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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2124-0.txt b/2124-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a402170 --- /dev/null +++ b/2124-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5822 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fâ-Hien + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms + +Author: Fâ-Hien + +Release Date: March, 2000 [eBook #2124] +[Most recently updated: February 18, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John Bickers; Dagny and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS *** + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms + +Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fâ-Hien +of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) +in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline + +Translated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text + +BY JAMES LEGGE + + +Contents + + PREFACE + INTRODUCTION + THE TRAVELS OF FÂ-HIEN + + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + CHAPTER XIV. + CHAPTER XV. + CHAPTER XVI. + CHAPTER XVII. + CHAPTER XVIII. + CHAPTER XIX. + CHAPTER XX. + CHAPTER XXI. + CHAPTER XXII. + CHAPTER XXIII. + CHAPTER XXIV. + CHAPTER XXV. + CHAPTER XXVI. + CHAPTER XXVII. + CHAPTER XXVIII. + CHAPTER XXIX. + CHAPTER XXX. + CHAPTER XXXI. + CHAPTER XXXII. + CHAPTER XXXIII. + CHAPTER XXXIV. + CHAPTER XXXV. + CHAPTER XXXVI. + CHAPTER XXXVII. + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + CHAPTER XXXIX. + CHAPTER XL. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to +read through the “Narrative of Fâ-Hien;” but though interested with the +graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so +constantly—now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and +now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese +characters, and I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special +labours on the Confucian Classics, that my success was far from +satisfactory. When Dr. Eitel’s “Handbook for the Student of Chinese +Buddhism” appeared in 1870, the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit +words and names was removed, but the other difficulty remained; and I +was not able to look into the book again for several years. Nor had I +much inducement to do so in the two copies of it which I had been able +to procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at first, +and so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in +their appearance to the student. + +In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various +sources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels +with my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit +scholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my own +satisfaction of nearly half the narrative. In the beginning of last +year I made Fâ-Hien again the subject of lecture, wrote out a second +translation, independent of the former, and pushed on till I had +completed the whole. + +The want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr. +Bunyiu Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is +appended to the translation and notes, and of the nature of which some +account is given in the Introduction, and towards the end of this +Preface. + +The present work consists of three parts: the Translation of Fâ-Hien’s +Narrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my +copy from Japan. + +It is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially +responsible. Portions of it were written out three times, and the whole +of it twice. While preparing my own version I made frequent reference +to previous translations:—those of M. Abel Rémusat, “Revu, complété, et +augmenté d’éclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landress” +(Paris, 1836); of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and his revision +of it, prefixed to his “Buddhist Records of the Western World” +(Trübner’s Oriental Series, 1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of +H.M.’s Consular Service in China (1877). To these I have to add a +series of articles on “Fa-hsien and his English Translators,” by Mr. T. +Watters, British Consul at Î-Chang (China Review, 1879, 1880). Those +articles are of the highest value, displaying accuracy of Chinese +scholarship and an extensive knowledge of Buddhism. I have regretted +that Mr. Watters, while reviewing others, did not himself write out and +publish a version of the whole of Fâ-Hien’s narrative. If he had done +so, I should probably have thought that, on the whole, nothing more +remained to be done for the distinguished Chinese pilgrim in the way of +translation. Mr. Watters had to judge of the comparative merits of the +versions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many points of +contention between them. I have endeavoured to eschew those matters, +and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence of +renderings of my own. + +The Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who +divided Rémusat’s translation into forty chapters. The division is +helpful to the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or +four instances. In the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are +separated by a circle in the column. + +In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally +followed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is +now in vogue. We cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them +was, about fifteen hundred years ago, in the time of Fâ-Hien; but the +southern mandarin must be a shade nearer to it than that of Peking at +the present day. In transliterating the Indian names I have for the +most part followed Dr. Eitel, with such modification as seemed good and +in harmony with growing usage. + +For the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection +and condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the +text required explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and +Buddhist texts especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do +for them what many hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done +for the Greek and Latin Classics during several hundred years, and what +the thousands of critics and commentators have been doing of our Sacred +Scriptures for nearly eighteen centuries. There are few predecessors in +the field of Chinese literature into whose labours translators of the +present century can enter. This will be received, I hope, as a +sufficient apology for the minuteness and length of some of the notes. +A second object in them was to teach myself first, and then others, +something of the history and doctrines of Buddhism. I have thought that +they might be learned better in connexion with a lively narrative like +that of Fâ-Hien than by reading didactic descriptions and argumentative +books. Such has been my own experience. The books which I have +consulted for these notes have been many, besides Chinese works. My +principal help has been the full and masterly handbook of Eitel, +mentioned already, and often referred to as E.H. Spence Hardy’s +“Eastern Monachism” (E.M.) and “Manual of Buddhism” (M.B.) have been +constantly in hand, as well as Rhys Davids’ Buddhism, published by the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, his Hibbert Lectures, and +his Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of the East, and other +writings. I need not mention other authorities, having endeavoured +always to specify them where I make use of them. My proximity and +access to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have been of +great advantage. + +I may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, I +think there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature +which still require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, are +we entitled to regard the present Sûtras as genuine and sufficiently +accurate copies of those which were accepted by the Councils before our +Christian era? Can anything be done to trace the rise of the legends +and marvels of Sâkyamuni’s history, which were current so early (as it +seems to us) as the time of Fâ-Hien, and which startle us so frequently +by similarities between them and narratives in our Gospels? Dr. Hermann +Oldenberg, certainly a great authority on Buddhistic subjects, says +that “a biography of Buddha has not come down to us from ancient times, +from the age of the Pâli texts; and, we can safely say, no such +biography existed then” (“Buddha—His Life, His Doctrine, His Order,” as +translated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also (in the same work, pp. 99, 416, +417) come to the conclusion that the hitherto unchallenged tradition +that the Buddha was “a king’s son” must be given up. The name “king’s +son” (in Chinese {...}), always used of the Buddha, certainly requires +to be understood in the highest sense. I am content myself to wait for +further information on these and other points, as the result of +prolonged and careful research. + +Dr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and +Notes, and I most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many +valuable corrections in the Notes, and for other suggestions which I +have received from him. I may not always think on various points +exactly as he does, but I am not more forward than he is to say with +Horace,— + + “Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri.” + +I have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean text +of Fâ-Hien’s narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It is on the +whole so much superior to the better-known texts, that I determined to +attempt to reproduce it at the end of the little volume, so far as our +resources here in Oxford would permit. To do so has not been an easy +task. The two fonts of Chinese types in the Clarendon Press were +prepared primarily for printing the translation of our Sacred +Scriptures, and then extended so as to be available for printing also +the Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work necessarily requires many +types not found in them, while many other characters in the Corean +recension are peculiar in their forms, and some are what Chinese +dictionaries denominate “vulgar.” That we have succeeded so well as we +have done is owing chiefly to the intelligence, ingenuity, and untiring +attention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, the Oriental Reader. + +The pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb edition +of a History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-châu in +Cheh-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese art. +I am indebted for the use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, University +Chinese Scholar. + +JAMES LEGGE. + +Oxford: +June, 1886. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map Of Fâ-Hien’s Travels] + +The accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on the +different places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently +accurate knowledge of Fâ-Hien’s route. + +There is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus +from east to west into the Punjâb, all the principal places, at which +he touched or rested, having been determined by Cunningham and other +Indian geographers and archaeologists. Most of the places from +Ch’ang-an to Bannu have also been identified. Woo-e has been put down +as near Kutcha, or Kuldja, in 43° 25′ N., 81° 15′ E. The country of +K’ieh-ch’a was probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the +place where the traveller crossed the Indus and entered it must have +been further east than Skardo. A doubt is intimated on page 24 as to +the identification of T’o-leih with Darada, but Greenough’s “Physical +and Geological Sketch-Map of British India” shows “Dardu Proper,” all +lying on the east of the Indus, exactly in the position where the +Narrative would lead us to place it. The point at which Fâ-Hien +recrossed the Indus into Udyâna on the west of it is unknown. +Takshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the river, +and has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the +Punjâb. It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese +phonetisation will allow;—see a note of Beal in his “Buddhist Records +of the Western World,” i. 138. + +We must suppose that Fâ-Hien went on from Nan-king to Ch’ang-an, but +the Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Life of Fâ-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his +Narrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism. + +1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fâ-Hien in addition to +what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read +the accounts of him in the “Memoirs of Eminent Monks,” compiled in A.D. +519, and a later work, the “Memoirs of Marvellous Monks,” by the third +emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is nearly +all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an appearance of +verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass. + +His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wû-yang in +P’ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi. +He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died before +shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the service of +the Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, still keeping +him at home in the family. The little fellow fell dangerously ill, and +the father sent him to the monastery, where he soon got well and +refused to return to his parents. + +When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering +the widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to +renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, “I +did not quit the family in compliance with my father’s wishes, but +because I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This +is why I chose monkhood.” The uncle approved of his words and gave over +urging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had been +the affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he +returned to the monastery. + +On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his +fellow-disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away +their grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero +stood his ground, and said to the thieves, “If you must have the grain, +take what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of charity +which brought you to your present state of destitution; and now, again, +you wish to rob others. I am afraid that in the coming ages you will +have still greater poverty and distress;—I am sorry for you +beforehand.” With these words he followed his companions into the +monastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away, all the +monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage to his conduct +and courage. + +When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of +the full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and +strict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, he +undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the +Vinaya-pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels in +India and return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative, +with the addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him, on +his visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha. + +It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the +capital (evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana +Buddha-bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had +obtained in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to do +in this way, he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and died +in the monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great +sorrow of all who knew him. It is added that there is another larger +work giving an account of his travels in various countries. + +Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he +himself has told us. Fâ-Hien was his clerical name, and means +“Illustrious in the Law,” or “Illustrious master of the Law.” The Shih +which often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as +Sâkyamuni, “the Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and +Silence,” and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes +said to have belonged to “the eastern Tsin dynasty” (A.D. 317-419), and +sometimes to “the Sung,” that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of Liu +(A.D. 420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, and went +to India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been divided +pretty equally between the two dynasties. + +2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fâ-Hien’s travels +than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long +ceased to be in existence. + +In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D. +589-618), the name Fâ-Hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the +last section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, his +labours in translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in +conjunction with Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section, +page 15, we find “A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;”—with a note, saying +that it was the work of the “Sramana, Fâ-Hien;” and again, on page 13, +we have “Narrative of Fâ-Hien in two Books,” and “Narrative of +Fâ-Hien’s Travels in one Book.” But all these three entries may +possibly belong to different copies of the same work, the first and the +other two being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue. + +In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title +is “Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms.” In the Japanese or Corean recension +subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, “Narrative +of the Distinguished Monk, Fâ-Hien;” and then, more at large, +“Incidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern Tsin, +Fâ-Hien, recorded by himself.” + +There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work +than the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonné of the imperial library +of the present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by Le +Tao-yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei +(A.D. 386-584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other +276; both of them given as from the “Narrative of Fâ-Hien.” + +In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The +evidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be +required. It is clear to myself that the “Record of Buddhistic +Kingdoms” and the “Narrative of his Travels by Fâ-Hien” were +designations of one and the same work, and that it is doubtful whether +any larger work on the same subject was ever current. With regard to +the text subjoined to my translation, it was published in Japan in +1779. The editor had before him four recensions of the narrative; those +of the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the names of certain +characters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea. He wisely adopted +the Corean text, published in accordance with a royal rescript in 1726, +so far as I can make out; but the different readings of the other texts +are all given in top-notes, instead of foot-notes as with us, this +being one of the points in which customs in the east and west go by +contraries. Very occasionally, the editor indicates by a single +character, equivalent to “right” or “wrong,” which reading in his +opinion is to be preferred. In the notes to the present republication +of the Corean text, S stands for Sung, M for Ming, and J for Japanese; +R for right, and W for wrong. I have taken the trouble to give all the +various readings (amounting to more than 300), partly as a curiosity +and to make my text complete, and partly to show how, in the +transcription of writings in whatever language, such variations are +sure to occur, + + “maculae, quas aut incuria fudit, + Aut humana parum cavit nature,” + +while on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the +document. + +The editors of the Catalogue Raisonné intimate their doubts of the good +taste and reliability of all Fâ-Hien’s statements. It offends them that +he should call central India the “Middle Kingdom,” and China, which to +them was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but “a Border land;”—it +offends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist writer, whereas the +reader will see in the expressions only an instance of what Fâ-Hien +calls his “simple straightforwardness.” + +As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the +Buddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the +Khoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;—as if they +could have been so 170 years before Mohammed was born, and 222 years +before the year of the Hegira! And this is criticism in China. The +Catalogue was ordered by the K’ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between three +and four hundred of the “Great Scholars” of the empire were engaged on +it in various departments, and thus egregiously ignorant did they show +themselves of all beyond the limits of their own country, and even of +the literature of that country itself. + +Much of what Fâ-Hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and legends +is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth as +to what he saw and heard. + +3. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some +estimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become +current, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above +what is correct. + +i. In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854), +General Cunningham says: “The Christians number about 270 millions; the +Buddhists about 222 millions, who are distributed as follows:—China 170 +millions, Japan 25, Anam 14, Siam 3, Ava 8, Nepal 1, and Ceylon 1; +total, 222 millions.” + +ii. In his article on M. J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire’s “Le Bouddha et +sa Religion,” republished in his “Chips from a German Workshop,” vol. +i. (1868), Professor Max Muller (p. 215) says, “The young prince became +the founder of a religion which, after more than two thousand years, is +still professed by 455 millions of human beings,” and he appends the +following note: “Though truth is not settled by majorities, it would be +interesting to know which religion counts at the present moment the +largest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in his ‘Physical Atlas,’ gives +the following division of the human race according to +religion:—‘Buddhists 31.2 per cent, Christians 30.7, Mohammedans 15.7, +Brahmanists 13.4, Heathens 8.7, and Jews 0.3.’ As Berghaus does not +distinguish the Buddhists in China from the followers of Confucius and +Laotse, the first place on the scale really belongs to Christianity. It +is difficult to say to what religion a man belongs, as the same person +may profess two or three. The emperor himself, after sacrificing +according to the ritual of Confucius, visits a Tao-sse temple, and +afterwards bows before an image of Fo in a Buddhist chapel. (‘Mélanges +Asiatiques de St. Pétersbourg,’ vol. ii. p. 374.)” + +iii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids +(intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers +are no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his “Manual of +Buddhism.” The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500 +millions:—30 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, +Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of whom +nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to the +eighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, Christians amount +to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, Mohammedans to +about 12 1_2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about 1_2. + +In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense +numbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese +with which it is credited. Subtract Cunningham’s 170 millions of +Chinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of +Buddhists. Subtract Davids’ (say) 414 1_2 millions of Chinese from his +total of 500, and there remain only 85 1_2 millions for Buddhism. Of +the numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole +populations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of +Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the +immense multitudes said to be in China. I do not know what total +population Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal +he allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;—perhaps he halved his +estimate of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the +highest estimates that have been given of the people. + +But we have no certain information of the population of China. At an +interview with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in Paris, +in 1878, I begged him to write out for me the amount, with the +authority for it, and he assured me that it could not be done. I have +read probably almost everything that has been published on the subject, +and endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive at a satisfactory +conclusion;—without reaching a result which I can venture to lay before +the public. My impression has been that 400 millions is hardly an +exaggeration. + +But supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, how +shall we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, and +Buddhists? Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common name for +it is Ju Chiao, “the Doctrines held by the Learned Class,” entrance +into the circle of which is, with a few insignificant exceptions, open +to all the people. The mass of them and the masses under their +influence are preponderatingly Confucian; and in the observance of +ancestral worship, the most remarkable feature of the religion proper +of China from the earliest times, of which Confucius was not the author +but the prophet, an overwhelming majority are regular and assiduous. + +Among “the strange principles” which the emperor of the K’ang-hsi +period, in one of his famous Sixteen Precepts, exhorted his people to +“discountenance and put away, in order to exalt the correct doctrine,” +Buddhism and Taoism were both included. If, as stated in the note +quoted from Professor Muller, the emperor countenances both the Taoist +worship and the Buddhist, he does so for reasons of state;—to please +especially his Buddhist subjects in Thibet and Mongolia, and not to +offend the many whose superstitious fancies incline to Taoism. + +When I went out and in as a missionary among the Chinese people for +about thirty years, it sometimes occurred to me that only the inmates +of their monasteries and the recluses of both systems should be +enumerated as Buddhists and Taoists; but I was in the end constrained +to widen that judgment, and to admit a considerable following of both +among the people, who have neither received the tonsure nor assumed the +yellow top. Dr. Eitel, in concluding his discussion of this point in +his “Lecture on Buddhism, an Event in History,” says: “It is not too +much to say that most Chinese are theoretically Confucianists, but +emotionally Buddhists or Taoists. But fairness requires us to add that, +though the mass of the people are more or less influenced by Buddhist +doctrines, yet the people, as a whole, have no respect for the Buddhist +church, and habitually sneer at Buddhist priests.” For the “most” in +the former of these two sentences I would substitute “nearly all;” and +between my friend’s “but” and “emotionally” I would introduce “many +are,” and would not care to contest his conclusion farther. It does +seem to me preposterous to credit Buddhism with the whole of the vast +population of China, the great majority of whom are Confucianists. My +own opinion is, that its adherents are not so many as those even of +Mohammedanism, and that instead of being the most numerous of the +religions (so called) of the world, it is only entitled to occupy the +fifth place, ranking below Christianity, Confucianism, Brahmanism, and +Mohammedanism, and followed, some distance off, by Taoism. To make a +table of percentages of mankind, and assign to each system its +proportion, is to seem to be wise where we are deplorably ignorant; +and, moreover, if our means of information were much better than they +are, our figures would merely show the outward adherence. A fractional +per-centage might tell more for one system than a very large integral +one for another. + + + + +THE TRAVELS OF FÂ-HIEN +or RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS + + + + +CHAPTER I. +FROM CH’ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT + + +Fâ-Hien had been living in Ch’ang-gan.(1) Deploring the mutilated and +imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the +second year of the period Hwăng-che, being the Ke-hâe year of the +cycle,(2) he entered into an engagement with Kwuy-king, Tâo-ching, +Hwuy-ying, and Hwuy-wei,(3) that they should go to India and seek for +the Disciplinary Rules.(4) + +After starting from Ch’ang-gan, they passed through Lung,(5) and came +to the kingdom of K’een-kwei,(6) where they stopped for the summer +retreat.(7) When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom of +Now-t’an,(8) crossed the mountain of Yang-low, and reached the emporium +of Chang-yih.(9) There they found the country so much disturbed that +travelling on the roads was impossible for them. Its king, however, was +very attentive to them, kept them (in his capital), and acted the part +of their danapati.(10) + +Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and +Sang-king;(11) and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the +same journey with themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that +year)(12) together, resuming after it their travelling, and going on to +T’un-hwang,(13) (the chief town) in the frontier territory of defence +extending for about 80 le from east to west, and about 40 from north to +south. Their company, increased as it had been, halted there for some +days more than a month, after which Fâ-Hien and his four friends +started first in the suite of an envoy,(14) having separated (for a +time) from Pao-yun and his associates. + +Le Hao,(15) the prefect of T’un-hwang, had supplied them with the means +of crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many evil +demons and hot winds. (Travellers) who encounter them perish all to a +man. There is not a bird to be seen in the air above, nor an animal on +the ground below. Though you look all round most earnestly to find +where you can cross, you know not where to make your choice, the only +mark and indication being the dry bones of the dead (left upon the +sand).(16) + +NOTES + +(1) Ch’ang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its +city) in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital of +the first empire of Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 24), as it subsequently was that +of Suy (A.D. 589-618). The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards the +close of which Fâ-Hien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, and +Ch’ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three Ts’in +kingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a +semi-independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the +title of emperor. + +(2) The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the +greater portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts’in, a powerful +prince. He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign in 399, and the +cyclical name of that year was Kang-tsze. It is not possible at this +distance of time to explain, if it could be explained, how Fâ-Hien came +to say that Ke-hae was the second year of the period. It seems most +reasonable to suppose that he set out on his pilgrimage in A.D. 399, +the cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, the second year, instead of +{.}, the first, might easily creep into the text. In the “Memoirs of +Eminent Monks” it is said that our author started in the third year of +the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, which was A.D. 399. + +(3) These, like Fâ-Hien itself, are all what we might call “clerical” +names, appellations given to the parties as monks or sramanas. + +(4) The Buddhist tripitaka or canon consists of three collections, +containing, according to Eitel (p. 150), “doctrinal aphorisms (or +statements, purporting to be from Buddha himself); works on discipline; +and works on metaphysics:”—called sutra, vinaya, and abhidharma; in +Chinese, king {.}, leuh {.}, and lun {.}, or texts, laws or rules, and +discussions. Dr. Rhys Davids objects to the designation of +“metaphysics” as used of the abhidharma works, saying that “they bear +much more the relation to ‘dharma’ which ‘by-law’ bears to ‘law’ than +that which ‘metaphysics’ bears to ‘physics’” (Hibbert Lectures, p. 49). +However this be, it was about the vinaya works that Fâ-Hien was chiefly +concerned. He wanted a good code of the rules for the government of +“the Order” in all its internal and external relations. + +(5) Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part of +Kan-suh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of Shen-se. + +(6) K’een-kwei was the second king of “the Western Ts’in.” His family +was of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe, +with the surname of K’eih-fuh. The first king was Kwo-kin, and received +his appointment from the sovereign of the chief Ts’in kingdom in 385. +He was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the K’een-kwei of the text, who +was very prosperous in 398, and took the title of king of Ts’in. +Fâ-Hien would find him at his capital, somewhere in the present +department of Lan-chow, Kan-suh. + +(7) Under varshas or vashavasana (Pâli, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass), +Eitel (p. 163) says:—“One of the most ancient institutions of Buddhist +discipline, requiring all ecclesiastics to spend the rainy season in a +monastery in devotional exercises. Chinese Buddhists naturally +substituted the hot season for the rainy (from the 16th day of the 5th +to the 15th of the 9th Chinese month).” + +(8) During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five +(usurping) Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire ({.} +{.}). The name Leang remains in the department of Leang-chow in the +northern part of Kan-suh. The “southern Leang” arose in 397 under a +Tuh-fah Wu-ku, who was succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and +he again by his brother, the Now-t’an of the text, in 402, who was not +yet king therefore when Fâ-Hien and his friends reached his capital. +How he is represented as being so may be accounted for in various ways, +of which it is not necessary to write. + +(9) Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department, +Kan-suh. It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far +from the Great Wall. Its king at this time was, probably, Twan-yeh of +“the northern Leang.” + +(10) Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six +paramitas, or means of attaining to nirvâna; and a danapati is “one who +practises dana and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery.” It is given +as “a title of honour to all who support the cause of Buddhism by acts +of charity, especially to founders and patrons of monasteries;”—see +Eitel, p. 29. + +(11) Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most +distinguished was Pao-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on his +return from India, of which only one seems to be now existing. He died +in 449. See Nanjio’s Catalogue of the Tripitaka, col. 417. + +(12) This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Ch’ang-gan. We +are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400. + +(13) T’un-hwang (lat. 39° 40′ N.; lon. 94° 50′ E.) is still the name of +one of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the +most western of the prefectures of Kan-suh; beyond the termination of +the Great Wall. + +(14) Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The +text will not admit of any other translation. + +(15) Le Hao was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and kindly +in his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of T’un-hwang +by the king of “the northern Leang,” in 400; and there he sustained +himself, becoming by and by “duke of western Leang,” till he died in +417. + +(16) “The river of sand;” the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having +various other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now +before them,—to cross this desert. The name of “river” in the Chinese +misleads the reader, and he thinks of crossing it as of crossing a +stream; but they had to traverse it from east to west. In his +“Vocabulary of Proper Names,” p. 23, Dr. Porter Smith says:—“It extends +from the eastern frontier of Mongolia, south-westward to the further +frontier of Turkestan, to within six miles of Ilchi, the chief town of +Khoten. It thus comprises some twenty-three degrees of longitude in +length, and from three to ten degrees of latitude in breadth, being +about 2,100 miles in its greatest length. In some places it is arable. +Some idea may be formed of the terror with which this ‘Sea of Sand,’ +with its vast billows of shifting sands, is regarded, from the legend +that in one of the storms 360 cities were all buried within the space +of twenty-four hours.” So also Gilmour’s “Among the Mongols,” chap. 5. