{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2124/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2124","id":"gutenberg_2124","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2124","summary":null,"tags":["Asia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800","Buddhism","Buddhism -- Early works to 1800","Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages -- India -- Early works to 1800","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","India"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nA Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms\n\nBeing an Account by the Chinese Monk F\u00e2-Hien\nof his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414)\nin Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline\n\nTranslated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text\n\nBY JAMES LEGGE\n\n\nContents\n\n PREFACE\n INTRODUCTION\n THE TRAVELS OF F\u00c2-HIEN\n\n CHAPTER I.\n CHAPTER II.\n CHAPTER III.\n CHAPTER IV.\n CHAPTER V.\n CHAPTER VI.\n CHAPTER VII.\n CHAPTER VIII.\n CHAPTER IX.\n CHAPTER X.\n CHAPTER XI.\n CHAPTER XII.\n CHAPTER XIII.\n CHAPTER XIV.\n CHAPTER XV.\n CHAPTER XVI.\n CHAPTER XVII.\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n CHAPTER XIX.\n CHAPTER XX.\n CHAPTER XXI.\n CHAPTER XXII.\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n CHAPTER XXV.\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n CHAPTER XXIX.\n CHAPTER XXX.\n CHAPTER XXXI.\n CHAPTER XXXII.\n CHAPTER XXXIII.\n CHAPTER XXXIV.\n CHAPTER XXXV.\n CHAPTER XXXVI.\n CHAPTER XXXVII.\n CHAPTER XXXVIII.\n CHAPTER XXXIX.\n CHAPTER XL.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nSeveral times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to\nread through the \u201cNarrative of F\u00e2-Hien;\u201d but though interested with the\ngraphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so\nconstantly\u2014now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and\nnow with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese\ncharacters, and I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special\nlabours on the Confucian Classics, that my success was far from\nsatisfactory. When Dr. Eitel\u2019s \u201cHandbook for the Student of Chinese\nBuddhism\u201d appeared in 1870, the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit\nwords and names was removed, but the other difficulty remained; and I\nwas not able to look into the book again for several years. Nor had I\nmuch inducement to do so in the two copies of it which I had been able\nto procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at first,\nand so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in\ntheir appearance to the student.\n\nIn the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various\nsources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels\nwith my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit\nscholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my own\nsatisfaction of nearly half the narrative. In the beginning of last\nyear I made F\u00e2-Hien again the subject of lecture, wrote out a second\ntranslation, independent of the former, and pushed on till I had\ncompleted the whole.\n\nThe want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr.\nBunyiu Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is\nappended to the translation and notes, and of the nature of which some\naccount is given in the Introduction, and towards the end of this\nPreface.\n\nThe present work consists of three parts: the Translation of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s\nNarrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my\ncopy from Japan.\n\nIt is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially\nresponsible. Portions of it were written out three times, and the whole\nof it twice. While preparing my own version I made frequent reference\nto previous translations:\u2014those of M. Abel R\u00e9musat, \u201cRevu, compl\u00e9t\u00e9, et\naugment\u00e9 d\u2019\u00e9claircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landress\u201d\n(Paris, 1836); of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and his revision\nof it, prefixed to his \u201cBuddhist Records of the Western World\u201d\n(Tr\u00fcbner\u2019s Oriental Series, 1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of\nH.M.\u2019s Consular Service in China (1877). To these I have to add a\nseries of articles on \u201cFa-hsien and his English Translators,\u201d by Mr. T.\nWatters, British Consul at \u00ce-Chang (China Review, 1879, 1880). Those\narticles are of the highest value, displaying accuracy of Chinese\nscholarship and an extensive knowledge of Buddhism. I have regretted\nthat Mr. Watters, while reviewing others, did not himself write out and\npublish a version of the whole of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s narrative. If he had done\nso, I should probably have thought that, on the whole, nothing more\nremained to be done for the distinguished Chinese pilgrim in the way of\ntranslation. Mr. Watters had to judge of the comparative merits of the\nversions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many points of\ncontention between them. I have endeavoured to eschew those matters,\nand have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence of\nrenderings of my own.\n\nThe Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who\ndivided R\u00e9musat\u2019s translation into forty chapters. The division is\nhelpful to the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or\nfour instances. In the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are\nseparated by a circle in the column.\n\nIn transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally\nfollowed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is\nnow in vogue. We cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them\nwas, about fifteen hundred years ago, in the time of F\u00e2-Hien; but the\nsouthern mandarin must be a shade nearer to it than that of Peking at\nthe present day. In transliterating the Indian names I have for the\nmost part followed Dr. Eitel, with such modification as seemed good and\nin harmony with growing usage.\n\nFor the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection\nand condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the\ntext required explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and\nBuddhist texts especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do\nfor them what many hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done\nfor the Greek and Latin Classics during several hundred years, and what\nthe thousands of critics and commentators have been doing of our Sacred\nScriptures for nearly eighteen centuries. There are few predecessors in\nthe field of Chinese literature into whose labours translators of the\npresent century can enter. This will be received, I hope, as a\nsufficient apology for the minuteness and length of some of the notes.\nA second object in them was to teach myself first, and then others,\nsomething of the history and doctrines of Buddhism. I have thought that\nthey might be learned better in connexion with a lively narrative like\nthat of F\u00e2-Hien than by reading didactic descriptions and argumentative\nbooks. Such has been my own experience. The books which I have\nconsulted for these notes have been many, besides Chinese works. My\nprincipal help has been the full and masterly handbook of Eitel,\nmentioned already, and often referred to as E.H. Spence Hardy\u2019s\n\u201cEastern Monachism\u201d (E.M.) and \u201cManual of Buddhism\u201d (M.B.) have been\nconstantly in hand, as well as Rhys Davids\u2019 Buddhism, published by the\nSociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge, his Hibbert Lectures, and\nhis Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of the East, and other\nwritings. I need not mention other authorities, having endeavoured\nalways to specify them where I make use of them. My proximity and\naccess to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have been of\ngreat advantage.\n\nI may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, I\nthink there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature\nwhich still require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, are\nwe entitled to regard the present S\u00fbtras as genuine and sufficiently\naccurate copies of those which were accepted by the Councils before our\nChristian era? Can anything be done to trace the rise of the legends\nand marvels of S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s history, which were current so early (as it\nseems to us) as the time of F\u00e2-Hien, and which startle us so frequently\nby similarities between them and narratives in our Gospels? Dr. Hermann\nOldenberg, certainly a great authority on Buddhistic subjects, says\nthat \u201ca biography of Buddha has not come down to us from ancient times,\nfrom the age of the P\u00e2li texts; and, we can safely say, no such\nbiography existed then\u201d (\u201cBuddha\u2014His Life, His Doctrine, His Order,\u201d as\ntranslated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also (in the same work, pp. 99, 416,\n417) come to the conclusion that the hitherto unchallenged tradition\nthat the Buddha was \u201ca king\u2019s son\u201d must be given up. The name \u201cking\u2019s\nson\u201d (in Chinese {...}), always used of the Buddha, certainly requires\nto be understood in the highest sense. I am content myself to wait for\nfurther information on these and other points, as the result of\nprolonged and careful research.\n\nDr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and\nNotes, and I most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many\nvaluable corrections in the Notes, and for other suggestions which I\nhave received from him. I may not always think on various points\nexactly as he does, but I am not more forward than he is to say with\nHorace,\u2014\n\n     \u201cNullius addictus jurare in verba magistri.\u201d\n\nI have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean text\nof F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It is on the\nwhole so much superior to the better-known texts, that I determined to\nattempt to reproduce it at the end of the little volume, so far as our\nresources here in Oxford would permit. To do so has not been an easy\ntask. The two fonts of Chinese types in the Clarendon Press were\nprepared primarily for printing the translation of our Sacred\nScriptures, and then extended so as to be available for printing also\nthe Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work necessarily requires many\ntypes not found in them, while many other characters in the Corean\nrecension are peculiar in their forms, and some are what Chinese\ndictionaries denominate \u201cvulgar.\u201d That we have succeeded so well as we\nhave done is owing chiefly to the intelligence, ingenuity, and untiring\nattention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, the Oriental Reader.\n\nThe pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb edition\nof a History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-ch\u00e2u in\nCheh-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese art.\nI am indebted for the use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, University\nChinese Scholar.\n\nJAMES LEGGE.\n\nOxford:\nJune, 1886.\n\n[Illustration: Sketch Map Of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s Travels]\n\nThe accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on the\ndifferent places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently\naccurate knowledge of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s route.\n\nThere is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus\nfrom east to west into the Punj\u00e2b, all the principal places, at which\nhe touched or rested, having been determined by Cunningham and other\nIndian geographers and archaeologists. Most of the places from\nCh\u2019ang-an to Bannu have also been identified. Woo-e has been put down\nas near Kutcha, or Kuldja, in 43\u00b0 25\u2032 N., 81\u00b0 15\u2032 E. The country of\nK\u2019ieh-ch\u2019a was probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the\nplace where the traveller crossed the Indus and entered it must have\nbeen further east than Skardo. A doubt is intimated on page 24 as to\nthe identification of T\u2019o-leih with Darada, but Greenough\u2019s \u201cPhysical\nand Geological Sketch-Map of British India\u201d shows \u201cDardu Proper,\u201d all\nlying on the east of the Indus, exactly in the position where the\nNarrative would lead us to place it. The point at which F\u00e2-Hien\nrecrossed the Indus into Udy\u00e2na on the west of it is unknown.\nTakshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the river,\nand has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the\nPunj\u00e2b. It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese\nphonetisation will allow;\u2014see a note of Beal in his \u201cBuddhist Records\nof the Western World,\u201d i. 138.\n\nWe must suppose that F\u00e2-Hien went on from Nan-king to Ch\u2019ang-an, but\nthe Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nLife of F\u00e2-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his\nNarrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism.\n\n1. Nothing of great importance is known about F\u00e2-Hien in addition to\nwhat may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read\nthe accounts of him in the \u201cMemoirs of Eminent Monks,\u201d compiled in A.D.\n519, and a later work, the \u201cMemoirs of Marvellous Monks,\u201d by the third\nemperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is nearly\nall borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an appearance of\nverisimilitude can be brought within brief compass.\n\nHis surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of W\u00fb-yang in\nP\u2019ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi.\nHe had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died before\nshedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the service of\nthe Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, still keeping\nhim at home in the family. The little fellow fell dangerously ill, and\nthe father sent him to the monastery, where he soon got well and\nrefused to return to his parents.\n\nWhen he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering\nthe widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to\nrenounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, \u201cI\ndid not quit the family in compliance with my father\u2019s wishes, but\nbecause I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This\nis why I chose monkhood.\u201d The uncle approved of his words and gave over\nurging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had been\nthe affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he\nreturned to the monastery.\n\nOn one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his\nfellow-disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away\ntheir grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero\nstood his ground, and said to the thieves, \u201cIf you must have the grain,\ntake what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of charity\nwhich brought you to your present state of destitution; and now, again,\nyou wish to rob others. I am afraid that in the coming ages you will\nhave still greater poverty and distress;\u2014I am sorry for you\nbeforehand.\u201d With these words he followed his companions into the\nmonastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away, all the\nmonks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage to his conduct\nand courage.\n\nWhen he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of\nthe full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and\nstrict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, he\nundertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the\nVinaya-pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels in\nIndia and return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative,\nwith the addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him, on\nhis visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha.\n\nIt is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the\ncapital (evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana\nBuddha-bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had\nobtained in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to do\nin this way, he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and died\nin the monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great\nsorrow of all who knew him. It is added that there is another larger\nwork giving an account of his travels in various countries.\n\nSuch is all the information given about our author, beyond what he\nhimself has told us. F\u00e2-Hien was his clerical name, and means\n\u201cIllustrious in the Law,\u201d or \u201cIllustrious master of the Law.\u201d The Shih\nwhich often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as\nS\u00e2kyamuni, \u201cthe Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and\nSilence,\u201d and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes\nsaid to have belonged to \u201cthe eastern Tsin dynasty\u201d (A.D. 317-419), and\nsometimes to \u201cthe Sung,\u201d that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of Liu\n(A.D. 420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, and went\nto India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been divided\npretty equally between the two dynasties.\n\n2. If there were ever another and larger account of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s travels\nthan the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long\nceased to be in existence.\n\nIn the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D.\n589-618), the name F\u00e2-Hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the\nlast section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, his\nlabours in translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in\nconjunction with Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section,\npage 15, we find \u201cA Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;\u201d\u2014with a note, saying\nthat it was the work of the \u201cSramana, F\u00e2-Hien;\u201d and again, on page 13,\nwe have \u201cNarrative of F\u00e2-Hien in two Books,\u201d and \u201cNarrative of\nF\u00e2-Hien\u2019s Travels in one Book.\u201d But all these three entries may\npossibly belong to different copies of the same work, the first and the\nother two being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue.\n\nIn the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title\nis \u201cRecord of Buddhistic Kingdoms.\u201d In the Japanese or Corean recension\nsubjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, \u201cNarrative\nof the Distinguished Monk, F\u00e2-Hien;\u201d and then, more at large,\n\u201cIncidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern Tsin,\nF\u00e2-Hien, recorded by himself.\u201d\n\nThere is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work\nthan the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonn\u00e9 of the imperial library\nof the present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by Le\nTao-yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei\n(A.D. 386-584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other\n276; both of them given as from the \u201cNarrative of F\u00e2-Hien.\u201d\n\nIn all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The\nevidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be\nrequired. It is clear to myself that the \u201cRecord of Buddhistic\nKingdoms\u201d and the \u201cNarrative of his Travels by F\u00e2-Hien\u201d were\ndesignations of one and the same work, and that it is doubtful whether\nany larger work on the same subject was ever current. With regard to\nthe text subjoined to my translation, it was published in Japan in\n1779. The editor had before him four recensions of the narrative; those\nof the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the names of certain\ncharacters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea. He wisely adopted\nthe Corean text, published in accordance with a royal rescript in 1726,\nso far as I can make out; but the different readings of the other texts\nare all given in top-notes, instead of foot-notes as with us, this\nbeing one of the points in which customs in the east and west go by\ncontraries. Very occasionally, the editor indicates by a single\ncharacter, equivalent to \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong,\u201d which reading in his\nopinion is to be preferred. In the notes to the present republication\nof the Corean text, S stands for Sung, M for Ming, and J for Japanese;\nR for right, and W for wrong. I have taken the trouble to give all the\nvarious readings (amounting to more than 300), partly as a curiosity\nand to make my text complete, and partly to show how, in the\ntranscription of writings in whatever language, such variations are\nsure to occur,\n\n     \u201cmaculae, quas aut incuria fudit,\n     Aut humana parum cavit nature,\u201d\n\nwhile on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the\ndocument.\n\nThe editors of the Catalogue Raisonn\u00e9 intimate their doubts of the good\ntaste and reliability of all F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s statements. It offends them that\nhe should call central India the \u201cMiddle Kingdom,\u201d and China, which to\nthem was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but \u201ca Border land;\u201d\u2014it\noffends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist writer, whereas the\nreader will see in the expressions only an instance of what F\u00e2-Hien\ncalls his \u201csimple straightforwardness.\u201d\n\nAs an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the\nBuddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the\nKhoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;\u2014as if they\ncould have been so 170 years before Mohammed was born, and 222 years\nbefore the year of the Hegira! And this is criticism in China. The\nCatalogue was ordered by the K\u2019ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between three\nand four hundred of the \u201cGreat Scholars\u201d of the empire were engaged on\nit in various departments, and thus egregiously ignorant did they show\nthemselves of all beyond the limits of their own country, and even of\nthe literature of that country itself.\n\nMuch of what F\u00e2-Hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and legends\nis indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth as\nto what he saw and heard.\n\n3. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some\nestimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become\ncurrent, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above\nwhat is correct.\n\ni. In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854),\nGeneral Cunningham says: \u201cThe Christians number about 270 millions; the\nBuddhists about 222 millions, who are distributed as follows:\u2014China 170\nmillions, Japan 25, Anam 14, Siam 3, Ava 8, Nepal 1, and Ceylon 1;\ntotal, 222 millions.\u201d\n\nii. In his article on M. J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire\u2019s \u201cLe Bouddha et\nsa Religion,\u201d republished in his \u201cChips from a German Workshop,\u201d vol.\ni. (1868), Professor Max Muller (p. 215) says, \u201cThe young prince became\nthe founder of a religion which, after more than two thousand years, is\nstill professed by 455 millions of human beings,\u201d and he appends the\nfollowing note: \u201cThough truth is not settled by majorities, it would be\ninteresting to know which religion counts at the present moment the\nlargest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in his \u2018Physical Atlas,\u2019 gives\nthe following division of the human race according to\nreligion:\u2014\u2018Buddhists 31.2 per cent, Christians 30.7, Mohammedans 15.7,\nBrahmanists 13.4, Heathens 8.7, and Jews 0.3.\u2019 As Berghaus does not\ndistinguish the Buddhists in China from the followers of Confucius and\nLaotse, the first place on the scale really belongs to Christianity. It\nis difficult to say to what religion a man belongs, as the same person\nmay profess two or three. The emperor himself, after sacrificing\naccording to the ritual of Confucius, visits a Tao-sse temple, and\nafterwards bows before an image of Fo in a Buddhist chapel. (\u2018M\u00e9langes\nAsiatiques de St. P\u00e9tersbourg,\u2019 vol. ii. p. 374.)\u201d\n\niii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids\n(intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers\nare no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his \u201cManual of\nBuddhism.\u201d The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500\nmillions:\u201430 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam,\nAnam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of whom\nnearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to the\neighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, Christians amount\nto about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, Mohammedans to\nabout 12 1_2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about 1_2.\n\nIn regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense\nnumbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese\nwith which it is credited. Subtract Cunningham\u2019s 170 millions of\nChinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of\nBuddhists. Subtract Davids\u2019 (say) 414 1_2 millions of Chinese from his\ntotal of 500, and there remain only 85 1_2 millions for Buddhism. Of\nthe numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole\npopulations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of\nCeylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the\nimmense multitudes said to be in China. I do not know what total\npopulation Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal\nhe allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;\u2014perhaps he halved his\nestimate of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the\nhighest estimates that have been given of the people.\n\nBut we have no certain information of the population of China. At an\ninterview with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in Paris,\nin 1878, I begged him to write out for me the amount, with the\nauthority for it, and he assured me that it could not be done. I have\nread probably almost everything that has been published on the subject,\nand endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive at a satisfactory\nconclusion;\u2014without reaching a result which I can venture to lay before\nthe public. My impression has been that 400 millions is hardly an\nexaggeration.\n\nBut supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, how\nshall we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, and\nBuddhists? Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common name for\nit is Ju Chiao, \u201cthe Doctrines held by the Learned Class,\u201d entrance\ninto the circle of which is, with a few insignificant exceptions, open\nto all the people. The mass of them and the masses under their\ninfluence are preponderatingly Confucian; and in the observance of\nancestral worship, the most remarkable feature of the religion proper\nof China from the earliest times, of which Confucius was not the author\nbut the prophet, an overwhelming majority are regular and assiduous.\n\nAmong \u201cthe strange principles\u201d which the emperor of the K\u2019ang-hsi\nperiod, in one of his famous Sixteen Precepts, exhorted his people to\n\u201cdiscountenance and put away, in order to exalt the correct doctrine,\u201d\nBuddhism and Taoism were both included. If, as stated in the note\nquoted from Professor Muller, the emperor countenances both the Taoist\nworship and the Buddhist, he does so for reasons of state;\u2014to please\nespecially his Buddhist subjects in Thibet and Mongolia, and not to\noffend the many whose superstitious fancies incline to Taoism.\n\nWhen I went out and in as a missionary among the Chinese people for\nabout thirty years, it sometimes occurred to me that only the inmates\nof their monasteries and the recluses of both systems should be\nenumerated as Buddhists and Taoists; but I was in the end constrained\nto widen that judgment, and to admit a considerable following of both\namong the people, who have neither received the tonsure nor assumed the\nyellow top. Dr. Eitel, in concluding his discussion of this point in\nhis \u201cLecture on Buddhism, an Event in History,\u201d says: \u201cIt is not too\nmuch to say that most Chinese are theoretically Confucianists, but\nemotionally Buddhists or Taoists. But fairness requires us to add that,\nthough the mass of the people are more or less influenced by Buddhist\ndoctrines, yet the people, as a whole, have no respect for the Buddhist\nchurch, and habitually sneer at Buddhist priests.\u201d For the \u201cmost\u201d in\nthe former of these two sentences I would substitute \u201cnearly all;\u201d and\nbetween my friend\u2019s \u201cbut\u201d and \u201cemotionally\u201d I would introduce \u201cmany\nare,\u201d and would not care to contest his conclusion farther. It does\nseem to me preposterous to credit Buddhism with the whole of the vast\npopulation of China, the great majority of whom are Confucianists. My\nown opinion is, that its adherents are not so many as those even of\nMohammedanism, and that instead of being the most numerous of the\nreligions (so called) of the world, it is only entitled to occupy the\nfifth place, ranking below Christianity, Confucianism, Brahmanism, and\nMohammedanism, and followed, some distance off, by Taoism. To make a\ntable of percentages of mankind, and assign to each system its\nproportion, is to seem to be wise where we are deplorably ignorant;\nand, moreover, if our means of information were much better than they\nare, our figures would merely show the outward adherence. A fractional\nper-centage might tell more for one system than a very large integral\none for another.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRAVELS OF F\u00c2-HIEN\nor RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\nFROM CH\u2019ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT\n\n\nF\u00e2-Hien had been living in Ch\u2019ang-gan.(1) Deploring the mutilated and\nimperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the\nsecond year of the period Hw\u0103ng-che, being the Ke-h\u00e2e year of the\ncycle,(2) he entered into an engagement with Kwuy-king, T\u00e2o-ching,\nHwuy-ying, and Hwuy-wei,(3) that they should go to India and seek for\nthe Disciplinary Rules.(4)\n\nAfter starting from Ch\u2019ang-gan, they passed through Lung,(5) and came\nto the kingdom of K\u2019een-kwei,(6) where they stopped for the summer\nretreat.(7) When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom of\nNow-t\u2019an,(8) crossed the mountain of Yang-low, and reached the emporium\nof Chang-yih.(9) There they found the country so much disturbed that\ntravelling on the roads was impossible for them. Its king, however, was\nvery attentive to them, kept them (in his capital), and acted the part\nof their danapati.(10)\n\nHere they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and\nSang-king;(11) and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the\nsame journey with themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that\nyear)(12) together, resuming after it their travelling, and going on to\nT\u2019un-hwang,(13) (the chief town) in the frontier territory of defence\nextending for about 80 le from east to west, and about 40 from north to\nsouth. Their company, increased as it had been, halted there for some\ndays more than a month, after which F\u00e2-Hien and his four friends\nstarted first in the suite of an envoy,(14) having separated (for a\ntime) from Pao-yun and his associates.\n\nLe Hao,(15) the prefect of T\u2019un-hwang, had supplied them with the means\nof crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many evil\ndemons and hot winds. (Travellers) who encounter them perish all to a\nman. There is not a bird to be seen in the air above, nor an animal on\nthe ground below. Though you look all round most earnestly to find\nwhere you can cross, you know not where to make your choice, the only\nmark and indication being the dry bones of the dead (left upon the\nsand).(16)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Ch\u2019ang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its\ncity) in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital of\nthe first empire of Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 24), as it subsequently was that\nof Suy (A.D. 589-618). The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards the\nclose of which F\u00e2-Hien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, and\nCh\u2019ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three Ts\u2019in\nkingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a\nsemi-independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the\ntitle of emperor.\n\n(2) The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the\ngreater portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts\u2019in, a powerful\nprince. He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign in 399, and the\ncyclical name of that year was Kang-tsze. It is not possible at this\ndistance of time to explain, if it could be explained, how F\u00e2-Hien came\nto say that Ke-hae was the second year of the period. It seems most\nreasonable to suppose that he set out on his pilgrimage in A.D. 399,\nthe cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, the second year, instead of\n{.}, the first, might easily creep into the text. In the \u201cMemoirs of\nEminent Monks\u201d it is said that our author started in the third year of\nthe period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, which was A.D. 399.\n\n(3) These, like F\u00e2-Hien itself, are all what we might call \u201cclerical\u201d\nnames, appellations given to the parties as monks or sramanas.\n\n(4) The Buddhist tripitaka or canon consists of three collections,\ncontaining, according to Eitel (p. 150), \u201cdoctrinal aphorisms (or\nstatements, purporting to be from Buddha himself); works on discipline;\nand works on metaphysics:\u201d\u2014called sutra, vinaya, and abhidharma; in\nChinese, king {.}, leuh {.}, and lun {.}, or texts, laws or rules, and\ndiscussions. Dr. Rhys Davids objects to the designation of\n\u201cmetaphysics\u201d as used of the abhidharma works, saying that \u201cthey bear\nmuch more the relation to \u2018dharma\u2019 which \u2018by-law\u2019 bears to \u2018law\u2019 than\nthat which \u2018metaphysics\u2019 bears to \u2018physics\u2019\u201d (Hibbert Lectures, p. 49).\nHowever this be, it was about the vinaya works that F\u00e2-Hien was chiefly\nconcerned. He wanted a good code of the rules for the government of\n\u201cthe Order\u201d in all its internal and external relations.\n\n(5) Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part of\nKan-suh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of Shen-se.\n\n(6) K\u2019een-kwei was the second king of \u201cthe Western Ts\u2019in.\u201d His family\nwas of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe,\nwith the surname of K\u2019eih-fuh. The first king was Kwo-kin, and received\nhis appointment from the sovereign of the chief Ts\u2019in kingdom in 385.\nHe was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the K\u2019een-kwei of the text, who\nwas very prosperous in 398, and took the title of king of Ts\u2019in.\nF\u00e2-Hien would find him at his capital, somewhere in the present\ndepartment of Lan-chow, Kan-suh.\n\n(7) Under varshas or vashavasana (P\u00e2li, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass),\nEitel (p. 163) says:\u2014\u201cOne of the most ancient institutions of Buddhist\ndiscipline, requiring all ecclesiastics to spend the rainy season in a\nmonastery in devotional exercises. Chinese Buddhists naturally\nsubstituted the hot season for the rainy (from the 16th day of the 5th\nto the 15th of the 9th Chinese month).\u201d\n\n(8) During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five\n(usurping) Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire ({.}\n{.}). The name Leang remains in the department of Leang-chow in the\nnorthern part of Kan-suh. The \u201csouthern Leang\u201d arose in 397 under a\nTuh-fah Wu-ku, who was succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and\nhe again by his brother, the Now-t\u2019an of the text, in 402, who was not\nyet king therefore when F\u00e2-Hien and his friends reached his capital.\nHow he is represented as being so may be accounted for in various ways,\nof which it is not necessary to write.\n\n(9) Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department,\nKan-suh. It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far\nfrom the Great Wall. Its king at this time was, probably, Twan-yeh of\n\u201cthe northern Leang.\u201d\n\n(10) Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six\nparamitas, or means of attaining to nirv\u00e2na; and a danapati is \u201cone who\npractises dana and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery.\u201d It is given\nas \u201ca title of honour to all who support the cause of Buddhism by acts\nof charity, especially to founders and patrons of monasteries;\u201d\u2014see\nEitel, p. 29.\n\n(11) Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most\ndistinguished was Pao-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on his\nreturn from India, of which only one seems to be now existing. He died\nin 449. See Nanjio\u2019s Catalogue of the Tripitaka, col. 417.\n\n(12) This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Ch\u2019ang-gan. We\nare now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400.\n\n(13) T\u2019un-hwang (lat. 39\u00b0 40\u2032 N.; lon. 94\u00b0 50\u2032 E.) is still the name of\none of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the\nmost western of the prefectures of Kan-suh; beyond the termination of\nthe Great Wall.\n\n(14) Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The\ntext will not admit of any other translation.