Samuel Beal

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Samuel Beal (1825-89) was an Oriental scholar, and the first Englishman to translate direct from the Chinese the early records of Buddhism, thus throwing light upon Indian history. He was born in Davenport, Stockport, Cheshire and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1847. after some time had passed, he became a chaplain in the Royal Navy. He was on the Sybile during the China War of 1856-58.

In 1857 he printed for private circulation a pamphlet showing that the Tycoon of Yedo (i.e. Tokugawa Shogun of Edo), with whom foreigners had made treaties, was not the real Emperor of Japan. He retired from the navy in 1877. His reputation was established by his series of works which traced the travels of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims in India from the fifth to the seventh century, A. D., and by his books on Buddhism, which have become classics.


Among his works are:

  • Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist pilgrims, from China to India (400 A.D. and 518 A.D.). (1869)
  • The Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese (1872)
  • The Romantic Legend of Buddha (1876)
  • Texts from the Buddhist Canon, Dhammapada (1878)
  • Buddhism in China (1884)
  • Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols. Translated by Samuel Beal. London. 1884. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969. (Includes The Travels of Sung-Yun and Fa-Hien).
  • The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang. Translated from the Chinese of Shaman Hwui Li by Samuel Beal. London. 1911. Reprint Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi. 1973.

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