Xishengjing

'Scripture of Western Ascension') is a late 5th century CE Taoist text with provenance at the Louguan 樓觀 "Tiered Abbey" of The Northern Celestial Masters.

According to Daoist tradition, Louguan (the eastern terminus of the ancient Silk Road, west of the capital Chang'an) was near where the legendary Laozi 老子 transmitted the Tao Te Ching to the Guardian of the Pass Yin Xi 尹喜.

The Xishengjing allegedly records the Taoist principles that Laozi taught Yin Xi before he departed west to India.

Laojun xishengjing 老君西昇經 "Lord Lao's Scripture of Western Ascension" includes the supposed author's honorific name.

Xishengji 西升記 "Record of Western Ascension" uses the usual Chinese character sheng 升 "rise; hoist; ascend" instead of its variant sheng 昇 (with 日 "sun" above) and replaces jing "classic" with ji "record; remember; note".

The Xishengjing is textually affiliated with the Huahujing "Classic on Converting the Barbarians", which purportedly records Laozi's travels into India where he founded Buddhism.

Chinese Buddhists strongly refuted such claims that Laozi became Gautama Buddha and argued that both texts were forgeries.

First, it establishes the general setting, narrates the background story, outlines Yin Xi's practice, and discusses some fundamental problems of talking about the ineffable and transmitting the mysterious.