\n\n(15) Le Hao was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and kindly\nin his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of T\u2019un-hwang\nby the king of \u201cthe northern Leang,\u201d in 400; and there he sustained\nhimself, becoming by and by \u201cduke of western Leang,\u201d till he died in\n417.\n\n(16) \u201cThe river of sand;\u201d the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having\nvarious other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now\nbefore them,\u2014to cross this desert. The name of \u201criver\u201d in the Chinese\nmisleads the reader, and he thinks of crossing it as of crossing a\nstream; but they had to traverse it from east to west. In his\n\u201cVocabulary of Proper Names,\u201d p. 23, Dr. Porter Smith says:\u2014\u201cIt extends\nfrom the eastern frontier of Mongolia, south-westward to the further\nfrontier of Turkestan, to within six miles of Ilchi, the chief town of\nKhoten. It thus comprises some twenty-three degrees of longitude in\nlength, and from three to ten degrees of latitude in breadth, being\nabout 2,100 miles in its greatest length. In some places it is arable.\nSome idea may be formed of the terror with which this \u2018Sea of Sand,\u2019\nwith its vast billows of shifting sands, is regarded, from the legend\nthat in one of the storms 360 cities were all buried within the space\nof twenty-four hours.\u201d So also Gilmour\u2019s \u201cAmong the Mongols,\u201d chap. 5.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\nON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN\n\n\nAfter travelling for seventeen days, a distance we may calculate of\nabout 1500 le, (the pilgrims) reached the kingdom of Shen-shen,(1) a\ncountry rugged and hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes of\nthe common people are coarse, and like those worn in our land of\nHan,(2) some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth of\nhair;\u2014this was the only difference seen among them. The king professed\n(our) Law, and there might be in the country more than four thousand\nmonks,(3) who were all students of the hinayana.(4) The common people\nof this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the sramans,(5)\nall practise the rules of India,(6) only that the latter do so more\nexactly, and the former more loosely. So (the travellers) found it in\nall the kingdoms through which they went on their way from this to the\nwest, only that each had its own peculiar barbarous speech.(7) (The\nmonks), however, who had (given up the worldly life) and quitted their\nfamilies, were all students of Indian books and the Indian language.\nHere they stayed for about a month, and then proceeded on their\njourney, fifteen days walking to the north-west bringing them to the\ncountry of Woo-e.(8) In this also there were more than four thousand\nmonks, all students of the hinayana. They were very strict in their\nrules, so that sramans from the territory of Ts\u2019in(9) were all\nunprepared for their regulations. F\u00e2-Hien, through the management of\nFoo Kung-sun, _maitre d\u2019hotellerie_,(10) was able to remain (with his\ncompany in the monastery where they were received) for more than two\nmonths, and here they were rejoined by Pao-yun and his friends.(11) (At\nthe end of that time) the people of Woo-e neglected the duties of\npropriety and righteousness, and treated the strangers in so niggardly\na manner that Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, and Hwuy-wei went back towards\nKao-ch\u2019ang,(12) hoping to obtain there the means of continuing their\njourney. F\u00e2-Hien and the rest, however, through the liberality of Foo\nKung-sun, managed to go straight forward in a south-west direction.\nThey found the country uninhabited as they went along. The difficulties\nwhich they encountered in crossing the streams and on their route, and\nthe sufferings which they endured, were unparalleled in human\nexperience, but in the course of a month and five days they succeeded\nin reaching Yu-teen.(13)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the\nBooks of the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of\nChina, about B.C. 80. The greater portion of that is now accessible to\nthe English reader in a translation by Mr. Wylie in the \u201cJournal of the\nAnthropological Institute,\u201d August, 1880. Mr. Wylie says:\u2014\u201cAlthough we\nmay not be able to identify Shen-shen with certainty, yet we have\nsufficient indications to give an appropriate idea of its position, as\nbeing south of and not far from lake Lob.\u201d He then goes into an\nexhibition of those indications, which I need not transcribe. It is\nsufficient for us to know that the capital city was not far from Lob or\nLop Nor, into which in lon. 38\u00b0 E. the Tarim flows. F\u00e2-Hien estimated\nits distance to be 1500 le from T\u2019un-hwang. He and his companions must\nhave gone more than twenty-five miles a day to accomplish the journey\nin seventeen days.\n\n(2) This is the name which F\u00e2-Hien always uses when he would speak of\nChina, his native country, as a whole, calling it from the great\ndynasty which had ruled it, first and last, for between four and five\ncenturies. Occasionally, as we shall immediately see, he speaks of \u201cthe\nterritory of Ts\u2019in or Ch\u2019in,\u201d but intending thereby only the kingdom or\nTs\u2019in, having its capital, as described in the first note on the last\nchapter, in Ch\u2019ang-gan.\n\n(3) So I prefer to translate the character {.} (sang) rather than by\n\u201cpriests.\u201d Even in Christianity, beyond the priestly privilege which\nbelongs to all believers, I object to the ministers of any denomination\nor church calling themselves or being called \u201cpriests;\u201d and much more\nis the name inapplicable to the sramanas or bhikshus of Buddhism which\nacknowledges no God in the universe, no soul in man, and has no\nservices of sacrifice or prayer in its worship. The only difficulty in\nthe use of \u201cmonks\u201d is caused by the members of the sect in Japan which,\nsince the middle of the fifteenth century, has abolished the\nprohibition against marrying on the part of its ministers, and other\nprohibitions in diet and dress. Sang and sang-kea represent the\nSanskrit sangha, constituted by at least four members, and empowered to\nhear confession, to grant absolution, to admit persons to holy orders,\n&c.; secondly, the third constituent of the Buddhistic Trinity, a\ndeification of the _communio sanctorum_, or the Buddhist order. The\nname is used by our author of the monks collectively or individually as\nbelonging to the class, and may be considered as synonymous with the\nname sramana, which will immediately claim our attention.\n\n(4) Meaning the \u201csmall vehicle, or conveyance.\u201d There are in Buddhism\nthe triyana, or \u201cthree different means of salvation, i.e. of conveyance\nacross the samsara, or sea of transmigration, to the shores of nirv\u00e2na.\nAfterwards the term was used to designate the different phases of\ndevelopment through which the Buddhist dogma passed, known as the\nmahayana, hinayana, and madhyamayana.\u201d \u201cThe hinayana is the simplest\nvehicle of salvation, corresponding to the first of the three degrees\nof saintship. Characteristics of it are the preponderance of active\nmoral asceticism, and the absence of speculative mysticism and\nquietism.\u201d E. H., pp. 151-2, 45, and 117.\n\n(5) The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and\nthroughout the book,\u2014T\u2019een-chuh ({.} {.}), the chuh being pronounced,\nprobably, in F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s time as tuk. How the earliest name for India,\nShin-tuk or duk=Scinde, came to be changed into Thien-tuk, it would\ntake too much space to explain. I believe it was done by the Buddhists,\nwishing to give a good auspicious name to the fatherland of their Law,\nand calling it \u201cthe Heavenly Tuk,\u201d just as the Mohammedans call Arabia\n\u201cthe Heavenly region\u201d ({.} {.}), and the court of China itself is\ncalled \u201cthe Celestial\u201d ({.} {.}).\n\n(6) Sraman may in English take the place of Sramana (P\u00e2li, Samana; in\nChinese, Sha-man), the name for Buddhist monks, as those who have\nseparated themselves from (left) their families, and quieted their\nhearts from all intrusion of desire and lust. \u201cIt is employed, first,\nas a general name for ascetics of all denominations, and, secondly, as\na general designation of Buddhistic monks.\u201d E. H., pp. 130, 131.\n\n(7) Tartar or Mongolian.\n\n(8) Woo-e has not been identified. Watters (\u201cChina Review,\u201d viii. 115)\nsays:\u2014\u201cWe cannot be far wrong if we place it in Kharaschar, or between\nthat and Kutscha.\u201d It must have been a country of considerable size to\nhave so many monks in it.\n\n(9) This means in one sense China, but F\u00e2-Hien, in his use of the name,\nwas only thinking of the three Ts\u2019in states of which I have spoken in a\nprevious note; perhaps only of that from the capital of which he had\nhimself set out.\n\n(10) This sentence altogether is difficult to construe, and Mr.\nWatters, in the \u201cChina Review,\u201d was the first to disentangle more than\none knot in it. I am obliged to adopt the reading of {.} {.} in the\nChinese editions, instead of the {.} {.} in the Corean text. It seems\nclear that only one person is spoken of as assisting the travellers,\nand his name, as appears a few sentences farther on, was Foo Kung-sun.\nThe {.} {.} which immediately follows the surname Foo {.}, must be\ntaken as the name of his office, corresponding, as the {.} shows, to\nthat of _le maitre d\u2019hotellerie_ in a Roman Catholic abbey. I was once\nindebted myself to the kind help of such an officer at a monastery in\nCanton province. The Buddhistic name for him is uddesika=overseer. The\nKung-sun that follows his surname indicates that he was descended from\nsome feudal lord in the old times of the Chow dynasty. We know indeed\nof no ruling house which had the surname of Foo, but its adoption by\nthe grandson of a ruler can be satisfactorily accounted for; and his\nposterity continued to call themselves Kung-sun, duke or lord\u2019s\ngrandson, and so retain the memory of the rank of their ancestor.\n\n(11) Whom they had left behind them at T\u2019un-hwang.\n\n(12) The country of the Ouighurs, the district around the modern Turfan\nor Tangut.\n\n(13) Yu-teen is better known as Khoten. Dr. P. Smith gives (p. 11) the\nfollowing description of it:\u2014\u201cA large district on the south-west of the\ndesert of Gobi, embracing all the country south of Oksu and Yarkand,\nalong the northern base of the Kwun-lun mountains, for more than 300\nmiles from east to west. The town of the same name, now called Ilchi,\nis in an extensive plain on the Khoten river, in lat. 37\u00b0 N., and lon.\n80\u00b0 35\u2032 E. After the Tungani insurrection against Chinese rule in 1862,\nthe Mufti Haji Habeeboolla was made governor of Khoten, and held the\noffice till he was murdered by Yakoob Beg, who became for a time the\nconqueror of all Chinese Turkestan. Khoten produces fine linen and\ncotton stuffs, jade ornaments, copper, grain, and fruits.\u201d The name in\nSanskrit is Kustana. (E. H., p. 60).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\nKHOTEN. PROCESSIONS OF IMAGES. THE KING\u2019S NEW MONASTERY.\n\n\nYu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom, with a numerous and\nflourishing population. The inhabitants all profess our Law, and join\ntogether in its religious music for their enjoyment.(1) The monks\namount to several myriads, most of whom are students of the\nmahayana.(2) They all receive their food from the common store.(3)\nThroughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like\n(separate) stars, and each family has a small tope(4) reared in front\nof its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or rather\nmore.(5) They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from all\nquarters,(5) the use of which is given to travelling monks who may\narrive, and who are provided with whatever else they require.\n\nThe lord of the country lodged F\u00e2-Hien and the others comfortably, and\nsupplied their wants, in a monastery(6) called Gomati,(6) of the\nmahayana school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who are\ncalled to their meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the\nrefectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they\ntake their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence.\nNo sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any of\nthese pure men(7) require food, they are not allowed to call out (to\nthe attendants) for it, but only make signs with their hands.\n\nHwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the\ncountry of K\u2019eeh-ch\u2019a;(8) but F\u00e2-Hien and the others, wishing to see\nthe procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are\nin this country four(9) great monasteries, not counting the smaller\nones. Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and\nwater the streets inside the city, making a grand display in the lanes\nand byways. Over the city gate they pitch a large tent, grandly adorned\nin all possible ways, in which the king and queen, with their ladies\nbrilliantly arrayed,(10) take up their residence (for the time).\n\nThe monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held in\ngreat reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the\nprocession. At a distance of three or four le from the city, they made\na four-wheeled image car, more than thirty cubits high, which looked\nlike the great hall (of a monastery) moving along. The seven precious\nsubstances(11) were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers\nand canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image(12) stood in the\nmiddle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas(13) in attendance upon it,\nwhile devas(14) were made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved\nin gold and silver, and hanging in the air. When (the car) was a\nhundred paces from the gate, the king put off his crown of state,\nchanged his dress for a fresh suit, and with bare feet, carrying in his\nhands flowers and incense, and with two rows of attending followers,\nwent out at the gate to meet the image; and, with his head and face\n(bowed to the ground), he did homage at its feet, and then scattered\nthe flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was entering the\ngate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in the gallery above\nscattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which floated about and\nfell promiscuously to the ground. In this way everything was done to\npromote the dignity of the occasion. The carriages of the monasteries\nwere all different, and each one had its own day for the procession.\n(The ceremony) began on the first day of the fourth month, and ended on\nthe fourteenth, after which the king and queen returned to the palace.\n\nSeven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the\nKing\u2019s New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and\nextended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in height, rich in\nelegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver,\nand finished throughout with a combination of all the precious\nsubstances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of Buddha,(15)\nof the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed\ndoors, and windows being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, the\napartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, beyond\nthe power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest value and\npreciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the (Ts\u2019ung)\nrange of mountains(16) are possessed, they contribute the greater\nportion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them\nthemselves.(17)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) This fondness for music among the Khoteners is mentioned by Hsuan\nand Ch\u2019wang and others.\n\n(2) Mahayana. It is a later form of the Buddhist doctrine, the second\nphase of its development corresponding to the state of a Bodhisattva,\nwho, being able to transport himself and all mankind to nirv\u00e2na, may be\ncompared to a huge vehicle. See Davids on the \u201cKey-note of the \u2018Great\nVehicle,\u2019\u201d Hibbert Lectures, p. 254.\n\n(3) F\u00e2-Hien supplies sufficient information of how the common store or\nfunds of the monasteries were provided, farther on in chapters xvi and\nxxxix, as well as in other passages. As the point is important, I will\ngive here, from Davids\u2019 fifth Hibbert Lecture (p. 178), some of the\nwords of the dying Buddha, taken from \u201cThe Book of the Great Decease,\u201d\nas illustrating the statement in this text:\u2014\u201cSo long as the brethren\nshall persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought among the\nsaints, both in public and private; so long as they shall divide\nwithout partiality, and share in common with the upright and holy, all\nsuch things as they receive in accordance with the just provisions of\nthe order, down even to the mere contents of a begging bowl; . . . so\nlong may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.\u201d\n\n(4) The Chinese {.} (t\u2019ah; in Cantonese, t\u2019ap), as used by F\u00e2-Hien, is,\nno doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or P\u00e2li thupa; and it\nis well in translating to use for the structures described by him the\nname of topes,\u2014made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian\nantiquarians. In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one\nbuilt under the superintendence of Buddha himself, \u201cas a model for all\ntopes in future.\u201d They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes,\nand were solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with a\nseries of rings, varying in number. But their form, I suppose, was\noften varied; just as we have in China pagodas of different shapes.\nThere are several topes now in the Indian Institute at Oxford, brought\nfrom Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much smaller than \u201cthe\nsmallest\u201d of those of Khoten. They were intended chiefly to contain the\nrelics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what relics could\nthere be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi?\n\n(5) The meaning here is much disputed. The author does not mean to say\nthat the monk\u2019s apartments were made \u201csquare,\u201d but that the monasteries\nwere made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms.\n\n(6) The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,\u2014Sangharama,\n\u201cgardens of the assembly,\u201d originally denoting only \u201cthe surrounding\npark, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the premises\u201d (E. H.,\np. 118). Gomati, the name of this monastery, means \u201crich in cows.\u201d\n\n(7) A denomination for the monks as vimala, \u201cundefiled\u201d or \u201cpure.\u201d\nGiles makes it \u201cthe menials that attend on the monks,\u201d but I have not\nmet with it in that application.\n\n(8) K\u2019eeh-ch\u2019a has not been clearly identified. R\u00e9musat made it\nCashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel, Khas\u2019a,\n\u201can ancient tribe on the Paropamisus, the Kasioi of Ptolemy.\u201d I think\nit was Ladak, or some well-known place in it. Hwuy-tah, unless that\nname be an alias, appears here for the first time.\n\n(9) Instead of \u201cfour,\u201d the Chinese copies of the text have \u201cfourteen;\u201d\nbut the Corean reading is, probably, more correct.\n\n(10) There may have been, as Giles says, \u201cmaids of honour;\u201d but the\ncharacter does not say so.\n\n(11) The Sapta-ratna, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, rubies,\ndiamonds or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East (Davids\u2019\nBuddhist Suttas), vol. xi., p. 249.\n\n(12) No doubt that of S\u00e2kyamuni himself.\n\n(13) A Bodhisattva is one whose essence has become intelligence; a\nBeing who will in some future birth as a man (not necessarily or\nusually the next) attain to Buddhahood. The name does not include those\nBuddhas who have not yet attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na. The symbol of the\nstate is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its abbreviated form\nP\u2019u-sa is used in China for any idol or image; here the name has its\nproper signification.\n\n(14) {.} {.}, \u201call the thien,\u201d or simply \u201cthe thien\u201d taken as plural.\nBut in Chinese the character called thien {.} denotes heaven, or\nHeaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Ti, meaning God. With the\nBuddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmanic gods, or all the\ninhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism\nbetween Buddhism and Brahmanism, and still more that between it and\nConfucianism.\n\n(15) Giles and Williams call this \u201cthe oratory of Buddha.\u201d But\n\u201coratory\u201d gives the idea of a small apartment, whereas the name here\nleads the mind to think of a large \u201chall.\u201d I once accompanied the monks\nof a large monastery from their refectory to the Hall of Buddha, which\nwas a lofty and spacious apartment splendidly fitted up.\n\n(16) The Ts\u2019ung, or \u201cOnion\u201d range, called also the Belurtagh mountains,\nincluding the Karakorum, and forming together the connecting links\nbetween the more northern T\u2019een-shan and the Kwun-lun mountains on the\nnorth of Thibet. It would be difficult to name the six countries which\nF\u00e2-Hien had in mind.\n\n(17) This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it was\nthat the author meant to say that the contributions which they received\nwere spent by the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to a small\nextent for themselves; and I still hesitate between that view and the\none in the version.\n    There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang {.} {.}, which is\n    one of the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not\n    only of support in the way of substantial contributions given to\n    monks, monasteries, and Buddhism, but generally of all Buddhistic\n    worship, if I may use that term in the connexion. Let me here quote\n    two or three sentences from Davids\u2019 Manual (pp. 168-170):\u2014\u201cThe\n    members of the order are secured from want. There is no place in\n    the Buddhist scheme for churches; the offering of flowers before\n    the sacred tree or image of the Buddha takes the place of worship.\n    Buddhism does not acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the\n    warm countries where Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the\n    law, or preaching of the word, in public, can take place best in\n    the open air, by moonlight, under a simple roof of trees or palms.\n    There are five principal kinds of meditation, which in Buddhism\n    takes the place of prayer.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\nTHROUGH THE TS\u2019UNG OR \u201cONION\u201d MOUNTAINS TO K\u2019EEH-CH\u2019A;\u2014PROBABLY SKARDO,\nOR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK.\n\n\nWhen the processions of images in the fourth month were over,\nSang-shao, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest\nfollower of the Law,(1) and proceeded towards Kophene.(2) F\u00e2-Hien and\nthe others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them\ntwenty-five days to reach.(3) Its king was a strenuous follower of our\nLaw,(4) and had (around him) more than a thousand monks, mostly\nstudents of the mahayana. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days, and\nthen went south for four days, when they found themselves among the\nTs\u2019ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,(5) where\nthey halted and kept their retreat.(6) When this was over, they went on\namong the hills(7) for twenty-five days, and got to K\u2019eeh-ch\u2019a,(8)\nthere rejoining Hwuy-king(9) and his two companions.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) This Tartar is called a {.} {.}, \u201ca man of the Tao,\u201d or faith of\nBuddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man who\nis not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose faith is\nalways making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be used of\nfollowers of other systems of faith besides Buddhism.\n\n(2) See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of the\nfirst Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200 le\nfrom Ch\u2019ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan.\nThe name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be\nthe same as the present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from\nthe west, at Attock, after passing Peshawar. The city of Cabul, the\ncapital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text; but we do not\nknow that Sang-shao and his guide got so far west. The text only says\nthat they set out from Khoten \u201ctowards it.\u201d\n\n(3) Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand,\nwhich, however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters (\u201cChina Review,\u201d p.\n135) rather approves the suggestion of \u201cTashkurgan in Sirikul\u201d for it.\nAs it took F\u00e2-Hien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have been at\nleast 150 miles from Khoten.\n\n(4) The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting the\npossession of viryabala, \u201cthe power of energy; persevering exertion\u2014one\nof the five moral powers\u201d (E. H., p. 170).\n\n(5) Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was directly\nsouth from Tsze-hoh, and among the \u201cOnion\u201d mountains. Watters hazards\nthe conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps.\n\n(6) This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the\npilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, \u201cquiet rest,\u201d\nwithout any mention of the season, indicating their approach to India,\nE. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they left\nCh\u2019ang-gan. Are we now with them in 402?\n\n(7) This is the Corean reading {.}, much preferable to the {.} of the\nChinese editions.\n\n(8) Watters approves of Klaproth\u2019s determination of K\u2019eeh-ch\u2019a to be\nIskardu or Skardo. There are difficulties in connexion with the view,\nbut it has the advantage, to my mind very great, of bringing the\npilgrims across the Indus. The passage might be accomplished with ease\nat this point of the river\u2019s course, and therefore is not particularly\nmentioned.\n\n(9) Who had preceded them from Khoten.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\nGREAT QUINQUENNIAL ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. RELICS OF BUDDHA. PRODUCTIONS OF\nTHE COUNTRY.\n\n\nIt happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha\nparishad, that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.(1) When\nthis is to be held, the king requests the presence of the Sramans from\nall quarters (of his kingdom). They come (as if) in clouds; and when\nthey are all assembled, their place of session is grandly decorated.\nSilken streamers and canopies are hung out in, and water-lilies in gold\nand silver are made and fixed up behind the places where (the chief of\nthem) are to sit. When clean mats have been spread, and they are all\nseated, the king and his ministers present their offerings according to\nrule and law. (The assembly takes place), in the first, second, or\nthird month, for the most part in the spring.\n\nAfter the king has held the assembly, he further exhorts the ministers\nto make other and special offerings. The doing of this extends over\none, two, three, five, or even seven days; and when all is finished, he\ntakes his own riding-horse, saddles, bridles, and waits on him\nhimself,(2) while he makes the noblest and most important minister of\nthe kingdom mount him. Then, taking fine white woollen cloth, all sorts\nof precious things, and articles which the Sramans require, he\ndistributes them among them, uttering vows at the same time along with\nall his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place, he again\nredeems (whatever he wishes) from the monks.(3)\n\nThe country, being among the hills and cold, does not produce the other\ncereals, and only the wheat gets ripe. After the monks have received\ntheir annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show the\nhoar-frost, and on this account the king always begs the monks to make\nthe wheat ripen(4) before they receive their portion. There is in the\ncountry a spitoon which belonged to Buddha, made of stone, and in\ncolour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth of Buddha, for which\nthe people have reared a tope, connected with which there are more than\na thousand monks and their disciples,(5) all students of the hinayana.\nTo the east of these hills the dress of the common people is of coarse\nmaterials, as in our country of Ts\u2019in, but here also(6) there were\namong them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of serge or\nhaircloth. The rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable, and too\nnumerous to be mentioned in detail. The country is in the midst of the\nOnion range. As you go forward from these mountains, the plants, trees,\nand fruits are all different from those of the land of Han, excepting\nonly the bamboo, pomegranate,(7) and sugar-cane.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as \u201can ecclesiastical\nconference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of\nsins and inculcation of morality.\u201d\n\n(2) The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators,\nincluding myself, have been puzzled by it.\n\n(3) See what we are told of king Asoka\u2019s grant of all the Jambudvipa to\nthe monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of\nsimilar gifts in the Mahavansa.\n\n(4) Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of\nK\u2019eeh-ch\u2019a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers.\n\n(5) The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone. I often found in\nmonasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as\ntheir preceptors.\n\n(6) Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of\nShen-shen.\n\n(7) Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary\nname for \u201cpomegranate\u201d is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate was\ncalled at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China from\nGan-seih by Chang-k\u2019een, who is referred to in chapter vii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\nON TOWARDS NORTH INDIA. DARADA. IMAGE OF MAITREYA BODHISATTVA.\n\n\nFrom this (the travellers) went westwards towards North India, and\nafter being on the way for a month, they succeeded in getting across\nand through the range of the Onion mountains. The snow rests on them\nboth winter and summer. There are also among them venomous dragons,\nwhich, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause showers of\nsnow and storms of sand and gravel. Not one in ten thousand of those\nwho encounter these dangers escapes with his life. The people of the\ncountry call the range by the name of \u201cThe Snow mountains.\u201d When (the\ntravellers) had got through them, they were in North India, and\nimmediately on entering its borders, found themselves in a small\nkingdom called T\u2019o-leih,(1) where also there were many monks, all\nstudents of the hinayana.\n\nIn this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,(2) who by his supernatural\npower(3) took a clever artificer up to the Tushita heaven, to see the\nheight, complexion, and appearance of Maitreya Bodhisattva,(4) and then\nreturn and make an image of him in wood. First and last, this was done\nthree times, and then the image was completed, eighty cubits in height,\nand eight cubits at the base from knee to knee of the crossed legs. On\nfast-days it emits an effulgent light. The kings of the (surrounding)\ncountries vie with one another in presenting offerings to it. Here it\nis,\u2014to be seen now as of old.(5)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Eitel and others identify this with Darada, the country of the\nancient Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30\u00b0 11\u2032 N., lon. 73\u00b0 54\u2032\nE. See E. H. p. 30. I am myself in more than doubt on the point.\nCunningham (\u201cAncient Geography of India,\u201d p. 82) says \u201cDarel is a\nvalley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by\nDardus or Dards, from whom it received its name.\u201d But as I read our\nnarrative, F\u00e2-Hien is here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only\ncrosses to the western bank as described in the next chapter.\n\n(2) Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya,\nthe disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or\neightfold excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to\nbe reborn again. Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural\npowers, and is not to be succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact\nof the saint having already attained nirv\u00e2na. Popularly, the Chinese\ndesignate by this name the wider circle of Buddha\u2019s disciples, as well\nas the smaller ones of 500 and 18. No temple in Canton is better worth\na visit than that of the 500 Lo-han.\n\n(3) Riddhi-sakshatkriya, \u201cthe power of supernatural footsteps,\u201c=\u201da body\nflexible at pleasure,\u201d or unlimited power over the body. E. H., p. 104.\n\n(4) Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn\nbefore finally appearing on earth as Buddha. Life lasts in Tushita 4000\nyears, but twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on earth. E.\nH., p. 152.\n\n(5) Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, \u201cthe\nInvincible,\u201d was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of\nS\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary (historical)\ndisciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents. It was in the\nTushita heaven that S\u00e2kyamuni met him and appointed him as his\nsuccessor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years. Maitreya\nis therefore the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing at present\nin Tushita, and, according to the account of him in Eitel (H., p. 70),\n\u201calready controlling the propagation of the Buddhistic faith.\u201d The name\nmeans \u201cgentleness\u201d or \u201ckindness;\u201d and this will be the character of his\ndispensation.\n\n(6) The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding sentence,\nand so frequently occurring throughout the narrative, has occasioned no\nlittle dispute among previous translators. In the imperial thesaurus of\nphraseology (P\u2019ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an example of it is given\nfrom Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} {.} is equivalent to\n{.} {.}, \u201canciently and now.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\nCROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE\nEAST\n\n\nThe travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot\nof the mountains, and) following the course of their range. The way was\ndifficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly precipitous,\nwhich rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 cubits from the\nbase. When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes become unsteady; and\nif he wished to go forward in the same direction, there was no place on\nwhich he could place his foot; and beneath where the waters of the\nriver called the Indus.(1) In former times men had chiselled paths\nalong the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face of them, to the\nnumber altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there was a suspension\nbridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its banks being there\neighty paces apart.(2) The (place and arrangements) are to be found in\nthe Records of the Nine Interpreters,(3) but neither Chang K\u2019een(4) nor\nKan Ying(5) had reached the spot.\n\nThe monks(6) asked F\u00e2-Hien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha\nfirst went to the east. He replied, \u201cWhen I asked the people of those\ncountries about it, they all said that it had been handed down by their\nfathers from of old that, after the setting up of the image of Maitreya\nBodhisattva, there were Sramans of India who crossed this river,\ncarrying with them S\u00fbtras and Books of Discipline. Now the image was\nset up rather more than 300 years after the nirv\u00e2na(7) of Buddha, which\nmay be referred to the reign of king P\u2019ing of the Chow dynasty.(8)\nAccording to this account we may say that the diffusion of our great\ndoctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) this image. If\nit had not been through that Maitreya,(9) the great spiritual\nmaster(10) (who is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who could have\ncaused the \u2018Three Precious Ones\u2019(11) to be proclaimed so far, and the\npeople of those border lands to know our Law? We know of a truth that\nthe opening of (the way for such) a mysterious propagation is not the\nwork of man; and so the dream of the emperor Ming of Han(12) had its\nproper cause.\u201d\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in China\nfor India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a name\napproaching that in sound.\n\n(2) Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) the\nfollowing description of the course of the Indus in these parts, in\nstriking accordance with our author\u2019s account:\u2014\u201cFrom Skardo to Rongdo,\nand from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100 miles, the\nIndus sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in the mountains,\nwhich for wild sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo means the\ncountry of defiles. . . . Between these points the Indus raves from\nside to side of the gloomy chasm, foaming and chafing with ungovernable\nfury. Yet even in these inaccessible places has daring and ingenious\nman triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning abyss is spanned by\nfrail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are connected by\nladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething cauldron\nbelow.