The bones of Xuanzang, a master of the Tang Dynasty, were discovered by the Japanese army in Nanjing at the end of 1942, when those relics were send to different locations in Japan. In the 1950s, with Japan's return to the international community, various exchanges and activities were carried out. In October 1952, the second meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Tokyo initiated the initiative to ＂return＂ Xuanzang's bones to the Republic of China. In 1955, Xuanzang's bones came to Taiwan. The composition of the delegation, the competition for the relocation of the relics, and the case of the ＂Jie Meng Guanyin＂ (解夢觀音) twins all involved competition from various factions in the Buddhist community of postwar Taiwan. This article investigates the incident of Xuanzang's bones coming to Taiwan and the relationship between the people involved. The article explores the estrangement between the mainland Buddhists who came to Taiwan after the war and the Taiwanese Buddhists, the local political and social forces in Taiwan at that time, and the internal struggles within the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China.
Keywords:
Xuanzang's bone relics, Buddhist Association of the Republic of China, Taiwan Buddhism