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +ON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN + + +After travelling for seventeen days, a distance we may calculate of +about 1500 le, (the pilgrims) reached the kingdom of Shen-shen,(1) a +country rugged and hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes of +the common people are coarse, and like those worn in our land of +Han,(2) some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth of +hair;—this was the only difference seen among them. The king professed +(our) Law, and there might be in the country more than four thousand +monks,(3) who were all students of the hinayana.(4) The common people +of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the sramans,(5) +all practise the rules of India,(6) only that the latter do so more +exactly, and the former more loosely. So (the travellers) found it in +all the kingdoms through which they went on their way from this to the +west, only that each had its own peculiar barbarous speech.(7) (The +monks), however, who had (given up the worldly life) and quitted their +families, were all students of Indian books and the Indian language. +Here they stayed for about a month, and then proceeded on their +journey, fifteen days walking to the north-west bringing them to the +country of Woo-e.(8) In this also there were more than four thousand +monks, all students of the hinayana. They were very strict in their +rules, so that sramans from the territory of Ts’in(9) were all +unprepared for their regulations. Fâ-Hien, through the management of +Foo Kung-sun, _maitre d’hotellerie_,(10) was able to remain (with his +company in the monastery where they were received) for more than two +months, and here they were rejoined by Pao-yun and his friends.(11) (At +the end of that time) the people of Woo-e neglected the duties of +propriety and righteousness, and treated the strangers in so niggardly +a manner that Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, and Hwuy-wei went back towards +Kao-ch’ang,(12) hoping to obtain there the means of continuing their +journey. Fâ-Hien and the rest, however, through the liberality of Foo +Kung-sun, managed to go straight forward in a south-west direction. +They found the country uninhabited as they went along. The difficulties +which they encountered in crossing the streams and on their route, and +the sufferings which they endured, were unparalleled in human +experience, but in the course of a month and five days they succeeded +in reaching Yu-teen.(13) + +NOTES + +(1) An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the +Books of the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of +China, about B.C. 80. The greater portion of that is now accessible to +the English reader in a translation by Mr. Wylie in the “Journal of the +Anthropological Institute,” August, 1880. Mr. Wylie says:—“Although we +may not be able to identify Shen-shen with certainty, yet we have +sufficient indications to give an appropriate idea of its position, as +being south of and not far from lake Lob.” He then goes into an +exhibition of those indications, which I need not transcribe. It is +sufficient for us to know that the capital city was not far from Lob or +Lop Nor, into which in lon. 38° E. the Tarim flows. Fâ-Hien estimated +its distance to be 1500 le from T’un-hwang. He and his companions must +have gone more than twenty-five miles a day to accomplish the journey +in seventeen days. + +(2) This is the name which Fâ-Hien always uses when he would speak of +China, his native country, as a whole, calling it from the great +dynasty which had ruled it, first and last, for between four and five +centuries. Occasionally, as we shall immediately see, he speaks of “the +territory of Ts’in or Ch’in,” but intending thereby only the kingdom or +Ts’in, having its capital, as described in the first note on the last +chapter, in Ch’ang-gan. + +(3) So I prefer to translate the character {.} (sang) rather than by +“priests.” Even in Christianity, beyond the priestly privilege which +belongs to all believers, I object to the ministers of any denomination +or church calling themselves or being called “priests;” and much more +is the name inapplicable to the sramanas or bhikshus of Buddhism which +acknowledges no God in the universe, no soul in man, and has no +services of sacrifice or prayer in its worship. The only difficulty in +the use of “monks” is caused by the members of the sect in Japan which, +since the middle of the fifteenth century, has abolished the +prohibition against marrying on the part of its ministers, and other +prohibitions in diet and dress. Sang and sang-kea represent the +Sanskrit sangha, constituted by at least four members, and empowered to +hear confession, to grant absolution, to admit persons to holy orders, +&c.; secondly, the third constituent of the Buddhistic Trinity, a +deification of the _communio sanctorum_, or the Buddhist order. The +name is used by our author of the monks collectively or individually as +belonging to the class, and may be considered as synonymous with the +name sramana, which will immediately claim our attention. + +(4) Meaning the “small vehicle, or conveyance.” There are in Buddhism +the triyana, or “three different means of salvation, i.e. of conveyance +across the samsara, or sea of transmigration, to the shores of nirvâna. +Afterwards the term was used to designate the different phases of +development through which the Buddhist dogma passed, known as the +mahayana, hinayana, and madhyamayana.” “The hinayana is the simplest +vehicle of salvation, corresponding to the first of the three degrees +of saintship. Characteristics of it are the preponderance of active +moral asceticism, and the absence of speculative mysticism and +quietism.” E. H., pp. 151-2, 45, and 117. + +(5) The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and +throughout the book,—T’een-chuh ({.} {.}), the chuh being pronounced, +probably, in Fâ-Hien’s time as tuk. How the earliest name for India, +Shin-tuk or duk=Scinde, came to be changed into Thien-tuk, it would +take too much space to explain. I believe it was done by the Buddhists, +wishing to give a good auspicious name to the fatherland of their Law, +and calling it “the Heavenly Tuk,” just as the Mohammedans call Arabia +“the Heavenly region” ({.} {.}), and the court of China itself is +called “the Celestial” ({.} {.}). + +(6) Sraman may in English take the place of Sramana (Pâli, Samana; in +Chinese, Sha-man), the name for Buddhist monks, as those who have +separated themselves from (left) their families, and quieted their +hearts from all intrusion of desire and lust. “It is employed, first, +as a general name for ascetics of all denominations, and, secondly, as +a general designation of Buddhistic monks.” E. H., pp. 130, 131. + +(7) Tartar or Mongolian. + +(8) Woo-e has not been identified. Watters (“China Review,” viii. 115) +says:—“We cannot be far wrong if we place it in Kharaschar, or between +that and Kutscha.” It must have been a country of considerable size to +have so many monks in it. + +(9) This means in one sense China, but Fâ-Hien, in his use of the name, +was only thinking of the three Ts’in states of which I have spoken in a +previous note; perhaps only of that from the capital of which he had +himself set out. + +(10) This sentence altogether is difficult to construe, and Mr. +Watters, in the “China Review,” was the first to disentangle more than +one knot in it. I am obliged to adopt the reading of {.} {.} in the +Chinese editions, instead of the {.} {.} in the Corean text. It seems +clear that only one person is spoken of as assisting the travellers, +and his name, as appears a few sentences farther on, was Foo Kung-sun. +The {.} {.} which immediately follows the surname Foo {.}, must be +taken as the name of his office, corresponding, as the {.} shows, to +that of _le maitre d’hotellerie_ in a Roman Catholic abbey. I was once +indebted myself to the kind help of such an officer at a monastery in +Canton province. The Buddhistic name for him is uddesika=overseer. The +Kung-sun that follows his surname indicates that he was descended from +some feudal lord in the old times of the Chow dynasty. We know indeed +of no ruling house which had the surname of Foo, but its adoption by +the grandson of a ruler can be satisfactorily accounted for; and his +posterity continued to call themselves Kung-sun, duke or lord’s +grandson, and so retain the memory of the rank of their ancestor. + +(11) Whom they had left behind them at T’un-hwang. + +(12) The country of the Ouighurs, the district around the modern Turfan +or Tangut. + +(13) Yu-teen is better known as Khoten. Dr. P. Smith gives (p. 11) the +following description of it:—“A large district on the south-west of the +desert of Gobi, embracing all the country south of Oksu and Yarkand, +along the northern base of the Kwun-lun mountains, for more than 300 +miles from east to west. The town of the same name, now called Ilchi, +is in an extensive plain on the Khoten river, in lat. 37° N., and lon. +80° 35′ E. After the Tungani insurrection against Chinese rule in 1862, +the Mufti Haji Habeeboolla was made governor of Khoten, and held the +office till he was murdered by Yakoob Beg, who became for a time the +conqueror of all Chinese Turkestan. Khoten produces fine linen and +cotton stuffs, jade ornaments, copper, grain, and fruits.” The name in +Sanskrit is Kustana. (E. H., p. 60). + + + + +CHAPTER III. +KHOTEN. PROCESSIONS OF IMAGES. THE KING’S NEW MONASTERY. + + +Yu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom, with a numerous and +flourishing population. The inhabitants all profess our Law, and join +together in its religious music for their enjoyment.(1) The monks +amount to several myriads, most of whom are students of the +mahayana.(2) They all receive their food from the common store.(3) +Throughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like +(separate) stars, and each family has a small tope(4) reared in front +of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or rather +more.(5) They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from all +quarters,(5) the use of which is given to travelling monks who may +arrive, and who are provided with whatever else they require. + +The lord of the country lodged Fâ-Hien and the others comfortably, and +supplied their wants, in a monastery(6) called Gomati,(6) of the +mahayana school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who are +called to their meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the +refectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they +take their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence. +No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any of +these pure men(7) require food, they are not allowed to call out (to +the attendants) for it, but only make signs with their hands. + +Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the +country of K’eeh-ch’a;(8) but Fâ-Hien and the others, wishing to see +the procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are +in this country four(9) great monasteries, not counting the smaller +ones. Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and +water the streets inside the city, making a grand display in the lanes +and byways. Over the city gate they pitch a large tent, grandly adorned +in all possible ways, in which the king and queen, with their ladies +brilliantly arrayed,(10) take up their residence (for the time). + +The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held in +great reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the +procession. At a distance of three or four le from the city, they made +a four-wheeled image car, more than thirty cubits high, which looked +like the great hall (of a monastery) moving along. The seven precious +substances(11) were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers +and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image(12) stood in the +middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas(13) in attendance upon it, +while devas(14) were made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved +in gold and silver, and hanging in the air. When (the car) was a +hundred paces from the gate, the king put off his crown of state, +changed his dress for a fresh suit, and with bare feet, carrying in his +hands flowers and incense, and with two rows of attending followers, +went out at the gate to meet the image; and, with his head and face +(bowed to the ground), he did homage at its feet, and then scattered +the flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was entering the +gate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in the gallery above +scattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which floated about and +fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way everything was done to +promote the dignity of the occasion. The carriages of the monasteries +were all different, and each one had its own day for the procession. +(The ceremony) began on the first day of the fourth month, and ended on +the fourteenth, after which the king and queen returned to the palace. + +Seven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the +King’s New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and +extended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in height, rich in +elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, +and finished throughout with a combination of all the precious +substances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of Buddha,(15) +of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed +doors, and windows being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, the +apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, beyond +the power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest value and +preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the (Ts’ung) +range of mountains(16) are possessed, they contribute the greater +portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them +themselves.(17) + +NOTES + +(1) This fondness for music among the Khoteners is mentioned by Hsuan +and Ch’wang and others. + +(2) Mahayana. It is a later form of the Buddhist doctrine, the second +phase of its development corresponding to the state of a Bodhisattva, +who, being able to transport himself and all mankind to nirvâna, may be +compared to a huge vehicle. See Davids on the “Key-note of the ‘Great +Vehicle,’” Hibbert Lectures, p. 254. + +(3) Fâ-Hien supplies sufficient information of how the common store or +funds of the monasteries were provided, farther on in chapters xvi and +xxxix, as well as in other passages. As the point is important, I will +give here, from Davids’ fifth Hibbert Lecture (p. 178), some of the +words of the dying Buddha, taken from “The Book of the Great Decease,” +as illustrating the statement in this text:—“So long as the brethren +shall persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought among the +saints, both in public and private; so long as they shall divide +without partiality, and share in common with the upright and holy, all +such things as they receive in accordance with the just provisions of +the order, down even to the mere contents of a begging bowl; . . . so +long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.” + +(4) The Chinese {.} (t’ah; in Cantonese, t’ap), as used by Fâ-Hien, is, +no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or Pâli thupa; and it +is well in translating to use for the structures described by him the +name of topes,—made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian +antiquarians. In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one +built under the superintendence of Buddha himself, “as a model for all +topes in future.” They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes, +and were solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with a +series of rings, varying in number. But their form, I suppose, was +often varied; just as we have in China pagodas of different shapes. +There are several topes now in the Indian Institute at Oxford, brought +from Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much smaller than “the +smallest” of those of Khoten. They were intended chiefly to contain the +relics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what relics could +there be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi? + +(5) The meaning here is much disputed. The author does not mean to say +that the monk’s apartments were made “square,” but that the monasteries +were made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms. + +(6) The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,—Sangharama, +“gardens of the assembly,” originally denoting only “the surrounding +park, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the premises” (E. H., +p. 118). Gomati, the name of this monastery, means “rich in cows.” + +(7) A denomination for the monks as vimala, “undefiled” or “pure.” +Giles makes it “the menials that attend on the monks,” but I have not +met with it in that application. + +(8) K’eeh-ch’a has not been clearly identified. Rémusat made it +Cashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel, Khas’a, +“an ancient tribe on the Paropamisus, the Kasioi of Ptolemy.” I think +it was Ladak, or some well-known place in it. Hwuy-tah, unless that +name be an alias, appears here for the first time. + +(9) Instead of “four,” the Chinese copies of the text have “fourteen;” +but the Corean reading is, probably, more correct. + +(10) There may have been, as Giles says, “maids of honour;” but the +character does not say so. + +(11) The Sapta-ratna, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, rubies, +diamonds or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East (Davids’ +Buddhist Suttas), vol. xi., p. 249. + +(12) No doubt that of Sâkyamuni himself. + +(13) A Bodhisattva is one whose essence has become intelligence; a +Being who will in some future birth as a man (not necessarily or +usually the next) attain to Buddhahood. The name does not include those +Buddhas who have not yet attained to pari-nirvâna. The symbol of the +state is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its abbreviated form +P’u-sa is used in China for any idol or image; here the name has its +proper signification. + +(14) {.} {.}, “all the thien,” or simply “the thien” taken as plural. +But in Chinese the character called thien {.} denotes heaven, or +Heaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Ti, meaning God. With the +Buddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmanic gods, or all the +inhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism +between Buddhism and Brahmanism, and still more that between it and +Confucianism. + +(15) Giles and Williams call this “the oratory of Buddha.” But +“oratory” gives the idea of a small apartment, whereas the name here +leads the mind to think of a large “hall.” I once accompanied the monks +of a large monastery from their refectory to the Hall of Buddha, which +was a lofty and spacious apartment splendidly fitted up. + +(16) The Ts’ung, or “Onion” range, called also the Belurtagh mountains, +including the Karakorum, and forming together the connecting links +between the more northern T’een-shan and the Kwun-lun mountains on the +north of Thibet. It would be difficult to name the six countries which +Fâ-Hien had in mind. + +(17) This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it was +that the author meant to say that the contributions which they received +were spent by the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to a small +extent for themselves; and I still hesitate between that view and the +one in the version. + There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang {.} {.}, which is + one of the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not + only of support in the way of substantial contributions given to + monks, monasteries, and Buddhism, but generally of all Buddhistic + worship, if I may use that term in the connexion. Let me here quote + two or three sentences from Davids’ Manual (pp. 168-170):—“The + members of the order are secured from want. There is no place in + the Buddhist scheme for churches; the offering of flowers before + the sacred tree or image of the Buddha takes the place of worship. + Buddhism does not acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the + warm countries where Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the + law, or preaching of the word, in public, can take place best in + the open air, by moonlight, under a simple roof of trees or palms. + There are five principal kinds of meditation, which in Buddhism + takes the place of prayer.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THROUGH THE TS’UNG OR “ONION” MOUNTAINS TO K’EEH-CH’A;—PROBABLY SKARDO, +OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK. + + +When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, +Sang-shao, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest +follower of the Law,(1) and proceeded towards Kophene.(2) Fâ-Hien and +the others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them +twenty-five days to reach.(3) Its king was a strenuous follower of our +Law,(4) and had (around him) more than a thousand monks, mostly +students of the mahayana. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days, and +then went south for four days, when they found themselves among the +Ts’ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,(5) where +they halted and kept their retreat.(6) When this was over, they went on +among the hills(7) for twenty-five days, and got to K’eeh-ch’a,(8) +there rejoining Hwuy-king(9) and his two companions. + +NOTES + +(1) This Tartar is called a {.} {.}, “a man of the Tao,” or faith of +Buddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man who +is not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose faith is +always making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be used of +followers of other systems of faith besides Buddhism. + +(2) See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of the +first Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200 le +from Ch’ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan. +The name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be +the same as the present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from +the west, at Attock, after passing Peshawar. The city of Cabul, the +capital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text; but we do not +know that Sang-shao and his guide got so far west. The text only says +that they set out from Khoten “towards it.” + +(3) Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand, +which, however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters (“China Review,” p. +135) rather approves the suggestion of “Tashkurgan in Sirikul” for it. +As it took Fâ-Hien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have been at +least 150 miles from Khoten. + +(4) The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting the +possession of viryabala, “the power of energy; persevering exertion—one +of the five moral powers” (E. H., p. 170). + +(5) Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was directly +south from Tsze-hoh, and among the “Onion” mountains. Watters hazards +the conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps. + +(6) This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the +pilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, “quiet rest,” +without any mention of the season, indicating their approach to India, +E. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they left +Ch’ang-gan. Are we now with them in 402? + +(7) This is the Corean reading {.}, much preferable to the {.} of the +Chinese editions. + +(8) Watters approves of Klaproth’s determination of K’eeh-ch’a to be +Iskardu or Skardo. There are difficulties in connexion with the view, +but it has the advantage, to my mind very great, of bringing the +pilgrims across the Indus. The passage might be accomplished with ease +at this point of the river’s course, and therefore is not particularly +mentioned. + +(9) Who had preceded them from Khoten. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +GREAT QUINQUENNIAL ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. RELICS OF BUDDHA. PRODUCTIONS OF +THE COUNTRY. + + +It happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha +parishad, that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.(1) When +this is to be held, the king requests the presence of the Sramans from +all quarters (of his kingdom). They come (as if) in clouds; and when +they are all assembled, their place of session is grandly decorated. +Silken streamers and canopies are hung out in, and water-lilies in gold +and silver are made and fixed up behind the places where (the chief of +them) are to sit. When clean mats have been spread, and they are all +seated, the king and his ministers present their offerings according to +rule and law. (The assembly takes place), in the first, second, or +third month, for the most part in the spring. + +After the king has held the assembly, he further exhorts the ministers +to make other and special offerings. The doing of this extends over +one, two, three, five, or even seven days; and when all is finished, he +takes his own riding-horse, saddles, bridles, and waits on him +himself,(2) while he makes the noblest and most important minister of +the kingdom mount him. Then, taking fine white woollen cloth, all sorts +of precious things, and articles which the Sramans require, he +distributes them among them, uttering vows at the same time along with +all his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place, he again +redeems (whatever he wishes) from the monks.(3) + +The country, being among the hills and cold, does not produce the other +cereals, and only the wheat gets ripe. After the monks have received +their annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show the +hoar-frost, and on this account the king always begs the monks to make +the wheat ripen(4) before they receive their portion. There is in the +country a spitoon which belonged to Buddha, made of stone, and in +colour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth of Buddha, for which +the people have reared a tope, connected with which there are more than +a thousand monks and their disciples,(5) all students of the hinayana. +To the east of these hills the dress of the common people is of coarse +materials, as in our country of Ts’in, but here also(6) there were +among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of serge or +haircloth. The rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable, and too +numerous to be mentioned in detail. The country is in the midst of the +Onion range. As you go forward from these mountains, the plants, trees, +and fruits are all different from those of the land of Han, excepting +only the bamboo, pomegranate,(7) and sugar-cane. + +NOTES + +(1) See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as “an ecclesiastical +conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of +sins and inculcation of morality.” + +(2) The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, +including myself, have been puzzled by it. + +(3) See what we are told of king Asoka’s grant of all the Jambudvipa to +the monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of +similar gifts in the Mahavansa. + +(4) Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of +K’eeh-ch’a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers. + +(5) The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone. I often found in +monasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as +their preceptors. + +(6) Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of +Shen-shen. + +(7) Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary +name for “pomegranate” is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate was +called at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China from +Gan-seih by Chang-k’een, who is referred to in chapter vii. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +ON TOWARDS NORTH INDIA. DARADA. IMAGE OF MAITREYA BODHISATTVA. + + +From this (the travellers) went westwards towards North India, and +after being on the way for a month, they succeeded in getting across +and through the range of the Onion mountains. The snow rests on them +both winter and summer. There are also among them venomous dragons, +which, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause showers of +snow and storms of sand and gravel. Not one in ten thousand of those +who encounter these dangers escapes with his life. The people of the +country call the range by the name of “The Snow mountains.” When (the +travellers) had got through them, they were in North India, and +immediately on entering its borders, found themselves in a small +kingdom called T’o-leih,(1) where also there were many monks, all +students of the hinayana. + +In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,(2) who by his supernatural +power(3) took a clever artificer up to the Tushita heaven, to see the +height, complexion, and appearance of Maitreya Bodhisattva,(4) and then +return and make an image of him in wood. First and last, this was done +three times, and then the image was completed, eighty cubits in height, +and eight cubits at the base from knee to knee of the crossed legs. On +fast-days it emits an effulgent light. The kings of the (surrounding) +countries vie with one another in presenting offerings to it. Here it +is,—to be seen now as of old.(5) + +NOTES + +(1) Eitel and others identify this with Darada, the country of the +ancient Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30° 11′ N., lon. 73° 54′ +E. See E. H. p. 30. I am myself in more than doubt on the point. +Cunningham (“Ancient Geography of India,” p. 82) says “Darel is a +valley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by +Dardus or Dards, from whom it received its name.” But as I read our +narrative, Fâ-Hien is here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only +crosses to the western bank as described in the next chapter. + +(2) Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya, +the disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or +eightfold excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to +be reborn again. Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural +powers, and is not to be succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact +of the saint having already attained nirvâna. Popularly, the Chinese +designate by this name the wider circle of Buddha’s disciples, as well +as the smaller ones of 500 and 18. No temple in Canton is better worth +a visit than that of the 500 Lo-han. + +(3) Riddhi-sakshatkriya, “the power of supernatural footsteps,“=”a body +flexible at pleasure,” or unlimited power over the body. E. H., p. 104. + +(4) Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn +before finally appearing on earth as Buddha. Life lasts in Tushita 4000 +years, but twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on earth. E. +H., p. 152. + +(5) Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, “the +Invincible,” was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of +Sâkyamuni’s retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary (historical) +disciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents. It was in the +Tushita heaven that Sâkyamuni met him and appointed him as his +successor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years. Maitreya +is therefore the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing at present +in Tushita, and, according to the account of him in Eitel (H., p. 70), +“already controlling the propagation of the Buddhistic faith.” The name +means “gentleness” or “kindness;” and this will be the character of his +dispensation. + +(6) The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding sentence, +and so frequently occurring throughout the narrative, has occasioned no +little dispute among previous translators. In the imperial thesaurus of +phraseology (P’ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an example of it is given +from Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} {.} is equivalent to +{.} {.}, “anciently and now.” + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE +EAST + + +The travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot +of the mountains, and) following the course of their range. The way was +difficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly precipitous, +which rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 cubits from the +base. When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes become unsteady; and +if he wished to go forward in the same direction, there was no place on +which he could place his foot; and beneath where the waters of the +river called the Indus.(1) In former times men had chiselled paths +along the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face of them, to the +number altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there was a suspension +bridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its banks being there +eighty paces apart.(2) The (place and arrangements) are to be found in +the Records of the Nine Interpreters,(3) but neither Chang K’een(4) nor +Kan Ying(5) had reached the spot. + +The monks(6) asked Fâ-Hien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha +first went to the east. He replied, “When I asked the people of those +countries about it, they all said that it had been handed down by their +fathers from of old that, after the setting up of the image of Maitreya +Bodhisattva, there were Sramans of India who crossed this river, +carrying with them Sûtras and Books of Discipline. Now the image was +set up rather more than 300 years after the nirvâna(7) of Buddha, which +may be referred to the reign of king P’ing of the Chow dynasty.