\u201d\n\n(3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese\ncopies,\u2014one which R\u00e9musat (with true critical instinct) conjectured\nshould take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he\nwas acquainted. The \u201cNine Interpreters\u201d would be a general name for the\nofficial interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in their\nattempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The phrase\noccurs in the memoir of Chang K\u2019een, referred to in the next note.\n\n(4) Chang K\u2019een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), is\ncelebrated as the first Chinese who \u201cpierced the void,\u201d and penetrated\nto \u201cthe regions of the west,\u201d corresponding very much to the present\nTurkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse was\nestablished between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of that\nquarter;\u2014see Mayers\u2019 Chinese Reader\u2019s Manual, p. 5. The memoir of Chang\nK\u2019een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the first Han dynasty,\nappears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, referred to\nalready.\n\n(5) Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K\u2019een. Being sent in A.D.\n88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only\ngot as far as the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended,\nhowever, the knowledge of his countrymen with regard to the western\nregions;\u2014see the memoir of Pan Chao in the Books of the second Han, and\nMayers\u2019 Manual, pp. 167, 168.\n\n(6) Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing\nthe Indus.\n\n(7) This may refer to S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s becoming Buddha on attaining to\nnirv\u00e2na, or more probably to his pari-nirv\u00e2na and death.\n\n(8) As king P\u2019ing\u2019s reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would place\nthe death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent\ninquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few\nyears, after that of Confucius, so that the two great \u201cMasters\u201d of the\neast were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I\nthink he is, in fixing the date of Buddha\u2019s death within a few years of\n412 B.C. (see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard\u2019s still\nlower date, then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of\nConfucius.\n\n(9) This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already\ncontrolling the propagation of the faith.\n\n(10) The Chinese characters for this simply mean \u201cthe great scholar or\nofficer;\u201d but see Eitel\u2019s Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha.\n\n(11) \u201cThe precious Buddha,\u201d \u201cthe precious Law,\u201d and \u201cthe precious\nMonkhood;\u201d Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to\nBuddhism.\n\n(12) F\u00e2-Hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into\nChina in this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\nWOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA.\n\n\nAfter crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the\nkingdom of Woo-chang,(1) which is indeed (a part) of North India. The\npeople all use the language of Central India, \u201cCentral India\u201d being\nwhat we should call the \u201cMiddle Kingdom.\u201d The food and clothes of the\ncommon people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of\nBuddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where\nthe monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and of\nthese there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the\nhinayana. When stranger bhikshus(2) arrive at one of them, their wants\nare supplied for three days, after which they are told to find a\nresting-place for themselves.\n\nThere is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at\nonce to this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, which\nis long or short according to the ideas of the beholder (on the\nsubject). It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the\npresent day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried\nhis clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon.(3) The\nrock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one side\nof it smooth.\n\nHwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place of)\nBuddha\u2019s shadow in the country of Nagara;(4) but F\u00e2-Hien and the others\nremained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.(5) That over, they\ndescended south, and arrived in the country of Soo-ho-to.(6)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Udy\u00e2na, meaning \u201cthe Park;\u201d just north of the Punj\u00e2b, the country\nalong the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests,\nflowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153).\n\n(2) Bhikshu is the name for a monk as \u201cliving by alms,\u201d a mendicant.\nAll bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are used\ntogether by our author.\n\n(3) Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often\nmeaning a snake, especially the boa. \u201cChinese Buddhists,\u201d says Eitel,\np. 79, \u201cwhen speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them as\nenemies of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, lakes,\nor oceans, they describe them as piously inclined.\u201d The dragon,\nhowever, is in China the symbol of the Sovereign and Sage, a use of it\nunknown in Buddhism, according to which all nagas need to be converted\nin order to obtain a higher phase of being. The use of the character\ntoo {.}, as here, in the sense of \u201cto convert,\u201d is entirely Buddhistic.\nThe six paramitas are the six virtues which carry men across {.} the\ngreat sea of life and death, as the sphere of transmigration to\nnirv\u00e2na. With regard to the particular conversion here, Eitel (p. 11)\nsays the Naga\u2019s name was Apatala, the guardian deity of the Subhavastu\nriver, and that he was converted by S\u00e2kyamuni shortly before the death\nof the latter.\n\n(4) In Chinese Na-k\u2019eeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern\nbank of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad.\n\n(5) We would seem now to be in 403.\n\n(6) Soo-ho-to has not been clearly identified. Beal says that later\nBuddhist writers include it in Udy\u00e2na. It must have been between the\nIndus and the Swat. I suppose it was what we now call Swastene.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\nSOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA.\n\n\nIn that country also Buddhism(1) is flourishing. There is in it the\nplace where Sakra,(2) Ruler of Devas, in a former age,(3) tried the\nBodhisattva, by producing(4) a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the\nBodhisattva) cut off a piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed\nthe dove. After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom,(5) and in\ntravelling about with his disciples (arrived at this spot), he informed\nthem that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with a piece of\nhis own flesh. In this way the people of the country became aware of\nthe fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with layers(6) of gold\nand silver plates.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, \u201cthe Law of\nBuddha,\u201d and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent\noccurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate\nrendering of them any more than Christianity would be of {to euaggelion\nXristou}. The Fa or Law is the equivalent of dharma comprehending all\nin the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,\u2014as Dr. Davids says\n(Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), \u201cits ethics and philosophy, and its system\nof self-culture;\u201d with the theory of karma, it seems to me, especially\nunderlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham\u2019s \u201cBhilsa Topes,\u201d p.\n102) that dharma is the keystone of all king Priyadarsi or Asoka\u2019s\nedicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the attainment of one\nobject, \u201cthe advancement of dharma, or of the Law of Buddha.\u201d His\nnative Chinese afforded no better character than {.} or Law, by which\nour author could express concisely his idea of the Buddhistic system,\nas \u201ca law of life,\u201d a directory or system of Rules, by which men could\nattain to the consummation of their being.\n\n(2) Sakra is a common name for the Brahmanic Indra, adopted by Buddhism\ninto the circle of its own great adherents;\u2014it has been said, \u201cbecause\nof his popularity.\u201d He is generally styled, as here, T\u2019een Ti, \u201cGod or\nRuler of Devas.\u201d He is now the representative of the secular power, the\nvaliant protector of the Buddhist body, but is looked upon as inferior\nto S\u00e2kyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He appears several times in\nF\u00e2-Hien\u2019s narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46.\n\n(3) The Chinese character is {.}, \u201cformerly,\u201d and is often, as in the\nfirst sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At\nother times it means, as here, \u201cin a former age,\u201d some pre-existent\nstate in the time of a former birth. The incident related is \u201ca Jataka\nstory.\u201d\n\n(4) It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters {.}\n{.} by \u201cchanged himself to.\u201d Such is often their meaning in the sequel,\nbut their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial test of\nthe meaning which I have given them here.\n\n(5) That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course {.} {.}.\n\n(6) This seems to be the contribution of {.} (or {.}), to the force of\nthe binomial {.} {.}, which is continually occurring.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\nGANDHARA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA.\n\n\nThe travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in five\ndays came to the country of Gandhara,(1) the place where\nDharma-vivardhana,(2) the son of Asoka,(3) ruled. When Buddha was a\nBodhisattva, he gave his eyes also for another man here;(4) and at the\nspot they have also reared a large tope, adorned with layers of gold\nand silver plates. The people of the country were mostly students of\nthe hinayana.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Eitel says \u201can ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about\nDheri and Banjour.\u201d But see note 5.\n\n(2) Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fa Yi\n{.} {.} of the text.\n\n(3) Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;\u2014the Constantine of the\nBuddhist society, and famous for the number of vih\u00e2ras and topes which\nhe erected. He was the grandson of Chandragupta (i.q. Sandracottus), a\nrude adventurer, who at one time was a refugee in the camp of Alexander\nthe Great; and within about twenty years afterwards drove the Greeks\nout of India, having defeated Seleucus, the Greek ruler of the Indus\nprovinces. He had by that time made himself king of Magadha. His\ngrandson was converted to Buddhism by the bold and patient demeanour of\nan Arhat whom he had ordered to be buried alive, and became a most\nzealous supporter of the new faith. Dr. Rhys Davids (Sacred Books of\nthe East, vol. xi, p. xlvi) says that \u201cAsoka\u2019s coronation can be fixed\nwith absolute certainty within a year or two either way of 267 B.C.\u201d\n\n(4) This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth,\nconstructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\nTAKSHASILA. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES.\n\n\nSeven days\u2019 journey from this to the east brought the travellers to the\nkingdom of Takshasila,(1) which means \u201cthe severed head\u201d in the\nlanguage of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away\nhis head to a man;(2) and from this circumstance the kingdom got its\nname.\n\nGoing on further for two days to the east, they came to the place where\nthe Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving tigress.(2) In\nthese two places also large topes have been built, both adorned with\nlayers of all the precious substances. The kings, ministers, and\npeoples of the kingdoms around vie with one another in making offerings\nat them. The trains of those who come to scatter flowers and light\nlamps at them never cease. The nations of those quarters all those (and\nthe other two mentioned before) \u201cthe four great topes.\u201d\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) See Julien\u2019s \u201cMethode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les Nomes\nSanscrits,\u201d p. 206. Eitel says, \u201cThe Taxila of the Greeks, the region\nnear Hoosun Abdaul in lat. 35\u00b0 48\u2032 N., lon. 72\u00b0 44\u2032 E.\u201d But this\nidentification, I am satisfied, is wrong. Cunningham, indeed, takes\ncredit (\u201cAncient Geography of India,\u201d pp. 108, 109) for determining\nthis to be the site of Arrian\u2019s Taxila,\u2014in the upper Punj\u00e2b, still\nexisting in the ruins of Shahdheri, between the Indus and Hydaspes (the\nmodern Jhelum). So far he may be correct; but the Takshasila of F\u00e2-Hien\nwas on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between the river\nand Gandhara. It took him, indeed, seven days travelling eastwards to\nreach it; but we do not know what stoppages he may have made on the\nway. We must be wary in reckoning distances from his specifications of\ndays.\n\n(2) Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence Hardy\u2019s\n\u201cManual of Buddhism,\u201d pp. 91, 92. It took place when Buddha had been\nborn as a Brahman in the village of Daliddi; and from the merit of the\nact, he was next born in a devaloka.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\nPURUSHAPURA, OR PESHAWUR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND HIS TOPE.\nBUDDHA\u2019S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING.\n\n\nGoing southwards from Gandhara, (the travellers) in four days arrived\nat the kingdom of Purushapura.(1) Formerly, when Buddha was travelling\nin this country with his disciples, he said to Ananda,(2) \u201cAfter my\npari-nirv\u00e2na,(3) there will be a king named Kanishka,(4) who shall on\nthis spot build a tope.\u201d This Kanishka was afterwards born into the\nworld; and (once), when he had gone forth to look about him, Sakra,\nRuler of Devas, wishing to excite the idea in his mind, assumed the\nappearance of a little herd-boy, and was making a tope right in the way\n(of the king), who asked what sort of thing he was making. The boy\nsaid, \u201cI am making a tope for Buddha.\u201d The king said, \u201cVery good;\u201d and\nimmediately, right over the boy\u2019s tope, he (proceeded to) rear another,\nwhich was more than four hundred cubits high, and adorned with layers\nof all the precious substances. Of all the topes and temples which (the\ntravellers) saw in their journeyings, there was not one comparable to\nthis in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur. There is a current saying\nthat this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa.(5) When the king\u2019s tope was\ncompleted, the little tope (of the boy) came out from its side on the\nsouth, rather more than three cubits in height.\n\nBuddha\u2019s alms-bowl is in this country. Formerly, a king of Yueh-she(6)\nraised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the\nbowl away. Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were\nsincere believers in the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the\nbowl, they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale. When\nthey had done so to the Three Precious Ones, he made a large elephant\nbe grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon it. But the elephant\nknelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. Again he caused\na four-wheeled waggon to be prepared in which the bowl was put to be\nconveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and dragged it\nwith their united strength; but neither were they able to go forward.\nThe king knew that the time for an association between himself and the\nbowl had not yet arrived,(7) and was sad and deeply ashamed of himself.\nForthwith he built a tope at the place and a monastery, and left a\nguard to watch (the bowl), making all sorts of contributions.\n\nThere may be there more than seven hundred monks. When it is near\nmidday, they bring out the bowl, and, along with the common people,(8)\nmake their various offerings to it, after which they take their midday\nmeal. In the evening, at the time of incense, they bring the bowl out\nagain.(9) It may contain rather more than two pecks, and is of various\ncolours, black predominating, with the seams that show its fourfold\ncomposition distinctly marked.(10) Its thickness is about the fifth of\nan inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor people throw\ninto it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some very\nrich people, wishing to make offering of many flowers, might not stop\ntill they had thrown in hundreds, thousands, and myriads of bushels,\nand yet would not be able to fill it.(11)\n\nPao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the\nalms-bowl, and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and\nTao-ching had gone on before the rest to Negara,(12) to make their\nofferings at (the places of) Buddha\u2019s shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone\nof his skull. (There) Hwuy-king fell ill, and Tao-ching remained to\nlook after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the\nothers, and (then) he with Pao-yun and Sang-king took their way back to\nthe land of Ts\u2019in. Hwuy-king(13) came to his end(14) in the monastery\nof Buddha\u2019s alms-bowl, and on this F\u00e2-Hien went forward alone towards\nthe place of the flat-bone of Buddha\u2019s skull.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) The modern Peshawur, lat. 34\u00b0 8\u2032 N., lon. 71\u00b0 30\u2032 E.\n\n(2) A first cousin of S\u00e2kyamuni, and born at the moment when he\nattained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha\u2019s teaching, Ananda became an\nArhat, and is famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he played\nan important part at the first council for the formation of the\nBuddhist canon. The friendship between S\u00e2kyamuni and Ananda was very\nclose and tender; and it is impossible to read much of what the dying\nBuddha said to him and of him, as related in the Maha-pari-nirv\u00e2na\nSutra, without being moved almost to tears. Ananda is to reappear on\nearth as Buddha in another Kalpa. See E. H., p. 9, and the Sacred Books\nof the East, vol. xi.\n\n(3) On his attaining to nirv\u00e2na, S\u00e2kyamuni became the Buddha, and had\nno longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and\ncould rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect\npurity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he\nattained to pari-nirv\u00e2na, and had done with all the life of sense and\nsociety, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether he\nabsolutely and entirely _ceased_ to be, in any sense of the word\n_being_, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not\nand could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use of\nlanguage is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of\nimmortality, his pari-nirv\u00e2na was his death.\n\n(4) Kanishka appeared, and began to reign, early in our first century,\nabout A.D. 10. He was the last of three brothers, whose original seat\nwas in Yueh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhara. Converted by the\nsudden appearance of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and\npatronised the system as liberally as Asoka had done. The finest topes\nin the north-west of India are ascribed to him; he was certainly a\ngreat man and a magnificent sovereign.\n\n(5) Jambudvipa is one of the four great continents of the universe,\nrepresenting the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so\ncalled because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree. It\nis south of mount Meru, and divided among four fabulous kings (E. H.,\np. 36). It is often used, as here perhaps, merely as the Buddhist name\nfor India.\n\n(6) This king was perhaps Kanishka himself, F\u00e2-Hien mixing up, in an\ninartistic way, different legends about him. Eitel suggests that a\nrelic of the old name of the country may still exist in that of the\nJats or Juts of the present day. A more common name for it is Tukhara,\nand he observes that the people were the Indo-Scythians of the Greeks,\nand the Tartars of Chinese writers, who, driven on by the Huns (180\nB.C.), conquered Transoxiana, destroyed the Bactrian kingdom (126\nB.C.), and finally conquered the Punj\u00e2b, Cashmere, and great part of\nIndia, their greatest king being Kanishak (E. H., p. 152).\n\n(7) Watters, clearly understanding the thought of the author in this\nsentence, renders\u2014\u201chis destiny did not extend to a connexion with the\nbowl;\u201d but the term \u201cdestiny\u201d suggests a controlling or directing power\nwithout. The king thought that his virtue in the past was not yet\nsufficient to give him possession of the bowl.\n\n(8) The text is simply \u201cthose in white clothes.\u201d This may mean \u201cthe\nlaity,\u201d or the \u201cupasakas;\u201d but it is better to take the characters in\ntheir common Chinese acceptation, as meaning \u201ccommoners,\u201d \u201cmen who have\nno rank.\u201d See in Williams\u2019 Dictionary under {.}.\n\n(9) I do not wonder that R\u00e9musat should give for this\u2014\u201cet s\u2019en\nretournent apres.\u201d But F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s use of {.} in the sense of \u201cin the\nsame way\u201d is uniform throughout the narrative.\n\n(10) Hardy\u2019s M. B., p. 183, says:\u2014\u201cThe alms-bowl, given by Mahabrahma,\nhaving vanished (about the time that Gotama became Buddha), each of the\nfour guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of emerald, but he did\nnot accept them. They then brought four bowls made of stone, of the\ncolour of the mung fruit; and when each entreated that his own bowl\nmight be accepted, Buddha caused them to appear as if formed into a\nsingle bowl, appearing at the upper rim as if placed one within the\nother.\u201d See the account more correctly given in the \u201cBuddhist Birth\nStories,\u201d p. 110.\n\n(11) Compare the narrative in Luke\u2019s Gospel, xxi. 1-4.\n\n(12) See chapter viii.\n\n(13) This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying. King was at this time ill in\nNagara, and indeed afterwards he dies in crossing the Little Snowy\nMountains; but all the texts make him die twice. The confounding of the\ntwo names has been pointed out by Chinese critics.\n\n(14) \u201cCame to his end;\u201d i.e., according to the text, \u201cproved the\nimpermanence and uncertainty,\u201d namely, of human life. See Williams\u2019\nDictionary under {.}. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\nNAGARA. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA\u2019S SKULL-BONE. OTHER RELICS, AND HIS SHADOW.\n\n\nGoing west for sixteen yojanas,(1) he came to the city He-lo(2) in the\nborders of the country of Nagara, where there is the flat-bone of\nBuddha\u2019s skull, deposited in a vih\u00e2ra(3) adorned all over with\ngold-leaf and the seven sacred substances. The king of the country,\nrevering and honouring the bone, and anxious lest it should be stolen\naway, has selected eight individuals, representing the great families\nin the kingdom, and committing to each a seal, with which he should\nseal (its shrine) and guard (the relic). At early dawn these eight men\ncome, and after each has inspected his seal, they open the door. This\ndone, they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the bone,\nwhich they place outside the vih\u00e2ra, on a lofty platform, where it is\nsupported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances, and\ncovered with a bell of _lapis lazuli_, both adorned with rows of\npearls. Its colour is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect\ncircle twelve inches round,(4) curving upwards to the centre. Every\nday, after it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vih\u00e2ra ascend\na high gallery, where they beat great drums, blow conchs, and clash\ntheir copper cymbals. When the king hears them, he goes to the vih\u00e2ra,\nand makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When he has done this,\nhe (and his attendants) in order, one after another, (raise the bone),\nplace it (for a moment) on the top of their heads,(5) and then depart,\ngoing out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east.\nThe king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship,\nand afterwards gives audience on the business of his government. The\nchiefs of the Vaisyas(6) also make their offerings before they attend\nto their family affairs. Every day it is so, and there is no remissness\nin the observance of the custom. When all the offerings are over, they\nreplace the bone in the vih\u00e2ra, where there is a vimoksha tope,(7) of\nthe seven precious substances, and rather more than five cubits high,\nsometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front of the door of\nthe vih\u00e2ra, there are parties who every morning sell flowers and\nincense,(8) and those who wish to make offerings buy some of all kinds.\nThe kings of various countries are also constantly sending messengers\nwith offerings. The vih\u00e2ra stands in a square of thirty paces, and\nthough heaven should shake and earth be rent, this place would not\nmove.\n\nGoing on, north from this, for a yojana, (F\u00e2-Hien) arrived at the\ncapital of Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased with\nmoney five stalks of flowers, as an offering to the Dipankara\nBuddha.(9) In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha\u2019s\ntooth, where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of\nhis skull.\n\nA yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of a\nvalley, where there is Buddha\u2019s pewter staff;(10) and a vih\u00e2ra also has\nbeen built at which offerings are made. The staff is made of Gos\u00eersha\nChandana, and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long. It is\ncontained in a wooden tube, and though a hundred or a thousand men ere\nto (try to) lift it, they could not move it.\n\nEntering the mouth of the valley, and going west, he found Buddha\u2019s\nSanghali,(11) where also there is reared a vih\u00e2ra, and offerings are\nmade. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought, for\nthe people to collect in crowds, bring out the robe, pay worship to it,\nand make offerings, on which there is immediately a great rain from the\nsky.\n\nSouth of the city, half a yojana, there is a rock-cavern, in a great\nhill fronting the south-west; and here it was that Buddha left his\nshadow. Looking at it from a distance of more than ten paces, you seem\nto see Buddha\u2019s real form, with his complexion of gold, and his\ncharacteristic marks(12) in their nicety clearly and brightly\ndisplayed. The nearer you approach, however, the fainter it becomes, as\nif it were only in your fancy. When the kings from the regions all\naround have sent skilful artists to take a copy, none of them have been\nable to do so. Among the people of the country there is a saying\ncurrent that \u201cthe thousand Buddhas(13) must all leave their shadows\nhere.\u201d\n\nRather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when Buddha\nwas at the spot, he shaved his hair and clipt his nails, and proceeded,\nalong with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits\nhigh, to be a model for all future topes; and it is still existing. By\nthe side of it there is a monastery, with more than seven hundred monks\nin it. At this place there are as many as a thousand topes(14) of\nArhans and Pratyeka Buddhas.(15)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Now in India, F\u00e2-Hien used the Indian measure of distance; but it\nis not possible to determine exactly what its length then was. The\nestimates of it are very different, and vary from four and a half or\nfive miles to seven, and sometimes more. See the subject exhaustively\ntreated in Davids\u2019 \u201cCeylon Coins and Measures,\u201d pp. 15-17.\n\n(2) The present Hidda, west of Peshawur, and five miles south of\nJellalabad.\n\n(3) \u201cThe vih\u00e2ra,\u201d says Hardy, \u201cis the residence of a recluse or\npriest;\u201d and so Davids:\u2014\u201cthe clean little hut where the mendicant\nlives.\u201d Our author, however, does not use the Indian name here, but the\nChinese characters which express its meaning\u2014tsing shay, \u201ca pure\ndwelling.\u201d He uses the term occasionally, and evidently, in this sense;\nmore frequently it occurs in his narrative in connexion with the\nBuddhist relic worship; and at first I translated it by \u201cshrine\u201d and\n\u201cshrine-house;\u201d but I came to the conclusion, at last, to employ always\nthe Indian name. The first time I saw a shrine-house was, I think, in a\nmonastery near Foo-chow;\u2014a small pyramidical structure, about ten feet\nhigh, glittering as if with the precious substances, but all, it seemed\nto me, of tinsel. It was in a large apartment of the building, having\nmany images in it. The monks said it was the most precious thing in\ntheir possession, and that if they opened it, as I begged them to do,\nthere would be a convulsion that would destroy the whole establishment.\nSee E. H., p. 166. The name of the province of Behar was given to it in\nconsequence of its many vih\u00e2ras.\n\n(4) According to the characters, \u201csquare, round, four inches.\u201d\nHsuan-chwang says it was twelve inches round.\n\n(5) In Williams\u2019 Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, are\nemployed in the phrase for \u201cto degrade an officer,\u201d that is, \u201cto remove\nthe token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;\u201d but to place a\nthing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage.\n\n(6) The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described\nhere as \u201cresident scholars.\u201d\n\n(7) See Eitel\u2019s Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained as\n\u201cthe act of self-liberation,\u201d and \u201cthe dwelling or state of liberty.\u201d\nThere are eight acts of liberating one\u2019s self from all subjective and\nobjective trammels, and as many states of liberty (vimukti) resulting\ntherefrom. They are eight degrees of self-inanition, and apparently\neight stages on the way to nirv\u00e2na. The tope in the text would be\nemblematic in some way of the general idea of the mental progress\nconducting to the Buddhistic consummation of existence.\n\n(8) This incense would be in long \u201csticks,\u201d small and large, such as\nare sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples.\n\n(9) \u201cThe illuminating Buddha,\u201d the twenty-fourth predecessor of\nS\u00e2kyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he\nwould by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23.\n\n(10) The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gos\u00eersha Chandana, or\n\u201csandal-wood from the Cow\u2019s-head mountain,\u201d a species of copper-brown\nsandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of (the\nfabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles in\nshape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a \u201cpewter\nstaff\u201d from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters,\n\u201cChina Review,\u201d viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams\u2019 Dictionary, under\n{.}.\n\n(11) Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk\u2019s\nattire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round\nthe waist (E. H., p. 118).\n\n(12) These were the \u201cmarks and beauties\u201d on the person of a supreme\nBuddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya\nprince to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet come\nout, being visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149).\n\n(13) Probably=\u201call Buddhas.\u201d\n\n(14) The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size\nof topes in chapter iii, note 4.\n\n(15) In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, and\nPratyeka Jinas, and explained by \u201cindividually intelligent,\u201d\n\u201ccompletely intelligent,\u201d \u201cintelligent as regards the nidanas.\u201d This,\nsays Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is \u201ca degree of saintship unknown to primitive\nBuddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to Buddhaship\n\u2018individually,\u2019 that is, without a teacher, and without being able to\nsave others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha is compared with\nthe rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the wilderness. He is also\ncalled Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the twelve nidanas (the twelve\nlinks in the everlasting chain of cause and effect in the whole range\nof existence, the understanding of which solves the riddle of life,\nrevealing the inanity of all forms of existence, and preparing the mind\nfor nirv\u00e2na). He is also compared to a horse, which, crossing a river,\nalmost buries its body under the water, without, however, touching the\nbottom of the river. Thus in crossing samsara he \u2018suppresses the errors\nof life and thought, and the effects of habit and passion, without\nattaining to absolute perfection.\u2019\u201d Whether these Buddhas were unknown,\nas Eitel says, to primitive Buddhism, may be doubted. See Davids\u2019\nHibbert Lectures, p. 146.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\nDEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA. CROSSING\nTHE INDUS TO THE EAST.\n\n\nHaving stayed there till the third month of winter, F\u00e2-Hien and the two\nothers,(1) proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy\nmountains.(2) On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and summer.\nOn the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they suddenly\nencountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become unable to\nspeak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth came from his\nmouth, and he said to F\u00e2-Hien, \u201cI cannot live any longer. Do you\nimmediately go away, that we do not all die here;\u201d and with these words\nhe died.(3) F\u00e2-Hien stroked the corpse, and cried out piteously, \u201cOur\noriginal plan has failed;\u2014it is fate.(4) What can we do?\u201d He then again\nexerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to the south of the\nrange, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,(5) where there were nearly\nthree thousand monks, students of both the mahayana and hinayana. Here\nthey stayed for the summer retreat,(6) and when that was over, they\nwent on to the south, and ten days\u2019 journey brought them to the kingdom\nof Poh-na,(7) where there are also more than three thousand monks, all\nstudents of the hinayana. Proceeding from this place for three days,\nthey again crossed the Indus, where the country on each side was low\nand level.(8)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king.\n\n(2) Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass.\n\n(3) All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13.\n\n(4) A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from\nthe lips of F\u00e2-Hien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed, may\nbe rendered rightly by \u201cfate\u201d or \u201cdestiny;\u201d but the fate is not\nunintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the\nordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame\nhis Buddhism.\n\n(5) Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it\ncan be here intended.\n\n(6) We are now therefore in 404.\n\n(7) No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the\nLieutenant-Governorship of the Punj\u00e2b, between 32\u00b0 10\u2032 and 33\u00b0 15\u2032 N.\nlat., and 70\u00b0 26\u2032 and 72\u00b0 E. lon. See Hunter\u2019s Gazetteer of India, i,\np. 393.\n\n(8) They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed,\ntwice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and second,\nas described in chapter vii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\nBHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.\n\n\nAfter they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-t\u2019oo,(1)\nwhere Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the\nmahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples from Ts\u2019in\npassing along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and\nexpressed themselves thus: \u201cHow is it that these men from a border-land\nshould have learned to become monks,(2) and come for the sake of our\ndoctrines from such a distance in search of the Law of Buddha?\u201d They\nsupplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance\nwith the rules of the Law.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Bhida. Eitel says, \u201cThe present Punj\u00e2b;\u201d i.e. it was a portion of\nthat.\n\n(2) \u201cTo come forth from their families;\u201d that is, to become celibates,\nand adopt the tonsure.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\nON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF THE\nMONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES.\n\n\nFrom this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of\nvery many monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted\nby myriads. After passing all these places, they came to a country\nnamed Ma-t\u2019aou-lo.(1) They still followed the course of the P\u2019oo-na(2)\nriver, on the banks of which, left and right, there were twenty\nmonasteries, which might contain three thousand monks; and (here) the\nLaw of Buddha was still more flourishing. Everywhere, from the Sandy\nDesert, in all the countries of India, the kings had been firm\nbelievers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community of\nmonks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their relatives\nand ministers, supply them with food with their own hands. That done,\n(the king) has a carpet spread for himself on the ground, and sits down\nin front of the chairman;\u2014they dare not presume to sit on couches in\nfront of the community. The laws and ways, according to which the kings\npresented their offerings when Buddha was in the world, have been\nhanded down to the present day.