Master Xuanzang's Prophetic Dream: Manjushri Bodhisattva's Explicit Admonition

One night, Master Xuanzang had a dream: the Nalanda Temple was filled with scenes of desolation and disorder, with water buffalo tethered everywhere, and not a single monk in sight. He entered through the western gate of the Yugalaraja's Court, and suddenly saw a golden figure standing on the fourth tier of the pavilion, radiant and majestic, filling his heart with great joy.

He tried to climb up but could not, so he asked the golden figure to guide him. The figure told him: "I am Manjushri Bodhisattva. Because your karmic conditions are not yet complete, you cannot come to this place for now."

Having said this, the bodhisattva pointed to the scenes outside the temple for him to see. Master Xuanzang beheld a sea of fire, and the villages outside the temple had all been reduced to ashes. The golden figure then said: "You should return to your homeland at once. In ten years, King Harsha will pass away, and India will fall into chaos, with bandits rising on all sides, plundering, burning, and killing. You ought to know this." With that, the figure vanished.

Master Xuanzang awoke startled and full of wonder, and the next day he recounted the dream to Master Shengjun. Master Shengjun said: "The three realms have always been impermanent. Perhaps in time the dream will become reality. Since the bodhisattva has already given you this foreknowledge, it is up to you, good sir, to make your own arrangements!"

When Master Xuanzang had been about to set out westward in search of the Dharma, the bodhisattva had manifested to dissuade Master Śīlabhadra from passing away through illness, insisting that he must wait for Master Xuanzang's arrival to transmit the teachings. Now that the Master had lingered in India without returning for a long while, the bodhisattva once again appeared to admonish him about the impermanence of worldly affairs, clearly instructing him to return home.

From this, we can see that everything a Mahayana practitioner does is supported and watched over by the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Were it not for generating the Mahayana resolve and walking the bodhisattva path, how could such a spiritual response ever occur?

In the final years of the Yonghui era of the Tang dynasty (650–655 CE), King Harsha indeed passed away, and India descended into turmoil and warfare, just as the bodhisattva had foretold. The Tang envoy Wang Xuance witnessed these events firsthand in India.

Biographical Record of the Tripitaka Master of Daci'en Temple