The depictions of Xuanzang’s endeavors within India, as well as the impressions he gained through his time there, contributes much to our understanding of Buddhist practice in India - especially in regards to how it changed and evolved over time. To explain, this document sheds light on the scholarly debate within Buddhism by illustrating the various schools of thought that existed within India and the disparities amongst them - portraying how Buddhism was not an entirely unified or consolidated faith system. In his writing is also evident the fact that each of the many disparate Buddhist institutions was governed by its own edicts, laws, and regulations - giving rise to a highly stratified and varied faith system. As Xuanzang writes in his accounts, “The different schools are constantly at variance, and their contending utterances rise like the angry waves of the sea. The different sects have their separate masters… There are eighteen schools, each claiming pre-eminence. The partisans of the Great and Little Vehicle are content to dwell apart. There are some who give themselves up to quiet contemplation, and devote themselves [...] to the acquirement of wisdom and insight; others, on the contrary, differ from these in raising noisy contentions about …show more content…
If he can explain two classes, he receives in addition the equipments of an upper seat (room); he who can explain three classes has allotted to him different servants to attend to and obey him; he who can explain four classes has ‘pure men’ allotted to him as attendants; he who can explain five classes of books is allowed a surrounding escort. [...] if one of the assembly distinguishes himself by refined language, subtle investigation [...] and severe logic, then he is mounted on an elephant covered with precious ornaments, and conducted by numerous suite to the gates of the