\n\nAll south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.(3) In it the cold and\nheat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The\npeople are numerous and happy; they have not to register their\nhouseholds, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those\nwho cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the grain from\nit. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay.\nThe king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments.\nCriminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the\ncircumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at\nwicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king\u2019s\nbody-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole\ncountry the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink\nintoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is\nthat of the Chandalas.(4) That is the name for those who are (held to\nbe) wicked men, and live apart from others. When they enter the gate of\na city or a market-place, they strike a piece of wood to make\nthemselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come into\ncontact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and fowls, and\ndo not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no butchers\u2019 shops\nand no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and selling commodities\nthey use cowries.(5) Only the Chandalas are fishermen and hunters, and\nsell flesh meat.\n\nAfter Buddha attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na,(6) the kings of the various\ncountries and the heads of the Vaisyas(7) built vih\u00e2ras for the\npriests, and endowed them with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards,\nalong with the resident populations and their cattle, the grants being\nengraved on plates of metal,(8) so that afterwards they were handed\ndown from king to king, without any daring to annul them, and they\nremain even to the present time.\n\nThe regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious\nvirtue, and to recite their S\u00fbtras and sit wrapt in meditation. When\nstranger monks arrive (at any monastery), the old residents meet and\nreceive them, carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl, give them\nwater to wash their feet, oil with which to anoint them, and the liquid\nfood permitted out of the regular hours.(9) When (the stranger) has\nenjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of years that he\nhas been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment with its\nappurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything is done\nfor him which the rules prescribe.(10)\n\nWhere a community of monks resides, they erect topes to Sariputtra,(11)\nto Maha-maudgalyayana,(12) and to Ananda,(13) and also topes (in\nhonour) of the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the S\u00fbtras. A month after\nthe (annual season of) rest, the families which are looking out for\nblessing stimulate one another(14) to make offerings to the monks, and\nsend round to them the liquid food which may be taken out of the\nordinary hours. All the monks come together in a great assembly, and\npreach the Law;(15) after which offerings are presented at the tope of\nSariputtra, with all kinds of flowers and incense. All through the\nnight lamps are kept burning, and skilful musicians are employed to\nperform.(16)\n\nWhen Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged (to\nbe permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The great Mugalan\nand the great Kasyapa(17) also did the same. The bhikshunis(18) for the\nmost part make their offerings at the tope of Ananda, because it was he\nwho requested the World-honoured one to allow females to quit their\nfamilies (and become nuns). The Sramaneras(19) mostly make their\nofferings to Rahula.(20) The professors of the Abhidharma make their\nofferings to it; those of the Vinaya to it. Every year there is one\nsuch offering, and each class has its own day for it. Students of the\nmahayana present offerings to the Prajna-paramita,(21) to Manjusri,(22)\nand to Kwan-she-yin.(23) When the monks have done receiving their\nannual tribute (from the harvests),(24) the Heads of the Vaisyas and\nall the Brahmans bring clothes and other such articles as the monks\nrequire for use, and distribute among them. The monks, having received\nthem, also proceed to give portions to one another. From the nirv\u00e2na of\nBuddha,(25) the forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the\nsacred communities, have been handed down from one generation to\nanother without interruption.\n\nFrom the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern\nIndia, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty\nthousand le, all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams\n(among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Muttra, \u201cthe peacock city;\u201d lat. 27\u00b0 30\u2032 N., lon. 77\u00b0 43\u2032 E.\n(Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock.\n\n(2) This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the\nP\u2019oo-na has yet to be explained.\n\n(3) In P\u00e2li, Majjhima-desa, \u201cthe Middle Country.\u201d See Davids\u2019 \u201cBuddhist\nBirth Stories,\u201d page 61, note.\n\n(4) Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, \u201cThe name Chandalas is explained by\n\u2018butchers,\u2019 \u2018wicked men,\u2019 and those who carry \u2018the awful flag,\u2019 to warn\noff their betters;\u2014the lowest and most despised caste of India, members\nof which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the ranks of\nthe priesthood.\u201d\n\n(5) \u201cCowries;\u201d {.} {.}, not \u201cshells and ivory,\u201d as one might suppose;\nbut cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the\nmarks inside the edge of the shell, resembling \u201cthe teeth of fishes.\u201d\n\n(6) See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha\u2019s pari-nirv\u00e2na is equivalent to\nBuddha\u2019s death.\n\n(7) See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different\nhere, but with the same meaning.\n\n(8) See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as\nrelated in chapter xxxix. No doubt in F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s time, and long before\nand after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of\nmetal.\n\n(9) \u201cNo monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon,\u201d and\ntotal abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids\u2019\nManual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is called\nvikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive unseasonable\nrefreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev. viii. 282), of\nhoney, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil.\n\n(10) The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again in\nchapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev. viii.\n282, 3. The rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the East,\nvol. xx, p. 272 and foll., and p. 279 and foll.\n\n(11) Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of\nBuddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that\nhe obtained the title of {.} {.}, \u201cknowledge and wisdom.\u201d He is also\ncalled Buddha\u2019s \u201cright-hand attendant.\u201d His name is derived from that\nof his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. In\nSpence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa (Upa-tishya),\nderived from his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to him, and\nindeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their founder. He\ndied before S\u00e2kyamuni; but is to reappear as a future Buddha. Eitel,\npp. 123, 124.\n\n(12) Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more\npronounceable. He also was one of the principal disciples, called\nBuddha\u2019s \u201cleft-hand attendant.\u201d He was distinguished for his power of\nvision, and his magical powers. The name in the text is derived from\nthe former attribute, and it was by the latter that he took up an\nartist to Tushita to get a view of S\u00e2kyamuni, and so make a statue of\nhim. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went to hell, and\nreleased his mother. He also died before S\u00e2kyamuni, and is to reappear\nas Buddha. Eitel, p. 65.\n\n(13) See chapter xii, note 2.\n\n(14) A passage rather difficult to construe. The \u201cfamilies\u201d would be\nthose more devout than their neighbours.\n\n(15) One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I\nonce heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall of\nthe temple, and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One priest\ntook the pulpit after another; and the hearers nodded their heads\noccasionally, and indicated their sympathy now and then by an audible\n\u201ch\u2019m,\u201d which reminded me of Carlyle\u2019s description of meetings of \u201cThe\nIronsides\u201d of Cromwell.\n\n(16) This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions.\n\n(17) There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to S\u00e2kyamuni. But this\nMaha-kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and\nbecame one of his disciples. He took the lead after S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s death,\nconvoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of\nArya-sthavira is derived. As the first compiler of the Canon, he is\nconsidered the fountain of Chinese orthodoxy, and counted as the first\npatriarch. He also is to be reborn as Buddha. Eitel, p. 64.\n\n(18) The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same\nrules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint. See\nHardy\u2019s E. M., chap. 17. See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, p.\n321.\n\n(19) The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to\nobserve the Shikshapada, or ten commandments. F\u00e2-Hien was himself one\nof them from his childhood. Having heard the Trisharana, or threefold\nformula of Refuge,\u2014\u201cI take refuge in Buddha; the Law; the Church,\u2014the\nnovice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that forbid\u2014(1)\ndestroying life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; (5)\nintoxicating drinks; (6) eating after midday; (7) dancing, singing,\nmusic, and stage-plays; (8) garlands, scents, unguents, and ornaments;\n(9) high or broad couches; (10) receiving gold or silver.\u201d Davids\u2019\nManual, p. 160; Hardy\u2019s E. M., pp. 23, 24.\n\n(20) The eldest son of S\u00e2kyamuni by Yasodhara. Converted to Buddhism,\nhe followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha\u2019s death became\nthe founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika). He is\nnow revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be reborn as\nthe eldest son of every future Buddha. Eitel, p. 101. His mother also\nis to be reborn as Buddha.\n\n(21) There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, \u201cmeans of\npassing to nirv\u00e2na:\u2014Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil\ncontemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper\nmeans; science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only prajna\nwhich carries men across the samsara to the shores of nirv\u00e2na.\u201d Eitel,\np. 90.\n\n(22) According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), A famous Bodhisattva, now\nspecially worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless\njumble of history and fable. F\u00e2-Hien found him here worshipped by\nfollowers of the mahayana school; but Hsuan-chwang connects his worship\nwith the yogachara or tantra-magic school. The mahayana school regard\nhim as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His most common titles are\nMahamati, \u201cGreat wisdom,\u201d and Kumara-raja, \u201cKing of teaching, with a\nthousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls.\u201d\n\n(23) Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a\nmystery as Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the\nSanskrit name Avalokitesvra, \u201cOn-looking Sovereign,\u201d or even\n\u201cOn-looking Self-Existent,\u201d and means \u201cRegarding or Looking on the\nsounds of the world,\u201d=\u201cHearer of Prayer.\u201d Originally, and still in\nThibet, Avalokitesvara had only male attributes, but in China and Japan\n(Kwannon), this deity (such popularly she is) is represented as a\nwoman, \u201cKwan-yin, the greatly gentle, with a thousand arms and a\nthousand eyes;\u201d and has her principal seat in the island of P\u2019oo-t\u2019oo,\non the China coast, which is a regular place of pilgrimage. To the\nworshippers of whom F\u00e2-Hien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be\nAvalokitesvara. How he was converted into the \u201cgoddess of mercy,\u201d and\nher worship took the place which it now has in China, is a difficult\ninquiry, which would take much time and space, and not be brought after\nall, so far as I see, to a satisfactory conclusion. See Eitel\u2019s\nHandbook, pp. 18-20, and his Three Lectures on Buddhism (third\nedition), pp. 124-131. I was talking on the subject once with an\nintelligent Chinese gentleman, when he remarked, \u201cHave you not much the\nsame thing in Europe in the worship of Mary?\u201d\n\n(24) Compare what is said in chap. v.\n\n(25) This nirv\u00e2na of Buddha must be\u2014not his death, but his attaining to\nBuddhaship.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\nSANKASYA. BUDDHA\u2019S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS HEAVEN,\nAND OTHER LEGENDS.\n\n\nFrom this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found\nthemselves in a kingdom called Sankasya,(1) at the place where Buddha\ncame down, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(2) and there\npreaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.(3)\nBuddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power,(4) without\nletting his disciples know; but seven days before the completion (of\nthe three months) he laid aside his invisibility,(4) and Anuruddha,(5)\nwith his heavenly eyes,(5) saw the World-honoured one, and immediately\nsaid to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, \u201cDo you go and salute the\nWorld-honoured one.\u201d Mugalan forthwith went, and with head and face did\nhomage at (Buddha\u2019s) feet. They then saluted and questioned each other,\nand when this was over, Buddha said to Mugalan, \u201cSeven days after this\nI will go down to Jambudvipa;\u201d and thereupon Mugalan returned. At this\ntime the great kings of eight countries with their ministers and\npeople, not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all thirstily\nlooking up for him, and had collected in clouds in this kingdom to wait\nfor the World-honoured one.\n\nThen the bhikshuni Utpala(6) thought in her heart, \u201cTo-day the kings,\nwith their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming)\nBuddha. I am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to\nsee him?\u201d(7) Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her\ninto the appearance of a holy Chakravartti(8) king, and she was the\nforemost of all in doing reverence to him.\n\nAs Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas\nheaven, when he was coming down, there were made to appear three\nflights of precious steps. Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps\nof which were composed of the seven precious substances. The king of\nBrahma-loka(9) also made a flight of silver steps appear on the right\nside, (where he was seen) attending with a white chowry in his hand.\nSakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple gold on the\nleft side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of the\nseven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas\nfollowed Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three\nflights all disappeared in the ground, excepting seven steps, which\ncontinued to be visible. Afterwards king Asoka, wishing to know where\ntheir ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the\nyellow springs(10) without reaching the bottom of the steps, and from\nthis the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, and\nbuilt a vih\u00e2ra over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits in\nheight, right over the middle flight. Behind the vih\u00e2ra he erected a\nstone pillar, about fifty cubits high,(11) with a lion on the top of\nit.(12) Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,(13) there is an\nimage of Buddha, inside and out(14) shining and transparent, and pure\nas it were of _lapis lazuli_. Some teachers of another doctrine(15)\nonce disputed with the Sramanas about (the right to) this as a place of\nresidence, and the latter were having the worst of the argument, when\nthey took an oath on both sides on the condition that, if the place did\nindeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be some marvellous\nattestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the lion on the\ntop gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which their opponents\nwere frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew.\n\nThrough Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven,\nhis body emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man.\nHe went immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he\ndid so, a bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the\nplace where the bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to\nBuddha, a tope has now been built.\n\nAt the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair and\nnails, topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas(16) that preceded\nS\u00e2kyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,(17) and where\nimages of their persons were made. At all these places topes were made,\nand are still existing. At the place where Sakra, Ruler of the Devas,\nand the king of the Brahma-loka followed Buddha down (from the\nTrayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a tope.\n\nAt this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive\ntheir food from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of the\nmahayana and some of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a\nwhite-eared dragon, which acts the part of danapati to the community of\nthese monks, causing abundant harvests in the country, and the\nenriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence of any\ncalamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In gratitude\nfor its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with a carpet\nfor it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, which they\npresent for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three of their\nnumber to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer retreat\nis ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears as a\nsmall snake,(18) with white spots at the side of its ears. As soon as\nthe monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel with cream, into\nwhich they put the creature, and then carry it round from the one who\nhas the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, when\nit appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round,\nimmediately it disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once.\nThe country is very productive, and the people are prosperous, and\nhappy beyond comparison. When people of other countries come to it,\nthey are exceedingly attentive to them all, and supply them with what\nthey need.\n\nFifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called\n\u201cThe Great Heap.\u201d(19) Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who\nwas converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a\nvih\u00e2ra. When it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on his\nhands,(20) some drops fell on the ground. They are still on the spot,\nand however they may be brushed away and removed, they continue to be\nvisible, and cannot be made to disappear.\n\nAt this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit\nconstantly keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour\nof man being required. A king of corrupt views once said, \u201cSince you\nare able to do this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside there\ntill the dirt and filth has increased and accumulated, and (see)\nwhether you can cleanse it away or not.\u201d The spirit thereupon raised a\ngreat wind, which blew (the filth away), and made the place pure.\n\nAt this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep\ncounting a whole day without being able to know (their exact number).\nIf he be firmly bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of\neach tope. When this is done, proceeding to count the number of men,\nwhether they be many or few, he will not get to know (the number).(21)\n\nThere is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which\nthere is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The\nnirv\u00e2na ground (where he was burned(22) after death) is as large as a\ncarriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there is\nnone. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass, but\nthe impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the present\nday.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five\nmiles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27\u00b0 3\u2032 N., lon. 79\u00b0 50\u2032 E.\n\n(2) The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning \u201cthe heaven of thirty-three\nclasses,\u201d a name which has been explained both historically and\nmythologically. \u201cThe description of it,\u201d says Eitel, p. 148, \u201ctallies\nin all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated\nbetween the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities\nof devas, eight on each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra\u2019s\ncapital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a\nthousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra,\nwith his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly\nreports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and evil\nin the world,\u201d &c. &c.\n\n(3) Buddha\u2019s mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the _mater immaculata_ of the\nBuddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, \u201cReborn in\nTushita, she was visited there by her son and converted.\u201d The Tushita\nheaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but\nwas the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of\nBuddha\u2019s visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he\ncalls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now\nbecome a deva by the changing of her sex.\n\n(4) Compare the account of the Arhat\u2019s conveyance of the artist to the\nTushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more\ncomprehensive.\n\n(5) Anuruddha was a first cousin of S\u00e2kyamuni, being the son of his\nuncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of\nBuddha\u2019s last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or\n\u201cheavenly eye,\u201d the first of the six abhijnas or \u201csupernatural\ntalents,\u201d the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or by\nintuition, all beings in all worlds. \u201cHe could see,\u201d says Hardy, M. B.,\np. 232, \u201call things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard seed\nheld in the hand.\u201d\n\n(6) Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as\nin the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word,\nhowever, is explained by \u201cblue lotus flowers;\u201d and Hsuan-chwang calls\nher the nun \u201cLotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});\u201d\u2014the same as Hardy\u2019s\nUpulwan and Uppalawarna.\n\n(7) Perhaps we should read here \u201cto see Buddha,\u201d and then ascribe the\ntransformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which\nview we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing to\nindicate that the stop should be made before or after \u201cBuddha.\u201d And the\none view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the other.\n\n(8) \u201cA holy king who turns the wheel;\u201d that is, the military conqueror\nand monarch of the whole or part of a universe. \u201cThe symbol,\u201d says\nEitel (p. 142) \u201cof such a king is the chakra or wheel, for when he\nascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating by its\nmaterial (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of\nhis reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls\nhis wheel among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of a\nBuddha, who meekly turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every\nuniverse by his teaching.\u201d\n\n(9) This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti,\nadopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed\nby every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi.\n\n(10) A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is\nfound.\n\n(11) The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance\nfrom the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated.\n\n(12) A note of Mr. Beal says on this:\u2014\u201cGeneral Cunningham, who visited\nthe spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of Asoka, with a\nwell-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was minus trunk and\ntail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by F\u00e2-Hien, who mistook\nthe top of it for a lion. It is possible such a mistake may have been\nmade, as in the account of one of the pillars at Sravasti, F\u00e2-Hien says\nan ox formed the capital, whilst Hsuan-chwang calls it an elephant (P.\n19, Arch. Survey).\u201d\n\n(13) That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have\nbeen square.\n\n(14) Equivalent to \u201call through.\u201d\n\n(15) Has always been translated \u201cheretical teachers;\u201d but I eschew the\nterms _heresy_ and _heretical_. The parties would not be Buddhists of\nany creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, as\nF\u00e2-Hien deemed it. The Chinese term means \u201coutside\u201d or \u201cforeign;\u201d\u2014in\nP\u00e2li, anna-titthiya,=\u201cthose belonging to another school.\u201d\n\n(16) These three predecessors of S\u00e2kyamuni were the three Buddhas of\nthe present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, and\nMaitreya is to be the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda (P\u00e2li,\nKakusanda), \u201che who readily solves all doubts;\u201d a scion of the Kasyapa\nfamily. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so many\npersons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (P\u00e2li, Konagamana), \u201cbody\nradiant with the colour of pure gold;\u201d of the same family. Human life\nreached in his time 30,000 years, and so many persons were converted by\nhim. (3) Kasyapa (P\u00e2li, Kassapa), \u201cswallower of light.\u201d Human life\nreached in his time 20,000 years, and so many persons were converted by\nhim. See Eitel, under the several names; Hardy\u2019s M. B., pp. 95-97; and\nDavids\u2019 \u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d p. 51.\n\n(17) That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana\n(P\u00e2li, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery,\nmade sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic\nmeditation. The \u201csitting\u201d would be not because of weariness or for\nrest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144.\n\n(18) The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake\nfor the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be \u201ca\nsmall medusa.\u201d\n\n(19) The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the\nChinese editions, which means \u201cFire Limit.\u201d Buddha, it is said, {.}\nconverted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first by\n\u201cin one of his incarnations;\u201d and in his revised version he has\n\u201chimself.\u201d The difference between F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s usage of {.} and {.}\nthroughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the\ndoings of S\u00e2kyamuni; {.}, \u201cformerly,\u201d is often used of him and others\nin the sense of \u201cin a former age or birth.\u201d\n\n(20) See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:\u2014\u201cAs a token of the giving over of the\ngarden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this\ntime it became one of the principal residences of the sage.\u201d\n\n(21) This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended to\nconvey the idea that there was something mysterious about the number of\nthe topes.\n\n(22) This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all\nburned. Hardy\u2019s E. M., pp. 322-324.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\nKANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA\u2019S PREACHING.\n\n\nF\u00e2-Hien stayed at the Dragon vih\u00e2ra till after the summer retreat,(1)\nand then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived at\nthe city of Kanyakubja,(2) lying along the Ganges.(3) There are two\nmonasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana.\nAt a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the\nnorthern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law\nto his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of\ndiscourse were such as \u201cThe bitterness and vanity (of life) as\nimpermanent and uncertain,\u201d and that \u201cThe body is as a bubble or foam\non the water.\u201d At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists.\n\nHaving crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the\ntravellers) arrived at a village named A-le,(4) containing places where\nBuddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of\nwhich topes have been built.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) We are now, probably, in 405.\n\n(2) Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a\nprevious note. The Sanskrit name means \u201cthe city of humpbacked\nmaidens;\u201d with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king\nBrahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi\nMaha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51.\n\n(3) Ganga, explained by \u201cBlessed water,\u201d and \u201cCome from heaven to\nearth.\u201d\n\n(4) This village (the Chinese editions read \u201cforest\u201d) has hardly been\nclearly identified.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\nSHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA\u2019S DANTA-KASHTHA.\n\n\nGoing on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to\nthe great kingdom of Sha-che.(1) As you go out of the city of Sha-che\nby the southern gate, on the east of the road (is the place) where\nBuddha, after he had chewed his willow branch,(2) stuck it in the\nground, when it forthwith grew up seven cubits, (at which height it\nremained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans with their\ncontrary doctrines(3) became angry and jealous. Sometimes they cut the\ntree down, sometimes they plucked it up, and cast it to a distance, but\nit grew again on the same spot as at first. Here also is the place\nwhere the four Buddhas walked and sat, and at which a tope was built\nthat is still existing.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham\u2019s\nidentification of the name with the present Saket still more likely.\nThe change of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi\ndictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same.\n\n(2) This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or \u201cdental\nwood,\u201d mostly a bit of the _ficus Indicus_ or banyan tree, which the\nmonk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of\nhealth generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at\nleast F\u00e2-Hien used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) instead\nof it.\n\n(3) Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that\nwe should read \u201call the unbelievers and Brahmans,\u201d or \u201cheretics and\nBrahmans?\u201d I think the Brahmans were also \u201cthe unbelievers\u201d and\n\u201cheretics,\u201d having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and opposed to,\nBuddha\u2019s.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\nKOSALA AND SRAVASTI. THE JETAVANA VIHARA AND OTHER MEMORIALS AND\nLEGENDS OF BUDDHA. SYMPATHY OF THE MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.\n\n\nGoing on from this to the south, for eight yojanas, (the travellers)\ncame to the city of Sravasti(1) in the kingdom of Kosala,(2) in which\nthe inhabitants were few and far between, amounting in all (only) to a\nfew more than two hundred families; the city where king Prasenajit(3)\nruled, and the place of the old vih\u00e2ra of Maha-prajapti;(4) of the well\nand walls of (the house of) the (Vaisya) head Sudatta;(5) and where the\nAngulimalya(6) became an Arhat, and his body was (afterwards) burned on\nhis attaining to pari-nirv\u00e2na. At all these places topes were\nsubsequently erected, which are still existing in the city. The\nBrahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of hatred and envy\nin their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there came from the\nheavens such a storm of crashing thunder and flashing lightning that\nthey were not able in the end to effect their purpose.\n\nAs you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from it,\nthe (Vaisya) head Sudatta built a vih\u00e2ra, facing the south; and when\nthe door was open, on each side of it there was a stone pillar, with\nthe figure of a wheel on the top of that on the left, and the figure of\nan ox on the top of that on the right. On the left and right of the\nbuilding the ponds of water clear and pure, the thickets of trees\nalways luxuriant, and the numerous flowers of various hues, constituted\na lovely scene, the whole forming what is called the Jetavana\nvih\u00e2ra.(7)\n\nWhen Buddha went up to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(8) and preached the\nLaw for the benefit of his mother, (after he had been absent for)\nninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to\nbe carved in Gos\u00eersha Chandana wood,(9) and put in the place where he\nusually sat. When Buddha on his return entered the vih\u00e2ra, this image\nimmediately left its place, and came forth to meet him. Buddha said to\nit, \u201cReturn to your seat. After I have attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na, you\nwill serve as a pattern to the four classes of my disciples,\u201d(10) and\non this the image returned to its seat. This was the very first of all\nthe images (of Buddha), and that which men subsequently copied. Buddha\nthen removed, and dwelt in a small vih\u00e2ra on the south side (of the\nother), a different place from that containing the image, and twenty\npaces distant from it.\n\nThe Jetavana vih\u00e2ra was originally of seven storeys. The kings and\npeople of the countries around vied with one another in their\nofferings, hanging up about it silken streamers and canopies,\nscattering flowers, burning incense, and lighting lamps, so as to make\nthe night as bright as the day. This they did day after day without\nceasing. (It happened that) a rat, carrying in its mouth the wick of a\nlamp, set one of the streamers or canopies on fire, which caught the\nvih\u00e2ra, and the seven storeys were all consumed. The kings, with their\nofficers and people, were all very sad and distressed, supposing that\nthe sandal-wood image had been burned; but lo! after four or five days,\nwhen the door of a small vih\u00e2ra on the east was opened, there was\nimmediately seen the original image. They were all greatly rejoiced,\nand co-operated in restoring the vih\u00e2ra. When they had succeeded in\ncompleting two storeys, they removed the image back to its former\nplace.\n\nWhen F\u00e2-Hien and Tao-ching first arrived at the Jetavana monastery, and\nthought how the World-honoured one had formerly resided there for\ntwenty-five years, painful reflections arose in their minds. Born in a\nborder-land, along with their like-minded friends, they had travelled\nthrough so many kingdoms; some of those friends had returned (to their\nown land), and some had (died), proving the impermanence and\nuncertainty of life; and to-day they saw the place where Buddha had\nlived now unoccupied by him. They were melancholy through their pain of\nheart, and the crowd of monks came out, and asked them from what\nkingdom they were come. \u201cWe are come,\u201d they replied, \u201cfrom the land of\nHan.\u201d \u201cStrange,\u201d said the monks with a sigh, \u201cthat men of a border\ncountry should be able to come here in search of our Law!\u201d Then they\nsaid to one another, \u201cDuring all the time that we, preceptors and\nmonks,(11) have succeeded to one another, we have never seen men of\nHan, followers of our system, arrive here.\u201d\n\nFour le to the north-west of the vih\u00e2ra there is a grove called \u201cThe\nGetting of Eyes.\u201d Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived\nhere in order that they might be near the vih\u00e2ra.(12) Buddha preached\nhis Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full of joy,\nthey stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and faces on\nthe ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to grow, and\nthey grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one dared to\ncut them down, so that they came to form a grove. It was in this way\nthat it got its name, and most of the Jetavana monks, after they had\ntaken their midday meal, went to the grove, and sat there in\nmeditation.\n\nSix or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha(13) built\nanother vih\u00e2ra, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and which is\nstill existing.