Tang Monk Jianzhen: Journey to the East

When the first round of the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan of central China’s Hubei Province in early 2020, many countries recognized its inherent risk to global health and began donating gloves, masks, hazmat suits – sending whatever they could to help combat the virus. Among the supplies sent from Japan were shipments from the organization that administers the HSK, otherwise known as the Chinese proficiency test, there in Japan.What they didn’t expect was that the Chinese phrase written on the exterior of those relief boxes would go viral on Chinese social media. The lines read, “Even though we live in different places, we live under the same sky.” Netizens praised the words as a sign of heartfelt support for China in its struggle to cope with the coronavirus.Today, we’re going to talk about how this very short poem went a long way toward inspiring a Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty to undertake a perilous journey to re-establish the correct precepts and practices of Buddhism in Japan.