唐敕使王玄策使印度事迹新探

A New Survey of the Tang Emissary Wang Xuance's Mission to India

唐代敕使印度的外交家王玄策应为曾出使大夏等中亚古国的王名远,二者为名与字的关系;《大唐天竺使之铭》为王玄策第三次出使印度去程所刻,该序铭对于廓清"吐蕃—泥婆罗道"的南段走向十分重要,并是王玄策途经该道宝贵的标志性遗迹;王玄策数次出使曾先后取道"吐蕃—泥婆罗道"与西域古丝道,历次往返及相关事迹多可进一步考证,其中亚、陇右之行意义亦很重大;唐宋之际撰成的史书及佛教典籍所见《西域记》并非裴矩《西域图记》或玄奘《大唐西域记》,而多指王玄策《西域记》,《通典.边防典》"西戎"门保存了佚失千载的唐官修《西国志》的许多内容。

Wang Xuance,a diplomat sent on a mission to India by the Tang court,and Wang Mingyuan who was sent as an emissary to Balkh and other Central Asian states should be the same person.Xuance is his ming(given name)and Mingyuan is his zi(name taken at the age of twenty).Da Tang Sheng Du Shi Zhi Ming(Inscription on the Stone Stele of the Emissary to Hindu from the Great Tang)was engraved on the way of Wang Xuance's third mission to India.The inscription is an important evidence for the clarification of the route of the southern section of Tubo-Nipoluo way and a valuable symbolic remain indicating Wang Xuance's trail.On his several missions,Wang Xuance had taken Tubo-Nipoluo way and ancient Silk Road in the Western Regions.His journeys and relevant activities need to be discussed further and his trips to Central Asia and Longyou region(Gansu)are of great importance.Xi Yu Ji(Records of the Western Regions)in the historical works written during the Tang and Song dynasties as well as the Buddhist classics actually refer to the records by Wang Xuance,neither Xi Yu Tu Ji(An Illustrated Book of the Western Regions)by Pei Ju nor Da Tang Xi Yu Ji(Great Tang Records on the Western Regions)by Xuanzang.Many parts of an official historiography Xi Guo Zhi(Records of the Western Kingdoms)of the Tang Dynasty which has been lost for over 1000 years were saved in category Xi Rong(Western Barbarians)of Bian Fang Dian(Institution of Border Defence)in Tongdian(Comprehensive Institutions)