\n\nTo each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vih\u00e2ra there\nwere two gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. The\npark (containing the whole) was the space of ground which the (Vaisya)\nhead Sudatta purchased by covering it with gold coins. The vih\u00e2ra was\nexactly in the centre. Here Buddha lived for a longer time than at any\nother place, preaching his Law and converting men. At the places where\nhe walked and sat they also (subsequently) reared topes, each having\nits particular name; and here was the place where Sundari(14) murdered\na person and then falsely charged Buddha (with the crime). Outside the\neast gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of seventy paces to the north,\non the west of the road, Buddha held a discussion with the (advocates\nof the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous doctrine, when the king and his\ngreat officers, the householders, and people were all assembled in\ncrowds to hear it. Then a woman belonging to one of the erroneous\nsystems, by name Chanchamana,(15) prompted by the envious hatred in her\nheart, and having put on (extra) clothes in front of her person, so as\nto give her the appearance of being with child, falsely accused Buddha\nbefore all the assembly of having acted unlawfully (towards her). On\nthis, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed himself and some devas into white\nmice, which bit through the strings about her waist; and when this was\ndone, the (extra) clothes which she wore dropt down on the ground. The\nearth at the same time was rent, and she went (down) alive into\nhell.(16) (This) also is the place where Devadatta,(17) trying with\nempoisoned claws to injure Buddha, went down alive into hell. Men\nsubsequently set up marks to distinguish where both these events took\nplace.\n\nFurther, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a\nvih\u00e2ra rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image of\nBuddha in a sitting posture. On the east of the road there was a\ndevalaya(18) of (one of) the contrary systems, called \u201cThe Shadow\nCovered,\u201d right opposite the vih\u00e2ra on the place of discussion, with\n(only) the road between them, and also rather more than sixty cubits\nhigh. The reason why it was called \u201cThe Shadow Covered\u201d was this:\u2014When\nthe sun was in the west, the shadow of the vih\u00e2ra of the World-honoured\none fell on the devalaya of a contrary system; but when the sun was in\nthe east, the shadow of that devalaya was diverted to the north, and\nnever fell on the vih\u00e2ra of Buddha. The mal-believers regularly\nemployed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and water (all about\nit), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present offerings; but in\nthe morning the lamps were found to have been suddenly removed, and in\nthe vih\u00e2ra of Buddha. The Brahmans were indignant, and said, \u201cThose\nSramanas take out lamps and use them for their own service of Buddha,\nbut we will not stop our service for you!\u201d(19) On that night the\nBrahmans themselves kept watch, when they saw the deva spirits which\nthey served take the lamps and go three times round the vih\u00e2ra of\nBuddha and present offerings. After this ministration to Buddha they\nsuddenly disappeared. The Brahmans thereupon knowing how great was the\nspiritual power of Buddha, forthwith left their families, and became\nmonks.(20) It has been handed down, that, near the time when these\nthings occurred, around the Jetavana vih\u00e2ra there were ninety-eight\nmonasteries, in all of which there were monks residing, excepting only\nin one place which was vacant. In this Middle Kingdom(21) there are\nninety-six(21) sorts of views, erroneous and different from our system,\nall of which recognise this world and the future world(22) (and the\nconnexion between them). Each had its multitude of followers, and they\nall beg their food: only they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also,\nmoreover, seek (to acquire) the blessing (of good deeds) on\nunfrequented ways, setting up on the road-side houses of charity, where\nrooms, couches, beds, and food and drink are supplied to travellers,\nand also to monks, coming and going as guests, the only difference\nbeing in the time (for which those parties remain).\n\nThere are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing.\nThey regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not to\nS\u00e2kyamuni Buddha.\n\nFour le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been erected\nat the place where the World-honoured one encountered king\nVirudhaha,(23) when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,(23) and\ntook his stand before him at the side of the road.(24)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is\nplaced by Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of the\nRapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are still\nthe ruins of a great town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in this\ntown, or in its neighbourhood, that S\u00e2kyamuni spent many years of his\nlife after he became Buddha.\n\n(2) There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a\nnorthern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh.\n\n(3) In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning \u201cleader of the victorious army.\u201d\nHe was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of S\u00e2kyamuni.\nEitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory,\nbecause of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy\u2019s\nM. B., pp. 283, 284, et al.\n\n(4) Explained by \u201cPath of Love,\u201d and \u201cLord of Life.\u201d Prajapati was aunt\nand nurse of S\u00e2kyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood, and\nthe first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to\nbecome a Buddha.\n\n(5) Sudatta, meaning \u201calmsgiver,\u201d was the original name of\nAnatha-pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head, of\nSravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old house,\nonly the well and walls remained at the time of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s visit to\nSravasti.\n\n(6) The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made\nassassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had\njoined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha,\nhe became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he \u201cgot the\nTao,\u201d or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his\nconversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in\nP\u00e2li is Angulimala. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his\nautobiographical poem in the \u201cSongs of the Theras.\u201d\n\n(7) Eitel (p. 37) says:\u2014\u201cA noted vih\u00e2ra in the suburbs of Sravasti,\nerected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son\nof Prasenajit. S\u00e2kyamuni made this place his favourite residence for\nmany years. Most of the S\u00fbtras (authentic and supposititious) date from\nthis spot.\u201d\n\n(8) See chapter xvii.\n\n(9) See chapter xiii.\n\n(10) Arya, meaning \u201chonourable,\u201d \u201cvenerable,\u201d is a title given only to\nthose who have mastered the four spiritual truths:\u2014(1) that \u201cmisery\u201d is\na necessary condition of all sentient existence; this is duhkha: (2)\nthat the \u201caccumulation\u201d of misery is caused by the passions; this is\nsamudaya: (3) that the \u201cextinction\u201d of passion is possible; this is\nnirodha: and (4) that the \u201cpath\u201d leads to the extinction of passion;\nwhich is marga. According to their attainment of these truths, the\nAryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four\nclasses,\u2014Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p.\n14.\n\n(11) This is the first time that F\u00e2-Hien employs the name Ho-shang {.}\n{.}, which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks\nwithout distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of the\nSanskrit term Upadhyaya, \u201cexplained,\u201d says Eitel (p. 155) by \u201ca\nself-taught teacher,\u201d or by \u201che who knows what is sinful and what is\nnot sinful,\u201d with the note, \u201cIn India the vernacular of this term is\n{.} {.} (? munshee (? Bronze)); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.} {.}\n(hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese synonyms,\n{.} {.} (ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang).\u201d The Indian term was\noriginally a designation for those who teach only a part of the Vedas,\nthe Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made to\nsignify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the Lamas.\nIn China it has been used first as a synonym for {.} {.}, monks engaged\nin popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction from {.} {.},\ndisciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative philosophers\n(meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of\nmonasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. In\nthe text there seems to be implied some distinction between the\n\u201cteachers\u201d and the \u201cho-shang;\u201d\u2014probably, the P\u00e2li Akariya and\nUpagghaya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp.\n178, 179.\n\n(12) It might be added, \u201cas depending on it,\u201d in order to bring out the\nfull meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the help of\nthe police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early years, to keep\nthe approaches to the Cathedral free from the number of beggars, who\nsquatted down there during service, hoping that the hearers would come\nout with softened hearts, and disposed to be charitable. I found the\npopular tutelary temples in Peking and other places, and the path up\nMount T\u2019ai in Shan-lung similarly frequented.\n\n(13) The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became \u201cmother superior\u201d of\nmany nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised\nit does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha.\n\n(14) See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this\nmurderer; see in Julien\u2019s \u201cVie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang,\u201d p. 125,\u2014\u201ca\nheretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated Buddha.\u201d See also the\nfuller account in Beal\u2019s \u201cRecords of Western Countries,\u201d pp. 7, 8,\nwhere the murder is committed by several Brahmacharins. In this passage\nBeal makes Sundari to be the name of the murdered person (a harlot).\nBut the text cannot be so construed.\n\n(15) Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the\nstory about her, M. B., pp. 275-277.\n\n(16) \u201cEarth\u2019s prison,\u201d or \u201cone of Earth\u2019s prisons.\u201d It was the Avichi\nnaraka to which she went, the last of the eight hot prisons, where the\nculprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted succession (such\nbeing the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final\nredemption. E. H. p. 21.\n\n(17) Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore of\nS\u00e2kyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had\nbecome so in an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued in\nevery successive birth, through which they reappeared in the world. See\nthe accounts of him, and of his various devices against Buddha, and his\nown destruction at the last, in M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330; and still\nbetter, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp.\n233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in the text, see \u201cThe\nLife of the Buddha,\u201d p. 107. When he was engulphed, and the flames were\naround him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, and we are told that he\nis expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name of Devaraja, in a\nuniverse called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39.\n\n(18) \u201cA devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is\nworshipped,\u2014a general name for all Brahmanical temples\u201d (Eitel, p. 30).\nWe read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa\nMatanga came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or S\u00fbtras, he\nwas lodged in the Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there\nwas built for him \u201cThe Court of the White-horse\u201d ({.} {.} {.}), and in\nconsequence the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic\ntemples. F\u00e2-Hien, however, applies this term only to Brahmanical\ntemples.\n\n(19) Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in the\ncircumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in I Samuel\nv. about the Ark and Dagon, that \u201ctwice-battered god of Palestine.\u201d\n\n(20) \u201cEntered the doctrine or path.\u201d Three stages in the Buddhistic\nlife are indicated by F\u00e2-Hien:\u2014\u201centering it,\u201d as here, by becoming\nmonks ({.} {.}); \u201cgetting it,\u201d by becoming Arhats ({.} {.}); and\n\u201ccompleting it,\u201d by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}).\n\n(21) It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central\nIndia as a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it\nwhere he then was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two\nsects, but there may have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys\nDavids\u2019 \u201cBuddhism,\u201d pp. 98, 99.\n\n(22) This mention of \u201cthe future world\u201d is an important difference\nbetween the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has\nbeen a stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. R\u00e9musat\nsays in a note that \u201cthe heretics limited themselves to speak of the\nduties of man in his actual life without connecting it by the notion\nthat the metempsychosis with the anterior periods of existence through\nwhich he had passed.\u201d But this is just the opposite of what F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s\nmeaning was, according to our Corean text. The notion of \u201cthe\nmetempsychosis\u201d was just that in which all the ninety-six erroneous\nsystems agreed among themselves and with Buddhism. If he had wished to\nsay what the French sinologue thinks he does say, moreover, he would\nprobably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, however, that\nthe connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world (including\nthe present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or\ntransmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate\nexistence of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of \u201cthe wheel,\u201d\nI would call its doctrine that of \u201cThe Transrotation of Births.\u201d See\nRhys Davids\u2019 third Hibbert Lecture.\n\n(23) Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya. He\nwas king of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the\ndestroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility\nto the Sakyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as\ncertain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien\u2019s \u201cMethode,\u201d\np. 89, may be read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the\nphonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel.\n\n(24) This would be the interview in the \u201cLife of the Buddha\u201d in\nTr\u00fcbner\u2019s Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found\nBuddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he\ntold the king that the thought of the danger of \u201chis relatives and\nkindred made it shady.\u201d The king was moved to sympathy for the time,\nand went back to Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only\npostponed for a short space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be\ninevitable in the connexion of cause and effect.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\nTHE THREE PREDECESSORS OF SAKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP.\n\n\nFifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named\nToo-wei,(1) the birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha.(1) At the place where he\nand his father met,(2) and at that where he attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na,\ntopes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, the\nKasyapa Tathagata,(3) a great tope was also erected.\n\nGoing on south-east from the city of Sravasti for twelve yojanas, (the\ntravellers) came to a town named Na-pei-kea,(4) the birthplace of\nKrakuchanda Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at\nthat where he attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na, topes were erected. Going north\nfrom here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been the\nbirthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the place where he and his father\nmet, and where he attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na, topes were erected.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine\nmiles to the west of Sahara-mahat. The birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha is\ngenerally thought to have been Benares. According to a calculation of\nR\u00e9musat, from his birth to A.D. 1832 there were 1,992,859 years!\n\n(2) It seems to be necessary to have a meeting between every Buddha and\nhis father. One at least is ascribed to S\u00e2kyamuni and his father (real\nor supposed) Suddhodana.\n\n(3) This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in\nChinese {.} {.}, meaning, as Eitel, p. 147 says, \u201c_Sic profectus sum_.\u201d\nIt is equivalent to \u201cRightful Buddha, the true successor in the Supreme\nBuddha Line.\u201d Hardy concludes his account of the Kasyapa Buddha (M. B.,\np. 97) with the following sentence:\u2014\u201cAfter his body was burnt, the\nbones still remained in their usual position, presenting the appearance\nof a perfect skeleton; and the whole of the inhabitants of Jambudvipa,\nassembling together, erected a dagoba over his relics one yojana in\nheight!\u201d\n\n(4) Na-pei-kea or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this\nBuddha was born at the city of Gan-ho ({.} {.} {.}) and Hardy gives his\nbirthplace as Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit, to\nreconcile these statements.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\nKAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA\u2019S BIRTH, AND OTHER\nINCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT.\n\n\nLess than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of\nKapilavastu;(1) but in it there was neither king nor people. All was\nmound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a\nscore or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood\nthe old palace of king Suddhodana(2) there have been made images of the\nprince (his eldest son) and his mother;(3) and at the places where that\nson appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his mother\u2019s\nwomb,(4) and where he turned his carriage round on seeing the sick man\nafter he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate,(5) topes have\nbeen erected. The places (were also pointed out)(6) where (the rishi)\nA-e(7) inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of the\nheir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with\nNanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one\nside, he tossed it away;(8) where he shot an arrow to the south-east,\nand it went a distance of thirty le, then entering the ground and\nmaking a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into a\nwell from which travellers might drink;(9) where, after he had attained\nto Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father;(10) where five\nhundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence to Upali(11)\nwhile the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where Buddha\npreached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and others kept\nthe four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his father,\ncould not enter;(12) where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, which is\nstill standing,(13) with his face to the east, and (his aunt)\nMaja-prajapati presented him with a Sanghali;(14) and (where) king\nVaidurya slew the seed of Sakya, and they all in dying became\nSrotapannas.(15) A tope was erected at this last place, which is still\nexisting.\n\nSeveral le north-east from the city was the king\u2019s field, where the\nheir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.(16)\n\nFifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,(17) where the\nqueen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on\nthe northern bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her\nhand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east,\ngave birth to the heir-apparent.(18) When he fell to the ground, he\n(immediately) walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and\nwashed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately\nformed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where (the\nqueen) bathed,(19) the monks (even) now constantly take the water, and\ndrink it.\n\nThere are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history\nof) all Buddhas:\u2014first, the place where they attained to perfect Wisdom\n(and became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the wheel of\nthe Law;(20) third, the place where they preached the Law, discoursed\nof righteousness, and discomfited (the advocates of) erroneous\ndoctrines; and fourth, the place where they came down, after going up\nto the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for the benefit of their\nmothers. Other places in connexion with them became remarkable,\naccording to the manifestations which were made at them at particular\ntimes.\n\nThe country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The\ninhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be on\ntheir guard against white elephants(21) and lions, and should not\ntravel incautiously.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Kapilavastu, \u201cthe city of beautiful virtue,\u201d was the birthplace of\nS\u00e2kyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last\nchapter, during his lifetime. It was situated a short distance\nnorth-west of the present Goruckpoor, lat. 26\u00b0 46\u2032 N., lon. 83\u00b0 19\u2032 E.\nDavids says (Manual, p. 25), \u201cIt was on the banks of the river Rohini,\nthe modern Kohana, about 100 miles north-west of the city of Benares.\u201d\n\n(2) The father, or supposed father, of S\u00e2kyamuni. He is here called\n\u201cthe king white and pure\u201d ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation is\n\u201cthe king of pure rice\u201d ({.} {.} {.}); but the character {.}, or\n\u201crice,\u201d must be a mistake for {.}, \u201cBrahman,\u201d and the appellation=\n\u201cPure Brahman king.\u201d\n\n(3) The \u201celdest son,\u201d or \u201cprince\u201d was S\u00e2kyamuni, and his mother had no\nother son. For \u201chis mother,\u201d see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a daughter\nof Anjana or Anusakya, king of the neighbouring country of Koli, and\nYasodhara, an aunt of Suddhodana. There appear to have been various\nintermarriages between the royal houses of Kapila and Koli.\n\n(4) In \u201cThe Life of the Buddha,\u201d p. 15, we read that \u201cBuddha was now in\nthe Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time for\nhis last rebirth in the course of which he would become Buddha), he\nmade the necessary examinations; and having decided that Maha-maya was\nthe right mother, in the midnight watch he entered her womb under the\nappearance of an elephant.\u201d See M. B., pp. 140-143, and, still better,\nRhys Davids\u2019 \u201cBirth Stories,\u201d pp. 58-63.\n\n(5) In Hardy\u2019s M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, \u201cAs the prince\n(Siddhartha, the first name given to S\u00e2kyamuni; see Eitel, under\nSarvarthasiddha) was one day passing along, he saw a deva under the\nappearance of a leper, full of sores, with a body like a water-vessel,\nand legs like the pestle for pounding rice; and when he learned from\nhis charioteer what it was that he saw, he became agitated, and\nreturned at once to the palace.\u201d See also Rhys Davids\u2019 \u201cBuddhism,\u201d p.\n29.\n\n(6) This is an addition of my own, instead of \u201cThere are also topes\nerected at the following spots,\u201d of former translators. F\u00e2-Hien does\nnot say that there were memorial topes at all these places.\n\n(7) Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in P\u00e2li Kala Devala, and had\nbeen a minister of Suddhodana\u2019s father.\n\n(8) In \u201cThe Life of Buddha\u201d we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali had\nsent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was near\nKapilavastu, Devadatta, out of envy, killed it with a blow of his fist.\nNanda (not Ananda, but a half-brother of Siddhartha), coming that way,\nsaw the carcase lying on the road, and pulled it on one side; but the\nBodhisattva, seeing it there, took it by the tail, and tossed it over\nseven fences and ditches, when the force of its fall made a great\nditch. I suspect that the characters in the column have been\ndisarranged, and that we should read {.} {.} {.} {.}, {.} {.}, {.} {.}.\nBuddha, that is Siddhartha, was at this time only ten years old.\n\n(9) The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them\nall. He was then seventeen.\n\n(10) This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, and\nas he was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and said,\n\u201cFather, though I love thee, yet a fear possesses me, and I may not\nstay;\u201d\u2014The Life of the Buddha, p. 25. Most probably it was that related\nin M. B., pp. 199-204. See \u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d pp. 120-127.\n\n(11) They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was\nonly a Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did\nBuddhism assert its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste.\nUpali was distinguished by his knowledge of the rules of discipline,\nand praised on that account by Buddha. He was one of the three leaders\nof the first synod, and the principal compiler of the original Vinaya\nbooks.\n\n(12) I have not met with the particulars of this preaching.\n\n(13) Meaning, as explained in Chinese, \u201ca tree without knots;\u201d the\n_ficus Indica_. See Rhys Davids\u2019 note, Manual, p. 39, where he says\nthat a branch of one of these trees was taken from Buddha Gaya to\nAnuradhapura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is\nstill growing there, the oldest historical tree in the world.\n\n(14) See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this\npresentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315.\n\n(15) See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of\nsaints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to\nnirv\u00e2na after having been reborn seven times consecutively as men or\ndevas. The Chinese editions state there were \u201c1000\u201d of the Sakya seed.\nThe general account is that they were 500, all maidens, who refused to\ntake their place in king Vaidurya\u2019s harem, and were in consequence\ntaken to a pond, and had their hands and feet cut off. There Buddha\ncame to them, had their wounds dressed, and preached to them the Law.\nThey died in the faith, and were reborn in the region of the four Great\nKings. Thence they came back and visited Buddha at Jetavana in the\nnight, and there they obtained the reward of Srotapanna. \u201cThe Life of\nthe Buddha,\u201d p. 121.\n\n(16) See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of it\nreminds me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an\ninstitution in China from the earliest times. But there we have no\nmagic and no extravagance.\n\n(17) \u201cThe place of Liberation;\u201d see chap. xiii, note 7.\n\n(18) See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; \u201cThe Life\nof the Buddha,\u201d pp. 15, 16; and \u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d p. 66.\n\n(19) There is difficulty in construing the text of this last statement.\nMr. Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his first\ntranslation. In his revised version he gives for it, I cannot say\nhappily, \u201cAs well as at the pool, the water of which came down from\nabove for washing (the child).\u201d\n\n(20) See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids\u2019 Manual, p. 45. The latter\nsays, that \u201cto turn the wheel of the Law\u201d means \u201cto set rolling the\nroyal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth and righteousness;\u201d\nbut he admits that this is more grandiloquent than the phraseology was\nin the ears of Buddhists. I prefer the words quoted from Eitel in the\nnote referred to. \u201cThey turned\u201d is probably equivalent to \u201cThey began\nto turn.\u201d\n\n(21) F\u00e2-Hien does not say that he himself saw any of these white\nelephants, nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour.\nWe shall find by-and-by, in a note further on, that, to make them\nappear more terrible, they are spoken of as \u201cblack.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\nRAMA, AND ITS TOPE.\n\n\nEast from Buddha\u2019s birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas, there\nis a kingdom called Rama.(1) The king of this country, having obtained\none portion of the relics of Buddha\u2019s body,(2) returned with it and\nbuilt over it a tope, named the Rama tope. By the side of it there was\na pool, and in the pool a dragon, which constantly kept watch over (the\ntope), and presented offerings to it day and night. When king Asoka\ncame forth into the world, he wished to destroy the eight topes (over\nthe relics), and to build (instead of them) 84,000 topes.(3) After he\nhad thrown down the seven (others), he wished next to destroy this\ntope. But then the dragon showed itself, took the king into its\npalace;(4) and when he had seen all the things provided for offerings,\nit said to him, \u201cIf you are able with your offerings to exceed these,\nyou can destroy the tope, and take it all away. I will not contend with\nyou.\u201d The king, however, knew that such appliances for offerings were\nnot to be had anywhere in the world, and thereupon returned (without\ncarrying out his purpose).\n\n(Afterwards), the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation,\nand there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep (about the tope); but a herd\nof elephants came regularly, which brought water with their trunks to\nwater the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, which they\npresented at the tope. (Once) there came from one of the kingdoms a\ndevotee(5) to worship at the tope. When he encountered the elephants he\nwas greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the trees; but when he\nsaw them go through with the offerings in the most proper manner, the\nthought filled him with great sadness\u2014that there should be no monastery\nhere, (the inmates of which) might serve the tope, but the elephants\nhave to do the watering and sweeping. Forthwith he gave up the great\nprohibitions (by which he was bound),(6) and resumed the status of a\nSramanera.(7) With his own hands he cleared away the grass and trees,\nput the place in good order, and made it pure and clean. By the power\nof his exhortations, he prevailed on the king of the country to form a\nresidence for monks; and when that was done, he became head of the\nmonastery. At the present day there are monks residing in it. This\nevent is of recent occurrence; but in all the succession from that time\ntill now, there has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Rama or Ramagrama, between Kapilavastu and Kusanagara.\n\n(2) See the account of the eightfold division of the relics of Buddha\u2019s\nbody in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp.\n133-136.\n\n(3) The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000\natoms, and hence the legend of Asoka\u2019s wish to build 84,000 topes, one\nover each atom of S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s skeleton.\n\n(4) F\u00e2-Hien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that\nthe naga-guardian had a palace of his own, inside or underneath the\npool or tank.\n\n(5) It stands out on the narrative as a whole that we have not here\n\u201csome pilgrims,\u201d but one devotee.\n\n(6) What the \u201cgreat prohibitions\u201d which the devotee now gave up were we\ncannot tell. Being what he was, a monk of more than ordinary ascetical\nhabits, he may have undertaken peculiar and difficult vows.\n\n(7) The Sramanera, or in Chinese Shamei. See chap. xvi, note 19.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\nWHERE BUDDHA FINALLY RENOUNCED THE WORLD, AND WHERE HE DIED.\n\n\nEast from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir-apparent\nsent back Chandaka, with his white horse;(1) and there also a tope was\nerected.\n\nFour yojanas to the east from this, (the travellers) came to the\nCharcoal tope,(2) where there is also a monastery.\n\nGoing on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of\nKusanagara,(3) on the north of which, between two trees,(4) on the bank\nof the Nairanjana(5) river, is the place where the World-honoured one,\nwith his head to the north, attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na (and died). There\nalso are the places where Subhadra,(6) the last (of his converts),\nattained to Wisdom (and became an Arhat); where in his coffin of gold\nthey made offerings to the World-honoured one for seven days,(7) where\nthe Vajrapani laid aside his golden club,(8) and where the eight\nkings(9) divided the relics (of the burnt body):\u2014at all these places\nwere built topes and monasteries, all of which are now existing.\n\nIn the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only\nthe families belonging to the (different) societies of monks.\n\nGoing from this to the south-east for twelve yojanas, they came to the\nplace where the Lichchhavis(10) wished to follow Buddha to (the place\nof) his pari-nirv\u00e2na, and where, when he would not listen to them and\nthey kept cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a\nlarge and deep ditch which they could not cross over, and gave them his\nalms-bowl, as a pledge of his regard, (thus) sending them back to their\nfamilies. There a stone pillar was erected with an account of this\nevent engraved upon it.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) This was on the night when S\u00e2kyamuni finally left his palace and\nfamily to fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called.\nChandaka, in P\u00e2li Channa, was the prince\u2019s charioteer, and in sympathy\nwith him. So also was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Asvaraja),\nwhich neighed his delight till the devas heard him. See M. B., pp.\n158-161, and Davids\u2019 Manual, pp. 32, 33. According to \u201cBuddhist Birth\nStories,\u201d p. 87, the noble horse never returned to the city, but died\nof grief at being left by his master, to be reborn immediately in the\nTrayastrimsas heaven as the deva Kanthaka!\n\n(2) Beal and Giles call this the \u201cAshes\u201d tope. I also would have\npreferred to call it so; but the Chinese character is {.}, not {.}.\nR\u00e9musat has \u201cla tour des charbons.\u201d It was over the place of Buddha\u2019s\ncremation.\n\n(3) In P\u00e2li Kusinara. It got its name from the Kusa grass (the _poa\ncynosuroides_); and its ruins are still extant, near Kusiah, 180 N.W.\nfrom Patna; \u201cabout,\u201d says Davids, \u201c120 miles N.N.E. of Benares, and 80\nmiles due east of Kapilavastu.\u201d\n\n(4) The Sala tree, the _Shorea robusta_, which yields the famous teak\nwood.\n\n(5) Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsuan-chwang, with the\nHiranyavati, which flows past the city on the south.\n\n(6) A Brahman of Benares, said to have been 120 years old, who came to\nlearn from Buddha the very night he died. Ananda would have repulsed\nhim; but Buddha ordered him to be introduced; and then putting aside\nthe ingenious but unimportant question which he propounded, preached to\nhim the Law. The Brahman was converted and attained at once to\nArhatship. Eitel says that he attained to nirv\u00e2na a few moments before\nS\u00e2kyamuni; but see the full account of him and his conversion in\n\u201cBuddhist Suttas,\u201d p. 103-110.\n\n(7) Thus treating the dead Buddha as if he had been a Chakravartti\nking. Hardy\u2019s M. B., p. 347, says:\u2014\u201cFor the place of cremation, the\nprinces (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was\ndecorated with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in a\ngolden sarcophagus.\u201d See the account of a cremation which F\u00e2-Hien\nwitnessed in Ceylon, chap. xxxix.\n\n(8) The name Vajrapani is explained as \u201che who holds in his hand the\ndiamond club (or pestle=sceptre),\u201d which is one of the many names of\nIndra or Sakra. He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would\nseem to be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither in\nHardy nor Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any\nmanifestation of himself made by Indra on this occasion. The princes of\nKusanagara were called mallas, \u201cstrong or mighty heroes;\u201d so also were\nthose of Pava and Vaisali; and a question arises whether the language\nmay not refer to some story which F\u00e2-Hien had heard,\u2014something which\nthey did on this great occasion. Vajrapani is also explained as meaning\n\u201cthe diamond mighty hero;\u201d but the epithet of \u201cdiamond\u201d is not so\napplicable to them as to Indra. The clause may hereafter obtain more\nelucidation.\n\n(9) Of Kusanagara, Pava, Vaisali, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes,\nbrahmans,\u2014each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an eightfold\ndivision at the suggestion of the brahman Drona.\n\n(10) These \u201cstrong heroes\u201d were the chiefs of Vaisali, a kingdom and\ncity, with an oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early,\nand were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second\nsynod was held at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins of\nthe city still exist at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I suppose,\nas Besarh, twenty miles north of Hajipur. See Beal\u2019s Revised Version,\np. lii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\nVAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED \u201cWEAPONS LAID DOWN.\u201d THE COUNCIL OF VAISALI.\n\n\nEast from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom\nof Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it\nthe double-galleried vih\u00e2ra(1) where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over\nhalf the body of Ananda.