(8) +According to this account we may say that the diffusion of our great +doctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) this image. If +it had not been through that Maitreya,(9) the great spiritual +master(10) (who is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who could have +caused the ‘Three Precious Ones’(11) to be proclaimed so far, and the +people of those border lands to know our Law? We know of a truth that +the opening of (the way for such) a mysterious propagation is not the +work of man; and so the dream of the emperor Ming of Han(12) had its +proper cause.” + +NOTES + +(1) The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in China +for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a name +approaching that in sound. + +(2) Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) the +following description of the course of the Indus in these parts, in +striking accordance with our author’s account:—“From Skardo to Rongdo, +and from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100 miles, the +Indus sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in the mountains, +which for wild sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo means the +country of defiles. . . . Between these points the Indus raves from +side to side of the gloomy chasm, foaming and chafing with ungovernable +fury. Yet even in these inaccessible places has daring and ingenious +man triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning abyss is spanned by +frail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are connected by +ladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething cauldron +below.” + +(3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese +copies,—one which Rémusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured +should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he +was acquainted. The “Nine Interpreters” would be a general name for the +official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in their +attempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The phrase +occurs in the memoir of Chang K’een, referred to in the next note. + +(4) Chang K’een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), is +celebrated as the first Chinese who “pierced the void,” and penetrated +to “the regions of the west,” corresponding very much to the present +Turkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse was +established between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of that +quarter;—see Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 5. The memoir of Chang +K’een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the first Han dynasty, +appears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, referred to +already. + +(5) Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K’een. Being sent in A.D. +88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only +got as far as the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended, +however, the knowledge of his countrymen with regard to the western +regions;—see the memoir of Pan Chao in the Books of the second Han, and +Mayers’ Manual, pp. 167, 168. + +(6) Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing +the Indus. + +(7) This may refer to Sâkyamuni’s becoming Buddha on attaining to +nirvâna, or more probably to his pari-nirvâna and death. + +(8) As king P’ing’s reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would place +the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent +inquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few +years, after that of Confucius, so that the two great “Masters” of the +east were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I +think he is, in fixing the date of Buddha’s death within a few years of +412 B.C. (see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard’s still +lower date, then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of +Confucius. + +(9) This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already +controlling the propagation of the faith. + +(10) The Chinese characters for this simply mean “the great scholar or +officer;” but see Eitel’s Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha. + +(11) “The precious Buddha,” “the precious Law,” and “the precious +Monkhood;” Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to +Buddhism. + +(12) Fâ-Hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into +China in this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +WOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA. + + +After crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the +kingdom of Woo-chang,(1) which is indeed (a part) of North India. The +people all use the language of Central India, “Central India” being +what we should call the “Middle Kingdom.” The food and clothes of the +common people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of +Buddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where +the monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and of +these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the +hinayana. When stranger bhikshus(2) arrive at one of them, their wants +are supplied for three days, after which they are told to find a +resting-place for themselves. + +There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at +once to this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, which +is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder (on the +subject). It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the +present day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried +his clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon.(3) The +rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one side +of it smooth. + +Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place of) +Buddha’s shadow in the country of Nagara;(4) but Fâ-Hien and the others +remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.(5) That over, they +descended south, and arrived in the country of Soo-ho-to.(6) + +NOTES + +(1) Udyâna, meaning “the Park;” just north of the Punjâb, the country +along the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests, +flowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153). + +(2) Bhikshu is the name for a monk as “living by alms,” a mendicant. +All bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are used +together by our author. + +(3) Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often +meaning a snake, especially the boa. “Chinese Buddhists,” says Eitel, +p. 79, “when speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them as +enemies of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, lakes, +or oceans, they describe them as piously inclined.” The dragon, +however, is in China the symbol of the Sovereign and Sage, a use of it +unknown in Buddhism, according to which all nagas need to be converted +in order to obtain a higher phase of being. The use of the character +too {.}, as here, in the sense of “to convert,” is entirely Buddhistic. +The six paramitas are the six virtues which carry men across {.} the +great sea of life and death, as the sphere of transmigration to +nirvâna. With regard to the particular conversion here, Eitel (p. 11) +says the Naga’s name was Apatala, the guardian deity of the Subhavastu +river, and that he was converted by Sâkyamuni shortly before the death +of the latter. + +(4) In Chinese Na-k’eeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern +bank of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad. + +(5) We would seem now to be in 403. + +(6) Soo-ho-to has not been clearly identified. Beal says that later +Buddhist writers include it in Udyâna. It must have been between the +Indus and the Swat. I suppose it was what we now call Swastene. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA. + + +In that country also Buddhism(1) is flourishing. There is in it the +place where Sakra,(2) Ruler of Devas, in a former age,(3) tried the +Bodhisattva, by producing(4) a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the +Bodhisattva) cut off a piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed +the dove. After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom,(5) and in +travelling about with his disciples (arrived at this spot), he informed +them that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with a piece of +his own flesh. In this way the people of the country became aware of +the fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with layers(6) of gold +and silver plates. + +NOTES + +(1) Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, “the Law of +Buddha,” and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent +occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate +rendering of them any more than Christianity would be of {to euaggelion +Xristou}. The Fa or Law is the equivalent of dharma comprehending all +in the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,—as Dr. Davids says +(Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), “its ethics and philosophy, and its system +of self-culture;” with the theory of karma, it seems to me, especially +underlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham’s “Bhilsa Topes,” p. +102) that dharma is the keystone of all king Priyadarsi or Asoka’s +edicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the attainment of one +object, “the advancement of dharma, or of the Law of Buddha.” His +native Chinese afforded no better character than {.} or Law, by which +our author could express concisely his idea of the Buddhistic system, +as “a law of life,” a directory or system of Rules, by which men could +attain to the consummation of their being. + +(2) Sakra is a common name for the Brahmanic Indra, adopted by Buddhism +into the circle of its own great adherents;—it has been said, “because +of his popularity.” He is generally styled, as here, T’een Ti, “God or +Ruler of Devas.” He is now the representative of the secular power, the +valiant protector of the Buddhist body, but is looked upon as inferior +to Sâkyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He appears several times in +Fâ-Hien’s narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46. + +(3) The Chinese character is {.}, “formerly,” and is often, as in the +first sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At +other times it means, as here, “in a former age,” some pre-existent +state in the time of a former birth. The incident related is “a Jataka +story.” + +(4) It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters {.} +{.} by “changed himself to.” Such is often their meaning in the sequel, +but their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial test of +the meaning which I have given them here. + +(5) That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course {.} {.}. + +(6) This seems to be the contribution of {.} (or {.}), to the force of +the binomial {.} {.}, which is continually occurring. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +GANDHARA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. + + +The travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in five +days came to the country of Gandhara,(1) the place where +Dharma-vivardhana,(2) the son of Asoka,(3) ruled. When Buddha was a +Bodhisattva, he gave his eyes also for another man here;(4) and at the +spot they have also reared a large tope, adorned with layers of gold +and silver plates. The people of the country were mostly students of +the hinayana. + +NOTES + +(1) Eitel says “an ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about +Dheri and Banjour.” But see note 5. + +(2) Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fa Yi +{.} {.} of the text. + +(3) Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;—the Constantine of the +Buddhist society, and famous for the number of vihâras and topes which +he erected. He was the grandson of Chandragupta (i.q. Sandracottus), a +rude adventurer, who at one time was a refugee in the camp of Alexander +the Great; and within about twenty years afterwards drove the Greeks +out of India, having defeated Seleucus, the Greek ruler of the Indus +provinces. He had by that time made himself king of Magadha. His +grandson was converted to Buddhism by the bold and patient demeanour of +an Arhat whom he had ordered to be buried alive, and became a most +zealous supporter of the new faith. Dr. Rhys Davids (Sacred Books of +the East, vol. xi, p. xlvi) says that “Asoka’s coronation can be fixed +with absolute certainty within a year or two either way of 267 B.C.” + +(4) This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth, +constructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +TAKSHASILA. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES. + + +Seven days’ journey from this to the east brought the travellers to the +kingdom of Takshasila,(1) which means “the severed head” in the +language of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away +his head to a man;(2) and from this circumstance the kingdom got its +name. + +Going on further for two days to the east, they came to the place where +the Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving tigress.(2) In +these two places also large topes have been built, both adorned with +layers of all the precious substances. The kings, ministers, and +peoples of the kingdoms around vie with one another in making offerings +at them. The trains of those who come to scatter flowers and light +lamps at them never cease. The nations of those quarters all those (and +the other two mentioned before) “the four great topes.” + +NOTES + +(1) See Julien’s “Methode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les Nomes +Sanscrits,” p. 206. Eitel says, “The Taxila of the Greeks, the region +near Hoosun Abdaul in lat. 35° 48′ N., lon. 72° 44′ E.” But this +identification, I am satisfied, is wrong. Cunningham, indeed, takes +credit (“Ancient Geography of India,” pp. 108, 109) for determining +this to be the site of Arrian’s Taxila,—in the upper Punjâb, still +existing in the ruins of Shahdheri, between the Indus and Hydaspes (the +modern Jhelum). So far he may be correct; but the Takshasila of Fâ-Hien +was on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between the river +and Gandhara. It took him, indeed, seven days travelling eastwards to +reach it; but we do not know what stoppages he may have made on the +way. We must be wary in reckoning distances from his specifications of +days. + +(2) Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence Hardy’s +“Manual of Buddhism,” pp. 91, 92. It took place when Buddha had been +born as a Brahman in the village of Daliddi; and from the merit of the +act, he was next born in a devaloka. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +PURUSHAPURA, OR PESHAWUR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND HIS TOPE. +BUDDHA’S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING. + + +Going southwards from Gandhara, (the travellers) in four days arrived +at the kingdom of Purushapura.(1) Formerly, when Buddha was travelling +in this country with his disciples, he said to Ananda,(2) “After my +pari-nirvâna,(3) there will be a king named Kanishka,(4) who shall on +this spot build a tope.” This Kanishka was afterwards born into the +world; and (once), when he had gone forth to look about him, Sakra, +Ruler of Devas, wishing to excite the idea in his mind, assumed the +appearance of a little herd-boy, and was making a tope right in the way +(of the king), who asked what sort of thing he was making. The boy +said, “I am making a tope for Buddha.” The king said, “Very good;” and +immediately, right over the boy’s tope, he (proceeded to) rear another, +which was more than four hundred cubits high, and adorned with layers +of all the precious substances. Of all the topes and temples which (the +travellers) saw in their journeyings, there was not one comparable to +this in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur. There is a current saying +that this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa.(5) When the king’s tope was +completed, the little tope (of the boy) came out from its side on the +south, rather more than three cubits in height. + +Buddha’s alms-bowl is in this country. Formerly, a king of Yueh-she(6) +raised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the +bowl away. Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were +sincere believers in the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the +bowl, they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale. When +they had done so to the Three Precious Ones, he made a large elephant +be grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon it. But the elephant +knelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. Again he caused +a four-wheeled waggon to be prepared in which the bowl was put to be +conveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and dragged it +with their united strength; but neither were they able to go forward. +The king knew that the time for an association between himself and the +bowl had not yet arrived,(7) and was sad and deeply ashamed of himself. +Forthwith he built a tope at the place and a monastery, and left a +guard to watch (the bowl), making all sorts of contributions. + +There may be there more than seven hundred monks. When it is near +midday, they bring out the bowl, and, along with the common people,(8) +make their various offerings to it, after which they take their midday +meal. In the evening, at the time of incense, they bring the bowl out +again.(9) It may contain rather more than two pecks, and is of various +colours, black predominating, with the seams that show its fourfold +composition distinctly marked.(10) Its thickness is about the fifth of +an inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor people throw +into it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some very +rich people, wishing to make offering of many flowers, might not stop +till they had thrown in hundreds, thousands, and myriads of bushels, +and yet would not be able to fill it.(11) + +Pao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the +alms-bowl, and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and +Tao-ching had gone on before the rest to Negara,(12) to make their +offerings at (the places of) Buddha’s shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone +of his skull. (There) Hwuy-king fell ill, and Tao-ching remained to +look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the +others, and (then) he with Pao-yun and Sang-king took their way back to +the land of Ts’in. Hwuy-king(13) came to his end(14) in the monastery +of Buddha’s alms-bowl, and on this Fâ-Hien went forward alone towards +the place of the flat-bone of Buddha’s skull. + +NOTES + +(1) The modern Peshawur, lat. 34° 8′ N., lon. 71° 30′ E. + +(2) A first cousin of Sâkyamuni, and born at the moment when he +attained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha’s teaching, Ananda became an +Arhat, and is famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he played +an important part at the first council for the formation of the +Buddhist canon. The friendship between Sâkyamuni and Ananda was very +close and tender; and it is impossible to read much of what the dying +Buddha said to him and of him, as related in the Maha-pari-nirvâna +Sutra, without being moved almost to tears. Ananda is to reappear on +earth as Buddha in another Kalpa. See E. H., p. 9, and the Sacred Books +of the East, vol. xi. + +(3) On his attaining to nirvâna, Sâkyamuni became the Buddha, and had +no longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and +could rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect +purity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he +attained to pari-nirvâna, and had done with all the life of sense and +society, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether he +absolutely and entirely _ceased_ to be, in any sense of the word +_being_, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not +and could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use of +language is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of +immortality, his pari-nirvâna was his death. + +(4) Kanishka appeared, and began to reign, early in our first century, +about A.D. 10. He was the last of three brothers, whose original seat +was in Yueh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhara. Converted by the +sudden appearance of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and +patronised the system as liberally as Asoka had done. The finest topes +in the north-west of India are ascribed to him; he was certainly a +great man and a magnificent sovereign. + +(5) Jambudvipa is one of the four great continents of the universe, +representing the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so +called because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree. It +is south of mount Meru, and divided among four fabulous kings (E. H., +p. 36). It is often used, as here perhaps, merely as the Buddhist name +for India. + +(6) This king was perhaps Kanishka himself, Fâ-Hien mixing up, in an +inartistic way, different legends about him. Eitel suggests that a +relic of the old name of the country may still exist in that of the +Jats or Juts of the present day. A more common name for it is Tukhara, +and he observes that the people were the Indo-Scythians of the Greeks, +and the Tartars of Chinese writers, who, driven on by the Huns (180 +B.C.), conquered Transoxiana, destroyed the Bactrian kingdom (126 +B.C.), and finally conquered the Punjâb, Cashmere, and great part of +India, their greatest king being Kanishak (E. H., p. 152). + +(7) Watters, clearly understanding the thought of the author in this +sentence, renders—“his destiny did not extend to a connexion with the +bowl;” but the term “destiny” suggests a controlling or directing power +without. The king thought that his virtue in the past was not yet +sufficient to give him possession of the bowl. + +(8) The text is simply “those in white clothes.” This may mean “the +laity,” or the “upasakas;” but it is better to take the characters in +their common Chinese acceptation, as meaning “commoners,” “men who have +no rank.” See in Williams’ Dictionary under {.}. + +(9) I do not wonder that Rémusat should give for this—“et s’en +retournent apres.” But Fâ-Hien’s use of {.} in the sense of “in the +same way” is uniform throughout the narrative. + +(10) Hardy’s M. B., p. 183, says:—“The alms-bowl, given by Mahabrahma, +having vanished (about the time that Gotama became Buddha), each of the +four guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of emerald, but he did +not accept them. They then brought four bowls made of stone, of the +colour of the mung fruit; and when each entreated that his own bowl +might be accepted, Buddha caused them to appear as if formed into a +single bowl, appearing at the upper rim as if placed one within the +other.” See the account more correctly given in the “Buddhist Birth +Stories,” p. 110. + +(11) Compare the narrative in Luke’s Gospel, xxi. 1-4. + +(12) See chapter viii. + +(13) This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying. King was at this time ill in +Nagara, and indeed afterwards he dies in crossing the Little Snowy +Mountains; but all the texts make him die twice. The confounding of the +two names has been pointed out by Chinese critics. + +(14) “Came to his end;” i.e., according to the text, “proved the +impermanence and uncertainty,” namely, of human life. See Williams’ +Dictionary under {.}. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +NAGARA. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA’S SKULL-BONE. OTHER RELICS, AND HIS SHADOW. + + +Going west for sixteen yojanas,(1) he came to the city He-lo(2) in the +borders of the country of Nagara, where there is the flat-bone of +Buddha’s skull, deposited in a vihâra(3) adorned all over with +gold-leaf and the seven sacred substances. The king of the country, +revering and honouring the bone, and anxious lest it should be stolen +away, has selected eight individuals, representing the great families +in the kingdom, and committing to each a seal, with which he should +seal (its shrine) and guard (the relic). At early dawn these eight men +come, and after each has inspected his seal, they open the door. This +done, they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the bone, +which they place outside the vihâra, on a lofty platform, where it is +supported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances, and +covered with a bell of _lapis lazuli_, both adorned with rows of +pearls. Its colour is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect +circle twelve inches round,(4) curving upwards to the centre. Every +day, after it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vihâra ascend +a high gallery, where they beat great drums, blow conchs, and clash +their copper cymbals. When the king hears them, he goes to the vihâra, +and makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When he has done this, +he (and his attendants) in order, one after another, (raise the bone), +place it (for a moment) on the top of their heads,(5) and then depart, +going out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east. +The king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship, +and afterwards gives audience on the business of his government. The +chiefs of the Vaisyas(6) also make their offerings before they attend +to their family affairs. Every day it is so, and there is no remissness +in the observance of the custom. When all the offerings are over, they +replace the bone in the vihâra, where there is a vimoksha tope,(7) of +the seven precious substances, and rather more than five cubits high, +sometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front of the door of +the vihâra, there are parties who every morning sell flowers and +incense,(8) and those who wish to make offerings buy some of all kinds. +The kings of various countries are also constantly sending messengers +with offerings. The vihâra stands in a square of thirty paces, and +though heaven should shake and earth be rent, this place would not +move. + +Going on, north from this, for a yojana, (Fâ-Hien) arrived at the +capital of Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased with +money five stalks of flowers, as an offering to the Dipankara +Buddha.(9) In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha’s +tooth, where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of +his skull. + +A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of a +valley, where there is Buddha’s pewter staff;(10) and a vihâra also has +been built at which offerings are made. The staff is made of Gosîrsha +Chandana, and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long. It is +contained in a wooden tube, and though a hundred or a thousand men ere +to (try to) lift it, they could not move it. + +Entering the mouth of the valley, and going west, he found Buddha’s +Sanghali,(11) where also there is reared a vihâra, and offerings are +made. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought, for +the people to collect in crowds, bring out the robe, pay worship to it, +and make offerings, on which there is immediately a great rain from the +sky. + +South of the city, half a yojana, there is a rock-cavern, in a great +hill fronting the south-west; and here it was that Buddha left his +shadow. Looking at it from a distance of more than ten paces, you seem +to see Buddha’s real form, with his complexion of gold, and his +characteristic marks(12) in their nicety clearly and brightly +displayed. The nearer you approach, however, the fainter it becomes, as +if it were only in your fancy. When the kings from the regions all +around have sent skilful artists to take a copy, none of them have been +able to do so. Among the people of the country there is a saying +current that “the thousand Buddhas(13) must all leave their shadows +here.” + +Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when Buddha +was at the spot, he shaved his hair and clipt his nails, and proceeded, +along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits +high, to be a model for all future topes; and it is still existing. By +the side of it there is a monastery, with more than seven hundred monks +in it. At this place there are as many as a thousand topes(14) of +Arhans and Pratyeka Buddhas.(15) + +NOTES + +(1) Now in India, Fâ-Hien used the Indian measure of distance; but it +is not possible to determine exactly what its length then was. The +estimates of it are very different, and vary from four and a half or +five miles to seven, and sometimes more. See the subject exhaustively +treated in Davids’ “Ceylon Coins and Measures,” pp. 15-17. + +(2) The present Hidda, west of Peshawur, and five miles south of +Jellalabad. + +(3) “The vihâra,” says Hardy, “is the residence of a recluse or +priest;” and so Davids:—“the clean little hut where the mendicant +lives.” Our author, however, does not use the Indian name here, but the +Chinese characters which express its meaning—tsing shay, “a pure +dwelling.” He uses the term occasionally, and evidently, in this sense; +more frequently it occurs in his narrative in connexion with the +Buddhist relic worship; and at first I translated it by “shrine” and +“shrine-house;” but I came to the conclusion, at last, to employ always +the Indian name. The first time I saw a shrine-house was, I think, in a +monastery near Foo-chow;—a small pyramidical structure, about ten feet +high, glittering as if with the precious substances, but all, it seemed +to me, of tinsel. It was in a large apartment of the building, having +many images in it. The monks said it was the most precious thing in +their possession, and that if they opened it, as I begged them to do, +there would be a convulsion that would destroy the whole establishment. +See E. H., p. 166. The name of the province of Behar was given to it in +consequence of its many vihâras. + +(4) According to the characters, “square, round, four inches.” +Hsuan-chwang says it was twelve inches round. + +(5) In Williams’ Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, are +employed in the phrase for “to degrade an officer,” that is, “to remove +the token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;” but to place a +thing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage. + +(6) The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described +here as “resident scholars.” + +(7) See Eitel’s Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained as +“the act of self-liberation,” and “the dwelling or state of liberty.” +There are eight acts of liberating one’s self from all subjective and +objective trammels, and as many states of liberty (vimukti) resulting +therefrom. They are eight degrees of self-inanition, and apparently +eight stages on the way to nirvâna. The tope in the text would be +emblematic in some way of the general idea of the mental progress +conducting to the Buddhistic consummation of existence. + +(8) This incense would be in long “sticks,” small and large, such as +are sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples. + +(9) “The illuminating Buddha,” the twenty-fourth predecessor of +Sâkyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he +would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23. + +(10) The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gosîrsha Chandana, or +“sandal-wood from the Cow’s-head mountain,” a species of copper-brown +sandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of (the +fabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles in +shape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a “pewter +staff” from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters, +“China Review,” viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams’ Dictionary, under +{.}. + +(11) Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk’s +attire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round +the waist (E. H., p. 118). + +(12) These were the “marks and beauties” on the person of a supreme +Buddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya +prince to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet come +out, being visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149). + +(13) Probably=“all Buddhas.” + +(14) The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size +of topes in chapter iii, note 4. + +(15) In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, and +Pratyeka Jinas, and explained by “individually intelligent,” +“completely intelligent,” “intelligent as regards the nidanas.” This, +says Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is “a degree of saintship unknown to primitive +Buddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to Buddhaship +‘individually,’ that is, without a teacher, and without being able to +save others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha is compared with +the rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the wilderness. He is also +called Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the twelve nidanas (the twelve +links in the everlasting chain of cause and effect in the whole range +of existence, the understanding of which solves the riddle of life, +revealing the inanity of all forms of existence, and preparing the mind +for nirvâna). He is also compared to a horse, which, crossing a river, +almost buries its body under the water, without, however, touching the +bottom of the river. Thus in crossing samsara he ‘suppresses the errors +of life and thought, and the effects of habit and passion, without +attaining to absolute perfection.’” Whether these Buddhas were unknown, +as Eitel says, to primitive Buddhism, may be doubted. See Davids’ +Hibbert Lectures, p. 146. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA. CROSSING +THE INDUS TO THE EAST. + + +Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fâ-Hien and the two +others,(1) proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy +mountains.(2) On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and summer. +On the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they suddenly +encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become unable to +speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth came from his +mouth, and he said to Fâ-Hien, “I cannot live any longer. Do you +immediately go away, that we do not all die here;” and with these words +he died.(3) Fâ-Hien stroked the corpse, and cried out piteously, “Our +original plan has failed;—it is fate.(4) What can we do?” He then again +exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to the south of the +range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,(5) where there were nearly +three thousand monks, students of both the mahayana and hinayana. Here +they stayed for the summer retreat,(6) and when that was over, they +went on to the south, and ten days’ journey brought them to the kingdom +of Poh-na,(7) where there are also more than three thousand monks, all +students of the hinayana. Proceeding from this place for three days, +they again crossed the Indus, where the country on each side was low +and level.(8) + +NOTES + +(1) These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king. + +(2) Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass. + +(3) All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13. + +(4) A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from +the lips of Fâ-Hien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed, may +be rendered rightly by “fate” or “destiny;” but the fate is not +unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the +ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame +his Buddhism. + +(5) Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it +can be here intended. + +(6) We are now therefore in 404. + +(7) No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the +Lieutenant-Governorship of the Punjâb, between 32° 10′ and 33° 15′ N. +lat., and 70° 26′ and 72° E. lon. See Hunter’s Gazetteer of India, i, +p. 393. + +(8) They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed, +twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and second, +as described in chapter vii. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + + +After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-t’oo,(1) +where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the +mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples from Ts’in +passing along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and +expressed themselves thus: “How is it that these men from a border-land +should have learned to become monks,(2) and come for the sake of our +doctrines from such a distance in search of the Law of Buddha?” They +supplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance +with the rules of the Law. + +NOTES + +(1) Bhida. Eitel says, “The present Punjâb;” i.e. it was a portion of +that. + +(2) “To come forth from their families;” that is, to become celibates, +and adopt the tonsure. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF THE +MONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES. + + +From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of +very many monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted +by myriads. After passing all these places, they came to a country +named Ma-t’aou-lo.