Dear Stephen and friends,

thanks again. I appreciate you looking up the dictionaries. I do no
doubt about your capability of the Chinese language. However, I am
wondering if we are refering to the same word at all. Since this is
getting off-topic for the group, I have created a thread on the
bulletin board here: http://www.tipitaka.net/bbpost.php?main_id=8

If you dun mind, I hope we can continue our discussion there.


With metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> As for Xuanzhuang, it is Xuanzhuang, which is his ordained name.
[snip] I have no idea how exactly English/European materials come to
write/call him as Xuanzang.

Actually, Xuanzang *is* the correct form. I have now checked this in
several dictionaries, including the Hanyu Da Cidian (the most
authoritative single character Chinese dictionary). They all state
that the second component in his name is read "zang". Your "zhuang"
is mentioned, but Hanyu Da Cidian states that this reading is
colloquial/dialectical.