(2) Inside the city the woman Ambapali(3) built\na vih\u00e2ra in honour of Buddha, which is now standing as it was at first.\nThree le south of the city, on the west of the road, (is the) garden\n(which) the same Ambapali presented to Buddha, in which he might\nreside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirv\u00e2na, as he was\nquitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, and, beholding the\ncity on his right, said to them, \u201cHere I have taken my last walk.\u201d(4)\nMen subsequently built a tope at this spot.\n\nThree le north-west of the city there is a tope called, \u201cBows and\nweapons laid down.\u201d The reason why it got that name was this:\u2014The\ninferior wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges,\nbrought forth from her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife, jealous\nof the other, said, \u201cYou have brought forth a thing of evil omen,\u201d and\nimmediately it was put into a box of wood and thrown into the river.\nFarther down the stream another king was walking and looking about,\nwhen he saw the wooden box (floating) in the water. (He had it brought\nto him), opened it, and found a thousand little boys, upright and\ncomplete, and each one different from the others. He took them and had\nthem brought up. They grew tall and large, and very daring, and strong,\ncrushing all opposition in every expedition which they undertook. By\nand by they attacked the kingdom of their real father, who became in\nconsequence greatly distressed and sad. His inferior wife asked what it\nwas that made him so, and he replied, \u201cThat king has a thousand sons,\ndaring and strong beyond compare, and he wishes with them to attack my\nkingdom; this is what makes me sad.\u201d The wife said, \u201cYou need not be\nsad and sorrowful. Only make a high gallery on the wall of the city on\nthe east; and when the thieves come, I shall be able to make them\nretire.\u201d The king did as she said; and when the enemies came, she said\nto them from the tower, \u201cYou are my sons; why are you acting so\nunnaturally and rebelliously?\u201d They replied, \u201cIf you do not believe\nme,\u201d she said, \u201clook, all of you, towards me, and open your mouths.\u201d\nShe then pressed her breasts with her two hands, and each sent forth\n500 jets of milk, which fell into the mouths of the thousand sons. The\nthieves (thus) knew that she was their mother, and laid down their bows\nand weapons.(5) The two kings, the fathers, thereupon fell into\nreflection, and both got to be Pratyeka Buddhas.(6) The tope of the two\nPratyeka Buddhas is still existing.\n\nIn a subsequent age, when the World-honoured one had attained to\nperfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), he said to is disciples, \u201cThis is\nthe place where I in a former age laid down my bow and weapons.\u201d(7) It\nwas thus that subsequently men got to know (the fact), and raised the\ntope on this spot, which in this way received its name. The thousand\nlittle boys were the thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa.(8)\n\nIt was by the side of the \u201cWeapons-laid-down\u201d tope that Buddha, having\ngiven up the idea of living longer, said to Ananda, \u201cIn three months\nfrom this I will attain to pavi-nirv\u00e2na;\u201d and king Mara(9) had so\nfascinated and stupefied Ananda, that he was not able to ask Buddha to\nremain longer in this world.\n\nThree or four le east from this place there is a tope (commemorating\nthe following occurrence):\u2014A hundred years after the pari-nirv\u00e2na of\nBuddha, some Bhikshus of Vaisali went wrong in the matter of the\ndisciplinary rules in ten particulars, and appealed for their\njustification to what they said were the words of Buddha. Hereupon the\nArhats and Bhikshus observant of the rules, to the number in all of 700\nmonks, examined afresh and collated the collection of disciplinary\nbooks.(10) Subsequently men built at this place the tope (in question),\nwhich is still existing.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) It is difficult to tell what was the peculiar form of this vih\u00e2ra\nfrom which it gets its name; something about the construction of its\ndoor, or cupboards, or galleries.\n\n(2) See the explanation of this in the next chapter.\n\n(3) Ambapali, Amrapali, or Amradarika, \u201cthe guardian of the Amra\n(probably the mango) tree,\u201d is famous in Buddhist annals. See the\naccount of her in M. B., pp. 456-8. She was a courtesan. She had been\nin many narakas or hells, was 100,000 times a female beggar, and 10,000\ntimes a prostitute; but maintaining perfect continence during the\nperiod of Kasyapa Buddha, S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s predecessor, she had been born a\ndevi, and finally appeared in earth under an Amra tree in Vaisali.\nThere again she fell into her old ways, and had a son by king\nBimbisara; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and chastity,\nrenounced the world, and attained to the state of an Arhat. See the\nearliest account of Ambapali\u2019s presentation of the garden in \u201cBuddhist\nSuttas,\u201d pp. 30-33, and the note there from Bishop Bigandet on pp. 33,\n34.\n\n(4) Beal gives, \u201cIn this place I have performed the last religious act\nof my earthly career;\u201d Giles, \u201cThis is the last place I shall visit;\u201d\nR\u00e9musat, \u201cC\u2019est un lieu ou je reviendrai bien longtemps apres ceci.\u201d\nPerhaps the \u201cwalk\u201d to which Buddha referred had been for meditation.\n\n(5) See the account of this legend in the note in M. B., pp. 235, 236,\ndifferent, but not less absurd. The first part of F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s narrative\nwill have sent the thoughts of some of my readers to the exposure of\nthe infant Moses, as related in Exodus.\n\n(6) See chap. xiii, note 14.\n\n(7) Thus S\u00e2kyamuni had been one of the thousand little boys who floated\nin the box in the Ganges. How long back the former age was we cannot\ntell. I suppose the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka Buddhas\nhad been built like the one commemorating the laying down of weapons\nafter Buddha had told his disciples of the strange events in the past.\n\n(8) Bhadra-kalpa, \u201cthe Kalpa of worthies or sages.\u201d \u201cThis,\u201d says Eitel,\np. 22, \u201cis a designation for a Kalpa of stability, so called because\n1000 Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our present period is a\nBhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is to last 236\nmillion years, but over 151 millions have already elapsed.\u201d\n\n(9) \u201cThe king of demons.\u201d The name Mara is explained by \u201cthe murderer,\u201d\n\u201cthe destroyer of virtue,\u201d and similar appellations. \u201cHe is,\u201d says\nEitel, \u201cthe personification of lust, the god of love, sin, and death,\nthe arch-enemy of goodness, residing in the heaven Paranirmita\nVasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes different forms,\nespecially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the saints, or sends\nhis daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta or the Nirgranthas\nto do his work. He is often represented with 100 arms, and riding on an\nelephant.\u201d The oldest form of the legend in this paragraph is in\n\u201cBuddhist Suttas,\u201d Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, pp. 41-55, where\nBuddha says that, if Ananda had asked him thrice, he would have\npostponed his death.\n\n(10) Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important\none, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the\nBuddhist Church. See, on the formation of the Buddhist Canon, Hardy\u2019s\nE. M., chap. xviii, and the last chapter of Davids\u2019 Manual, on the\nHistory of the Order. The first Council was that held at Rajagriha,\nshortly after Buddha\u2019s death, under the presidency of Kasyapa;\u2014say\nabout B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here;\u2014say about B.C. 300.\nIn Davids\u2019 Manual (p. 216) we find the ten points of discipline, in\nwhich the heretics (I can use that term here) claimed at least\nindulgence. Two meetings were held to consider and discuss them. At the\nformer the orthodox party barely succeeded in carrying their\ncondemnation of the laxer monks; and a second and larger meeting, of\nwhich F\u00e2-Hien speaks, was held in consequence, and a more emphatic\ncondemnation passed. At the same time all the books and subjects of\ndiscipline seem to have undergone a careful revision.\n    The Corean text is clearer than the Chinese as to those who\n    composed the Council,\u2014the Arhats and orthodox monks. The leader\n    among them was a Yasas, or Yasada, or Yedsaputtra, who had been a\n    disciple of Ananda, and must therefore have been a very old man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\nREMARKABLE DEATH OF ANANDA.\n\n\nFour yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to\nthe confluence of the five rivers.(1) When Ananda was going from\nMagadha(2) to Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirv\u00e2na to take place (there),\nthe devas informed king Ajatasatru(3) of it, and the king immediately\npursued him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and\nhad reached the river. (On the other hand), the Lichchhavis of Vaisali\nhad heard that Ananda was coming (to their city), and they on their\npart came to meet him. (In this way), they all arrived together at the\nriver, and Ananda considered that, if he went forward, king Ajatasatru\nwould be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would\nresent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt\nhis body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,(4) and his pari-nirv\u00e2na was\nattained. He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half of it\non each bank; so that each of the two kings got one half as a (sacred)\nrelic, and took it back (to his own capital), and there raised a tope\nover it.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be\nfar from Patna.\n\n(2) Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy\nland, covered with vih\u00e2ras; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed in\na previous note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern portion\nof which corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha.\n\n(3) In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M. B.,\npp. 321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the first\nroyal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at least\nwrought his death; and was at first opposed to S\u00e2kyamuni, and a\nfavourer of Devadatta. When converted, he became famous for his\nliberality in almsgiving.\n\n(4) Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi,\nwhich is one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy defines\nit as meaning \u201cperfect tranquillity;\u201d Turnour, as \u201cmeditative\nabstraction;\u201d Burnouf, as \u201cself-control;\u201d and Edkins, as \u201cecstatic\nreverie.\u201d \u201cSamadhi,\u201d says Eitel, \u201csignifies the highest pitch of\nabstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to all\ninfluences from within or without; a state of torpor of both the\nmaterial and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial\nnirv\u00e2na, consistently culminating in total destruction of life.\u201d He\nthen quotes apparently the language of the text, \u201cHe consumed his body\nby Agni (the fire of) Samadhi,\u201d and says it is \u201ca common expression for\nthe effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic self-annihilation.\u201d All this\nis simply \u201ca darkening of counsel by words without knowledge.\u201d Some\nfacts concerning the death of Ananda are hidden beneath the darkness of\nthe phraseology, which it is impossible for us to ascertain. By or in\nSamadhi he burns his body in the very middle of the river, and then he\ndivides the relic of the burnt body into two parts (for so evidently\nF\u00e2-Hien intended his narration to be taken), and leaves one half on\neach bank. The account of Ananda\u2019s death in Nien-ch\u2019ang\u2019s \u201cHistory of\nBuddha and the Patriarchs\u201d is much more extravagant. Crowds of men and\ndevas are brought together to witness it. The body is divided into four\nparts. One is conveyed to the Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace\nof a certain Naga king; a third is given to Ajatasatru; and the fourth\nto the Lichchhavis. What it all really means I cannot tell.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\nPATALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING ASOKA\u2019S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE AND\nHALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RADHA-SAMI. DISPENSARIES AND HOSPITALS.\n\n\nHaving crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the\ntravellers) came to the town of Pataliputtra,(1) in the kingdom of\nMagadha, the city where king Asoka(2) ruled. The royal palace and halls\nin the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all made by\nspirits which he employed, and which piled up the stones, reared the\nwalls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and inlaid\nsculpture-work,\u2014in a way which no human hands of this world could\naccomplish.\n\nKing Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and\nresided on Gridhra-kuta(3) hill, finding his delight in solitude and\nquiet. The king, who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him\n(to come and live) in his family, where he could supply all his wants.\nThe other, however, through his delight in the stillness of the\nmountain, was unwilling to accept the invitation, on which the king\nsaid to him, \u201cOnly accept my invitation, and I will make a hill for you\ninside the city.\u201d Accordingly, he provided the materials of a feast,\ncalled to him the spirits, and announced to them, \u201cTo-morrow you will\nall receive my invitation; but as there are no mats for you to sit on,\nlet each one bring (his own seat).\u201d Next day the spirits came, each one\nbringing with him a great rock, (like) a wall, four or five paces\nsquare, (for a seat). When their sitting was over, the king made them\nform a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and also at the\nfoot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make an apartment,\nwhich might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and\nmore than ten cubits high.\n\nIn this city there had resided a great Brahman,(4) named Radha-sami,(5)\na professor of the mahayana, of clear discernment and much wisdom, who\nunderstood everything, living by himself in spotless purity. The king\nof the country honoured and reverenced him, and served him as his\nteacher. If he went to inquire for and greet him, the king did not\npresume to sit down alongside of him; and if, in his love and\nreverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he let it go, the\nBrahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. He might be more\nthan fifty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. By means of\nthis one man, the Law of Buddha was widely made known, and the\nfollowers of other doctrines did not find it in their power to\npersecute the body of monks in any way.\n\nBy the side of the tope of Asoka, there has been made a mahayana\nmonastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hinayana one; the\ntwo together containing six or seven hundred monks. The rules of\ndemeanour and the scholastic arrangements(6) in them are worthy of\nobservation.\n\nShamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students,\ninquirers wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort\nto these monasteries. There also resides in this monastery a Brahman\nteacher, whose name also is Manjusri,(7) whom the Shamans of greatest\nvirtue in the kingdom, and the mahayana Bhikshus honour and look up to.\n\nThe cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the\nMiddle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with\none another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every\nyear on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession\nof images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure of\nfour storeys by means of bamboos tied together. This is supported by a\nking-post, with poles and lances slanting from it, and is rather more\nthan twenty cubits high, having the shape of a tope. White and\nsilk-like cloth of hair(8) is wrapped all round it, which is then\npainted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold,\nsilver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers\nand canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a\nBuddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on him.\nThere may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one\ndifferent from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity\nwithin the borders all come together; they have singers and skilful\nmusicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and incense. The\nBrahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so in\norder, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep\nlamps burning, have skilful music, and present offerings. This is the\npractice in all the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya\nfamilies in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity\nand medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans,\nwidowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who\nare diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of\nhelp, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and\nmedicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and\nwhen they are better, they go away of themselves.\n\nWhen king Asoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make\neighty-four thousand,(9) the first which he made was the great tope,\nmore than three le to the south of this city. In front of this there is\na footprint of Buddha, where a vih\u00e2ra has been built. The door of it\nfaces the north, and on the south of it there is a stone pillar,\nfourteen or fifteen cubits in circumference, and more than thirty\ncubits high, on which there is an inscription, saying, \u201cAsoka gave the\njambudvipa to the general body of all the monks, and then redeemed it\nfrom them with money. This he did three times.\u201d(10) North from the tope\n300 or 400 paces, king Asoka built the city of Ne-le.(11) In it there\nis a stone pillar, which also is more than thirty feet high, with a\nlion on the top of it. On the pillar there is an inscription recording\nthe things which led to the building of Ne-le, with the number of the\nyear, the day, and the month.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) The modern Patna, lat. 25\u00b0 28\u2032 N., lon. 85\u00b0 15\u2032 E. The Sanskrit\nname means \u201cThe city of flowers.\u201d It is the Indian Florence.\n\n(2) See chap. x, note 3. Asoka transferred his court from Rajagriha to\nPataliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he\nconvoked the third Great Synod,\u2014according, at least, to southern\nBuddhism. It must have been held a few years before B.C. 250; Eitel\nsays in 246.\n\n(3) \u201cThe Vulture-hill;\u201d so called because Mara, according to Buddhist\ntradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the\nmeditation of Ananda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of\nvultures. It was near Rajagriha, the earlier capital of Asoka, so that\nF\u00e2-Hien connects a legend of it with his account of Patna. It abounded\nin caverns, and was famous as a resort of ascetics.\n\n(4) A Brahman by cast, but a Buddhist in faith.\n\n(5) So, by the help of Julien\u2019s \u201cMethode,\u201d I transliterate the Chinese\ncharacters {.} {.} {.} {.}. Beal gives Radhasvami, his Chinese text\nhaving a {.} between {.} and {.}. I suppose the name was Radhasvami or\nRadhasami.\n\n(6) {.} {.}, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in the\nLi Ki and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those\nmonasteries in India as there were in China? F\u00e2-Hien himself grew up\nwith other boys in a monastery, and no doubt had to \u201cgo to school.\u201d And\nthe next sentence shows us there might be schools for more advanced\nstudents as well as for the Sramaneras.\n\n(7) See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous\nBodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be \u201calso\u201d named Manjusri.\n\n(8) ? Cashmere cloth.\n\n(9) See chap. xxiii, note 3.\n\n(10) We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction,\nand that we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It\nis to be observed that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it\nfrom them. Their right was from him, and he bought it back. He was the\nonly \u201cPower\u201d that was.\n\n(11) We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small\nplace; an outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\nRAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT.\n\n\n(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas,\nand came to a small solitary rocky hill,(1) at the head or end of\nwhich(2) was an apartment of stone, facing the south,\u2014the place where\nBuddha sat, when Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician,\nPancha-(sikha),(3) to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute.\nSakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the\nquestions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.(4) The prints of\nhis tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery.\n\nA yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of\nNala,(5) where Sariputtra(6) was born, and to which also he returned,\nand attained here his pari-nirv\u00e2na. Over the spot (where his body was\nburned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence.\n\nAnother yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,(7)\u2014the new\ncity which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in\nit. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having\nobtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a tope,\nhigh, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south gate,\nand proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to a\ncircular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and have\nthe appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old city of\nking Bimbisara; from east to west about five or six le, and from north\nto south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and Maudgalyayana\nfirst saw Upasena;(8) that the Nirgrantha(9) made a pit of fire and\npoisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with him); that king\nAjatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with liquor, wishing him\nto injure Buddha;(10) and that at the north-east corner of the city in\na (large) curving (space) Jivaka built a vih\u00e2ra in the garden of\nAmbapali,(11) and invited Buddha with his 1250 disciples to it, that he\nmight there make his offerings to support them. (These places) are\nstill there as of old, but inside the city all is emptiness and\ndesolation; no man dwells in it.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or \u201cThe cavern of Indra.\u201d\nIt has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the\nbank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The hill\nterminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more\nnorthern and higher of these which F\u00e2-Hien had in mind. It bears an\noblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially\nof a vih\u00e2ra.\n\n(2) This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its\n\u201cheadland,\u201d where it ended at the river.\n\n(3) See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290. It is\nfrom Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the musician,\nwhich appears in F\u00e2-Hien as only Pancha, or \u201cFive.\u201d His harp or lute,\nwe are told, was \u201ctwelve miles long.\u201d\n\n(4) Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen, which\nare still to be found in one of the S\u00fbtras (\u201cthe Dik-Sanga, in the\nSakra-prasna Sutra\u201d). Whether it was Sakra who wrote his questions, or\nBuddha who wrote the answers, depends on the punctuation. It seems\nbetter to make Sakra the writer.\n\n(5) Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand monastery\nwas subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for five years of\nHsuan-chwang.\n\n(6) See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement\nthat Nala was his birthplace.\n\n(7) The city of \u201cRoyal Palaces;\u201d \u201cthe residence of the Magadha kings\nfrom Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot\nof the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within a\nyear after S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s death. Its ruins are still extant at the village\nof Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of\npilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100).\u201d It is called New Rajagriha to\ndistinguish it from Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old\nresidence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisara, while\nF\u00e2-Hien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose the son finished what the\nfather had begun.\n\n(8) One of the five first followers of S\u00e2kyamuni. He is also called\nAsvajit; in P\u00e2li Assaji; but Asvajit seems to be a military title=\n\u201cMaster or trainer of horses.\u201d The two more famous disciples met him,\nnot to lead him, but to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred Books\nof the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 144-147.\n\n(9) One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas=\u201cerroneous teachers;\u201d M. B., pp.\n290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on\nBuddha\u2019s life referred to by F\u00e2-Hien), or Brahmanical opponents of\nBuddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore\ncalled Nirgranthajnati. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the\nuse of clothes, and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting. He\nhad a body of followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel, pp.\n84, 85), and were the forerunners of the Jains.\n\n(10) The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant\ndisappointed them, and did homage to S\u00e2kyamuni. See Sacred Books of the\nEast, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247.\n\n(11) See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali\u2019s son by king\nBimbisara, and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the\naccount of him in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya\nTexts, pp. 171-194.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\nGRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. F\u00c2-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS\nREFLECTIONS.\n\n\nEntering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the south-east,\nafter ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount\nGridhra-kuta.(1) Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern\nin the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation.\nThirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was\nsitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) having assumed the\nform of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, and\nfrightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, supernatural\npower, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and stroked\nAnanda\u2019s shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away. The\nfootprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha\u2019s) hand are still\nthere, and hence comes the name of \u201cThe Hill of the Vulture Cavern.\u201d\n\nIn front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas sat.\nThere are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and meditated,\namounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in front of his\nrocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west (in meditation),\nand Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the north of the\nmountain, threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha\u2019s toes,(3) the rock is\nstill there.(4)\n\nThe hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only the\nfoundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is\nbeautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the\nfive hills. In the New City F\u00e2-Hien bought incense-(sticks), flowers,\noil and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident (at the place), to\ncarry them (to the peak). When he himself got to it, he made his\nofferings with the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when the\ndarkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his tears\nand said, \u201cHere Buddha delivered the Surangama (Sutra).(5) I, F\u00e2-Hien,\nwas born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only see the\nfootprints which he has left, and the place where he lived, and nothing\nmore.\u201d With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted the Surangama\nSutra, remained there over the night, and then returned towards the New\nCity.(6)\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) See chap. xxviii, note 1.\n\n(2) See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, and\nsignifies \u201csinful lust.\u201d\n\n(3) See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta\u2019s attempt was \u201cby the\nhelp of a machine;\u201d but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the\nEast, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what F\u00e2-Hien implies\nthat he threw the rock with his own arm.\n\n(4) And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits high,\nand thirty paces round.\n\n(5) See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio\u2019s \u201cCatalogue of the Chinese Translation of\nthe Buddhist Tripitaka,\u201d Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the former\nof these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory of\nF\u00e2-Hien.\n\n(6) In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal\nsays, \u201cThere is a full account of this perilous visit of F\u00e2-Hien, and\nhow he was attacked by tigers, in the \u2018History of the High Priests.\u2019\u201d\nBut \u201cthe high priests\u201d merely means distinguished monks, \u201ceminent\nmonks,\u201d as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders the adjectival character. Nor was\nF\u00e2-Hien \u201cattacked by tigers\u201d on the peak. No \u201ctigers\u201d appear in the\nMemoir. \u201cTwo black lions\u201d indeed crouched before him for a time this\nnight, \u201clicking their lips and waving their tails;\u201d but their\nappearance was to \u201ctry,\u201d and not to attack him; and when they saw him\nresolute, they \u201cdrooped their heads, put down their tails, and\nprostrated themselves before him.\u201d This of course is not an historical\naccount, but a legendary tribute to his bold perseverance.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\nTHE SRATAPARNA CAVE, OR CAVE OF THE FIRST COUNCIL. LEGENDS. SUICIDE OF\nA BHIKSHU.\n\n\nOut from the old city, after walking over 300 paces, on the west of the\nroad, (the travellers) found the Karanda Bamboo garden,(1) where the\n(old) vih\u00e2ra is still in existence, with a company of monks, who keep\n(the ground about it) swept and watered.\n\nNorth of the vih\u00e2ra two or three le there was the Smasanam, which name\nmeans in Chinese \u201cthe field of graves into which the dead are\nthrown.\u201d(2)\n\nAs they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for 300\npaces, they found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala\ncave,(3) in which Buddha regularly sat in meditation after taking his\n(midday) meal.\n\nGoing on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the\nhill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna,(4) the\nplace where, after the nirv\u00e2na(5) of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the\nS\u00fbtras. When they brought the S\u00fbtras forth, three lofty seats(6) had\nbeen prepared and grandly ornamented. Sariputtra occupied the one on\nthe left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. Of the number of five\nhundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on the middle\nseat). Ananda was then outside the door, and could not get in.(7) At\nthe place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still\nexisting.\n\nAlong (the sides of) the hill, there are also a very great many cells\namong the rocks, where the various Arhans sat and meditated. As you\nleave the old city on the north, and go down east for three le, there\nis the rock dwelling of Devadatta, and at a distance of fifty paces\nfrom it there is a large, square, black rock. Formerly there was a\nbhikshu, who, as he walked backwards and forwards upon it, thought with\nhimself:\u2014\u201cThis body(8) is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and\nvanity,(9) and which cannot be looked on as pure.(10) I am weary of\nthis body, and troubled by it as an evil.\u201d With this he grasped a\nknife, and was about to kill himself. But he thought again:\u2014\u201cThe\nWorld-honoured one laid down a prohibition against one\u2019s killing\nhimself.\u201d(11) Further it occurred to him:\u2014\u201cYes, he did; but I now only\nwish to kill three poisonous thieves.\u201d(12) Immediately with the knife\nhe cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he attained the\nstate of a Srotapanna;(13) when he had gone half through, he attained\nto be an Anagamin;(14) and when he had cut right through, he was an\nArhat, and attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na;(15) (and died).\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara, who\nalso built a vih\u00e2ra in it. See the account of the transaction in M. B.,\np. 194. The place was called Karanda, from a creature so named, which\nawoke the king just as a snake was about to bite him, and thus saved\nhis life. In Hardy the creature appears as a squirrel, but Eitel says\nthat the Karanda is a bird of sweet voice, resembling a magpie, but\nherding in flocks; the _cuculus melanoleucus_. See \u201cBuddhist Birth\nStories,\u201d p. 118.\n\n(2) The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no\nsympathy with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own\nBuddhistic method of cremation.\n\n(3) The Chinese characters used for the name of this cavern serve also\nto name the pippala (peepul) tree, the _ficus religiosa_. They make us\nthink that there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but F\u00e2-Hien\nwould hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance.\n\n(4) A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the\nSrataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to have\nbeen convoked by the older members to settle the rules and doctrines of\nthe order. The cave was prepared for the occasion by king Ajatasatru.\nFrom the expression about the \u201cbringing forth of the King,\u201d it would\nseem that the S\u00fbtras or some of them had been already committed to\nwriting. May not the meaning of King {.} here be extended to the Vinaya\nrules, as well as the S\u00fbtras, and mean \u201cthe standards\u201d of the system\ngenerally? See Davids\u2019 Manual, chapter ix, and Sacred Books of the\nEast, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 370-385.\n\n(5) So in the text, evidently for pari-nirv\u00e2na.\n\n(6) Instead of \u201chigh\u201d seats, the Chinese texts have \u201cvacant.\u201d The\ncharacter for \u201cprepared\u201d denotes \u201cspread;\u201d\u2014they were carpeted; perhaps,\nboth cushioned and carpeted, being rugs spread on the ground, raised\nhigher than the other places for seats.\n\n(7) Did they not contrive to let him in, with some cachinnation, even\nin so august an assembly, that so important a member should have been\nshut out?\n\n(8) \u201cThe life of this body\u201d would, I think, fairly express the idea of\nthe bhikshu.\n\n(9) See the account of Buddha\u2019s preaching in chapter xviii.\n\n(10) The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught.\n\n(11) See E. M., p. 152:\u2014\u201cBuddha made a law forbidding the monks to\ncommit suicide. He prohibited any one from discoursing on the miseries\nof life in such a manner as to cause desperation.\u201d See also M. B., pp.\n464, 465.\n\n(12) Beal says:\u2014\u201cEvil desire; hatred; ignorance.\u201d\n\n(13) See chap. xx, note 10.\n\n(14) The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship,\nthe third class of Aryas, who are no more liable to be reborn as men,\nbut are to be born once more as devas, when they will forthwith become\nArhats, and attain to nirv\u00e2na. E. H., pp. 8, 9.\n\n(15) Our author expresses no opinion of his own on the act of this\nbhikshu. Must it not have been a good act, when it was attended, in the\nvery act of performance, by such blessed consequences? But if Buddhism\nhad not something better to show than what appears here, it would not\nattract the interest which it now does. The bhikshu was evidently\nrather out of his mind; and the verdict of a coroner\u2019s inquest of this\nnineteenth century would have pronounced that he killed himself \u201cin a\nfit of insanity.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\nGAYA. SAKYAMUNI\u2019S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS.\n\n\nFrom this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the\npilgrims) came to the city of Gaya;(1) but inside the city all was\nemptiness and desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty le,\nthey arrived at the place where the Bodhisattva for six years practised\nwith himself painful austerities. All around was forest.\n\nThree le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had\ngone into the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree, by\nmeans of which he succeeded in getting out of the pool.(2)\n\nTwo le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented\nto Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;(3) and two le north from this\n(again) was the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and\nfacing the east, he ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there at\nthe present day. The rock may be six cubits in breadth and length, and\nrather more than two cubits in height. In Central India the cold and\nheat are so equally tempered that trees will live in it for several\nthousand and even for ten thousand years.