(1) They still followed the course of the P’oo-na(2) +river, on the banks of which, left and right, there were twenty +monasteries, which might contain three thousand monks; and (here) the +Law of Buddha was still more flourishing. Everywhere, from the Sandy +Desert, in all the countries of India, the kings had been firm +believers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community of +monks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their relatives +and ministers, supply them with food with their own hands. That done, +(the king) has a carpet spread for himself on the ground, and sits down +in front of the chairman;—they dare not presume to sit on couches in +front of the community. The laws and ways, according to which the kings +presented their offerings when Buddha was in the world, have been +handed down to the present day. + +All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.(3) In it the cold and +heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The +people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their +households, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those +who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the grain from +it. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay. +The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments. +Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the +circumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at +wicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king’s +body-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole +country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink +intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is +that of the Chandalas.(4) That is the name for those who are (held to +be) wicked men, and live apart from others. When they enter the gate of +a city or a market-place, they strike a piece of wood to make +themselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come into +contact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and fowls, and +do not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no butchers’ shops +and no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and selling commodities +they use cowries.(5) Only the Chandalas are fishermen and hunters, and +sell flesh meat. + +After Buddha attained to pari-nirvâna,(6) the kings of the various +countries and the heads of the Vaisyas(7) built vihâras for the +priests, and endowed them with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards, +along with the resident populations and their cattle, the grants being +engraved on plates of metal,(8) so that afterwards they were handed +down from king to king, without any daring to annul them, and they +remain even to the present time. + +The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious +virtue, and to recite their Sûtras and sit wrapt in meditation. When +stranger monks arrive (at any monastery), the old residents meet and +receive them, carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl, give them +water to wash their feet, oil with which to anoint them, and the liquid +food permitted out of the regular hours.(9) When (the stranger) has +enjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of years that he +has been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment with its +appurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything is done +for him which the rules prescribe.(10) + +Where a community of monks resides, they erect topes to Sariputtra,(11) +to Maha-maudgalyayana,(12) and to Ananda,(13) and also topes (in +honour) of the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sûtras. A month after +the (annual season of) rest, the families which are looking out for +blessing stimulate one another(14) to make offerings to the monks, and +send round to them the liquid food which may be taken out of the +ordinary hours. All the monks come together in a great assembly, and +preach the Law;(15) after which offerings are presented at the tope of +Sariputtra, with all kinds of flowers and incense. All through the +night lamps are kept burning, and skilful musicians are employed to +perform.(16) + +When Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged (to +be permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The great Mugalan +and the great Kasyapa(17) also did the same. The bhikshunis(18) for the +most part make their offerings at the tope of Ananda, because it was he +who requested the World-honoured one to allow females to quit their +families (and become nuns). The Sramaneras(19) mostly make their +offerings to Rahula.(20) The professors of the Abhidharma make their +offerings to it; those of the Vinaya to it. Every year there is one +such offering, and each class has its own day for it. Students of the +mahayana present offerings to the Prajna-paramita,(21) to Manjusri,(22) +and to Kwan-she-yin.(23) When the monks have done receiving their +annual tribute (from the harvests),(24) the Heads of the Vaisyas and +all the Brahmans bring clothes and other such articles as the monks +require for use, and distribute among them. The monks, having received +them, also proceed to give portions to one another. From the nirvâna of +Buddha,(25) the forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the +sacred communities, have been handed down from one generation to +another without interruption. + +From the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern +India, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty +thousand le, all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams +(among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers. + +NOTES + +(1) Muttra, “the peacock city;” lat. 27° 30′ N., lon. 77° 43′ E. +(Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock. + +(2) This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the +P’oo-na has yet to be explained. + +(3) In Pâli, Majjhima-desa, “the Middle Country.” See Davids’ “Buddhist +Birth Stories,” page 61, note. + +(4) Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, “The name Chandalas is explained by +‘butchers,’ ‘wicked men,’ and those who carry ‘the awful flag,’ to warn +off their betters;—the lowest and most despised caste of India, members +of which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the ranks of +the priesthood.” + +(5) “Cowries;” {.} {.}, not “shells and ivory,” as one might suppose; +but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the +marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling “the teeth of fishes.” + +(6) See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha’s pari-nirvâna is equivalent to +Buddha’s death. + +(7) See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different +here, but with the same meaning. + +(8) See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as +related in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fâ-Hien’s time, and long before +and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of +metal. + +(9) “No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon,” and +total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids’ +Manual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is called +vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive unseasonable +refreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev. viii. 282), of +honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil. + +(10) The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again in +chapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev. viii. +282, 3. The rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the East, +vol. xx, p. 272 and foll., and p. 279 and foll. + +(11) Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of +Buddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that +he obtained the title of {.} {.}, “knowledge and wisdom.” He is also +called Buddha’s “right-hand attendant.” His name is derived from that +of his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. In +Spence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa (Upa-tishya), +derived from his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to him, and +indeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their founder. He +died before Sâkyamuni; but is to reappear as a future Buddha. Eitel, +pp. 123, 124. + +(12) Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more +pronounceable. He also was one of the principal disciples, called +Buddha’s “left-hand attendant.” He was distinguished for his power of +vision, and his magical powers. The name in the text is derived from +the former attribute, and it was by the latter that he took up an +artist to Tushita to get a view of Sâkyamuni, and so make a statue of +him. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went to hell, and +released his mother. He also died before Sâkyamuni, and is to reappear +as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65. + +(13) See chapter xii, note 2. + +(14) A passage rather difficult to construe. The “families” would be +those more devout than their neighbours. + +(15) One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I +once heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall of +the temple, and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One priest +took the pulpit after another; and the hearers nodded their heads +occasionally, and indicated their sympathy now and then by an audible +“h’m,” which reminded me of Carlyle’s description of meetings of “The +Ironsides” of Cromwell. + +(16) This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions. + +(17) There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sâkyamuni. But this +Maha-kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and +became one of his disciples. He took the lead after Sâkyamuni’s death, +convoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of +Arya-sthavira is derived. As the first compiler of the Canon, he is +considered the fountain of Chinese orthodoxy, and counted as the first +patriarch. He also is to be reborn as Buddha. Eitel, p. 64. + +(18) The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same +rules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint. See +Hardy’s E. M., chap. 17. See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, p. +321. + +(19) The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to +observe the Shikshapada, or ten commandments. Fâ-Hien was himself one +of them from his childhood. Having heard the Trisharana, or threefold +formula of Refuge,—“I take refuge in Buddha; the Law; the Church,—the +novice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that forbid—(1) +destroying life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; (5) +intoxicating drinks; (6) eating after midday; (7) dancing, singing, +music, and stage-plays; (8) garlands, scents, unguents, and ornaments; +(9) high or broad couches; (10) receiving gold or silver.” Davids’ +Manual, p. 160; Hardy’s E. M., pp. 23, 24. + +(20) The eldest son of Sâkyamuni by Yasodhara. Converted to Buddhism, +he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha’s death became +the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika). He is +now revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be reborn as +the eldest son of every future Buddha. Eitel, p. 101. His mother also +is to be reborn as Buddha. + +(21) There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, “means of +passing to nirvâna:—Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil +contemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper +means; science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only prajna +which carries men across the samsara to the shores of nirvâna.” Eitel, +p. 90. + +(22) According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), A famous Bodhisattva, now +specially worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless +jumble of history and fable. Fâ-Hien found him here worshipped by +followers of the mahayana school; but Hsuan-chwang connects his worship +with the yogachara or tantra-magic school. The mahayana school regard +him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His most common titles are +Mahamati, “Great wisdom,” and Kumara-raja, “King of teaching, with a +thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls.” + +(23) Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a +mystery as Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the +Sanskrit name Avalokitesvra, “On-looking Sovereign,” or even +“On-looking Self-Existent,” and means “Regarding or Looking on the +sounds of the world,”=“Hearer of Prayer.” Originally, and still in +Thibet, Avalokitesvara had only male attributes, but in China and Japan +(Kwannon), this deity (such popularly she is) is represented as a +woman, “Kwan-yin, the greatly gentle, with a thousand arms and a +thousand eyes;” and has her principal seat in the island of P’oo-t’oo, +on the China coast, which is a regular place of pilgrimage. To the +worshippers of whom Fâ-Hien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be +Avalokitesvara. How he was converted into the “goddess of mercy,” and +her worship took the place which it now has in China, is a difficult +inquiry, which would take much time and space, and not be brought after +all, so far as I see, to a satisfactory conclusion. See Eitel’s +Handbook, pp. 18-20, and his Three Lectures on Buddhism (third +edition), pp. 124-131. I was talking on the subject once with an +intelligent Chinese gentleman, when he remarked, “Have you not much the +same thing in Europe in the worship of Mary?” + +(24) Compare what is said in chap. v. + +(25) This nirvâna of Buddha must be—not his death, but his attaining to +Buddhaship. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +SANKASYA. BUDDHA’S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS HEAVEN, +AND OTHER LEGENDS. + + +From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found +themselves in a kingdom called Sankasya,(1) at the place where Buddha +came down, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(2) and there +preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.(3) +Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power,(4) without +letting his disciples know; but seven days before the completion (of +the three months) he laid aside his invisibility,(4) and Anuruddha,(5) +with his heavenly eyes,(5) saw the World-honoured one, and immediately +said to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, “Do you go and salute the +World-honoured one.” Mugalan forthwith went, and with head and face did +homage at (Buddha’s) feet. They then saluted and questioned each other, +and when this was over, Buddha said to Mugalan, “Seven days after this +I will go down to Jambudvipa;” and thereupon Mugalan returned. At this +time the great kings of eight countries with their ministers and +people, not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all thirstily +looking up for him, and had collected in clouds in this kingdom to wait +for the World-honoured one. + +Then the bhikshuni Utpala(6) thought in her heart, “To-day the kings, +with their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming) +Buddha. I am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to +see him?”(7) Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her +into the appearance of a holy Chakravartti(8) king, and she was the +foremost of all in doing reverence to him. + +As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas +heaven, when he was coming down, there were made to appear three +flights of precious steps. Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps +of which were composed of the seven precious substances. The king of +Brahma-loka(9) also made a flight of silver steps appear on the right +side, (where he was seen) attending with a white chowry in his hand. +Sakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple gold on the +left side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of the +seven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas +followed Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three +flights all disappeared in the ground, excepting seven steps, which +continued to be visible. Afterwards king Asoka, wishing to know where +their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the +yellow springs(10) without reaching the bottom of the steps, and from +this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, and +built a vihâra over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits in +height, right over the middle flight. Behind the vihâra he erected a +stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,(11) with a lion on the top of +it.(12) Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,(13) there is an +image of Buddha, inside and out(14) shining and transparent, and pure +as it were of _lapis lazuli_. Some teachers of another doctrine(15) +once disputed with the Sramanas about (the right to) this as a place of +residence, and the latter were having the worst of the argument, when +they took an oath on both sides on the condition that, if the place did +indeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be some marvellous +attestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the lion on the +top gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which their opponents +were frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew. + +Through Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven, +his body emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man. +He went immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he +did so, a bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the +place where the bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to +Buddha, a tope has now been built. + +At the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair and +nails, topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas(16) that preceded +Sâkyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,(17) and where +images of their persons were made. At all these places topes were made, +and are still existing. At the place where Sakra, Ruler of the Devas, +and the king of the Brahma-loka followed Buddha down (from the +Trayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a tope. + +At this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive +their food from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of the +mahayana and some of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a +white-eared dragon, which acts the part of danapati to the community of +these monks, causing abundant harvests in the country, and the +enriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence of any +calamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In gratitude +for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with a carpet +for it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, which they +present for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three of their +number to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer retreat +is ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears as a +small snake,(18) with white spots at the side of its ears. As soon as +the monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel with cream, into +which they put the creature, and then carry it round from the one who +has the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, when +it appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round, +immediately it disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once. +The country is very productive, and the people are prosperous, and +happy beyond comparison. When people of other countries come to it, +they are exceedingly attentive to them all, and supply them with what +they need. + +Fifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called +“The Great Heap.”(19) Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who +was converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a +vihâra. When it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on his +hands,(20) some drops fell on the ground. They are still on the spot, +and however they may be brushed away and removed, they continue to be +visible, and cannot be made to disappear. + +At this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit +constantly keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour +of man being required. A king of corrupt views once said, “Since you +are able to do this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside there +till the dirt and filth has increased and accumulated, and (see) +whether you can cleanse it away or not.” The spirit thereupon raised a +great wind, which blew (the filth away), and made the place pure. + +At this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep +counting a whole day without being able to know (their exact number). +If he be firmly bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of +each tope. When this is done, proceeding to count the number of men, +whether they be many or few, he will not get to know (the number).(21) + +There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which +there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The +nirvâna ground (where he was burned(22) after death) is as large as a +carriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there is +none. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass, but +the impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the present +day. + +NOTES + +(1) The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five +miles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27° 3′ N., lon. 79° 50′ E. + +(2) The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning “the heaven of thirty-three +classes,” a name which has been explained both historically and +mythologically. “The description of it,” says Eitel, p. 148, “tallies +in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated +between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities +of devas, eight on each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra’s +capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a +thousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra, +with his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly +reports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and evil +in the world,” &c. &c. + +(3) Buddha’s mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the _mater immaculata_ of the +Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, “Reborn in +Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted.” The Tushita +heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but +was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of +Buddha’s visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he +calls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now +become a deva by the changing of her sex. + +(4) Compare the account of the Arhat’s conveyance of the artist to the +Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more +comprehensive. + +(5) Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sâkyamuni, being the son of his +uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of +Buddha’s last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or +“heavenly eye,” the first of the six abhijnas or “supernatural +talents,” the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or by +intuition, all beings in all worlds. “He could see,” says Hardy, M. B., +p. 232, “all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard seed +held in the hand.” + +(6) Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as +in the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word, +however, is explained by “blue lotus flowers;” and Hsuan-chwang calls +her the nun “Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});”—the same as Hardy’s +Upulwan and Uppalawarna. + +(7) Perhaps we should read here “to see Buddha,” and then ascribe the +transformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which +view we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing to +indicate that the stop should be made before or after “Buddha.” And the +one view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the other. + +(8) “A holy king who turns the wheel;” that is, the military conqueror +and monarch of the whole or part of a universe. “The symbol,” says +Eitel (p. 142) “of such a king is the chakra or wheel, for when he +ascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating by its +material (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of +his reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls +his wheel among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of a +Buddha, who meekly turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every +universe by his teaching.” + +(9) This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti, +adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed +by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi. + +(10) A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is +found. + +(11) The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance +from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated. + +(12) A note of Mr. Beal says on this:—“General Cunningham, who visited +the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of Asoka, with a +well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was minus trunk and +tail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by Fâ-Hien, who mistook +the top of it for a lion. It is possible such a mistake may have been +made, as in the account of one of the pillars at Sravasti, Fâ-Hien says +an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsuan-chwang calls it an elephant (P. +19, Arch. Survey).” + +(13) That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have +been square. + +(14) Equivalent to “all through.” + +(15) Has always been translated “heretical teachers;” but I eschew the +terms _heresy_ and _heretical_. The parties would not be Buddhists of +any creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, as +Fâ-Hien deemed it. The Chinese term means “outside” or “foreign;”—in +Pâli, anna-titthiya,=“those belonging to another school.” + +(16) These three predecessors of Sâkyamuni were the three Buddhas of +the present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, and +Maitreya is to be the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda (Pâli, +Kakusanda), “he who readily solves all doubts;” a scion of the Kasyapa +family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so many +persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pâli, Konagamana), “body +radiant with the colour of pure gold;” of the same family. Human life +reached in his time 30,000 years, and so many persons were converted by +him. (3) Kasyapa (Pâli, Kassapa), “swallower of light.” Human life +reached in his time 20,000 years, and so many persons were converted by +him. See Eitel, under the several names; Hardy’s M. B., pp. 95-97; and +Davids’ “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 51. + +(17) That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana +(Pâli, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery, +made sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic +meditation. The “sitting” would be not because of weariness or for +rest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144. + +(18) The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake +for the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be “a +small medusa.” + +(19) The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the +Chinese editions, which means “Fire Limit.” Buddha, it is said, {.} +converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first by +“in one of his incarnations;” and in his revised version he has +“himself.” The difference between Fâ-Hien’s usage of {.} and {.} +throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the +doings of Sâkyamuni; {.}, “formerly,” is often used of him and others +in the sense of “in a former age or birth.” + +(20) See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:—“As a token of the giving over of the +garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this +time it became one of the principal residences of the sage.” + +(21) This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended to +convey the idea that there was something mysterious about the number of +the topes. + +(22) This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all +burned. Hardy’s E. M., pp. 322-324. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA’S PREACHING. + + +Fâ-Hien stayed at the Dragon vihâra till after the summer retreat,(1) +and then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived at +the city of Kanyakubja,(2) lying along the Ganges.(3) There are two +monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana. +At a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the +northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law +to his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of +discourse were such as “The bitterness and vanity (of life) as +impermanent and uncertain,” and that “The body is as a bubble or foam +on the water.” At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists. + +Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the +travellers) arrived at a village named A-le,(4) containing places where +Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of +which topes have been built. + +NOTES + +(1) We are now, probably, in 405. + +(2) Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a +previous note. The Sanskrit name means “the city of humpbacked +maidens;” with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king +Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi +Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51. + +(3) Ganga, explained by “Blessed water,” and “Come from heaven to +earth.” + +(4) This village (the Chinese editions read “forest”) has hardly been +clearly identified. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +SHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA’S DANTA-KASHTHA. + + +Going on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to +the great kingdom of Sha-che.(1) As you go out of the city of Sha-che +by the southern gate, on the east of the road (is the place) where +Buddha, after he had chewed his willow branch,(2) stuck it in the +ground, when it forthwith grew up seven cubits, (at which height it +remained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans with their +contrary doctrines(3) became angry and jealous. Sometimes they cut the +tree down, sometimes they plucked it up, and cast it to a distance, but +it grew again on the same spot as at first. Here also is the place +where the four Buddhas walked and sat, and at which a tope was built +that is still existing. + +NOTES + +(1) Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham’s +identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. +The change of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi +dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same. + +(2) This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or “dental +wood,” mostly a bit of the _ficus Indicus_ or banyan tree, which the +monk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of +health generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at +least Fâ-Hien used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) instead +of it. + +(3) Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that +we should read “all the unbelievers and Brahmans,” or “heretics and +Brahmans?” I think the Brahmans were also “the unbelievers” and +“heretics,” having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and opposed to, +Buddha’s. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +KOSALA AND SRAVASTI. THE JETAVANA VIHARA AND OTHER MEMORIALS AND +LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. SYMPATHY OF THE MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + + +Going on from this to the south, for eight yojanas, (the travellers) +came to the city of Sravasti(1) in the kingdom of Kosala,(2) in which +the inhabitants were few and far between, amounting in all (only) to a +few more than two hundred families; the city where king Prasenajit(3) +ruled, and the place of the old vihâra of Maha-prajapti;(4) of the well +and walls of (the house of) the (Vaisya) head Sudatta;(5) and where the +Angulimalya(6) became an Arhat, and his body was (afterwards) burned on +his attaining to pari-nirvâna. At all these places topes were +subsequently erected, which are still existing in the city. The +Brahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of hatred and envy +in their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there came from the +heavens such a storm of crashing thunder and flashing lightning that +they were not able in the end to effect their purpose. + +As you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from it, +the (Vaisya) head Sudatta built a vihâra, facing the south; and when +the door was open, on each side of it there was a stone pillar, with +the figure of a wheel on the top of that on the left, and the figure of +an ox on the top of that on the right. On the left and right of the +building the ponds of water clear and pure, the thickets of trees +always luxuriant, and the numerous flowers of various hues, constituted +a lovely scene, the whole forming what is called the Jetavana +vihâra.(7) + +When Buddha went up to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(8) and preached the +Law for the benefit of his mother, (after he had been absent for) +ninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to +be carved in Gosîrsha Chandana wood,(9) and put in the place where he +usually sat. When Buddha on his return entered the vihâra, this image +immediately left its place, and came forth to meet him. Buddha said to +it, “Return to your seat. After I have attained to pari-nirvâna, you +will serve as a pattern to the four classes of my disciples,”(10) and +on this the image returned to its seat. This was the very first of all +the images (of Buddha), and that which men subsequently copied. Buddha +then removed, and dwelt in a small vihâra on the south side (of the +other), a different place from that containing the image, and twenty +paces distant from it. + +The Jetavana vihâra was originally of seven storeys. The kings and +people of the countries around vied with one another in their +offerings, hanging up about it silken streamers and canopies, +scattering flowers, burning incense, and lighting lamps, so as to make +the night as bright as the day. This they did day after day without +ceasing. (It happened that) a rat, carrying in its mouth the wick of a +lamp, set one of the streamers or canopies on fire, which caught the +vihâra, and the seven storeys were all consumed. The kings, with their +officers and people, were all very sad and distressed, supposing that +the sandal-wood image had been burned; but lo! after four or five days, +when the door of a small vihâra on the east was opened, there was +immediately seen the original image. They were all greatly rejoiced, +and co-operated in restoring the vihâra. When they had succeeded in +completing two storeys, they removed the image back to its former +place. + +When Fâ-Hien and Tao-ching first arrived at the Jetavana monastery, and +thought how the World-honoured one had formerly resided there for +twenty-five years, painful reflections arose in their minds. Born in a +border-land, along with their like-minded friends, they had travelled +through so many kingdoms; some of those friends had returned (to their +own land), and some had (died), proving the impermanence and +uncertainty of life; and to-day they saw the place where Buddha had +lived now unoccupied by him. They were melancholy through their pain of +heart, and the crowd of monks came out, and asked them from what +kingdom they were come. “We are come,” they replied, “from the land of +Han.” “Strange,” said the monks with a sigh, “that men of a border +country should be able to come here in search of our Law!” Then they +said to one another, “During all the time that we, preceptors and +monks,(11) have succeeded to one another, we have never seen men of +Han, followers of our system, arrive here.” + +Four le to the north-west of the vihâra there is a grove called “The +Getting of Eyes.” Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived +here in order that they might be near the vihâra.