The Srivijayan Monastery: A Buddhist University in the Jungle

While we have explored Srivijaya’s trade routes, shipwrecks, and naval power, this episode turns inward to its intellectual heart. We trace the journey of Yijing, a Tang dynasty monk who arrived in Palembang around 671 CE seeking advanced Buddhist texts unavailable in China. Living for years in what he called Zabag, Yijing documented a thriving center of Sanskrit learning that rivaled Nalanda in India. He described hundreds of Indian monks studying grammar, logic, and philosophy under Srivijayan patronage. This conversation examines how a maritime empire became a crucial link in the transmission of Mahayana Buddhism to East Asia, detailing the curriculum, the library, and the daily life of students at this forgotten university. #Srivijaya #Yijing #Palembang #BuddhistUniversity #Zabag #TangDynasty #Nalanda #SanskritLearning #Mahayana #MaritimeSilkRoad #SoutheastAsiaHistory #MonkScholar #Borobudur #IndianOceanTrade #ChineseMonk #BuddhismInSEAsia #AncientEducation #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo