His Infulence On Chinese Buddhism

(Statue of Xuanzang at the Great Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an)

During his travels he studied with many famous Buddhist masters, especially at the famous center of Buddhist learning at Nalanda University. When he returned, he brought with him some 657 Sanskrit texts . With the emperor's support, he set up a large translation bureau in Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), drawing students and collaborators from all over East Asia . He is credited with the translation of some 1,330 fascicles of scriptures into Chinese . His strongest personal interest in Buddhism was in the field of Yogācāra or otherwise known as Consciousness-only .
The force of his own study, translation and commentary of the texts of these traditions initiated the development of the Faxiang school in East Asia. Although the school itself did not thrive for a long time, its theories regarding perception, consciousness, karma, rebirth, etc. found their way into the doctrines of other more successful schools . Xuanzang's closest and most eminent student was Kuiji who later became recognized as the first patriarch of the Faxiang school. Hsuan Tsang's logic, as described by Kuiji, was often misunderstood by scholars of Chinese Buddhism because they lack the necessary background in Indian logic.
Xuanzang was known for his extensive but careful translations of Indian Buddhist texts to Chinese, and subsequent recoveries of lost Indian Buddhist texts from translated Chinese copies. He is credited with writing or compiling the Cheng Weishi Lun as a commentary on these texts. He also founded the short-lived but influential Faxiang school of Buddhism. Additionally, he was known for recording the events of the reign of the northern Indian emperor, Harsha .