(12) Buddha preached +his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full of joy, +they stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and faces on +the ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to grow, and +they grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one dared to +cut them down, so that they came to form a grove. It was in this way +that it got its name, and most of the Jetavana monks, after they had +taken their midday meal, went to the grove, and sat there in +meditation. + +Six or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha(13) built +another vihâra, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and which is +still existing. + +To each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vihâra there +were two gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. The +park (containing the whole) was the space of ground which the (Vaisya) +head Sudatta purchased by covering it with gold coins. The vihâra was +exactly in the centre. Here Buddha lived for a longer time than at any +other place, preaching his Law and converting men. At the places where +he walked and sat they also (subsequently) reared topes, each having +its particular name; and here was the place where Sundari(14) murdered +a person and then falsely charged Buddha (with the crime). Outside the +east gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of seventy paces to the north, +on the west of the road, Buddha held a discussion with the (advocates +of the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous doctrine, when the king and his +great officers, the householders, and people were all assembled in +crowds to hear it. Then a woman belonging to one of the erroneous +systems, by name Chanchamana,(15) prompted by the envious hatred in her +heart, and having put on (extra) clothes in front of her person, so as +to give her the appearance of being with child, falsely accused Buddha +before all the assembly of having acted unlawfully (towards her). On +this, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed himself and some devas into white +mice, which bit through the strings about her waist; and when this was +done, the (extra) clothes which she wore dropt down on the ground. The +earth at the same time was rent, and she went (down) alive into +hell.(16) (This) also is the place where Devadatta,(17) trying with +empoisoned claws to injure Buddha, went down alive into hell. Men +subsequently set up marks to distinguish where both these events took +place. + +Further, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a +vihâra rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image of +Buddha in a sitting posture. On the east of the road there was a +devalaya(18) of (one of) the contrary systems, called “The Shadow +Covered,” right opposite the vihâra on the place of discussion, with +(only) the road between them, and also rather more than sixty cubits +high. The reason why it was called “The Shadow Covered” was this:—When +the sun was in the west, the shadow of the vihâra of the World-honoured +one fell on the devalaya of a contrary system; but when the sun was in +the east, the shadow of that devalaya was diverted to the north, and +never fell on the vihâra of Buddha. The mal-believers regularly +employed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and water (all about +it), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present offerings; but in +the morning the lamps were found to have been suddenly removed, and in +the vihâra of Buddha. The Brahmans were indignant, and said, “Those +Sramanas take out lamps and use them for their own service of Buddha, +but we will not stop our service for you!”(19) On that night the +Brahmans themselves kept watch, when they saw the deva spirits which +they served take the lamps and go three times round the vihâra of +Buddha and present offerings. After this ministration to Buddha they +suddenly disappeared. The Brahmans thereupon knowing how great was the +spiritual power of Buddha, forthwith left their families, and became +monks.(20) It has been handed down, that, near the time when these +things occurred, around the Jetavana vihâra there were ninety-eight +monasteries, in all of which there were monks residing, excepting only +in one place which was vacant. In this Middle Kingdom(21) there are +ninety-six(21) sorts of views, erroneous and different from our system, +all of which recognise this world and the future world(22) (and the +connexion between them). Each had its multitude of followers, and they +all beg their food: only they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also, +moreover, seek (to acquire) the blessing (of good deeds) on +unfrequented ways, setting up on the road-side houses of charity, where +rooms, couches, beds, and food and drink are supplied to travellers, +and also to monks, coming and going as guests, the only difference +being in the time (for which those parties remain). + +There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. +They regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not to +Sâkyamuni Buddha. + +Four le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been erected +at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king +Virudhaha,(23) when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,(23) and +took his stand before him at the side of the road.(24) + +NOTES + +(1) In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is +placed by Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of the +Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are still +the ruins of a great town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in this +town, or in its neighbourhood, that Sâkyamuni spent many years of his +life after he became Buddha. + +(2) There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a +northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh. + +(3) In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning “leader of the victorious army.” +He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Sâkyamuni. +Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory, +because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy’s +M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al. + +(4) Explained by “Path of Love,” and “Lord of Life.” Prajapati was aunt +and nurse of Sâkyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood, and +the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to +become a Buddha. + +(5) Sudatta, meaning “almsgiver,” was the original name of +Anatha-pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head, of +Sravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old house, +only the well and walls remained at the time of Fâ-Hien’s visit to +Sravasti. + +(6) The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made +assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had +joined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha, +he became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he “got the +Tao,” or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his +conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in +Pâli is Angulimala. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his +autobiographical poem in the “Songs of the Theras.” + +(7) Eitel (p. 37) says:—“A noted vihâra in the suburbs of Sravasti, +erected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son +of Prasenajit. Sâkyamuni made this place his favourite residence for +many years. Most of the Sûtras (authentic and supposititious) date from +this spot.” + +(8) See chapter xvii. + +(9) See chapter xiii. + +(10) Arya, meaning “honourable,” “venerable,” is a title given only to +those who have mastered the four spiritual truths:—(1) that “misery” is +a necessary condition of all sentient existence; this is duhkha: (2) +that the “accumulation” of misery is caused by the passions; this is +samudaya: (3) that the “extinction” of passion is possible; this is +nirodha: and (4) that the “path” leads to the extinction of passion; +which is marga. According to their attainment of these truths, the +Aryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four +classes,—Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p. +14. + +(11) This is the first time that Fâ-Hien employs the name Ho-shang {.} +{.}, which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks +without distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of the +Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, “explained,” says Eitel (p. 155) by “a +self-taught teacher,” or by “he who knows what is sinful and what is +not sinful,” with the note, “In India the vernacular of this term is +{.} {.} (? munshee (? Bronze)); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.} {.} +(hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese synonyms, +{.} {.} (ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang).” The Indian term was +originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the Vedas, +the Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made to +signify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the Lamas. +In China it has been used first as a synonym for {.} {.}, monks engaged +in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction from {.} {.}, +disciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative philosophers +(meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of +monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. In +the text there seems to be implied some distinction between the +“teachers” and the “ho-shang;”—probably, the Pâli Akariya and +Upagghaya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. +178, 179. + +(12) It might be added, “as depending on it,” in order to bring out the +full meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the help of +the police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early years, to keep +the approaches to the Cathedral free from the number of beggars, who +squatted down there during service, hoping that the hearers would come +out with softened hearts, and disposed to be charitable. I found the +popular tutelary temples in Peking and other places, and the path up +Mount T’ai in Shan-lung similarly frequented. + +(13) The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became “mother superior” of +many nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised +it does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha. + +(14) See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this +murderer; see in Julien’s “Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang,” p. 125,—“a +heretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated Buddha.” See also the +fuller account in Beal’s “Records of Western Countries,” pp. 7, 8, +where the murder is committed by several Brahmacharins. In this passage +Beal makes Sundari to be the name of the murdered person (a harlot). +But the text cannot be so construed. + +(15) Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the +story about her, M. B., pp. 275-277. + +(16) “Earth’s prison,” or “one of Earth’s prisons.” It was the Avichi +naraka to which she went, the last of the eight hot prisons, where the +culprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted succession (such +being the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final +redemption. E. H. p. 21. + +(17) Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore of +Sâkyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had +become so in an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued in +every successive birth, through which they reappeared in the world. See +the accounts of him, and of his various devices against Buddha, and his +own destruction at the last, in M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330; and still +better, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. +233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in the text, see “The +Life of the Buddha,” p. 107. When he was engulphed, and the flames were +around him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, and we are told that he +is expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name of Devaraja, in a +universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39. + +(18) “A devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is +worshipped,—a general name for all Brahmanical temples” (Eitel, p. 30). +We read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa +Matanga came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or Sûtras, he +was lodged in the Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there +was built for him “The Court of the White-horse” ({.} {.} {.}), and in +consequence the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic +temples. Fâ-Hien, however, applies this term only to Brahmanical +temples. + +(19) Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in the +circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in I Samuel +v. about the Ark and Dagon, that “twice-battered god of Palestine.” + +(20) “Entered the doctrine or path.” Three stages in the Buddhistic +life are indicated by Fâ-Hien:—“entering it,” as here, by becoming +monks ({.} {.}); “getting it,” by becoming Arhats ({.} {.}); and +“completing it,” by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}). + +(21) It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central +India as a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it +where he then was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two +sects, but there may have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys +Davids’ “Buddhism,” pp. 98, 99. + +(22) This mention of “the future world” is an important difference +between the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has +been a stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. Rémusat +says in a note that “the heretics limited themselves to speak of the +duties of man in his actual life without connecting it by the notion +that the metempsychosis with the anterior periods of existence through +which he had passed.” But this is just the opposite of what Fâ-Hien’s +meaning was, according to our Corean text. The notion of “the +metempsychosis” was just that in which all the ninety-six erroneous +systems agreed among themselves and with Buddhism. If he had wished to +say what the French sinologue thinks he does say, moreover, he would +probably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, however, that +the connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world (including +the present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or +transmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate +existence of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of “the wheel,” +I would call its doctrine that of “The Transrotation of Births.” See +Rhys Davids’ third Hibbert Lecture. + +(23) Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya. He +was king of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the +destroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility +to the Sakyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as +certain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien’s “Methode,” +p. 89, may be read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the +phonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel. + +(24) This would be the interview in the “Life of the Buddha” in +Trübner’s Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found +Buddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he +told the king that the thought of the danger of “his relatives and +kindred made it shady.” The king was moved to sympathy for the time, +and went back to Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only +postponed for a short space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be +inevitable in the connexion of cause and effect. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +THE THREE PREDECESSORS OF SAKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP. + + +Fifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named +Too-wei,(1) the birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha.(1) At the place where he +and his father met,(2) and at that where he attained to pari-nirvâna, +topes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, the +Kasyapa Tathagata,(3) a great tope was also erected. + +Going on south-east from the city of Sravasti for twelve yojanas, (the +travellers) came to a town named Na-pei-kea,(4) the birthplace of +Krakuchanda Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at +that where he attained to pari-nirvâna, topes were erected. Going north +from here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been the +birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the place where he and his father +met, and where he attained to pari-nirvâna, topes were erected. + +NOTES + +(1) Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine +miles to the west of Sahara-mahat. The birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha is +generally thought to have been Benares. According to a calculation of +Rémusat, from his birth to A.D. 1832 there were 1,992,859 years! + +(2) It seems to be necessary to have a meeting between every Buddha and +his father. One at least is ascribed to Sâkyamuni and his father (real +or supposed) Suddhodana. + +(3) This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in +Chinese {.} {.}, meaning, as Eitel, p. 147 says, “_Sic profectus sum_.” +It is equivalent to “Rightful Buddha, the true successor in the Supreme +Buddha Line.” Hardy concludes his account of the Kasyapa Buddha (M. B., +p. 97) with the following sentence:—“After his body was burnt, the +bones still remained in their usual position, presenting the appearance +of a perfect skeleton; and the whole of the inhabitants of Jambudvipa, +assembling together, erected a dagoba over his relics one yojana in +height!” + +(4) Na-pei-kea or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this +Buddha was born at the city of Gan-ho ({.} {.} {.}) and Hardy gives his +birthplace as Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit, to +reconcile these statements. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +KAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA’S BIRTH, AND OTHER +INCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT. + + +Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of +Kapilavastu;(1) but in it there was neither king nor people. All was +mound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a +score or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood +the old palace of king Suddhodana(2) there have been made images of the +prince (his eldest son) and his mother;(3) and at the places where that +son appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his mother’s +womb,(4) and where he turned his carriage round on seeing the sick man +after he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate,(5) topes have +been erected. The places (were also pointed out)(6) where (the rishi) +A-e(7) inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of the +heir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with +Nanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one +side, he tossed it away;(8) where he shot an arrow to the south-east, +and it went a distance of thirty le, then entering the ground and +making a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into a +well from which travellers might drink;(9) where, after he had attained +to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father;(10) where five +hundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence to Upali(11) +while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where Buddha +preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and others kept +the four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his father, +could not enter;(12) where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, which is +still standing,(13) with his face to the east, and (his aunt) +Maja-prajapati presented him with a Sanghali;(14) and (where) king +Vaidurya slew the seed of Sakya, and they all in dying became +Srotapannas.(15) A tope was erected at this last place, which is still +existing. + +Several le north-east from the city was the king’s field, where the +heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.(16) + +Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,(17) where the +queen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on +the northern bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her +hand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, +gave birth to the heir-apparent.(18) When he fell to the ground, he +(immediately) walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and +washed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately +formed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where (the +queen) bathed,(19) the monks (even) now constantly take the water, and +drink it. + +There are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history +of) all Buddhas:—first, the place where they attained to perfect Wisdom +(and became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the wheel of +the Law;(20) third, the place where they preached the Law, discoursed +of righteousness, and discomfited (the advocates of) erroneous +doctrines; and fourth, the place where they came down, after going up +to the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for the benefit of their +mothers. Other places in connexion with them became remarkable, +according to the manifestations which were made at them at particular +times. + +The country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The +inhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be on +their guard against white elephants(21) and lions, and should not +travel incautiously. + +NOTES + +(1) Kapilavastu, “the city of beautiful virtue,” was the birthplace of +Sâkyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last +chapter, during his lifetime. It was situated a short distance +north-west of the present Goruckpoor, lat. 26° 46′ N., lon. 83° 19′ E. +Davids says (Manual, p. 25), “It was on the banks of the river Rohini, +the modern Kohana, about 100 miles north-west of the city of Benares.” + +(2) The father, or supposed father, of Sâkyamuni. He is here called +“the king white and pure” ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation is +“the king of pure rice” ({.} {.} {.}); but the character {.}, or +“rice,” must be a mistake for {.}, “Brahman,” and the appellation= +“Pure Brahman king.” + +(3) The “eldest son,” or “prince” was Sâkyamuni, and his mother had no +other son. For “his mother,” see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a daughter +of Anjana or Anusakya, king of the neighbouring country of Koli, and +Yasodhara, an aunt of Suddhodana. There appear to have been various +intermarriages between the royal houses of Kapila and Koli. + +(4) In “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 15, we read that “Buddha was now in +the Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time for +his last rebirth in the course of which he would become Buddha), he +made the necessary examinations; and having decided that Maha-maya was +the right mother, in the midnight watch he entered her womb under the +appearance of an elephant.” See M. B., pp. 140-143, and, still better, +Rhys Davids’ “Birth Stories,” pp. 58-63. + +(5) In Hardy’s M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, “As the prince +(Siddhartha, the first name given to Sâkyamuni; see Eitel, under +Sarvarthasiddha) was one day passing along, he saw a deva under the +appearance of a leper, full of sores, with a body like a water-vessel, +and legs like the pestle for pounding rice; and when he learned from +his charioteer what it was that he saw, he became agitated, and +returned at once to the palace.” See also Rhys Davids’ “Buddhism,” p. +29. + +(6) This is an addition of my own, instead of “There are also topes +erected at the following spots,” of former translators. Fâ-Hien does +not say that there were memorial topes at all these places. + +(7) Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in Pâli Kala Devala, and had +been a minister of Suddhodana’s father. + +(8) In “The Life of Buddha” we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali had +sent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was near +Kapilavastu, Devadatta, out of envy, killed it with a blow of his fist. +Nanda (not Ananda, but a half-brother of Siddhartha), coming that way, +saw the carcase lying on the road, and pulled it on one side; but the +Bodhisattva, seeing it there, took it by the tail, and tossed it over +seven fences and ditches, when the force of its fall made a great +ditch. I suspect that the characters in the column have been +disarranged, and that we should read {.} {.} {.} {.}, {.} {.}, {.} {.}. +Buddha, that is Siddhartha, was at this time only ten years old. + +(9) The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them +all. He was then seventeen. + +(10) This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, and +as he was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and said, +“Father, though I love thee, yet a fear possesses me, and I may not +stay;”—The Life of the Buddha, p. 25. Most probably it was that related +in M. B., pp. 199-204. See “Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 120-127. + +(11) They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was +only a Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did +Buddhism assert its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste. +Upali was distinguished by his knowledge of the rules of discipline, +and praised on that account by Buddha. He was one of the three leaders +of the first synod, and the principal compiler of the original Vinaya +books. + +(12) I have not met with the particulars of this preaching. + +(13) Meaning, as explained in Chinese, “a tree without knots;” the +_ficus Indica_. See Rhys Davids’ note, Manual, p. 39, where he says +that a branch of one of these trees was taken from Buddha Gaya to +Anuradhapura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is +still growing there, the oldest historical tree in the world. + +(14) See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this +presentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315. + +(15) See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of +saints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to +nirvâna after having been reborn seven times consecutively as men or +devas. The Chinese editions state there were “1000” of the Sakya seed. +The general account is that they were 500, all maidens, who refused to +take their place in king Vaidurya’s harem, and were in consequence +taken to a pond, and had their hands and feet cut off. There Buddha +came to them, had their wounds dressed, and preached to them the Law. +They died in the faith, and were reborn in the region of the four Great +Kings. Thence they came back and visited Buddha at Jetavana in the +night, and there they obtained the reward of Srotapanna. “The Life of +the Buddha,” p. 121. + +(16) See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of it +reminds me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an +institution in China from the earliest times. But there we have no +magic and no extravagance. + +(17) “The place of Liberation;” see chap. xiii, note 7. + +(18) See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; “The Life +of the Buddha,” pp. 15, 16; and “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 66. + +(19) There is difficulty in construing the text of this last statement. +Mr. Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his first +translation. In his revised version he gives for it, I cannot say +happily, “As well as at the pool, the water of which came down from +above for washing (the child).” + +(20) See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids’ Manual, p. 45. The latter +says, that “to turn the wheel of the Law” means “to set rolling the +royal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth and righteousness;” +but he admits that this is more grandiloquent than the phraseology was +in the ears of Buddhists. I prefer the words quoted from Eitel in the +note referred to. “They turned” is probably equivalent to “They began +to turn.” + +(21) Fâ-Hien does not say that he himself saw any of these white +elephants, nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour. +We shall find by-and-by, in a note further on, that, to make them +appear more terrible, they are spoken of as “black.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +RAMA, AND ITS TOPE. + + +East from Buddha’s birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas, there +is a kingdom called Rama.(1) The king of this country, having obtained +one portion of the relics of Buddha’s body,(2) returned with it and +built over it a tope, named the Rama tope. By the side of it there was +a pool, and in the pool a dragon, which constantly kept watch over (the +tope), and presented offerings to it day and night. When king Asoka +came forth into the world, he wished to destroy the eight topes (over +the relics), and to build (instead of them) 84,000 topes.(3) After he +had thrown down the seven (others), he wished next to destroy this +tope. But then the dragon showed itself, took the king into its +palace;(4) and when he had seen all the things provided for offerings, +it said to him, “If you are able with your offerings to exceed these, +you can destroy the tope, and take it all away. I will not contend with +you.” The king, however, knew that such appliances for offerings were +not to be had anywhere in the world, and thereupon returned (without +carrying out his purpose). + +(Afterwards), the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, +and there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep (about the tope); but a herd +of elephants came regularly, which brought water with their trunks to +water the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, which they +presented at the tope. (Once) there came from one of the kingdoms a +devotee(5) to worship at the tope. When he encountered the elephants he +was greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the trees; but when he +saw them go through with the offerings in the most proper manner, the +thought filled him with great sadness—that there should be no monastery +here, (the inmates of which) might serve the tope, but the elephants +have to do the watering and sweeping. Forthwith he gave up the great +prohibitions (by which he was bound),(6) and resumed the status of a +Sramanera.(7) With his own hands he cleared away the grass and trees, +put the place in good order, and made it pure and clean. By the power +of his exhortations, he prevailed on the king of the country to form a +residence for monks; and when that was done, he became head of the +monastery. At the present day there are monks residing in it. This +event is of recent occurrence; but in all the succession from that time +till now, there has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment. + +NOTES + +(1) Rama or Ramagrama, between Kapilavastu and Kusanagara. + +(2) See the account of the eightfold division of the relics of Buddha’s +body in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. +133-136. + +(3) The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000 +atoms, and hence the legend of Asoka’s wish to build 84,000 topes, one +over each atom of Sâkyamuni’s skeleton. + +(4) Fâ-Hien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that +the naga-guardian had a palace of his own, inside or underneath the +pool or tank. + +(5) It stands out on the narrative as a whole that we have not here +“some pilgrims,” but one devotee. + +(6) What the “great prohibitions” which the devotee now gave up were we +cannot tell. Being what he was, a monk of more than ordinary ascetical +habits, he may have undertaken peculiar and difficult vows. + +(7) The Sramanera, or in Chinese Shamei. See chap. xvi, note 19. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +WHERE BUDDHA FINALLY RENOUNCED THE WORLD, AND WHERE HE DIED. + + +East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir-apparent +sent back Chandaka, with his white horse;(1) and there also a tope was +erected. + +Four yojanas to the east from this, (the travellers) came to the +Charcoal tope,(2) where there is also a monastery. + +Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of +Kusanagara,(3) on the north of which, between two trees,(4) on the bank +of the Nairanjana(5) river, is the place where the World-honoured one, +with his head to the north, attained to pari-nirvâna (and died). There +also are the places where Subhadra,(6) the last (of his converts), +attained to Wisdom (and became an Arhat); where in his coffin of gold +they made offerings to the World-honoured one for seven days,(7) where +the Vajrapani laid aside his golden club,(8) and where the eight +kings(9) divided the relics (of the burnt body):—at all these places +were built topes and monasteries, all of which are now existing. + +In the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only +the families belonging to the (different) societies of monks. + +Going from this to the south-east for twelve yojanas, they came to the +place where the Lichchhavis(10) wished to follow Buddha to (the place +of) his pari-nirvâna, and where, when he would not listen to them and +they kept cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a +large and deep ditch which they could not cross over, and gave them his +alms-bowl, as a pledge of his regard, (thus) sending them back to their +families. There a stone pillar was erected with an account of this +event engraved upon it. + +NOTES + +(1) This was on the night when Sâkyamuni finally left his palace and +family to fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called. +Chandaka, in Pâli Channa, was the prince’s charioteer, and in sympathy +with him. So also was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Asvaraja), +which neighed his delight till the devas heard him. See M. B., pp. +158-161, and Davids’ Manual, pp. 32, 33. According to “Buddhist Birth +Stories,” p. 87, the noble horse never returned to the city, but died +of grief at being left by his master, to be reborn immediately in the +Trayastrimsas heaven as the deva Kanthaka! + +(2) Beal and Giles call this the “Ashes” tope. I also would have +preferred to call it so; but the Chinese character is {.}, not {.}. +Rémusat has “la tour des charbons.” It was over the place of Buddha’s +cremation. + +(3) In Pâli Kusinara. It got its name from the Kusa grass (the _poa +cynosuroides_); and its ruins are still extant, near Kusiah, 180 N.W. +from Patna; “about,” says Davids, “120 miles N.N.E. of Benares, and 80 +miles due east of Kapilavastu.” + +(4) The Sala tree, the _Shorea robusta_, which yields the famous teak +wood. + +(5) Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsuan-chwang, with the +Hiranyavati, which flows past the city on the south. + +(6) A Brahman of Benares, said to have been 120 years old, who came to +learn from Buddha the very night he died. Ananda would have repulsed +him; but Buddha ordered him to be introduced; and then putting aside +the ingenious but unimportant question which he propounded, preached to +him the Law. The Brahman was converted and attained at once to +Arhatship. Eitel says that he attained to nirvâna a few moments before +Sâkyamuni; but see the full account of him and his conversion in +“Buddhist Suttas,” p. 103-110. + +(7) Thus treating the dead Buddha as if he had been a Chakravartti +king. Hardy’s M. B., p. 347, says:—“For the place of cremation, the +princes (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was +decorated with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in a +golden sarcophagus.” See the account of a cremation which Fâ-Hien +witnessed in Ceylon, chap. xxxix. + +(8) The name Vajrapani is explained as “he who holds in his hand the +diamond club (or pestle=sceptre),” which is one of the many names of +Indra or Sakra. He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would +seem to be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither in +Hardy nor Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any +manifestation of himself made by Indra on this occasion. The princes of +Kusanagara were called mallas, “strong or mighty heroes;” so also were +those of Pava and Vaisali; and a question arises whether the language +may not refer to some story which Fâ-Hien had heard,—something which +they did on this great occasion. Vajrapani is also explained as meaning +“the diamond mighty hero;” but the epithet of “diamond” is not so +applicable to them as to Indra. The clause may hereafter obtain more +elucidation. + +(9) Of Kusanagara, Pava, Vaisali, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes, +brahmans,—each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an eightfold +division at the suggestion of the brahman Drona. + +(10) These “strong heroes” were the chiefs of Vaisali, a kingdom and +city, with an oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early, +and were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second +synod was held at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins of +the city still exist at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I suppose, +as Besarh, twenty miles north of Hajipur. See Beal’s Revised Version, +p. lii. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +VAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED “WEAPONS LAID DOWN.” THE COUNCIL OF VAISALI. + + +East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom +of Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it +the double-galleried vihâra(1) where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over +half the body of Ananda.(2) Inside the city the woman Ambapali(3) built +a vihâra in honour of Buddha, which is now standing as it was at first. +Three le south of the city, on the west of the road, (is the) garden +(which) the same Ambapali presented to Buddha, in which he might +reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirvâna, as he was +quitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, and, beholding the +city on his right, said to them, “Here I have taken my last walk.”(4) +Men subsequently built a tope at this spot. + +Three le north-west of the city there is a tope called, “Bows and +weapons laid down.” The reason why it got that name was this:—The +inferior wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges, +brought forth from her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife, jealous +of the other, said, “You have brought forth a thing of evil omen,” and +immediately it was put into a box of wood and thrown into the river. +Farther down the stream another king was walking and looking about, +when he saw the wooden box (floating) in the water. (He had it brought +to him), opened it, and found a thousand little boys, upright and +complete, and each one different from the others. He took them and had +them brought up. They grew tall and large, and very daring, and strong, +crushing all opposition in every expedition which they undertook. By +and by they attacked the kingdom of their real father, who became in +consequence greatly distressed and sad. His inferior wife asked what it +was that made him so, and he replied, “That king has a thousand sons, +daring and strong beyond compare, and he wishes with them to attack my +kingdom; this is what makes me sad.” The wife said, “You need not be +sad and sorrowful. Only make a high gallery on the wall of the city on +the east; and when the thieves come, I shall be able to make them +retire.” The king did as she said; and when the enemies came, she said +to them from the tower, “You are my sons; why are you acting so +unnaturally and rebelliously?” They replied, “If you do not believe +me,” she said, “look, all of you, towards me, and open your mouths.” +She then pressed her breasts with her two hands, and each sent forth +500 jets of milk, which fell into the mouths of the thousand sons. The +thieves (thus) knew that she was their mother, and laid down their bows +and weapons.(5) The two kings, the fathers, thereupon fell into +reflection, and both got to be Pratyeka Buddhas.(6) The tope of the two +Pratyeka Buddhas is still existing. + +In a subsequent age, when the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), he said to is disciples, “This is +the place where I in a former age laid down my bow and weapons.”(7) It +was thus that subsequently men got to know (the fact), and raised the +tope on this spot, which in this way received its name. The thousand +little boys were the thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa.(8) + +It was by the side of the “Weapons-laid-down” tope that Buddha, having +given up the idea of living longer, said to Ananda, “In three months +from this I will attain to pavi-nirvâna;” and king Mara(9) had so +fascinated and stupefied Ananda, that he was not able to ask Buddha to +remain longer in this world. + +Three or four le east from this place there is a tope (commemorating +the following occurrence):—A hundred years after the pari-nirvâna of +Buddha, some Bhikshus of Vaisali went wrong in the matter of the +disciplinary rules in ten particulars, and appealed for their +justification to what they said were the words of Buddha. Hereupon the +Arhats and Bhikshus observant of the rules, to the number in all of 700 +monks, examined afresh and collated the collection of disciplinary +books.(10) Subsequently men built at this place the tope (in question), +which is still existing. + +NOTES + +(1) It is difficult to tell what was the peculiar form of this vihâra +from which it gets its name; something about the construction of its +door, or cupboards, or galleries. + +(2) See the explanation of this in the next chapter. + +(3) Ambapali, Amrapali, or Amradarika, “the guardian of the Amra +(probably the mango) tree,” is famous in Buddhist annals. See the +account of her in M. B., pp. 456-8. She was a courtesan. She had been +in many narakas or hells, was 100,000 times a female beggar, and 10,000 +times a prostitute; but maintaining perfect continence during the +period of Kasyapa Buddha, Sâkyamuni’s predecessor, she had been born a +devi, and finally appeared in earth under an Amra tree in Vaisali. +There again she fell into her old ways, and had a son by king +Bimbisara; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and chastity, +renounced the world, and attained to the state of an Arhat. See the +earliest account of Ambapali’s presentation of the garden in “Buddhist +Suttas,” pp. 30-33, and the note there from Bishop Bigandet on pp. 33, +34. + +(4) Beal gives, “In this place I have performed the last religious act +of my earthly career;” Giles, “This is the last place I shall visit;” +Rémusat, “C’est un lieu ou je reviendrai bien longtemps apres ceci.” +Perhaps the “walk” to which Buddha referred had been for meditation. + +(5) See the account of this legend in the note in M. B., pp. 235, 236, +different, but not less absurd. The first part of Fâ-Hien’s narrative +will have sent the thoughts of some of my readers to the exposure of +the infant Moses, as related in Exodus. + +(6) See chap. xiii, note 14. + +(7) Thus Sâkyamuni had been one of the thousand little boys who floated +in the box in the Ganges. How long back the former age was we cannot +tell. I suppose the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka Buddhas +had been built like the one commemorating the laying down of weapons +after Buddha had told his disciples of the strange events in the past. + +(8) Bhadra-kalpa, “the Kalpa of worthies or sages.” “This,” says Eitel, +p. 22, “is a designation for a Kalpa of stability, so called because +1000 Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our present period is a +Bhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is to last 236 +million years, but over 151 millions have already elapsed.” + +(9) “The king of demons.” The name Mara is explained by “the murderer,” +“the destroyer of virtue,” and similar appellations. “He is,” says +Eitel, “the personification of lust, the god of love, sin, and death, +the arch-enemy of goodness, residing in the heaven Paranirmita +Vasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes different forms, +especially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the saints, or sends +his daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta or the Nirgranthas +to do his work. He is often represented with 100 arms, and riding on an +elephant.” The oldest form of the legend in this paragraph is in +“Buddhist Suttas,” Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, pp. 41-55, where +Buddha says that, if Ananda had asked him thrice, he would have +postponed his death. + +(10) Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important +one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the +Buddhist Church. See, on the formation of the Buddhist Canon, Hardy’s +E. M., chap. xviii, and the last chapter of Davids’ Manual, on the +History of the Order. The first Council was that held at Rajagriha, +shortly after Buddha’s death, under the presidency of Kasyapa;—say +about B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here;—say about B.C. 300. +In Davids’ Manual (p. 216) we find the ten points of discipline, in +which the heretics (I can use that term here) claimed at least +indulgence. Two meetings were held to consider and discuss them. At the +former the orthodox party barely succeeded in carrying their +condemnation of the laxer monks; and a second and larger meeting, of +which Fâ-Hien speaks, was held in consequence, and a more emphatic +condemnation passed. At the same time all the books and subjects of +discipline seem to have undergone a careful revision. + The Corean text is clearer than the Chinese as to those who + composed the Council,—the Arhats and orthodox monks. The leader + among them was a Yasas, or Yasada, or Yedsaputtra, who had been a + disciple of Ananda, and must therefore have been a very old man. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +REMARKABLE DEATH OF ANANDA. + + +Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to +the confluence of the five rivers.(1) When Ananda was going from +Magadha(2) to Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirvâna to take place (there), +the devas informed king Ajatasatru(3) of it, and the king immediately +pursued him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and +had reached the river. (On the other hand), the Lichchhavis of Vaisali +had heard that Ananda was coming (to their city), and they on their +part came to meet him. (In this way), they all arrived together at the +river, and Ananda considered that, if he went forward, king Ajatasatru +would be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would +resent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt +his body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,(4) and his pari-nirvâna was +attained. He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half of it +on each bank; so that each of the two kings got one half as a (sacred) +relic, and took it back (to his own capital), and there raised a tope +over it. + +NOTES + +(1) This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be +far from Patna. + +(2) Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy +land, covered with vihâras; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed in +a previous note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern portion +of which corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha. + +(3) In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M. B., +pp. 321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the first +royal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at least +wrought his death; and was at first opposed to Sâkyamuni, and a +favourer of Devadatta. When converted, he became famous for his +liberality in almsgiving. + +(4) Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi, +which is one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy defines +it as meaning “perfect tranquillity;” Turnour, as “meditative +abstraction;” Burnouf, as “self-control;” and Edkins, as “ecstatic +reverie.” “Samadhi,” says Eitel, “signifies the highest pitch of +abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to all +influences from within or without; a state of torpor of both the +material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial +nirvâna, consistently culminating in total destruction of life.” He +then quotes apparently the language of the text, “He consumed his body +by Agni (the fire of) Samadhi,” and says it is “a common expression for +the effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic self-annihilation.” All this +is simply “a darkening of counsel by words without knowledge.” Some +facts concerning the death of Ananda are hidden beneath the darkness of +the phraseology, which it is impossible for us to ascertain. By or in +Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of the river, and then he +divides the relic of the burnt body into two parts (for so evidently +Fâ-Hien intended his narration to be taken), and leaves one half on +each bank. The account of Ananda’s death in Nien-ch’ang’s “History of +Buddha and the Patriarchs” is much more extravagant. Crowds of men and +devas are brought together to witness it. The body is divided into four +parts. One is conveyed to the Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace +of a certain Naga king; a third is given to Ajatasatru; and the fourth +to the Lichchhavis. What it all really means I cannot tell. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +PATALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING ASOKA’S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE AND +HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RADHA-SAMI. DISPENSARIES AND HOSPITALS. + + +Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the +travellers) came to the town of Pataliputtra,(1) in the kingdom of +Magadha, the city where king Asoka(2) ruled. The royal palace and halls +in the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all made by +spirits which he employed, and which piled up the stones, reared the +walls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and inlaid +sculpture-work,—in a way which no human hands of this world could +accomplish. + +King Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and +resided on Gridhra-kuta(3) hill, finding his delight in solitude and +quiet. The king, who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him +(to come and live) in his family, where he could supply all his wants. +The other, however, through his delight in the stillness of the +mountain, was unwilling to accept the invitation, on which the king +said to him, “Only accept my invitation, and I will make a hill for you +inside the city.” Accordingly, he provided the materials of a feast, +called to him the spirits, and announced to them, “To-morrow you will +all receive my invitation; but as there are no mats for you to sit on, +let each one bring (his own seat).” Next day the spirits came, each one +bringing with him a great rock, (like) a wall, four or five paces +square, (for a seat). When their sitting was over, the king made them +form a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and also at the +foot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make an apartment, +which might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and +more than ten cubits high. + +In this city there had resided a great Brahman,(4) named Radha-sami,(5) +a professor of the mahayana, of clear discernment and much wisdom, who +understood everything, living by himself in spotless purity. The king +of the country honoured and reverenced him, and served him as his +teacher. If he went to inquire for and greet him, the king did not +presume to sit down alongside of him; and if, in his love and +reverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he let it go, the +Brahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. He might be more +than fifty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. By means of +this one man, the Law of Buddha was widely made known, and the +followers of other doctrines did not find it in their power to +persecute the body of monks in any way. + +By the side of the tope of Asoka, there has been made a mahayana +monastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hinayana one; the +two together containing six or seven hundred monks. The rules of +demeanour and the scholastic arrangements(6) in them are worthy of +observation. + +Shamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students, +inquirers wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort +to these monasteries. There also resides in this monastery a Brahman +teacher, whose name also is Manjusri,(7) whom the Shamans of greatest +virtue in the kingdom, and the mahayana Bhikshus honour and look up to. + +The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the +Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with +one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every +year on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession +of images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure of +four storeys by means of bamboos tied together. This is supported by a +king-post, with poles and lances slanting from it, and is rather more +than twenty cubits high, having the shape of a tope. White and +silk-like cloth of hair(8) is wrapped all round it, which is then +painted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold, +silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers +and canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a +Buddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on him. +There may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one +different from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity +within the borders all come together; they have singers and skilful +musicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and incense. The +Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so in +order, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep +lamps burning, have skilful music, and present offerings. This is the +practice in all the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya +families in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity +and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, +widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who +are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of +help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and +medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and +when they are better, they go away of themselves. + +When king Asoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make +eighty-four thousand,(9) the first which he made was the great tope, +more than three le to the south of this city. In front of this there is +a footprint of Buddha, where a vihâra has been built. The door of it +faces the north, and on the south of it there is a stone pillar, +fourteen or fifteen cubits in circumference, and more than thirty +cubits high, on which there is an inscription, saying, “Asoka gave the +jambudvipa to the general body of all the monks, and then redeemed it +from them with money. This he did three times.”(10) North from the tope +300 or 400 paces, king Asoka built the city of Ne-le.(11) In it there +is a stone pillar, which also is more than thirty feet high, with a +lion on the top of it. On the pillar there is an inscription recording +the things which led to the building of Ne-le, with the number of the +year, the day, and the month. + +NOTES + +(1) The modern Patna, lat. 25° 28′ N., lon. 85° 15′ E. The Sanskrit +name means “The city of flowers.” It is the Indian Florence. + +(2) See chap. x, note 3. Asoka transferred his court from Rajagriha to +Pataliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he +convoked the third Great Synod,—according, at least, to southern +Buddhism. It must have been held a few years before B.C. 250; Eitel +says in 246. + +(3) “The Vulture-hill;” so called because Mara, according to Buddhist +tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the +meditation of Ananda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of +vultures. It was near Rajagriha, the earlier capital of Asoka, so that +Fâ-Hien connects a legend of it with his account of Patna. It abounded +in caverns, and was famous as a resort of ascetics. + +(4) A Brahman by cast, but a Buddhist in faith. + +(5) So, by the help of Julien’s “Methode,” I transliterate the Chinese +characters {.} {.} {.} {.}. Beal gives Radhasvami, his Chinese text +having a {.} between {.} and {.}. I suppose the name was Radhasvami or +Radhasami. + +(6) {.} {.}, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in the +Li Ki and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those +monasteries in India as there were in China? Fâ-Hien himself grew up +with other boys in a monastery, and no doubt had to “go to school.” And +the next sentence shows us there might be schools for more advanced +students as well as for the Sramaneras. + +(7) See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous +Bodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be “also” named Manjusri. + +(8) ? Cashmere cloth. + +(9) See chap. xxiii, note 3. + +(10) We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction, +and that we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It +is to be observed that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it +from them. Their right was from him, and he bought it back. He was the +only “Power” that was. + +(11) We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small +place; an outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +RAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT. + + +(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas, +and came to a small solitary rocky hill,(1) at the head or end of +which(2) was an apartment of stone, facing the south,—the place where +Buddha sat, when Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician, +Pancha-(sikha),(3) to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute. +Sakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the +questions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.(4) The prints of +his tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery. + +A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of +Nala,(5) where Sariputtra(6) was born, and to which also he returned, +and attained here his pari-nirvâna. Over the spot (where his body was +burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence. + +Another yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,(7)—the new +city which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in +it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having +obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a tope, +high, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south gate, +and proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to a +circular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and have +the appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old city of +king Bimbisara; from east to west about five or six le, and from north +to south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and Maudgalyayana +first saw Upasena;(8) that the Nirgrantha(9) made a pit of fire and +poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with him); that king +Ajatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with liquor, wishing him +to injure Buddha;(10) and that at the north-east corner of the city in +a (large) curving (space) Jivaka built a vihâra in the garden of +Ambapali,(11) and invited Buddha with his 1250 disciples to it, that he +might there make his offerings to support them. (These places) are +still there as of old, but inside the city all is emptiness and +desolation; no man dwells in it. + +NOTES + +(1) Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or “The cavern of Indra.” +It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the +bank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The hill +terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more +northern and higher of these which Fâ-Hien had in mind. It bears an +oblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially +of a vihâra. + +(2) This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its +“headland,” where it ended at the river. + +(3) See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290. It is +from Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the musician, +which appears in Fâ-Hien as only Pancha, or “Five.” His harp or lute, +we are told, was “twelve miles long.” + +(4) Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen, which +are still to be found in one of the Sûtras (“the Dik-Sanga, in the +Sakra-prasna Sutra”). Whether it was Sakra who wrote his questions, or +Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the punctuation. It seems +better to make Sakra the writer. + +(5) Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand monastery +was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for five years of +Hsuan-chwang. + +(6) See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement +that Nala was his birthplace. + +(7) The city of “Royal Palaces;” “the residence of the Magadha kings +from Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot +of the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within a +year after Sâkyamuni’s death. Its ruins are still extant at the village +of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of +pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100).” It is called New Rajagriha to +distinguish it from Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old +residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisara, while +Fâ-Hien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose the son finished what the +father had begun. + +(8) One of the five first followers of Sâkyamuni. He is also called +Asvajit; in Pâli Assaji; but Asvajit seems to be a military title= +“Master or trainer of horses.” The two more famous disciples met him, +not to lead him, but to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred Books +of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 144-147. + +(9) One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas=“erroneous teachers;” M. B., pp. +290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on +Buddha’s life referred to by Fâ-Hien), or Brahmanical opponents of +Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore +called Nirgranthajnati. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the +use of clothes, and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting. He +had a body of followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel, pp. +84, 85), and were the forerunners of the Jains. + +(10) The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant +disappointed them, and did homage to Sâkyamuni. See Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247. + +(11) See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali’s son by king +Bimbisara, and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the +account of him in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya +Texts, pp. 171-194. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FÂ-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS +REFLECTIONS. + + +Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the south-east, +after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount +Gridhra-kuta.(1) Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern +in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. +Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was +sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) having assumed the +form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, and +frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, supernatural +power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and stroked +Ananda’s shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away. The +footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha’s) hand are still +there, and hence comes the name of “The Hill of the Vulture Cavern.” + +In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas sat. +There are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and meditated, +amounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in front of his +rocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west (in meditation), +and Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the north of the +mountain, threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha’s toes,(3) the rock is +still there.(4) + +The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only the +foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is +beautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the +five hills. In the New City Fâ-Hien bought incense-(sticks), flowers, +oil and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident (at the place), to +carry them (to the peak). When he himself got to it, he made his +offerings with the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when the +darkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his tears +and said, “Here Buddha delivered the Surangama (Sutra).(5) I, Fâ-Hien, +was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only see the +footprints which he has left, and the place where he lived, and nothing +more.” With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted the Surangama +Sutra, remained there over the night, and then returned towards the New +City.(6) + +NOTES + +(1) See chap. xxviii, note 1. + +(2) See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, and +signifies “sinful lust.” + +(3) See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta’s attempt was “by the +help of a machine;” but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what Fâ-Hien implies +that he threw the rock with his own arm. + +(4) And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits high, +and thirty paces round. + +(5) See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio’s “Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of +the Buddhist Tripitaka,” Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the former +of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory of +Fâ-Hien. + +(6) In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal +says, “There is a full account of this perilous visit of Fâ-Hien, and +how he was attacked by tigers, in the ‘History of the High Priests.’” +But “the high priests” merely means distinguished monks, “eminent +monks,” as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders the adjectival character. Nor was +Fâ-Hien “attacked by tigers” on the peak. No “tigers” appear in the +Memoir. “Two black lions” indeed crouched before him for a time this +night, “licking their lips and waving their tails;” but their +appearance was to “try,” and not to attack him; and when they saw him +resolute, they “drooped their heads, put down their tails, and +prostrated themselves before him.” This of course is not an historical +account, but a legendary tribute to his bold perseverance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +THE SRATAPARNA CAVE, OR CAVE OF THE FIRST COUNCIL. LEGENDS. SUICIDE OF +A BHIKSHU. + + +Out from the old city, after walking over 300 paces, on the west of the +road, (the travellers) found the Karanda Bamboo garden,(1) where the +(old) vihâra is still in existence, with a company of monks, who keep +(the ground about it) swept and watered. + +North of the vihâra two or three le there was the Smasanam, which name +means in Chinese “the field of graves into which the dead are +thrown.”(2) + +As they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for 300 +paces, they found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala +cave,(3) in which Buddha regularly sat in meditation after taking his +(midday) meal. + +Going on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the +hill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna,(4) the +place where, after the nirvâna(5) of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the +Sûtras. When they brought the Sûtras forth, three lofty seats(6) had +been prepared and grandly ornamented. Sariputtra occupied the one on +the left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. Of the number of five +hundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on the middle +seat). Ananda was then outside the door, and could not get in.(7) At +the place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still +existing. + +Along (the sides of) the hill, there are also a very great many cells +among the rocks, where the various Arhans sat and meditated. As you +leave the old city on the north, and go down east for three le, there +is the rock dwelling of Devadatta, and at a distance of fifty paces +from it there is a large, square, black rock. Formerly there was a +bhikshu, who, as he walked backwards and forwards upon it, thought with +himself:—“This body(8) is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and +vanity,(9) and which cannot be looked on as pure.(10) I am weary of +this body, and troubled by it as an evil.” With this he grasped a +knife, and was about to kill himself. But he thought again:—“The +World-honoured one laid down a prohibition against one’s killing +himself.”(11) Further it occurred to him:—“Yes, he did; but I now only +wish to kill three poisonous thieves.”(12) Immediately with the knife +he cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he attained the +state of a Srotapanna;(13) when he had gone half through, he attained +to be an Anagamin;(14) and when he had cut right through, he was an +Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvâna;(15) (and died). + +NOTES + +(1) Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara, who +also built a vihâra in it. See the account of the transaction in M. B., +p. 194. The place was called Karanda, from a creature so named, which +awoke the king just as a snake was about to bite him, and thus saved +his life. In Hardy the creature appears as a squirrel, but Eitel says +that the Karanda is a bird of sweet voice, resembling a magpie, but +herding in flocks; the _cuculus melanoleucus_. See “Buddhist Birth +Stories,” p. 118. + +(2) The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no +sympathy with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own +Buddhistic method of cremation. + +(3) The Chinese characters used for the name of this cavern serve also +to name the pippala (peepul) tree, the _ficus religiosa_. They make us +think that there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but Fâ-Hien +would hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance. + +(4) A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the +Srataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to have +been convoked by the older members to settle the rules and doctrines of +the order. The cave was prepared for the occasion by king Ajatasatru. +From the expression about the “bringing forth of the King,” it would +seem that the Sûtras or some of them had been already committed to +writing. May not the meaning of King {.} here be extended to the Vinaya +rules, as well as the Sûtras, and mean “the standards” of the system +generally? See Davids’ Manual, chapter ix, and Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 370-385. + +(5) So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvâna. + +(6) Instead of “high” seats, the Chinese texts have “vacant.” The +character for “prepared” denotes “spread;”—they were carpeted; perhaps, +both cushioned and carpeted, being rugs spread on the ground, raised +higher than the other places for seats. + +(7) Did they not contrive to let him in, with some cachinnation, even +in so august an assembly, that so important a member should have been +shut out? + +(8) “The life of this body” would, I think, fairly express the idea of +the bhikshu. + +(9) See the account of Buddha’s preaching in chapter xviii. + +(10) The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught. + +(11) See E. M., p. 152:—“Buddha made a law forbidding the monks to +commit suicide. He prohibited any one from discoursing on the miseries +of life in such a manner as to cause desperation.” See also M. B., pp. +464, 465. + +(12) Beal says:—“Evil desire; hatred; ignorance.” + +(13) See chap. xx, note 10. + +(14) The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship, +the third class of Aryas, who are no more liable to be reborn as men, +but are to be born once more as devas, when they will forthwith become +Arhats, and attain to nirvâna. E. H., pp. 8, 9. + +(15) Our author expresses no opinion of his own on the act of this +bhikshu. Must it not have been a good act, when it was attended, in the +very act of performance, by such blessed consequences? But if Buddhism +had not something better to show than what appears here, it would not +attract the interest which it now does. The bhikshu was evidently +rather out of his mind; and the verdict of a coroner’s inquest of this +nineteenth century would have pronounced that he killed himself “in a +fit of insanity.