\n\nHalf a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in\nthe rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged\nwith his face to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, \u201cIf I am\nto attain to perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be a\nsupernatural attestation of it.\u201d On the wall of the rock there appeared\nimmediately the shadow of a Buddha, rather more than three feet in\nlength, which is still bright at the present day. At this moment heaven\nand earth were greatly moved, and devas in the air spoke plainly, \u201cThis\nis not the place where any Buddha of the past, or he that is to come,\nhas attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. Less than half a\nyojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the patra(4) tree,\nwhere all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come must attain, to\nperfect Wisdom.\u201d When they had spoken these words, they immediately led\nthe way forwards to the place, singing as they did so. As they thus\nwent away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked (after them). At a distance\nof thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave him the grass of lucky\nomen,(5) which he received and went on. After (he had proceeded)\nfifteen paces, 500 green birds came flying towards him, went round him\nthrice, and disappeared. The Bodhisattva went forward to the patra\ntree, placed the kusa grass at the foot of it, and sat down with his\nface to the east. Then king Mara sent three beautiful young ladies, who\ncame from the north, to tempt him, while he himself came from the south\nto do the same. The Bodhisattva put his toes down on the ground, and\nthe demon soldiers retired and dispersed, and the three young ladies\nwere changed into old (grand-)mothers.(6)\n\nAt the place mentioned above of the six years\u2019 painful austerities, and\nat all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set up\nimages, which all exist at the present day.\n\nWhere Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days\ncontemplated the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;(7) where,\nunder the patra tree, he walked backwards and forwards from west to\neast for seven days; where the devas made a hall appear, composed of\nthe seven precious substances, and presented offerings to him for seven\ndays; where the blind dragon Muchilinda(8) encircled him for seven\ndays; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a square rock, with his\nface to the east, and Brahma-deva(9) came and made his request to him;\nwhere the four deva kings brought to him their alms-bowls;(10) where\nthe 500 merchants(11) presented to him the roasted flour and honey; and\nwhere he converted the brothers Kasyapa and their thousand\ndisciples;(12)\u2014at all these places topes were reared.\n\nAt the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three\nmonasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of\ntheir people around supply the societies of these monks with an\nabundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or\nstint.(13) The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them. The\nlaws regulating their demeanour in sitting, rising, and entering when\nthe others are assembled, are those which have been practised by all\nthe saints since Buddha was in the world down to the present day. The\nplaces of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed down without\nbreak, since Buddha attained to nirv\u00e2na. Those four great topes are\nthose at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained to Wisdom;\nwhere he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he attained to\npari-nirv\u00e2na.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat.\n24\u00b0 47\u2032 N., lon. 85\u00b0 1\u2032 E). It was here that S\u00e2kyamuni lived for seven\nyears, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The\nplace is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41.\n\n(2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being\ndrowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the\nincident I have met with,\u2014in \u201cThe Life of the Buddha,\u201d p. 31. And he\nwas not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the\nnarrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of\ntime.\n\n(3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in\nHardy\u2019s M. B., pp. 166-168; \u201cThe Life of the Buddha,\u201d p. 30; and the\n\u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering\ngirl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal\u2019s\nrevised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty\ncaused by the {.} {.} of F\u00e2-Hien.\n\n(4) Called \u201cthe tree of leaves,\u201d and \u201cthe tree of reflection;\u201d a palm\ntree, the _borassus flabellifera_, described as a tree which never\nloses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p.\n92.\n\n(5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note.\n\n(6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179,\nand \u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d pp. 96-101.\n\n(7) See chap. xiii, note 7.\n\n(8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: \u201cA naga\nking, the tutelary deity of a lake near which S\u00e2kyamuni once sat for\nseven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him.\u201d The\naccount (p. 35) in \u201cThe Life of the Buddha\u201d is:\u2014\u201cBuddha went to where\nlived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from\nthe sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread\nout his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in\nthought.\u201d So also the Nidana Katha, in \u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d p.\n109.\n\n(9) This was Brahma himself, though \u201cking\u201d is omitted. What he\nrequested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his\nLaw. Nidana Katha, p. 111.\n\n(10) See chap. xii, note 10.\n\n(11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the\nNidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them.\n\n(12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note\n17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to\nthis time holders of \u201cerroneous\u201d views, having 500, 300, and 200\ndisciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of\nS\u00e2kyamuni; and are\u2014each of them\u2014to become Buddha by-and-by. See the\nNidana Katha, pp. 114, 115.\n\n(13) This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some\nunderstand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to\nthe travellers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\nLEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA.\n\n\nWhen king Asoka, in a former birth,(1) was a little boy and played on\nthe road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food,\nand the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The\nBuddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was\nwalking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of\nbecoming a king of the iron wheel,(2) to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once)\nwhen he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa, he\nsaw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka(3) for the\npunishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what\nsort of a thing it was, they replied, \u201cIt belongs to Yama,(4) king of\ndemons, for punishing wicked people.\u201d The king thought within\nhimself:\u2014\u201c(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which\nto deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, make\na naraka in which to deal with wicked men?\u201d He forthwith asked his\nministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the\npunishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man\nof extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent\nofficers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the\nside of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow\nhair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he\ncalled to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and\nkilled them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took\nhim to the king, who secretly charged him, \u201cYou must make a square\nenclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits;\nmake good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every\nway, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates\nstrong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and\npunish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I should\nenter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me go. I\nnow appoint you master of that naraka.\u201d\n\nSoon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his\nfood, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka\nsaw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he,\nfrightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his\nmidday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they\nthrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the\nbhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence,\nthe painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it is but as a\nbubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. Immediately\nafter, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of boiling\nwater. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, however, in the\nbhikshu\u2019s countenance. The fire was extinguished, and the water became\ncold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a lotus flower, with\nthe bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went and reported to the\nking that there was a marvellous occurrence in the naraka, and wished\nhim to go and see it; but the king said, \u201cI formerly made such an\nagreement that now I dare not go (to the place).\u201d The lictors said,\n\u201cThis is not a small matter. Your majesty ought to go quickly. Let your\nformer agreement be altered.\u201d The king thereupon followed them, and\nentered (the naraka), when the bhikshu preached the Law to him, and he\nbelieved, and was made free.(5) Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and\nrepented of all the evil which he had formerly done. From this time he\nbelieved in and honoured the Three Precious Ones, and constantly went\nto a patra tree, repenting under it, with self-reproach, of his errors,\nand accepting the eight rules of abstinence.(6)\n\nThe queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the\nministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and\nsuch) a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not there,\nand then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and saw\nwhat had been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to the\nground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a\nconsiderable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) with\nbricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows\u2019 milk on the roots; and\nas he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this\noath, \u201cIf the tree do not live, I will never rise from this.\u201d When he\nhad uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the\nroots, and it has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100\ncubits in height.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Here is an instance of {.} used, as was pointed out in chap. ix,\nnote 3, for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps \u201ca\nformer birth\u201d is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa\nBuddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese \u201cSakya Buddha.\u201d\n\n(2) See chap. xvii, note 8.\n\n(3) I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating\nthe Chinese text by \u201cEarth\u2019s prison {.} {.},\u201d or \u201ca prison in the\nearth;\u201d the name for which has been adopted generally by Christian\nmissionaries in China for gehenna and hell.\n\n(4) Eitel (p. 173) says:\u2014\u201cYama was originally the Aryan god of the\ndead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but\nBrahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been retained\nby Buddhism.\u201d The Yama of the text is the \u201cregent of the narakas,\nresiding south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the double\ncircuit of mountains above), in a palace built of brass and iron. He\nhas a sister who controls all the female culprits, as he exclusively\ndeals with the male sex. Three times, however, in every twenty-four\nhours, a demon pours boiling copper into Yama\u2019s mouth, and squeezes it\ndown his throat, causing him unspeakable pain.\u201d Such, however, is the\nwonderful \u201ctransrotation of births,\u201d that when Yama\u2019s sins have been\nexpiated, he is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name of \u201cThe\nUniversal King.\u201d\n\n(5) Or, \u201cwas loosed;\u201d from the bonds, I suppose, of his various\nillusions.\n\n(6) I have not met with this particular numerical category.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\nMOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KASYAPA BUDDHA\u2019S ENTIRE SKELETON IS.\n\n\n(The travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a\nmountain named Gurupada,(1) inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He\nmade a cleft, and went down into it, though the place where he entered\nwould not (now) admit a man. Having gone down very far, there was a\nhole on one side, and there the complete body of Kasyapa (still)\nabides. Outside the hole (at which he entered) is the earth with which\nhe had washed his hands.(2) If the people living thereabouts have a\nsore on their heads, they plaster on it some of the earth from this,\nand feel immediately easier.(3) On this mountain, now as of old, there\nare Arhats abiding. Devotees of our Law from the various countries in\nthat quarter go year by year to the mountain, and present offerings to\nKasyapa; and to those whose hearts are strong in faith there come\nArhats at night, and talk with them, discussing and explaining their\ndoubts, and disappearing suddenly afterwards.\n\nOn this hill hazels grow luxuriously; and there are many lions, tigers,\nand wolves, so that people should not travel incautiously.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) \u201cFowl\u2019s-foot hill,\u201d \u201cwith three peaks, resembling the foot of a\nchicken. It lies seven miles south-east of Gaya, and was the residence\nof Mahakasyapa, who is said to be still living inside this mountain.\u201d\nSo Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that Kasyapa is in\nthe mountain alive, but that his body entire is in a recess or hole in\nit. Hardy (M. B., p. 97) says that after Kasyapa Buddha\u2019s body was\nburnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, presenting the\nappearance of a perfect skeleton. It is of him that the chapter speaks,\nand not of the famous disciple of S\u00e2kyamuni, who also is called\nMahakasyapa. This will appear also on a comparison of Eitel\u2019s articles\non \u201cMahakasyapa\u201d and \u201cKasyapa Buddha.\u201d\n\n(2) Was it a custom to wash the hands with \u201cearth,\u201d as is often done\nwith sand?\n\n(3) This I conceive to be the meaning here.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\nON THE WAY BACK TO PATNA. VARANASI, OR BENARES. SAKYAMUNI\u2019S FIRST\nDOINGS AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA.\n\n\nF\u00e2-Hien(1) returned (from here) towards Pataliputtra,(2) keeping along\nthe course of the Ganges and descending in the direction of the west.\nAfter going ten yojanas he found a vih\u00e2ra, named \u201cThe Wilderness,\u201d\u2014a\nplace where Buddha had dwelt, and where there are monks now.\n\nPursuing the same course, and going still to the west, he arrived,\nafter twelve yojanas, at the city of Varanasi(3) in the kingdom of\nKasi. Rather more than ten le to the north-east of the city, he found\nthe vih\u00e2ra in the park of \u201cThe rishi\u2019s Deer-wild.\u201d(4) In this park\nthere formerly resided a Pratyeka Buddha,(5) with whom the deer were\nregularly in the habit of stopping for the night. When the\nWorld-honoured one was about to attain to perfect Wisdom, the devas\nsang in the sky, \u201cThe son of king Suddhodana, having quitted his family\nand studied the Path (of Wisdom),(6) will now in seven days become\nBuddha.\u201d The Pratyeka Buddha heard their words, and immediately\nattained to nirv\u00e2na; and hence this place was named \u201cThe Park of the\nrishi\u2019s Deer-wild.\u201d(7) After the World-honoured one had attained to\nperfect Wisdom, men build the vih\u00e2ra in it.\n\nBuddha wished to convert Kaundinya(8) and his four companions; but\nthey, (being aware of his intention), said to one another, \u201cThis\nSramana Gotama(9) for six years continued in the practice of painful\nausterities, eating daily (only) a single hemp-seed, and one grain of\nrice, without attaining to the Path (of Wisdom); how much less will he\ndo so now that he has entered (again) among men, and is giving the\nreins to (the indulgence of) his body, his speech, and his thoughts!\nWhat has he to do with the Path (of Wisdom)? To-day, when he comes to\nus, let us be on our guard not to speak with him.\u201d At the places where\nthe five men all rose up, and respectfully saluted (Buddha), when he\ncame to them; where, sixty paces north from this, he sat with his face\nto the east, and first turned the wheel of the Law, converting\nKaundinya and the four others; where, twenty paces further to the\nnorth, he delivered his prophecy concerning Maitreya;(10) and where, at\na distance of fifty paces to the south, the dragon Elapattra(11) asked\nhim, \u201cWhen shall I get free from this naga body?\u201d\u2014at all these places\ntopes were reared, and are still existing. In (the park) there are two\nmonasteries, in both of which there are monks residing.\n\nWhen you go north-west from the vih\u00e2ra of the Deer-wild park for\nthirteen yojanas, there is a kingdom named Kausambi.(12) Its vih\u00e2ra is\nnamed Ghochiravana(13)\u2014a place where Buddha formerly resided. Now, as\nof old, there is a company of monks there, most of whom are students of\nthe hinayana.\n\nEast from (this), when you have travelled eight yojanas, is the place\nwhere Buddha converted(14) the evil demon. There, and where he walked\n(in meditation) and sat at the place which was his regular abode, there\nhave been topes erected. There is also a monastery, which may contain\nmore than a hundred monks.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) F\u00e2-Hien is here mentioned singly, as in the account of his visit to\nthe cave on Gridhra-kuta. I think that Tao-ching may have remained at\nPatna after their first visit to it.\n\n(2) See chap. xxvii, note 1.\n\n(3) \u201cThe city surrounded by rivers;\u201d the modern Benares, lat. 25\u00b0 23\u2032\nN., lon. 83\u00b0 5\u2032 E.\n\n(4) \u201cThe rishi,\u201d says Eitel, \u201cis a man whose bodily frame has undergone\na certain transformation by dint of meditation and ascetism, so that he\nis, for an indefinite period, exempt from decrepitude, age, and death.\nAs this period is believed to extend far beyond the usual duration of\nhuman life, such persons are called, and popularly believed to be,\nimmortals.\u201d Rishis are divided into various classes; and rishi-ism is\nspoken of as a seventh part of transrotation, and rishis are referred\nto as the seventh class of sentient beings. Taoism, as well as\nBuddhism, has its Seen jin.\n\n(5) See chap. xiii, note 15.\n\n(6) See chap. xxii, note 2.\n\n(7) For another legend about this park, and the identification of \u201ca\nfine wood\u201d still existing, see note in Beal\u2019s first version, p. 135.\n\n(8) A prince of Magadha and a maternal uncle of S\u00e2kyamuni, who gave him\nthe name of Ajnata, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as\nAjnata Kaundinya. He and his four friends had followed S\u00e2kyamuni into\nthe Uruvilva desert, sympathising with him in the austerities he\nendured, and hoping that they would issue in his Buddhaship. They were\nnot aware that that issue had come; which may show us that all the\naccounts in the thirty-first chapter are merely descriptions, by means\nof external imagery, of what had taken place internally. The kingdom of\nnirv\u00e2na had come without observation. These friends knew it not; and\nthey were offended by what they considered S\u00e2kyamuni\u2019s failure, and the\ncourse he was now pursuing. See the account of their conversion in M.\nB., p. 186.\n\n(9) This is the only instance in F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s text where the Bodhisattva\nor Buddha is called by the surname \u201cGotama.\u201d For the most part our\ntraveller uses Buddha as a proper name, though it properly means \u201cThe\nEnlightened.\u201d He uses also the combinations \u201cSakya Buddha,\u201d=\u201cThe Buddha\nof the Sakya tribe,\u201d and \u201cS\u00e2kyamuni,\u201d=\u201cThe Sakya sage.\u201d This last is\nthe most common designation of the Buddha in China, and to my mind best\ncombines the characteristics of a descriptive and a proper name. Among\nother Buddhistic peoples \u201cGotama\u201d and \u201cGotama Buddha\u201d are the more\nfrequent designations. It is not easy to account for the rise of the\nsurname Gotama in the Sakya family, as Oldenberg acknowledges. He says\nthat \u201cthe Sakyas, in accordance with the custom of Indian noble\nfamilies, had borrowed it from one of the ancient Vedic bard families.\u201d\nDr. Davids (\u201cBuddhism,\u201d p. 27) says: \u201cThe family name was certainly\nGautama,\u201d adding in a note, \u201cIt is a curious fact that Gautama is still\nthe family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the village which has\nbeen identified with Kapilavastu.\u201d Dr. Eitel says that \u201cGautama was the\nsacerdotal name of the Sakya family, which counted the ancient rishi\nGautama among its ancestors.\u201d When we proceed, however, to endeavour to\ntrace the connexion of that Brahmanical rishi with the Sakya house, by\nmeans of 1323, 1468, 1469, and other historical works in Nanjio\u2019s\nCatalogue, we soon find that Indian histories have no surer foundation\nthan the shifting sand;\u2014see E. H., on the name Sakya, pp. 108, 109. We\nmust be content for the present simply to accept Gotama as one of the\nsurnames of the Buddha with whom we have to do.\n\n(10) See chap. vi, note 5. It is there said that the prediction of\nMaitreya\u2019s succession to the Buddhaship was made to him in the Tushita\nheaven. Was there a repetition of it here in the Deer-park, or was a\nprediction now given concerning something else?\n\n(11) Nothing seems to be known of this naga but what we read here.\n\n(12) Identified by some with Kusia, near Kurrah (lat. 25\u00b0 41\u2032 N., lon.\n81\u00b0 27\u2032 E.); by others with Kosam on the Jumna, thirty miles above\nAllahabad. See E. H., p. 55.\n\n(13) Ghochira was the name of a Vaisya elder, or head, who presented a\ngarden and vih\u00e2ra to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement\nfrom a Singhalese authority that S\u00e2kyamuni resided here during the\nninth year of his Buddhaship.\n\n(14) Dr. Davids thinks this may refer to the striking and beautiful\nstory of the conversion of the Yakkha Alavaka, as related in the\nUragavagga, Alavakasutta, pp. 29-31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x,\npart ii).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\nDAKSHINA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY.\n\n\nSouth from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshina,(1)\nwhere there is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kasyapa Buddha,\nand which has been hewn out from a large hill of rock. It consists in\nall of five storeys;\u2014the lowest, having the form of an elephant, with\n500 apartments in the rock; the second, having the form of a lion, with\n400 apartments; the third, having the form of a horse, with 300\napartments; the fourth, having the form of an ox, with 200 apartments;\nand the fifth, having the form of a pigeon, with 100 apartments. At the\nvery top there is a spring, the water of which, always in front of the\napartments in the rock, goes round among the rooms, now circling, now\ncurving, till in this way it arrives at the lowest storey, having\nfollowed the shape of the structure, and flows out there at the door.\nEverywhere in the apartments of the monks, the rock has been pierced so\nas to form windows for the admission of light, so that they are all\nbright, without any being left in darkness. At the four corners of the\n(tiers of) apartments, the rock has been hewn so as to form steps for\nascending to the top (of each). The men of the present day, being of\nsmall size, and going up step by step, manage to get to the top; but in\na former age, they did so at one step.(2) Because of this, the\nmonastery is called Paravata, that being the Indian name for a pigeon.\nThere are always Arhats residing in it.\n\nThe country about is (a tract of) uncultivated hillocks,(3) without\ninhabitants. At a very long distance from the hill there are villages,\nwhere the people all have bad and erroneous views, and do not know the\nSramanas of the Law of Buddha, Brahmanas, or (devotees of) any of the\nother and different schools. The people of that country are constantly\nseeing men on the wing, who come and enter this monastery. On one\noccasion, when devotees of various countries came to perform their\nworship at it, the people of those villages said to them, \u201cWhy do you\nnot fly? The devotees whom we have seen hereabouts all fly;\u201d and the\nstrangers answered, on the spur of the moment, \u201cOur wings are not yet\nfully formed.\u201d\n\nThe kingdom of Dakshina is out of the way, and perilous to traverse.\nThere are difficulties in connexion with the roads; but those who know\nhow to manage such difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with\nthem money and various articles, and give them to the king. He will\nthen send men to escort them. These will (at different stages) pass\nthem over to others, who will show them the shortest routes. F\u00e2-Hien,\nhowever, was after all unable to go there; but having received the\n(above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated them.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Said to be the ancient name of the Deccan. As to the various\nmarvels in the chapter, it must be borne in mind that our author, as he\ntells us at the end, only gives them from hearsay. See \u201cBuddhist\nRecords of the Western World,\u201d vol. ii, pp. 214, 215, where the\ndescription, however, is very different.\n\n(2) Compare the account of Buddha\u2019s great stride of fifteen yojanas in\nCeylon, as related in chapter xxxviii.\n\n(3) See the same phrase in the Books of the Later Han dynasty, the\ntwenty-fourth Book of Biographies, p. 9b.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\nIN PATNA. F\u00c2-HIEN\u2019S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN\nSTUDIES FOR THREE YEARS.\n\n\nFrom Varanasi (the travellers) went back east to Pataliputtra.\nF\u00e2-Hien\u2019s original object had been to search for (copies of) the\nVinaya. In the various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found\none master transmitting orally (the rules) to another, but no written\ncopies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and\ncome on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana monastery,(1) he found\na copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika(2) rules,\u2014those which\nwere observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha was still in the\nworld. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana vih\u00e2ra. As to\nthe other eighteen schools,(3) each one has the views and decisions of\nits own masters. Those agree (with this) in the general meaning, but\nthey have small and trivial differences, as when one opens and another\nshuts.(4) This copy (of the rules), however, is the most complete, with\nthe fullest explanations.(5)\n\nHe further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand\ngathas,(6) being the sarvastivadah(7) rules,\u2014those which are observed\nby the communities of monks in the land of Ts\u2019in; which also have all\nbeen handed down orally from master to master without being committed\nto writing. In the community here, moreover, we got the\nSamyuktabhi-dharma-hridaya-(sastra),(8) containing about six or seven\nthousand gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of the\nParinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,(9) of about 5000 gathas; and the\nMahasan-ghikah Abhidharma.\n\nIn consequence (of this success in his quest) F\u00e2-Hien stayed here for\nthree years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and\nwriting out the Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central\nKingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified\ndemeanour in their societies which he remarked under all occurring\ncircumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and\nimperfect condition the rules were among the monkish communities in the\nland of Ts\u2019in, and made the following aspiration:\u2014\u201cFrom this time forth\ntill I come to the state of Buddha, let me not be born in a frontier\nland.\u201d(10) He remained accordingly (in India), and did not return (to\nthe land of Han). F\u00e2-Hien, however, whose original purpose had been to\nsecure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into the land of\nHan, returned there alone.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Mentioned before in chapter xxvii.\n\n(2) Mahasanghikah simply means \u201cthe Great Assembly,\u201d that is, of monks.\nWhen was this first assembly in the time of S\u00e2kyamuni held? It does not\nappear that the rules observed at it were written down at the time. The\ndocument found by F\u00e2-Hien would be a record of those rules; or rather a\ncopy of that record. We must suppose that the original record had\ndisappeared from the Jetavana vih\u00e2ra, or F\u00e2-Hien would probably have\nspoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had been allowed\nto do so.\n\n(3) The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character\ncalled pu occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only\nhave the meaning, often belonging to it, of \u201ccopy.\u201d The second\ninstance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies,\nall different from the original, and from one another, in minor\nmatters? We are compelled to translate\u2014\u201cthe eighteen schools,\u201d an\nexpression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids\u2019\nManual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted.\n\n(4) This is equivalent to the \u201cbinding\u201d and \u201cloosing,\u201d \u201copening\u201d and\n\u201cshutting,\u201d which found their way into the New Testament, and the\nChristian Church, from the schools of the Jewish Rabbins.\n\n(5) It was afterwards translated by F\u00e2-Hien into Chinese. See Nanjio\u2019s\nCatalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119\nand 1150, columns 247 and 253.\n\n(6) A gatha is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of\na few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do\nnot know that its length is strictly defined.\n\n(7) \u201cA branch,\u201d says Eitel, \u201cof the great vaibhashika school, asserting\nthe reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the authority of\nRahula.\u201d\n\n(8) See Nanjio\u2019s Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his\naccount of F\u00e2-Hien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka Sutra.\n\n(9) Probably Nanjio\u2019s Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with\nit.\n\n(10) This then would be the consummation of the Sramana\u2019s being,\u2014to get\nto be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tao-ching\nthought that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of\nbirths; and was likely to attain to it sooner by living only in India.\nIf all this was not in his mind, he yet felt that each of his\nsuccessive lives would be happier, if lived in India.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\nTO CHAMPA AND TAMALIPTI. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. TAKES\nSHIP TO SINGHALA, OR CEYLON.\n\n\nFollowing the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for\neighteen yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom of\nChampa,(1) with topes reared at the places where Buddha walked in\nmeditation by his vih\u00e2ra, and where he and the three Buddhas, his\npredecessors, sat. There were monks residing at them all. Continuing\nhis journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he came to the country of\nTamalipti,(2) (the capital of which is) a seaport. In the country there\nare twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks residing.\nThe Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here F\u00e2-Hien stayed two\nyears, writing out his S\u00fbtras,(3) and drawing pictures of images.\n\nAfter this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating\nover the sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and the\nwind was favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and night,\nthey came to the country of Singhala.(4) The people said that it was\ndistant (from Tamalipti) about 700 yojanas.\n\nThe kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty\nyojanas, and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it there\nare as many as 100 small islands, distant from one another ten, twenty,\nor even 200 le; but all subject to the large island. Most of them\nproduce pearls and precious stones of various kinds; there is one which\nproduces the pure and brilliant pearl,(5)\u2014an island which would form a\nsquare of about ten le. The king employs men to watch and protect it,\nand requires three out of every ten such pearls, which the collectors\nfind.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor,\nlat. 25\u00b0 14\u2032 N., lon. 56\u00b0 55\u2032 E.\n\n(2) Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China;\nthe modern Tam-look, lat. 22\u00b0 17\u2032 N., lon. 88\u00b0 2\u2032 E.; near the mouth of\nthe Hoogly.\n\n(3) Perhaps Ching {.} is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka\nwhich he had obtained.\n\n(4) \u201cThe Kingdom of the Lion,\u201d Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a\nmerchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom was\nascribed. His father was named Singha, \u201cthe Lion,\u201d which became the\nname of the country;\u2014Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, \u201cthe Country of the\nLion.\u201d\n\n(5) Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning \u201cfree\nfrom stain,\u201d \u201cbright and growing purer.\u201d It is a symbol of Buddha and\nof his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\nAT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND MONASTERIES.\nSTATUE OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA\u2019S TOOTH.\n\n\nThe country originally had no human inhabitants,(1) but was occupied\nonly by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries\ncarried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits\ndid not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious\ncommodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the\nmerchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the\nthings away.\n\nThrough the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they\nwent away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant\nthe land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great\nnation. The (climate) is temperate and attractive, without any\ndifference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant.\nCultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed seasons\nfor it.\n\nWhen Buddha came to this country,(2) wishing to transform the wicked\nnagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of\nthe royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain,(3) the two\nbeing fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the\ncity the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned with\ngold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precious\nsubstances. By the side of the top he further built a monastery, called\nthe Abhayagiri,(4) where there are (now) five thousand monks. There is\nin it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid works of gold\nand silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there\nis an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in\nheight, glittering all over with those substances, and having an\nappearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of\nthe right hand there is a priceless pearl. Several years had now\nelapsed since F\u00e2-Hien left the land of Han; the men with whom he had\nbeen in intercourse had all been of regions strange to him; his eyes\nhad not rested on an old and familiar hill or river, plant or tree; his\nfellow-travellers, moreover, had been separated from him, some by\ndeath, and others flowing off in different directions; no face or\nshadow was now with him but his own, and a constant sadness was in his\nheart. Suddenly (one day), when by the side of this image of jade, he\nsaw a merchant presenting as his offering a fan of white silk;(5) and\nthe tears of sorrow involuntarily filled his eyes and fell down.\n\nA former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip\nof the patra tree,(6) which he planted by the side of the hall of\nBuddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it\nbent on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would\nfall, propped it with a post eight or nine spans round. The tree began\nto grow at the very heart of the prop, where it met (the trunk); (a\nshoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where it\nentered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about\nfour spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer\nportions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them.\nBeneath the tree there has been built a vih\u00e2ra, in which there is an\nimage (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and\nlook up to without ever becoming wearied. In the city there has been\nreared also the vih\u00e2ra of Buddha\u2019s tooth, on which, as well as on the\nother, the seven precious substances have been employed.