the area from present-day Afghanistan to Central Asia), where he met the Tianzhu monks Jiaye Morteng and Zhu Falan, who were spreading Buddhism, and invited them to enter the Han Dynasty to preach the Dharma. In 67 A.D., the monks accompanied the envoys to carry the scriptures back to Luoyang with a white horse, so it was called the "White Horse Sutra" in history. Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty also built a White Horse Temple in Luoyang City, where the two eminent monks translated the famous 42 chapters. The Buddhist classic "Luoyang Jialanji" during the Northern and Southern Dynasties said: "White Horse Temple, established by Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, is the beginning of Buddha's entry into China." ”

Compared with the White Horse Sutra, Xuanzang's westward journey may be more well-known. "Journey to the West", one of the four well-known novels, was created based on Xuanzang's scriptures. According to the literature, during the Tang Dynasty, the monk Xuanzang set out from Chang'an, went west through the Western Regions, and went through hardships and dangers to reach India. After completing his studies in India, Xuanzang returned to Chang'an with the scriptures and successively translated Buddhist scriptures in Daci'en Temple, Hongfu Temple, Ximing Temple and other places. Xuanzang refused Tang Taizong's request to let him return to the secular prime minister and assist the government, "specializing in translation, without abandoning an inch". Because the Indian Sanskrit text on which it is based was later dispersed, Xuanzang's translation is also regarded as the "second Sanskrit text" and "quasi-Sanskrit version". In addition to translating the scriptures, Xuanzang also recorded his experience in India in writing and wrote "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty". This book vividly describes the customs and customs of India, and has become an important document for the study of Sino-Western transportation and the history of Buddhism. What's more worth mentioning is that according to the "Old Tang Book", Xuanzang also translated Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" into Sanskrit and introduced it to India.

Abe Nakamaro was a student sent to the Tang Dynasty during the Nara period in Japan. He took the imperial examination in the Kaiyuan period and was a high school jinshi. Abe Zhongmaru is not only knowledgeable and talented, but also emotional, bold and bold, is a genius poet, and has a deep relationship with poets such as Li Bai and Wang Wei. Before returning to China, he wrote a poem "Returning to the Country" and gave it to a friend. Later, this poem was also included in the excellent poetry collection "Wenyuan Yinghua" edited by the Song people, and it is also the only foreigner's work included in it. Wang Wei even wrote "Send the Secretary Chao Jian to Japan", with "parting from a foreign land, if the message is connected", to express the deep friendship between them.

The stories of interconnection and mutual learning in history are also the bridges connecting the relations between China and its neighboring countries. Xi Jinping's story of the White Horse Sutra, Xuanzang's journey to the west, and the deep friendship between Abe Zhongmalu and the great poets of the Tang Dynasty in China is precisely to illustrate that China has continuous cultural and historical ties with its neighbors.

For neighboring countries, Xi Jinping has an incisive saying: neighbors can't move away, people can choose to live in neighbors, but the country can't move away, so there is only one choice - good neighborliness. China and its neighboring countries have a sense of mutual learning in ancient times, and have recently shared weal and woe, and the existing common cause of rejuvenation, geographical proximity, cultural proximity, and historical affinity, good-neighborliness and friendship are the best choice. As Xi Jinping has emphasized, China will "sincerely get along with its neighbors, wholeheartedly seek common development, work together to make the cake of cooperation bigger and share the fruits of development".