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +GAYA. SAKYAMUNI’S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS. + + +From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the +pilgrims) came to the city of Gaya;(1) but inside the city all was +emptiness and desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty le, +they arrived at the place where the Bodhisattva for six years practised +with himself painful austerities. All around was forest. + +Three le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had +gone into the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree, by +means of which he succeeded in getting out of the pool.(2) + +Two le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented +to Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;(3) and two le north from this +(again) was the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and +facing the east, he ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there at +the present day. The rock may be six cubits in breadth and length, and +rather more than two cubits in height. In Central India the cold and +heat are so equally tempered that trees will live in it for several +thousand and even for ten thousand years. + +Half a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in +the rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged +with his face to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, “If I am +to attain to perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be a +supernatural attestation of it.” On the wall of the rock there appeared +immediately the shadow of a Buddha, rather more than three feet in +length, which is still bright at the present day. At this moment heaven +and earth were greatly moved, and devas in the air spoke plainly, “This +is not the place where any Buddha of the past, or he that is to come, +has attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. Less than half a +yojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the patra(4) tree, +where all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come must attain, to +perfect Wisdom.” When they had spoken these words, they immediately led +the way forwards to the place, singing as they did so. As they thus +went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked (after them). At a distance +of thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave him the grass of lucky +omen,(5) which he received and went on. After (he had proceeded) +fifteen paces, 500 green birds came flying towards him, went round him +thrice, and disappeared. The Bodhisattva went forward to the patra +tree, placed the kusa grass at the foot of it, and sat down with his +face to the east. Then king Mara sent three beautiful young ladies, who +came from the north, to tempt him, while he himself came from the south +to do the same. The Bodhisattva put his toes down on the ground, and +the demon soldiers retired and dispersed, and the three young ladies +were changed into old (grand-)mothers.(6) + +At the place mentioned above of the six years’ painful austerities, and +at all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set up +images, which all exist at the present day. + +Where Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days +contemplated the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;(7) where, +under the patra tree, he walked backwards and forwards from west to +east for seven days; where the devas made a hall appear, composed of +the seven precious substances, and presented offerings to him for seven +days; where the blind dragon Muchilinda(8) encircled him for seven +days; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a square rock, with his +face to the east, and Brahma-deva(9) came and made his request to him; +where the four deva kings brought to him their alms-bowls;(10) where +the 500 merchants(11) presented to him the roasted flour and honey; and +where he converted the brothers Kasyapa and their thousand +disciples;(12)—at all these places topes were reared. + +At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three +monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of +their people around supply the societies of these monks with an +abundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or +stint.(13) The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them. The +laws regulating their demeanour in sitting, rising, and entering when +the others are assembled, are those which have been practised by all +the saints since Buddha was in the world down to the present day. The +places of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed down without +break, since Buddha attained to nirvâna. Those four great topes are +those at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained to Wisdom; +where he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he attained to +pari-nirvâna. + +NOTES + +(1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat. +24° 47′ N., lon. 85° 1′ E). It was here that Sâkyamuni lived for seven +years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The +place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41. + +(2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being +drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the +incident I have met with,—in “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 31. And he +was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the +narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of +time. + +(3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in +Hardy’s M. B., pp. 166-168; “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 30; and the +“Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering +girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal’s +revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty +caused by the {.} {.} of Fâ-Hien. + +(4) Called “the tree of leaves,” and “the tree of reflection;” a palm +tree, the _borassus flabellifera_, described as a tree which never +loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p. +92. + +(5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note. + +(6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179, +and “Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 96-101. + +(7) See chap. xiii, note 7. + +(8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: “A naga +king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sâkyamuni once sat for +seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him.” The +account (p. 35) in “The Life of the Buddha” is:—“Buddha went to where +lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from +the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread +out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in +thought.” So also the Nidana Katha, in “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. +109. + +(9) This was Brahma himself, though “king” is omitted. What he +requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his +Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111. + +(10) See chap. xii, note 10. + +(11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the +Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them. + +(12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note +17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to +this time holders of “erroneous” views, having 500, 300, and 200 +disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of +Sâkyamuni; and are—each of them—to become Buddha by-and-by. See the +Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115. + +(13) This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some +understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to +the travellers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA. + + +When king Asoka, in a former birth,(1) was a little boy and played on +the road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, +and the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The +Buddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was +walking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of +becoming a king of the iron wheel,(2) to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) +when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa, he +saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka(3) for the +punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what +sort of a thing it was, they replied, “It belongs to Yama,(4) king of +demons, for punishing wicked people.” The king thought within +himself:—“(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which +to deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, make +a naraka in which to deal with wicked men?” He forthwith asked his +ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the +punishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man +of extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent +officers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the +side of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow +hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he +called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and +killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took +him to the king, who secretly charged him, “You must make a square +enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits; +make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every +way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates +strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and +punish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I should +enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me go. I +now appoint you master of that naraka.” + +Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his +food, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka +saw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, +frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his +midday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they +thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the +bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence, +the painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it is but as a +bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. Immediately +after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of boiling +water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, however, in the +bhikshu’s countenance. The fire was extinguished, and the water became +cold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a lotus flower, with +the bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went and reported to the +king that there was a marvellous occurrence in the naraka, and wished +him to go and see it; but the king said, “I formerly made such an +agreement that now I dare not go (to the place).” The lictors said, +“This is not a small matter. Your majesty ought to go quickly. Let your +former agreement be altered.” The king thereupon followed them, and +entered (the naraka), when the bhikshu preached the Law to him, and he +believed, and was made free.(5) Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and +repented of all the evil which he had formerly done. From this time he +believed in and honoured the Three Precious Ones, and constantly went +to a patra tree, repenting under it, with self-reproach, of his errors, +and accepting the eight rules of abstinence.(6) + +The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the +ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and +such) a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not there, +and then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and saw +what had been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to the +ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a +considerable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) with +bricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows’ milk on the roots; and +as he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this +oath, “If the tree do not live, I will never rise from this.” When he +had uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the +roots, and it has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100 +cubits in height. + +NOTES + +(1) Here is an instance of {.} used, as was pointed out in chap. ix, +note 3, for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps “a +former birth” is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa +Buddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese “Sakya Buddha.” + +(2) See chap. xvii, note 8. + +(3) I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating +the Chinese text by “Earth’s prison {.} {.},” or “a prison in the +earth;” the name for which has been adopted generally by Christian +missionaries in China for gehenna and hell. + +(4) Eitel (p. 173) says:—“Yama was originally the Aryan god of the +dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but +Brahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been retained +by Buddhism.” The Yama of the text is the “regent of the narakas, +residing south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the double +circuit of mountains above), in a palace built of brass and iron. He +has a sister who controls all the female culprits, as he exclusively +deals with the male sex. Three times, however, in every twenty-four +hours, a demon pours boiling copper into Yama’s mouth, and squeezes it +down his throat, causing him unspeakable pain.” Such, however, is the +wonderful “transrotation of births,” that when Yama’s sins have been +expiated, he is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name of “The +Universal King.” + +(5) Or, “was loosed;” from the bonds, I suppose, of his various +illusions. + +(6) I have not met with this particular numerical category. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +MOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KASYAPA BUDDHA’S ENTIRE SKELETON IS. + + +(The travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a +mountain named Gurupada,(1) inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He +made a cleft, and went down into it, though the place where he entered +would not (now) admit a man. Having gone down very far, there was a +hole on one side, and there the complete body of Kasyapa (still) +abides. Outside the hole (at which he entered) is the earth with which +he had washed his hands.(2) If the people living thereabouts have a +sore on their heads, they plaster on it some of the earth from this, +and feel immediately easier.(3) On this mountain, now as of old, there +are Arhats abiding. Devotees of our Law from the various countries in +that quarter go year by year to the mountain, and present offerings to +Kasyapa; and to those whose hearts are strong in faith there come +Arhats at night, and talk with them, discussing and explaining their +doubts, and disappearing suddenly afterwards. + +On this hill hazels grow luxuriously; and there are many lions, tigers, +and wolves, so that people should not travel incautiously. + +NOTES + +(1) “Fowl’s-foot hill,” “with three peaks, resembling the foot of a +chicken. It lies seven miles south-east of Gaya, and was the residence +of Mahakasyapa, who is said to be still living inside this mountain.” +So Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that Kasyapa is in +the mountain alive, but that his body entire is in a recess or hole in +it. Hardy (M. B., p. 97) says that after Kasyapa Buddha’s body was +burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, presenting the +appearance of a perfect skeleton. It is of him that the chapter speaks, +and not of the famous disciple of Sâkyamuni, who also is called +Mahakasyapa. This will appear also on a comparison of Eitel’s articles +on “Mahakasyapa” and “Kasyapa Buddha.” + +(2) Was it a custom to wash the hands with “earth,” as is often done +with sand? + +(3) This I conceive to be the meaning here. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. +ON THE WAY BACK TO PATNA. VARANASI, OR BENARES. SAKYAMUNI’S FIRST +DOINGS AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA. + + +Fâ-Hien(1) returned (from here) towards Pataliputtra,(2) keeping along +the course of the Ganges and descending in the direction of the west. +After going ten yojanas he found a vihâra, named “The Wilderness,”—a +place where Buddha had dwelt, and where there are monks now. + +Pursuing the same course, and going still to the west, he arrived, +after twelve yojanas, at the city of Varanasi(3) in the kingdom of +Kasi. Rather more than ten le to the north-east of the city, he found +the vihâra in the park of “The rishi’s Deer-wild.”(4) In this park +there formerly resided a Pratyeka Buddha,(5) with whom the deer were +regularly in the habit of stopping for the night. When the +World-honoured one was about to attain to perfect Wisdom, the devas +sang in the sky, “The son of king Suddhodana, having quitted his family +and studied the Path (of Wisdom),(6) will now in seven days become +Buddha.” The Pratyeka Buddha heard their words, and immediately +attained to nirvâna; and hence this place was named “The Park of the +rishi’s Deer-wild.”(7) After the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom, men build the vihâra in it. + +Buddha wished to convert Kaundinya(8) and his four companions; but +they, (being aware of his intention), said to one another, “This +Sramana Gotama(9) for six years continued in the practice of painful +austerities, eating daily (only) a single hemp-seed, and one grain of +rice, without attaining to the Path (of Wisdom); how much less will he +do so now that he has entered (again) among men, and is giving the +reins to (the indulgence of) his body, his speech, and his thoughts! +What has he to do with the Path (of Wisdom)? To-day, when he comes to +us, let us be on our guard not to speak with him.” At the places where +the five men all rose up, and respectfully saluted (Buddha), when he +came to them; where, sixty paces north from this, he sat with his face +to the east, and first turned the wheel of the Law, converting +Kaundinya and the four others; where, twenty paces further to the +north, he delivered his prophecy concerning Maitreya;(10) and where, at +a distance of fifty paces to the south, the dragon Elapattra(11) asked +him, “When shall I get free from this naga body?”—at all these places +topes were reared, and are still existing. In (the park) there are two +monasteries, in both of which there are monks residing. + +When you go north-west from the vihâra of the Deer-wild park for +thirteen yojanas, there is a kingdom named Kausambi.(12) Its vihâra is +named Ghochiravana(13)—a place where Buddha formerly resided. Now, as +of old, there is a company of monks there, most of whom are students of +the hinayana. + +East from (this), when you have travelled eight yojanas, is the place +where Buddha converted(14) the evil demon. There, and where he walked +(in meditation) and sat at the place which was his regular abode, there +have been topes erected. There is also a monastery, which may contain +more than a hundred monks. + +NOTES + +(1) Fâ-Hien is here mentioned singly, as in the account of his visit to +the cave on Gridhra-kuta. I think that Tao-ching may have remained at +Patna after their first visit to it. + +(2) See chap. xxvii, note 1. + +(3) “The city surrounded by rivers;” the modern Benares, lat. 25° 23′ +N., lon. 83° 5′ E. + +(4) “The rishi,” says Eitel, “is a man whose bodily frame has undergone +a certain transformation by dint of meditation and ascetism, so that he +is, for an indefinite period, exempt from decrepitude, age, and death. +As this period is believed to extend far beyond the usual duration of +human life, such persons are called, and popularly believed to be, +immortals.” Rishis are divided into various classes; and rishi-ism is +spoken of as a seventh part of transrotation, and rishis are referred +to as the seventh class of sentient beings. Taoism, as well as +Buddhism, has its Seen jin. + +(5) See chap. xiii, note 15. + +(6) See chap. xxii, note 2. + +(7) For another legend about this park, and the identification of “a +fine wood” still existing, see note in Beal’s first version, p. 135. + +(8) A prince of Magadha and a maternal uncle of Sâkyamuni, who gave him +the name of Ajnata, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as +Ajnata Kaundinya. He and his four friends had followed Sâkyamuni into +the Uruvilva desert, sympathising with him in the austerities he +endured, and hoping that they would issue in his Buddhaship. They were +not aware that that issue had come; which may show us that all the +accounts in the thirty-first chapter are merely descriptions, by means +of external imagery, of what had taken place internally. The kingdom of +nirvâna had come without observation. These friends knew it not; and +they were offended by what they considered Sâkyamuni’s failure, and the +course he was now pursuing. See the account of their conversion in M. +B., p. 186. + +(9) This is the only instance in Fâ-Hien’s text where the Bodhisattva +or Buddha is called by the surname “Gotama.” For the most part our +traveller uses Buddha as a proper name, though it properly means “The +Enlightened.” He uses also the combinations “Sakya Buddha,”=“The Buddha +of the Sakya tribe,” and “Sâkyamuni,”=“The Sakya sage.” This last is +the most common designation of the Buddha in China, and to my mind best +combines the characteristics of a descriptive and a proper name. Among +other Buddhistic peoples “Gotama” and “Gotama Buddha” are the more +frequent designations. It is not easy to account for the rise of the +surname Gotama in the Sakya family, as Oldenberg acknowledges. He says +that “the Sakyas, in accordance with the custom of Indian noble +families, had borrowed it from one of the ancient Vedic bard families.” +Dr. Davids (“Buddhism,” p. 27) says: “The family name was certainly +Gautama,” adding in a note, “It is a curious fact that Gautama is still +the family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the village which has +been identified with Kapilavastu.” Dr. Eitel says that “Gautama was the +sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, which counted the ancient rishi +Gautama among its ancestors.” When we proceed, however, to endeavour to +trace the connexion of that Brahmanical rishi with the Sakya house, by +means of 1323, 1468, 1469, and other historical works in Nanjio’s +Catalogue, we soon find that Indian histories have no surer foundation +than the shifting sand;—see E. H., on the name Sakya, pp. 108, 109. We +must be content for the present simply to accept Gotama as one of the +surnames of the Buddha with whom we have to do. + +(10) See chap. vi, note 5. It is there said that the prediction of +Maitreya’s succession to the Buddhaship was made to him in the Tushita +heaven. Was there a repetition of it here in the Deer-park, or was a +prediction now given concerning something else? + +(11) Nothing seems to be known of this naga but what we read here. + +(12) Identified by some with Kusia, near Kurrah (lat. 25° 41′ N., lon. +81° 27′ E.); by others with Kosam on the Jumna, thirty miles above +Allahabad. See E. H., p. 55. + +(13) Ghochira was the name of a Vaisya elder, or head, who presented a +garden and vihâra to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement +from a Singhalese authority that Sâkyamuni resided here during the +ninth year of his Buddhaship. + +(14) Dr. Davids thinks this may refer to the striking and beautiful +story of the conversion of the Yakkha Alavaka, as related in the +Uragavagga, Alavakasutta, pp. 29-31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x, +part ii). + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. +DAKSHINA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY. + + +South from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshina,(1) +where there is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kasyapa Buddha, +and which has been hewn out from a large hill of rock. It consists in +all of five storeys;—the lowest, having the form of an elephant, with +500 apartments in the rock; the second, having the form of a lion, with +400 apartments; the third, having the form of a horse, with 300 +apartments; the fourth, having the form of an ox, with 200 apartments; +and the fifth, having the form of a pigeon, with 100 apartments. At the +very top there is a spring, the water of which, always in front of the +apartments in the rock, goes round among the rooms, now circling, now +curving, till in this way it arrives at the lowest storey, having +followed the shape of the structure, and flows out there at the door. +Everywhere in the apartments of the monks, the rock has been pierced so +as to form windows for the admission of light, so that they are all +bright, without any being left in darkness. At the four corners of the +(tiers of) apartments, the rock has been hewn so as to form steps for +ascending to the top (of each). The men of the present day, being of +small size, and going up step by step, manage to get to the top; but in +a former age, they did so at one step.(2) Because of this, the +monastery is called Paravata, that being the Indian name for a pigeon. +There are always Arhats residing in it. + +The country about is (a tract of) uncultivated hillocks,(3) without +inhabitants. At a very long distance from the hill there are villages, +where the people all have bad and erroneous views, and do not know the +Sramanas of the Law of Buddha, Brahmanas, or (devotees of) any of the +other and different schools. The people of that country are constantly +seeing men on the wing, who come and enter this monastery. On one +occasion, when devotees of various countries came to perform their +worship at it, the people of those villages said to them, “Why do you +not fly? The devotees whom we have seen hereabouts all fly;” and the +strangers answered, on the spur of the moment, “Our wings are not yet +fully formed.” + +The kingdom of Dakshina is out of the way, and perilous to traverse. +There are difficulties in connexion with the roads; but those who know +how to manage such difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with +them money and various articles, and give them to the king. He will +then send men to escort them. These will (at different stages) pass +them over to others, who will show them the shortest routes. Fâ-Hien, +however, was after all unable to go there; but having received the +(above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated them. + +NOTES + +(1) Said to be the ancient name of the Deccan. As to the various +marvels in the chapter, it must be borne in mind that our author, as he +tells us at the end, only gives them from hearsay. See “Buddhist +Records of the Western World,” vol. ii, pp. 214, 215, where the +description, however, is very different. + +(2) Compare the account of Buddha’s great stride of fifteen yojanas in +Ceylon, as related in chapter xxxviii. + +(3) See the same phrase in the Books of the Later Han dynasty, the +twenty-fourth Book of Biographies, p. 9b. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. +IN PATNA. FÂ-HIEN’S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN +STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS. + + +From Varanasi (the travellers) went back east to Pataliputtra. +Fâ-Hien’s original object had been to search for (copies of) the +Vinaya. In the various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found +one master transmitting orally (the rules) to another, but no written +copies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and +come on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana monastery,(1) he found +a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika(2) rules,—those which +were observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha was still in the +world. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana vihâra. As to +the other eighteen schools,(3) each one has the views and decisions of +its own masters. Those agree (with this) in the general meaning, but +they have small and trivial differences, as when one opens and another +shuts.(4) This copy (of the rules), however, is the most complete, with +the fullest explanations.(5) + +He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand +gathas,(6) being the sarvastivadah(7) rules,—those which are observed +by the communities of monks in the land of Ts’in; which also have all +been handed down orally from master to master without being committed +to writing. In the community here, moreover, we got the +Samyuktabhi-dharma-hridaya-(sastra),(8) containing about six or seven +thousand gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of the +Parinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,(9) of about 5000 gathas; and the +Mahasan-ghikah Abhidharma. + +In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fâ-Hien stayed here for +three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and +writing out the Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central +Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified +demeanour in their societies which he remarked under all occurring +circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and +imperfect condition the rules were among the monkish communities in the +land of Ts’in, and made the following aspiration:—“From this time forth +till I come to the state of Buddha, let me not be born in a frontier +land.”(10) He remained accordingly (in India), and did not return (to +the land of Han). Fâ-Hien, however, whose original purpose had been to +secure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into the land of +Han, returned there alone. + +NOTES + +(1) Mentioned before in chapter xxvii. + +(2) Mahasanghikah simply means “the Great Assembly,” that is, of monks. +When was this first assembly in the time of Sâkyamuni held? It does not +appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the time. The +document found by Fâ-Hien would be a record of those rules; or rather a +copy of that record. We must suppose that the original record had +disappeared from the Jetavana vihâra, or Fâ-Hien would probably have +spoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had been allowed +to do so. + +(3) The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character +called pu occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only +have the meaning, often belonging to it, of “copy.” The second +instance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies, +all different from the original, and from one another, in minor +matters? We are compelled to translate—“the eighteen schools,” an +expression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids’ +Manual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted. + +(4) This is equivalent to the “binding” and “loosing,” “opening” and +“shutting,” which found their way into the New Testament, and the +Christian Church, from the schools of the Jewish Rabbins. + +(5) It was afterwards translated by Fâ-Hien into Chinese. See Nanjio’s +Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 +and 1150, columns 247 and 253. + +(6) A gatha is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of +a few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do +not know that its length is strictly defined. + +(7) “A branch,” says Eitel, “of the great vaibhashika school, asserting +the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the authority of +Rahula.” + +(8) See Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his +account of Fâ-Hien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka Sutra. + +(9) Probably Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with +it. + +(10) This then would be the consummation of the Sramana’s being,—to get +to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tao-ching +thought that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of +births; and was likely to attain to it sooner by living only in India. +If all this was not in his mind, he yet felt that each of his +successive lives would be happier, if lived in India. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. +TO CHAMPA AND TAMALIPTI. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. TAKES +SHIP TO SINGHALA, OR CEYLON. + + +Following the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for +eighteen yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom of +Champa,(1) with topes reared at the places where Buddha walked in +meditation by his vihâra, and where he and the three Buddhas, his +predecessors, sat. There were monks residing at them all. Continuing +his journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he came to the country of +Tamalipti,(2) (the capital of which is) a seaport. In the country there +are twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks residing. +The Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here Fâ-Hien stayed two +years, writing out his Sûtras,(3) and drawing pictures of images. + +After this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating +over the sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and the +wind was favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and night, +they came to the country of Singhala.(4) The people said that it was +distant (from Tamalipti) about 700 yojanas. + +The kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty +yojanas, and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it there +are as many as 100 small islands, distant from one another ten, twenty, +or even 200 le; but all subject to the large island. Most of them +produce pearls and precious stones of various kinds; there is one which +produces the pure and brilliant pearl,(5)—an island which would form a +square of about ten le. The king employs men to watch and protect it, +and requires three out of every ten such pearls, which the collectors +find. + +NOTES + +(1) Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor, +lat. 25° 14′ N., lon. 56° 55′ E. + +(2) Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China; +the modern Tam-look, lat. 22° 17′ N., lon. 88° 2′ E.; near the mouth of +the Hoogly. + +(3) Perhaps Ching {.