\n\nThe king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity of\nthe faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also\ngreat. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there has\nbeen no famine or scarcity, no revolution or disorder. In the\ntreasuries of the monkish communities there are many precious stones,\nand the priceless manis. One of the kings (once) entered one of those\ntreasuries, and when he looked all round and saw the priceless pearls,\nhis covetous greed was excited, and he wished to take them to himself\nby force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and immediately\nwent and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, to\nshow his repentance of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he\ninformed the monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them to\nmake a regulation that from that day forth the king should not be\nallowed to enter the treasury and see (what it contained), and that no\nbhikshu should enter it till after he had been in orders for a period\nof full forty years.(7)\n\nIn the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean(8) merchants,\nwhose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are kept\nin good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there have\nbeen built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and\nfifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a\npulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together\nto hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom there may be\naltogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common\nstores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common\nsupply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take\ntheir great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as\nmuch as the vessels will hold, all returning with them full.\n\nThe tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third\nmonth. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large\nelephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is\ndressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following\nproclamation:\u2014\u201cThe Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,(9)\nmanifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up\nkingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes and gave them to\nanother;(10) he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom the life of\na dove;(10) he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;(11) he gave his\nbody to feed a starving tigress;(11) he grudged not his marrow and his\nbrains. In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for the sake of\nall living. And so it was, that, having become Buddha, he continued in\nthe world for forty-five years, preaching his Law, teaching and\ntransforming, so that those who had no rest found rest, and the\nunconverted were converted. When his connexion with the living was\ncompleted,(12) he attained to pari-nirv\u00e2na (and died). Since that\nevent, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,(13) and all\nliving beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold! ten days after\nthis, Buddha\u2019s tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the\nAbhayagiri-vih\u00e2ra. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish\nto amass merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good\ncondition, grandly adorn the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant\nstore of flowers and incense to be used as offerings to it.\u201d\n\nWhen this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both\nsides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the\nBodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:\u2014here as\nSudana,(14) there as Sama;(15) now as the king of elephants;(16) and\nthen as a stag or a horse.(16) All these figures are brightly coloured\nand grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the\ntooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle of\nthe road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and thus\nit arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vih\u00e2ra. There monks\nand laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light lamps, and\nperform all the prescribed services, day and night without ceasing,\ntill ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is returned to\nthe vih\u00e2ra within the city. On fast-days the door of that vih\u00e2ra is\nopened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to\nthe rules.\n\nForty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vih\u00e2ra there is a hill, with a\nvih\u00e2ra on it, called the Chaitya,(17) where there may be 2000 monks.\nAmong them there is a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,(18)\nhonoured and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more\nthan forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such\ngentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop\ntogether in the same room, without doing one another any harm.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) It is desirable to translate {.} {.}, for which \u201cinhabitants\u201d or\n\u201cpeople\u201d is elsewhere sufficient, here by \u201chuman inhabitants.\u201d\nAccording to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by\nRakshasas or Rakshas, \u201cdemons who devour men,\u201d and \u201cbeings to be\nfeared,\u201d monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the terror of the\nshipwrecked mariner. Our author\u2019s \u201cspirits\u201d {.} {.} were of a gentler\ntype. His dragons or nagas have come before us again and again.\n\n(2) That S\u00e2kyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful.\nHardy, in M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends of three\nvisits,\u2014in the first, fifth, and eighth years of his Buddhaship. It is\nplain, however, from F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s narrative, that in the beginning of our\nfifth century, Buddhism prevailed throughout the island. Davids in the\nlast chapter of his \u201cBuddhism\u201d ascribes its introduction to one of\nAsoka\u2019s missions, after the Council of Patna, under his son Mahinda,\nwhen Tissa, \u201cthe delight of the gods,\u201d was king (B.C. 250-230).\n\n(3) This would be what is known as \u201cAdam\u2019s peak,\u201d having, according to\nHardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano,\nSamastakuta, and Samanila. \u201cThere is an indentation on the top of it,\u201d\na superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 3_4 inches long, and about 2 1_2 feet\nwide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohameddans,\nas that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,\u2014as having been made\nby Buddha.\n\n(4) Meaning \u201cThe Fearless Hill.\u201d There is still the Abhayagiri tope,\nthe highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and\nbuilt about B.C. 90, by Watta Gamini, in whose reign, about 160 years\nafter the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death of S\u00e2kyamuni,\nthe Tripitaka was first reduced to writing in Ceylon;\u2014\u201cBuddhism,\u201d p.\n234.\n\n(5) We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a Chinese, as\nindeed the Chinese texts say, and the fan such as F\u00e2-Hien had seen and\nused in his native land.\n\n(6) This should be the pippala, or bodhidruma, generally spoken of, in\nconnexion with Buddha, as the Bo tree, under which he attained to the\nBuddhaship. It is strange our author should have confounded them as he\nseems to do. In what we are told of the tree here, we have, no doubt,\nhis account of the planting, growth, and preservation of the famous Bo\ntree, which still exists in Ceylon. It has been stated in a previous\nnote that Asoka\u2019s son, Mahinda, went as the apostle of Buddhism to\nCeylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister Sanghamitta, who had entered\nthe order at the same time as himself, and whose help was needed, some\nof the king\u2019s female relations having signified their wish to become\nnuns. On leaving India, she took with her a branch of the sacred Bo\ntree at Buddha Gaya, under which S\u00e2kyamuni had become Buddha. Of how\nthe tree has grown and still lives we have an account in Davids\u2019\n\u201cBuddhism.\u201d He quotes the words of Sir Emerson Tennent, that it is \u201cthe\noldest historical tree in the world;\u201d but this must be denied if it be\ntrue, as Eitel says, that the tree at Buddha Gaya, from which the slip\nthat grew to be this tree was taken more than 2000 years ago, is itself\nstill living in its place. We must conclude that F\u00e2-Hien, when in\nCeylon, heard neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta.\n\n(7) Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made at\nmonasteries as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and\nduration of their ministry.\n\n(8) The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in\nSanskrit sa; and va, bo or bha. \u201cSabaean\u201d is Mr. Beal\u2019s reading of\nthem, probably correct. I suppose the merchants were Arabs, forerunners\nof the so-called Moormen, who still form so important a part of the\nmercantile community in Ceylon.\n\n(9) A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period\nduring which a physical universe is formed and destroyed. Asankhyeya\ndenotes the highest sum for which a conventional term exists;\u2014according\nto Chinese calculations equal to one followed by seventeen ciphers;\naccording to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one followed by\nninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four\nAsankhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15.\n\n(10) See chapter ix.\n\n(11) See chapter xi.\n\n(12) He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the\ncharacter of all his past births required, and he had done it.\n\n(13) They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the\nSacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and\nnote on p. 89.\n\n(14) Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth\nwhich preceded his appearance as S\u00e2kyamuni or Gotama, when he became\nthe Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka, of\nwhich Hardy, M. B., pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also\n\u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana,\nhe fulfilled \u201cthe Perfections,\u201d his distinguishing attribute being\nentire self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha\nis made to say (\u201cBuddhist Birth Stories,\u201d p. 159):\u2014\n    \u201cThis earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or\n    grief, Even she by my free-giving\u2019s mighty power was shaken seven\n    times.\u201d\n    Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to\n    enter in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as S\u00e2kyamuni.\n\n(15) I take the name Sama from Beal\u2019s revised version. He says in a\nnote that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented in\nthe Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet know.\nBut adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text should\nbe translated \u201cthe change into Sama.\u201d R\u00e9musat gives for them, \u201cla\ntransformation en eclair;\u201d Beal, in his first version, \u201chis appearance\nas a bright flash of light;\u201d Giles, \u201cas a flash of lightning.\u201d Julien\u2019s\nMethode does not give the phonetic value in Sanskrit of {.}.\n\n(16) In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in\nwhich S\u00e2kyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M.\nB., p. 100), it is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant;\nten times as a deer; and four times as a horse.\n\n(17) Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects of\nreligious worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and\nincluding therefore Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics,\npictures, statues, &c. It is defined as \u201ca fane,\u201d \u201ca place for worship\nand presenting offerings.\u201d Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is the\nsacred hill of Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo\ntree;\u2014Davids\u2019 Buddhism, pp. 230, 231.\n\n(18) Eitel says (p. 31): \u201cA famous ascetic, the founder of a school,\nwhich flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400.\u201d But F\u00e2-Hien gives no intimation\nof Dharma-gupta\u2019s founding a school.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\nCREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE.\n\n\nSouth of the city seven le there is a vih\u00e2ra, called the Maha-vih\u00e2ra,\nwhere 3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana, of such\nlofty virtue, and so holy and pure in his observance of the\ndisciplinary rules, that the people all surmised that he was an Arhat.\nWhen he drew near his end, the king came to examine into the point; and\nhaving assembled the monks according to rule, asked whether the bhikshu\nhad attained to the full degree of Wisdom.(1) They answered in the\naffirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king accordingly, when he\ndied, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the regular rules\nprescribed. Four of five le east from the vih\u00e2ra there was reared a\ngreat pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty cubits square,\nand the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, aloe, and other\nkinds of fragrant wood.\n\nOn the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it.\nWith clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body)\nround and round.(2) They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our\nfuneral car, but without the dragons and fishes.(3)\n\nAt the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes\nfrom all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings of\nflowers and incense. While they were following the car to the\nburial-ground,(4) the king himself presented flowers and incense. When\nthis was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil\nof sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the fire\nwas blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his upper\ngarment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a\ndistance into the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When the\ncremation was over, they collected and preserved the bones, and\nproceeded to erect a tope. F\u00e2-Hien had not arrived in time (to see the\ndistinguished Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial.\n\nAt that time the king,(5) who was a sincere believer in the Law of\nBuddha and wished to build a new vih\u00e2ra for the monks, first convoked a\ngreat assembly. After giving the monks a meal of rice, and presenting\nhis offerings (on the occasion), he selected a pair of first-rate oxen,\nthe horns of which were grandly decorated with gold, silver, and the\nprecious substances. A golden plough had been provided, and the king\nhimself turned up a furrow on the four sides of the ground within which\nthe building was supposed to be. He then endowed the community of the\nmonks with the population, fields, and houses, writing the grant on\nplates of metal, (to the effect) that from that time onwards, from\ngeneration to generation, no one should venture to annul or alter it.\n\nIn this country F\u00e2-Hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a\nSutra from the pulpit, say:\u2014\u201cBuddha\u2019s alms-bowl was at first in\nVaisali, and now it is in Gandhara.(6) After so many hundred years\u201d (he\ngave, when F\u00e2-Hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he has\nforgotten it), \u201cit will go to Western Tukhara;(7) after so many hundred\nyears, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to Kharachar;(8) after\nso many hundred years, to the land of Han; after so many hundred years,\nit will come to Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will\nreturn to Central India. After that, it will ascend to the Tushita\nheaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees it, he will say with a\nsigh, \u2018The alms-bowl of S\u00e2kyamuni Buddha is come;\u2019 and with all the\ndevas he will present to it flowers and incense for seven days. When\nthese have expired, it will return to Jambudvipa, where it will be\nreceived by the king of the sea nagas, and taken into his naga palace.\nWhen Maitreya shall be about to attain to perfect Wisdom (and become\nBuddha), it will again separate into four bowls,(9) which will return\nto the top of mount Anna,(9) whence they came. After Maitreya has\nbecome Buddha, the four deva kings will again think of the Buddha (with\ntheir bowls as they did in the case of the previous Buddha). The\nthousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, indeed, will all use the same\nalms-bowl; and when the bowl has disappeared, the Law of Buddha will go\non gradually to be extinguished. After that extinction has taken place,\nthe life of man will be shortened, till it is only a period of five\nyears. During this period of a five years\u2019 life, rice, butter, and oil\nwill all vanish away, and men will become exceedingly wicked. The grass\nand trees which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs,\nwith which they will hurt, cut, and kill one another. Those among them\non whom there is blessing will withdraw from society among the hills;\nand when the wicked have exterminated one another, they will again come\nforth, and say among themselves, \u2018The men of former times enjoyed a\nvery great longevity; but through becoming exceedingly wicked, and\ndoing all lawless things, the length of our life has been shortened and\nreduced even to five years. Let us now unite together in the practice\nof what is good, cherishing a gentle and sympathising heart, and\ncarefully cultivating good faith and righteousness. When each one in\nthis way practises that faith and righteousness, life will go on to\ndouble its length till it reaches 80,000 years. When Maitreya appears\nin the world, and begins to turn the wheel of his Law, he will in the\nfirst place save those among the disciples of the Law left by the Sakya\nwho have quitted their families, and those who have accepted the three\nRefuges, undertaken the five Prohibitions and the eight Abstinences,\nand given offerings to the three Precious Ones; secondly and thirdly,\nhe will save those between whom and conversion there is a connexion\ntransmitted from the past.\u2019\u201d(10)\n\n(Such was the discourse), and F\u00e2-Hien wished to write it down as a\nportion of doctrine; but the man said, \u201cThis is taken from no Sutra, it\nis only the utterance of my own mind.\u201d\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Possibly, \u201cand asked the bhikshu,\u201d &c. I prefer the other way of\nconstruing, however.\n\n(2) It seems strange that this should have been understood as a\nwrapping of the immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in the\ntext to necessitate such a version, but the contrary. Compare \u201cBuddhist\nSuttas,\u201d pp. 92, 93.\n\n(3) See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the\nSacred Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s\n{.} {.}, \u201cin this (country),\u201d which I have expressed by \u201cour,\u201d shows\nthat whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the\naccount in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he\nhad the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This\ndisposes of all difficulty occasioned by the \u201cdragons\u201d and \u201cfishes.\u201d\nThe {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle.\n\n(4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence\nour author writes of it as such.\n\n(5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410-432). In the time of\nhis predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368-410), the pitakas were first\ntranslated into Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his\ncommentaries. Both were great builders of vih\u00e2ras. See the Mahavansa,\npp. 247, foll.\n\n(6) See chapter xii. F\u00e2-Hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel\nsays was \u201cthe ancient capital of Gandhara.\u201d\n\n(7) Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara ({.})\nof chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to carry\noff the bowl from Purushapura.\n\n(8) North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E.\nH., p. 56).\n\n(9) See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of \u201cAnna\u201d the Chinese recensions\nhave Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of one\nor other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount Meru, the\nfabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl.\n\n(10) That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such\nconversion in the present.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL.\nAFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; AND\nTHENCE TO CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG; AND GOES TO NANKING. CONCLUSION\nOR L\u2019ENVOI BY ANOTHER WRITER.\n\n\nF\u00e2-Hien abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to his\nacquisitions in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the\nVinaya-pitaka of the Mahisasakah (school);(1) the Dirghagama and\nSamyuktagama(2) (S\u00fbtras); and also the Samyukta-sanchaya-pitaka;(3)\u2014all\nbeing works unknown in the land of Han. Having obtained these Sanskrit\nworks, he took passage in a large merchantman, on board of which there\nwere more than 200 men, and to which was attached by a rope a smaller\nvessel, as a provision against damage or injury to the large one from\nthe perils of the navigation. With a favourable wind, they proceeded\neastwards for three days, and then they encountered a great wind. The\nvessel sprang a leak and the water came in. The merchants wished to go\nto the small vessel; but the men on board it, fearing that too many\nwould come, cut the connecting rope. The merchants were greatly\nalarmed, feeling their risk of instant death. Afraid that the vessel\nwould fill, they took their bulky goods and threw them into the water.\nF\u00e2-Hien also took his pitcher(4) and washing-basin, with some other\narticles, and cast them into the sea; but fearing that the merchants\nwould cast overboard his books and images, he could only think with all\nhis heart of Kwan-she-yin,(5) and commit his life to (the protection\nof) the church of the land of Han,(6) (saying in effect), \u201cI have\ntravelled far in search of our Law. Let me, by your dread and\nsupernatural (power), return from my wanderings, and reach my\nresting-place!\u201d\n\nIn this way the tempest(7) continued day and night, till on the\nthirteenth day the ship was carried to the side of an island, where, on\nthe ebbing of the tide, the place of the leak was discovered, and it\nwas stopped, on which the voyage was resumed. On the sea (hereabouts)\nthere are many pirates, to meet with whom is speedy death. The great\nocean spreads out, a boundless expanse. There is no knowing east or\nwest; only by observing the sun, moon, and stars was it possible to go\nforward. If the weather were dark and rainy, (the ship) went as she was\ncarried by the wind, without any definite course. In the darkness of\nthe night, only the great waves were to be seen, breaking on one\nanother, and emitting a brightness like that of fire, with huge turtles\nand other monsters of the deep (all about). The merchants were full of\nterror, not knowing where they were going. The sea was deep and\nbottomless, and there was no place where they could drop anchor and\nstop. But when the sky became clear, they could tell east and west, and\n(the ship) again went forward in the right direction. If she had come\non any hidden rock, there would have been no way of escape.\n\nAfter proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they\narrived at a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error\nand Brahmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth\nspeaking of. After staying there for five months, (F\u00e2-Hien) again\nembarked in another large merchantman, which also had on board more\nthan 200 men. They carried provisions for fifty days, and commenced the\nvoyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month.\n\nF\u00e2-Hien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the\nnorth-east, intending to fetch Kwang-chow. After more than a month,\nwhen the night-drum had sounded the second watch, they encountered a\nblack wind and tempestuous rain, which threw the merchants and\npassengers into consternation. F\u00e2-Hien again with all his heart\ndirected his thoughts to Kwan-she-yin and the monkish communities of\nthe land of Han; and, through their dread and mysterious protection,\nwas preserved to day-break. After day-break, the Brahmans deliberated\ntogether and said, \u201cIt is having this Sramana on board which has\noccasioned our misfortune and brought us this great and bitter\nsuffering. Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore.\nWe must not for the sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to\nsuch imminent peril.\u201d A patron of F\u00e2-Hien, however, said to them, \u201cIf\nyou land the bhikshu, you must at the same time land me; and if you do\nnot, then you must kill me. If you land this Sramana, when I get to the\nland of Han, I will go to the king, and inform against you. The king\nalso reveres and believes the Law of Buddha, and honours the bhikshus.\u201d\nThe merchants hereupon were perplexed, and did not dare immediately to\nland (F\u00e2-Hien).\n\nAt this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the\nsailing-masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than\nseventy days passed (from their leaving Java), and the provisions and\nwater were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for\ncooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) water, each man getting two\npints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel\nand said, \u201cAt the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached\nKwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;\u2014must we not have\nheld a wrong course?\u201d Immediately they directed the ship to the\nnorth-west, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for\ntwelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao,(8) on\nthe borders of the prefecture of Ch\u2019ang-kwang,(8) and immediately got\ngood water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils and\nhardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many\ndays together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing\nthose (well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh,(9) they knew indeed\nthat it was the land of Han. Not seeing, however, any inhabitants nor\nany traces of them, they did not know whereabouts they were. Some said\nthat they had not yet got to Kwang-chow, and others that they had\npassed it. Unable to come to a definite conclusion, (some of them) got\ninto a small boat and entered a creek, to look for some one of whom\nthey might ask what the place was. They found two hunters, whom they\nbrought back with them, and then called on F\u00e2-Hien to act as\ninterpreter and question them. F\u00e2-Hien first spoke assuringly to them,\nand then slowly and distinctly asked them, \u201cWho are you?\u201d They replied,\n\u201cWe are disciples of Buddha?\u201d He then asked, \u201cWhat are you looking for\namong these hills?\u201d They began to lie,(10) and said, \u201cTo-morrow is the\nfifteenth day of the seventh month. We wanted to get some peaches to\npresent(11) to Buddha.\u201d He asked further, \u201cWhat country is this?\u201d They\nreplied, \u201cThis is the border of the prefecture of Ch\u2019ang-kwang, a part\nof Ts\u2019ing-chow under the (ruling) House of Tsin.\u201d When they heard this,\nthe merchants were glad, immediately asked for (a portion of) their\nmoney and goods, and sent men to Ch\u2019ang-kwang city.\n\nThe prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When he\nheard that a Sramana had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing\nwith him books and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an\nescort to meet (the traveller), and receive the books and images, and\ntook them back with him to the seat of his government. On this the\nmerchants went back in the direction of Yang-chow;(12) (but) when\n(F\u00e2-Hien) arrived at Ts\u2019ing-chow, (the prefect there)(13) begged him\n(to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the summer\nretreat was ended, F\u00e2-Hien, having been separated for a long time from\nhis (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Ch\u2019ang-gan; but as the\nbusiness which he had in hand was important, he went south to the\nCapital;(14) and at an interview with the masters (there) exhibited the\nS\u00fbtras and the collection of the Vinaya (which he had procured).\n\nAfter F\u00e2-Hien set out from Ch\u2019ang-gan, it took him six years to reach\nCentral India;(15) stoppages there extended over (other) six years; and\non his return it took him three years to reach Ts\u2019ing-chow. The\ncountries through which he passed were a few under thirty. From the\nsandy desert westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified\ndemeanour of the monkhood and of the transforming influence of the Law\nwas beyond the power of language fully to describe; and reflecting how\nour masters had not heard any complete account of them, he therefore\n(went on) without regarding his own poor life, or (the dangers to be\nencountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring hardships and\ndifficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through the\ndread power of the three Honoured Ones,(15) to receive help and\nprotection in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his\nexperiences, that worthy readers might share with him in what he had\nheard and said.(15)\n\nIt was in the year Keah-yin,(16) the twelfth year of the period E-he of\nthe (Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, in the\nsummer, at the close of the period of retreat, that I met the devotee\nF\u00e2-Hien. On his arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter\nstudy,(17) and there, in our meetings for conversation, I asked him\nagain and again about his travels. The man was modest and complaisant,\nand answered readily according to the truth. I thereupon advised him to\nenter into details where he had at first only given a summary, and he\nproceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to the end.\nHe said himself, \u201cWhen I look back on what I have gone through, my\nheart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. That I\nencountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without thinking\nof or sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, and thought of\nnothing but to do my best in my simplicity and straightforwardness.\nThus it was that I exposed my life where death seemed inevitable, if I\nmight accomplish but a ten-thousandth part of what I hoped.\u201d These\nwords affected me in turn, and I thought:\u2014\u201cThis man is one of those who\nhave seldom been seen from ancient times to the present. Since the\nGreat Doctrine flowed on to the East there has been no one to be\ncompared with Hien in his forgetfulness of self and search for the Law.\nHenceforth I know that the influence of sincerity finds no obstacle,\nhowever great, which it does not overcome, and that force of will does\nnot fail to accomplish whatever service it undertakes. Does not the\naccomplishing of such service arise from forgetting (and disregarding)\nwhat is (generally) considered as important, and attaching importance\nto what is (generally) forgotten?\u201d\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) No. 1122 in Nanjio\u2019s Catalogue, translated into Chinese by\nBuddhajiva and a Chinese Sramana about A.D. 425. Mahisasakah means \u201cthe\nschool of the transformed earth,\u201d or \u201cthe sphere within which the Law\nof Buddha is influential.\u201d The school is one of the subdivisions of the\nSarvastivadah.\n\n(2) Nanjio\u2019s 545 and 504. The Agamas are S\u00fbtras of the hinayana,\ndivided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or\nDirghagamas (long Agamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the\nthird class contains the Samyuktagamas (mixed Agamas).\n\n(3) Meaning \u201cMiscellaneous Collections;\u201d a sort of fourth Pitaka. See\nNanjio\u2019s fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese\nmiscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is\nknown either in Sanskrit or P\u00e2li literature.\n\n(4) We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kundika, which\nis explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as=\u201cwashing\nbasin,\u201d but two things evidently are intended.\n\n(5) See chap. xvi, note 23.\n\n(6) At his novitiate F\u00e2-Hien had sought the refuge of the \u201cthree\nPrecious Ones\u201d (the three Refuges {.} {.} of last chapter), of which\nthe congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts\nturn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart\nwere not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so.\n\n(7) In the text {.} {.}, ta-fung, \u201cthe great wind,\u201d=the typhoon.\n\n(8) They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the foot\nof mount Lao, which still rises under the same name on the extreme\nsouth of the peninsula, east from Keao Chow, and having the district of\nTsieh-mih on the east of it. All the country there is included in the\npresent Phing-too Chow of the department Lae-chow. The name Phing-too\ndates from the Han dynasty, but under the dynasty of the After Ch\u2019e {.}\n{.}, (A.D. 479-501), it was changed into Ch\u2019ang-kwang. F\u00e2-Hien may have\nlived, and composed the narrative of his travels, after the change of\nname was adopted. See the Topographical Tables of the different\nDynasties ({.} {.} {.} {.} {.}), published in 1815.\n\n(9) What these vegetables exactly were it is difficult to say; and\nthere are different readings of the characters for them. Williams\u2019\nDictionary, under kwoh, brings the two names together in a phrase, but\nthe rendering of it is simply \u201ca soup of simples.\u201d For two or three\ncolumns here, however, the text appears to me confused and imperfect.\n\n(10) I suppose these men were really hunters; and, when brought before\nF\u00e2-Hien, because he was a Sramana, they thought they would please him\nby saying they were disciples of Buddha. But what had disciples of\nBuddha to do with hunting and taking life? They were caught in their\nown trap, and said they were looking for peaches.\n\n(11) The Chinese character here has occurred twice before, but in a\ndifferent meaning and connexion. R\u00e9musat, Beal, and Giles take it as\nequivalent to \u201cto sacrifice.\u201d But his followers do not \u201csacrifice\u201d to\nBuddha. That is a priestly term, and should not be employed of anything\ndone at Buddhistic services.\n\n(12) Probably the present department of Yang-chow in Keang-soo; but as\nI have said in a previous note, the narrative does not go on so clearly\nas it generally does.\n\n(13) Was, or could, this prefect be Le E?\n\n(14) Probably not Ch\u2019ang-gan, but Nan-king, which was the capital of\nthe Eastern Tsin dynasty under another name.\n\n(15) The whole of this paragraph is probably F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s own conclusion\nof his narrative. The second half of the second sentence, both in\nsentiment and style in the Chinese text, seems to necessitate our\nascribing it to him, writing on the impulse of his own thoughts, in the\nsame indirect form which he adopted for his whole narrative. There are,\nhowever, two peculiar phraseologies in it which might suggest the work\nof another hand. For the name India, where the first (15) is placed, a\ncharacter is employed which is similarly applied nowhere else; and\nagain, \u201cthe three Honoured Ones,\u201d at which the second (15) is placed,\nmust be the same as \u201cthe three Precious Ones,\u201d which we have met with\nso often; unless we suppose that {.} {.} is printed in all the\nrevisions for {.} {.}, \u201cthe World-honoured one,\u201d which has often\noccurred. On the whole, while I accept this paragraph as F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s own,\nI do it with some hesitation. That the following and concluding\nparagraph is from another hand, there can be no doubt. And it is as\ndifferent as possible in style from the simple and straightforward\nnarrative of F\u00e2-Hien.\n\n(16) There is an error of date here, for which it is difficult to\naccount. The year Keah-yin was A.D. 414; but that was the tenth year of\nthe period E-he, and not the twelfth, the cyclical designation of which\nwas Ping-shin. According to the preceding paragraph, F\u00e2-Hien\u2019s travels\nhad occupied him fifteen years, so that counting from A.D. 399, the\nyear Ke-hae, as that in which he set out, the year of his getting to\nTs\u2019ing-chow would have been Kwei-chow, the ninth year of the period\nE-he; and we might join on \u201cThis year Keah-yin\u201d to that paragraph, as\nthe date at which the narrative was written out for the bamboo-tablets\nand the silk, and then begins the Envoy, \u201cIn the twelfth year of E-he.\u201d\nThis would remove the error as it stands at present, but unfortunately\nthere is a particle at the end of the second date ({.}), which seems to\ntie the twelfth year of E-he to Keah-yin, as another designation of it.\nThe \u201cyear-star\u201d is the planet Jupiter, the revolution of which, in\ntwelve years, constitutes \u201ca great year.\u201d Whether it would be possible\nto fix exactly by mathematical calculation in what year Jupiter was in\nthe Chinese zodiacal sign embracing part of both Virgo and Scorpio, and\nthereby help to solve the difficulty of the passage, I do not know, and\nin the meantime must leave that difficulty as I have found it.\n\n(17) We do not know who the writer of the Envoy was. \u201cThe winter study\nor library\u201d would be the name of the apartment in his monastery or\nhouse, where he sat and talked with F\u00e2-Hien.","title":"A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":49913}