Footprints Poem by gershon hepner

The marks made by the steps of feet,
unlike the record of a word
can’t be recorded on a sheet,
and only can be seen, not heard,
but even so these silent traces
draw pilgrims who would see the marks
the feet made going to the places
where words cannot describe the sparks.


Donald S. Lopez Jr. reviews Richard Bernstein’s “Ultimate Journey” in the NYT, March 21,2001. In 629 a Chinese Buddhist monk, Hsuan Tsang, set out from the capital of the Tang dynasty and traveled west — on foot, on horseback, and by camel and elephant — until he reached India, the land where the Buddha had lived and taught a millennium before. He was a scholar, and so went in search of texts, but he was also a devotee of the Buddha, and went to make offerings to the footprints of the teacher. Hsuan Tsang's pilgrimage is considered one of the most remarkable journeys in history, all the more so because he returned safely in 645.

But Buddhism, whether for the great vehicle or the small vehicle, whether for the monk or the layperson, is a religion of devotion to the Buddha, and Hsuan Tsang laments the fact that he was wandering somewhere else in the cycle of rebirth while the Buddha was teaching in India. What was left behind were the marks of his feet and the records of his words, and Hsuan Tsang wanted to see both.
In the novel 'Journey to the West, ' Hsuan Tsang and his companions are setting out to return to China when they notice that the scrolls of Buddhist scriptures they have been given are blank. Hsuan Tsang is told that the blank scrolls are the true teaching, but if he likes, he can have some texts with writing on them.


3/21/01