} is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka +which he had obtained. + +(4) “The Kingdom of the Lion,” Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a +merchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom was +ascribed. His father was named Singha, “the Lion,” which became the +name of the country;—Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, “the Country of the +Lion.” + +(5) Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning “free +from stain,” “bright and growing purer.” It is a symbol of Buddha and +of his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. +AT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND MONASTERIES. +STATUE OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA’S TOOTH. + + +The country originally had no human inhabitants,(1) but was occupied +only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries +carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits +did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious +commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the +merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the +things away. + +Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they +went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant +the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great +nation. The (climate) is temperate and attractive, without any +difference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant. +Cultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed seasons +for it. + +When Buddha came to this country,(2) wishing to transform the wicked +nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of +the royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain,(3) the two +being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the +city the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned with +gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precious +substances. By the side of the top he further built a monastery, called +the Abhayagiri,(4) where there are (now) five thousand monks. There is +in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid works of gold +and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there +is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in +height, glittering all over with those substances, and having an +appearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of +the right hand there is a priceless pearl. Several years had now +elapsed since Fâ-Hien left the land of Han; the men with whom he had +been in intercourse had all been of regions strange to him; his eyes +had not rested on an old and familiar hill or river, plant or tree; his +fellow-travellers, moreover, had been separated from him, some by +death, and others flowing off in different directions; no face or +shadow was now with him but his own, and a constant sadness was in his +heart. Suddenly (one day), when by the side of this image of jade, he +saw a merchant presenting as his offering a fan of white silk;(5) and +the tears of sorrow involuntarily filled his eyes and fell down. + +A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip +of the patra tree,(6) which he planted by the side of the hall of +Buddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it +bent on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would +fall, propped it with a post eight or nine spans round. The tree began +to grow at the very heart of the prop, where it met (the trunk); (a +shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where it +entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about +four spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer +portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them. +Beneath the tree there has been built a vihâra, in which there is an +image (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and +look up to without ever becoming wearied. In the city there has been +reared also the vihâra of Buddha’s tooth, on which, as well as on the +other, the seven precious substances have been employed. + +The king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity of +the faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also +great. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there has +been no famine or scarcity, no revolution or disorder. In the +treasuries of the monkish communities there are many precious stones, +and the priceless manis. One of the kings (once) entered one of those +treasuries, and when he looked all round and saw the priceless pearls, +his covetous greed was excited, and he wished to take them to himself +by force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and immediately +went and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, to +show his repentance of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he +informed the monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them to +make a regulation that from that day forth the king should not be +allowed to enter the treasury and see (what it contained), and that no +bhikshu should enter it till after he had been in orders for a period +of full forty years.(7) + +In the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean(8) merchants, +whose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are kept +in good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there have +been built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a +pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together +to hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom there may be +altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common +stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common +supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take +their great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as +much as the vessels will hold, all returning with them full. + +The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third +month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large +elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is +dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following +proclamation:—“The Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,(9) +manifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up +kingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes and gave them to +another;(10) he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom the life of +a dove;(10) he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;(11) he gave his +body to feed a starving tigress;(11) he grudged not his marrow and his +brains. In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for the sake of +all living. And so it was, that, having become Buddha, he continued in +the world for forty-five years, preaching his Law, teaching and +transforming, so that those who had no rest found rest, and the +unconverted were converted. When his connexion with the living was +completed,(12) he attained to pari-nirvâna (and died). Since that +event, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,(13) and all +living beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold! ten days after +this, Buddha’s tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the +Abhayagiri-vihâra. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish +to amass merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good +condition, grandly adorn the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant +store of flowers and incense to be used as offerings to it.” + +When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both +sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the +Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:—here as +Sudana,(14) there as Sama;(15) now as the king of elephants;(16) and +then as a stag or a horse.(16) All these figures are brightly coloured +and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the +tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle of +the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and thus +it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihâra. There monks +and laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light lamps, and +perform all the prescribed services, day and night without ceasing, +till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is returned to +the vihâra within the city. On fast-days the door of that vihâra is +opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to +the rules. + +Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihâra there is a hill, with a +vihâra on it, called the Chaitya,(17) where there may be 2000 monks. +Among them there is a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,(18) +honoured and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more +than forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such +gentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop +together in the same room, without doing one another any harm. + +NOTES + +(1) It is desirable to translate {.} {.}, for which “inhabitants” or +“people” is elsewhere sufficient, here by “human inhabitants.” +According to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by +Rakshasas or Rakshas, “demons who devour men,” and “beings to be +feared,” monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the terror of the +shipwrecked mariner. Our author’s “spirits” {.} {.} were of a gentler +type. His dragons or nagas have come before us again and again. + +(2) That Sâkyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful. +Hardy, in M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends of three +visits,—in the first, fifth, and eighth years of his Buddhaship. It is +plain, however, from Fâ-Hien’s narrative, that in the beginning of our +fifth century, Buddhism prevailed throughout the island. Davids in the +last chapter of his “Buddhism” ascribes its introduction to one of +Asoka’s missions, after the Council of Patna, under his son Mahinda, +when Tissa, “the delight of the gods,” was king (B.C. 250-230). + +(3) This would be what is known as “Adam’s peak,” having, according to +Hardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano, +Samastakuta, and Samanila. “There is an indentation on the top of it,” +a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 3_4 inches long, and about 2 1_2 feet +wide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohameddans, +as that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,—as having been made +by Buddha. + +(4) Meaning “The Fearless Hill.” There is still the Abhayagiri tope, +the highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and +built about B.C. 90, by Watta Gamini, in whose reign, about 160 years +after the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death of Sâkyamuni, +the Tripitaka was first reduced to writing in Ceylon;—“Buddhism,” p. +234. + +(5) We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a Chinese, as +indeed the Chinese texts say, and the fan such as Fâ-Hien had seen and +used in his native land. + +(6) This should be the pippala, or bodhidruma, generally spoken of, in +connexion with Buddha, as the Bo tree, under which he attained to the +Buddhaship. It is strange our author should have confounded them as he +seems to do. In what we are told of the tree here, we have, no doubt, +his account of the planting, growth, and preservation of the famous Bo +tree, which still exists in Ceylon. It has been stated in a previous +note that Asoka’s son, Mahinda, went as the apostle of Buddhism to +Ceylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister Sanghamitta, who had entered +the order at the same time as himself, and whose help was needed, some +of the king’s female relations having signified their wish to become +nuns. On leaving India, she took with her a branch of the sacred Bo +tree at Buddha Gaya, under which Sâkyamuni had become Buddha. Of how +the tree has grown and still lives we have an account in Davids’ +“Buddhism.” He quotes the words of Sir Emerson Tennent, that it is “the +oldest historical tree in the world;” but this must be denied if it be +true, as Eitel says, that the tree at Buddha Gaya, from which the slip +that grew to be this tree was taken more than 2000 years ago, is itself +still living in its place. We must conclude that Fâ-Hien, when in +Ceylon, heard neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta. + +(7) Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made at +monasteries as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and +duration of their ministry. + +(8) The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in +Sanskrit sa; and va, bo or bha. “Sabaean” is Mr. Beal’s reading of +them, probably correct. I suppose the merchants were Arabs, forerunners +of the so-called Moormen, who still form so important a part of the +mercantile community in Ceylon. + +(9) A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period +during which a physical universe is formed and destroyed. Asankhyeya +denotes the highest sum for which a conventional term exists;—according +to Chinese calculations equal to one followed by seventeen ciphers; +according to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one followed by +ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four +Asankhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15. + +(10) See chapter ix. + +(11) See chapter xi. + +(12) He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the +character of all his past births required, and he had done it. + +(13) They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the +Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and +note on p. 89. + +(14) Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth +which preceded his appearance as Sâkyamuni or Gotama, when he became +the Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka, of +which Hardy, M. B., pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also +“Buddhist Birth Stories,” the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana, +he fulfilled “the Perfections,” his distinguishing attribute being +entire self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha +is made to say (“Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 159):— + “This earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or + grief, Even she by my free-giving’s mighty power was shaken seven + times.” + Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to + enter in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sâkyamuni. + +(15) I take the name Sama from Beal’s revised version. He says in a +note that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented in +the Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet know. +But adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text should +be translated “the change into Sama.” Rémusat gives for them, “la +transformation en eclair;” Beal, in his first version, “his appearance +as a bright flash of light;” Giles, “as a flash of lightning.” Julien’s +Methode does not give the phonetic value in Sanskrit of {.}. + +(16) In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in +which Sâkyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M. +B., p. 100), it is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant; +ten times as a deer; and four times as a horse. + +(17) Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects of +religious worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and +including therefore Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics, +pictures, statues, &c. It is defined as “a fane,” “a place for worship +and presenting offerings.” Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is the +sacred hill of Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo +tree;—Davids’ Buddhism, pp. 230, 231. + +(18) Eitel says (p. 31): “A famous ascetic, the founder of a school, +which flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400.” But Fâ-Hien gives no intimation +of Dharma-gupta’s founding a school. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. +CREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE. + + +South of the city seven le there is a vihâra, called the Maha-vihâra, +where 3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana, of such +lofty virtue, and so holy and pure in his observance of the +disciplinary rules, that the people all surmised that he was an Arhat. +When he drew near his end, the king came to examine into the point; and +having assembled the monks according to rule, asked whether the bhikshu +had attained to the full degree of Wisdom.(1) They answered in the +affirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king accordingly, when he +died, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the regular rules +prescribed. Four of five le east from the vihâra there was reared a +great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty cubits square, +and the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, aloe, and other +kinds of fragrant wood. + +On the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it. +With clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body) +round and round.(2) They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our +funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes.(3) + +At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes +from all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings of +flowers and incense. While they were following the car to the +burial-ground,(4) the king himself presented flowers and incense. When +this was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil +of sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the fire +was blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his upper +garment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a +distance into the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When the +cremation was over, they collected and preserved the bones, and +proceeded to erect a tope. Fâ-Hien had not arrived in time (to see the +distinguished Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial. + +At that time the king,(5) who was a sincere believer in the Law of +Buddha and wished to build a new vihâra for the monks, first convoked a +great assembly. After giving the monks a meal of rice, and presenting +his offerings (on the occasion), he selected a pair of first-rate oxen, +the horns of which were grandly decorated with gold, silver, and the +precious substances. A golden plough had been provided, and the king +himself turned up a furrow on the four sides of the ground within which +the building was supposed to be. He then endowed the community of the +monks with the population, fields, and houses, writing the grant on +plates of metal, (to the effect) that from that time onwards, from +generation to generation, no one should venture to annul or alter it. + +In this country Fâ-Hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a +Sutra from the pulpit, say:—“Buddha’s alms-bowl was at first in +Vaisali, and now it is in Gandhara.(6) After so many hundred years” (he +gave, when Fâ-Hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he has +forgotten it), “it will go to Western Tukhara;(7) after so many hundred +years, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to Kharachar;(8) after +so many hundred years, to the land of Han; after so many hundred years, +it will come to Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will +return to Central India. After that, it will ascend to the Tushita +heaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees it, he will say with a +sigh, ‘The alms-bowl of Sâkyamuni Buddha is come;’ and with all the +devas he will present to it flowers and incense for seven days. When +these have expired, it will return to Jambudvipa, where it will be +received by the king of the sea nagas, and taken into his naga palace. +When Maitreya shall be about to attain to perfect Wisdom (and become +Buddha), it will again separate into four bowls,(9) which will return +to the top of mount Anna,(9) whence they came. After Maitreya has +become Buddha, the four deva kings will again think of the Buddha (with +their bowls as they did in the case of the previous Buddha). The +thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, indeed, will all use the same +alms-bowl; and when the bowl has disappeared, the Law of Buddha will go +on gradually to be extinguished. After that extinction has taken place, +the life of man will be shortened, till it is only a period of five +years. During this period of a five years’ life, rice, butter, and oil +will all vanish away, and men will become exceedingly wicked. The grass +and trees which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs, +with which they will hurt, cut, and kill one another. Those among them +on whom there is blessing will withdraw from society among the hills; +and when the wicked have exterminated one another, they will again come +forth, and say among themselves, ‘The men of former times enjoyed a +very great longevity; but through becoming exceedingly wicked, and +doing all lawless things, the length of our life has been shortened and +reduced even to five years. Let us now unite together in the practice +of what is good, cherishing a gentle and sympathising heart, and +carefully cultivating good faith and righteousness. When each one in +this way practises that faith and righteousness, life will go on to +double its length till it reaches 80,000 years. When Maitreya appears +in the world, and begins to turn the wheel of his Law, he will in the +first place save those among the disciples of the Law left by the Sakya +who have quitted their families, and those who have accepted the three +Refuges, undertaken the five Prohibitions and the eight Abstinences, +and given offerings to the three Precious Ones; secondly and thirdly, +he will save those between whom and conversion there is a connexion +transmitted from the past.’”(10) + +(Such was the discourse), and Fâ-Hien wished to write it down as a +portion of doctrine; but the man said, “This is taken from no Sutra, it +is only the utterance of my own mind.” + +NOTES + +(1) Possibly, “and asked the bhikshu,” &c. I prefer the other way of +construing, however. + +(2) It seems strange that this should have been understood as a +wrapping of the immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in the +text to necessitate such a version, but the contrary. Compare “Buddhist +Suttas,” pp. 92, 93. + +(3) See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the +Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. Fâ-Hien’s +{.} {.}, “in this (country),” which I have expressed by “our,” shows +that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the +account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he +had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This +disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the “dragons” and “fishes.” +The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle. + +(4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence +our author writes of it as such. + +(5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410-432). In the time of +his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368-410), the pitakas were first +translated into Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his +commentaries. Both were great builders of vihâras. See the Mahavansa, +pp. 247, foll. + +(6) See chapter xii. Fâ-Hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel +says was “the ancient capital of Gandhara.” + +(7) Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara ({.}) +of chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to carry +off the bowl from Purushapura. + +(8) North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. +H., p. 56). + +(9) See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of “Anna” the Chinese recensions +have Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of one +or other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount Meru, the +fabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl. + +(10) That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such +conversion in the present. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. +AFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; AND +THENCE TO CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG; AND GOES TO NANKING. CONCLUSION +OR L’ENVOI BY ANOTHER WRITER. + + +Fâ-Hien abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to his +acquisitions in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the +Vinaya-pitaka of the Mahisasakah (school);(1) the Dirghagama and +Samyuktagama(2) (Sûtras); and also the Samyukta-sanchaya-pitaka;(3)—all +being works unknown in the land of Han. Having obtained these Sanskrit +works, he took passage in a large merchantman, on board of which there +were more than 200 men, and to which was attached by a rope a smaller +vessel, as a provision against damage or injury to the large one from +the perils of the navigation. With a favourable wind, they proceeded +eastwards for three days, and then they encountered a great wind. The +vessel sprang a leak and the water came in. The merchants wished to go +to the small vessel; but the men on board it, fearing that too many +would come, cut the connecting rope. The merchants were greatly +alarmed, feeling their risk of instant death. Afraid that the vessel +would fill, they took their bulky goods and threw them into the water. +Fâ-Hien also took his pitcher(4) and washing-basin, with some other +articles, and cast them into the sea; but fearing that the merchants +would cast overboard his books and images, he could only think with all +his heart of Kwan-she-yin,(5) and commit his life to (the protection +of) the church of the land of Han,(6) (saying in effect), “I have +travelled far in search of our Law. Let me, by your dread and +supernatural (power), return from my wanderings, and reach my +resting-place!” + +In this way the tempest(7) continued day and night, till on the +thirteenth day the ship was carried to the side of an island, where, on +the ebbing of the tide, the place of the leak was discovered, and it +was stopped, on which the voyage was resumed. On the sea (hereabouts) +there are many pirates, to meet with whom is speedy death. The great +ocean spreads out, a boundless expanse. There is no knowing east or +west; only by observing the sun, moon, and stars was it possible to go +forward. If the weather were dark and rainy, (the ship) went as she was +carried by the wind, without any definite course. In the darkness of +the night, only the great waves were to be seen, breaking on one +another, and emitting a brightness like that of fire, with huge turtles +and other monsters of the deep (all about). The merchants were full of +terror, not knowing where they were going. The sea was deep and +bottomless, and there was no place where they could drop anchor and +stop. But when the sky became clear, they could tell east and west, and +(the ship) again went forward in the right direction. If she had come +on any hidden rock, there would have been no way of escape. + +After proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they +arrived at a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error +and Brahmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth +speaking of. After staying there for five months, (Fâ-Hien) again +embarked in another large merchantman, which also had on board more +than 200 men. They carried provisions for fifty days, and commenced the +voyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month. + +Fâ-Hien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the +north-east, intending to fetch Kwang-chow. After more than a month, +when the night-drum had sounded the second watch, they encountered a +black wind and tempestuous rain, which threw the merchants and +passengers into consternation. Fâ-Hien again with all his heart +directed his thoughts to Kwan-she-yin and the monkish communities of +the land of Han; and, through their dread and mysterious protection, +was preserved to day-break. After day-break, the Brahmans deliberated +together and said, “It is having this Sramana on board which has +occasioned our misfortune and brought us this great and bitter +suffering. Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore. +We must not for the sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to +such imminent peril.” A patron of Fâ-Hien, however, said to them, “If +you land the bhikshu, you must at the same time land me; and if you do +not, then you must kill me. If you land this Sramana, when I get to the +land of Han, I will go to the king, and inform against you. The king +also reveres and believes the Law of Buddha, and honours the bhikshus.” +The merchants hereupon were perplexed, and did not dare immediately to +land (Fâ-Hien). + +At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the +sailing-masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than +seventy days passed (from their leaving Java), and the provisions and +water were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for +cooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) water, each man getting two +pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel +and said, “At the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached +Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;—must we not have +held a wrong course?” Immediately they directed the ship to the +north-west, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for +twelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao,(8) on +the borders of the prefecture of Ch’ang-kwang,(8) and immediately got +good water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils and +hardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many +days together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing +those (well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh,(9) they knew indeed +that it was the land of Han. Not seeing, however, any inhabitants nor +any traces of them, they did not know whereabouts they were. Some said +that they had not yet got to Kwang-chow, and others that they had +passed it. Unable to come to a definite conclusion, (some of them) got +into a small boat and entered a creek, to look for some one of whom +they might ask what the place was. They found two hunters, whom they +brought back with them, and then called on Fâ-Hien to act as +interpreter and question them. Fâ-Hien first spoke assuringly to them, +and then slowly and distinctly asked them, “Who are you?” They replied, +“We are disciples of Buddha?” He then asked, “What are you looking for +among these hills?” They began to lie,(10) and said, “To-morrow is the +fifteenth day of the seventh month. We wanted to get some peaches to +present(11) to Buddha.” He asked further, “What country is this?” They +replied, “This is the border of the prefecture of Ch’ang-kwang, a part +of Ts’ing-chow under the (ruling) House of Tsin.” When they heard this, +the merchants were glad, immediately asked for (a portion of) their +money and goods, and sent men to Ch’ang-kwang city. + +The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When he +heard that a Sramana had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing +with him books and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an +escort to meet (the traveller), and receive the books and images, and +took them back with him to the seat of his government. On this the +merchants went back in the direction of Yang-chow;(12) (but) when +(Fâ-Hien) arrived at Ts’ing-chow, (the prefect there)(13) begged him +(to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the summer +retreat was ended, Fâ-Hien, having been separated for a long time from +his (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Ch’ang-gan; but as the +business which he had in hand was important, he went south to the +Capital;(14) and at an interview with the masters (there) exhibited the +Sûtras and the collection of the Vinaya (which he had procured). + +After Fâ-Hien set out from Ch’ang-gan, it took him six years to reach +Central India;(15) stoppages there extended over (other) six years; and +on his return it took him three years to reach Ts’ing-chow. The +countries through which he passed were a few under thirty. From the +sandy desert westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified +demeanour of the monkhood and of the transforming influence of the Law +was beyond the power of language fully to describe; and reflecting how +our masters had not heard any complete account of them, he therefore +(went on) without regarding his own poor life, or (the dangers to be +encountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring hardships and +difficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through the +dread power of the three Honoured Ones,(15) to receive help and +protection in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his +experiences, that worthy readers might share with him in what he had +heard and said.(15) + +It was in the year Keah-yin,(16) the twelfth year of the period E-he of +the (Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, in the +summer, at the close of the period of retreat, that I met the devotee +Fâ-Hien. On his arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter +study,(17) and there, in our meetings for conversation, I asked him +again and again about his travels. The man was modest and complaisant, +and answered readily according to the truth. I thereupon advised him to +enter into details where he had at first only given a summary, and he +proceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to the end. +He said himself, “When I look back on what I have gone through, my +heart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. That I +encountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without thinking +of or sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, and thought of +nothing but to do my best in my simplicity and straightforwardness. +Thus it was that I exposed my life where death seemed inevitable, if I +might accomplish but a ten-thousandth part of what I hoped.” These +words affected me in turn, and I thought:—“This man is one of those who +have seldom been seen from ancient times to the present. Since the +Great Doctrine flowed on to the East there has been no one to be +compared with Hien in his forgetfulness of self and search for the Law. +Henceforth I know that the influence of sincerity finds no obstacle, +however great, which it does not overcome, and that force of will does +not fail to accomplish whatever service it undertakes. Does not the +accomplishing of such service arise from forgetting (and disregarding) +what is (generally) considered as important, and attaching importance +to what is (generally) forgotten?” + +NOTES + +(1) No. 1122 in Nanjio’s Catalogue, translated into Chinese by +Buddhajiva and a Chinese Sramana about A.D. 425. Mahisasakah means “the +school of the transformed earth,” or “the sphere within which the Law +of Buddha is influential.” The school is one of the subdivisions of the +Sarvastivadah. + +(2) Nanjio’s 545 and 504. The Agamas are Sûtras of the hinayana, +divided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or +Dirghagamas (long Agamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the +third class contains the Samyuktagamas (mixed Agamas). + +(3) Meaning “Miscellaneous Collections;” a sort of fourth Pitaka. See +Nanjio’s fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese +miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is +known either in Sanskrit or Pâli literature. + +(4) We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kundika, which +is explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as=“washing +basin,” but two things evidently are intended. + +(5) See chap. xvi, note 23. + +(6) At his novitiate Fâ-Hien had sought the refuge of the “three +Precious Ones” (the three Refuges {.} {.} of last chapter), of which +the congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts +turn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart +were not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so. + +(7) In the text {.} {.}, ta-fung, “the great wind,”=the typhoon. + +(8) They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the foot +of mount Lao, which still rises under the same name on the extreme +south of the peninsula, east from Keao Chow, and having the district of +Tsieh-mih on the east of it. All the country there is included in the +present Phing-too Chow of the department Lae-chow. The name Phing-too +dates from the Han dynasty, but under the dynasty of the After Ch’e {.} +{.}, (A.D. 479-501), it was changed into Ch’ang-kwang. Fâ-Hien may have +lived, and composed the narrative of his travels, after the change of +name was adopted. See the Topographical Tables of the different +Dynasties ({.} {.} {.} {.} {.}), published in 1815. + +(9) What these vegetables exactly were it is difficult to say; and +there are different readings of the characters for them. Williams’ +Dictionary, under kwoh, brings the two names together in a phrase, but +the rendering of it is simply “a soup of simples.” For two or three +columns here, however, the text appears to me confused and imperfect. + +(10) I suppose these men were really hunters; and, when brought before +Fâ-Hien, because he was a Sramana, they thought they would please him +by saying they were disciples of Buddha. But what had disciples of +Buddha to do with hunting and taking life? They were caught in their +own trap, and said they were looking for peaches. + +(11) The Chinese character here has occurred twice before, but in a +different meaning and connexion. Rémusat, Beal, and Giles take it as +equivalent to “to sacrifice.” But his followers do not “sacrifice” to +Buddha. That is a priestly term, and should not be employed of anything +done at Buddhistic services. + +(12) Probably the present department of Yang-chow in Keang-soo; but as +I have said in a previous note, the narrative does not go on so clearly +as it generally does. + +(13) Was, or could, this prefect be Le E? + +(14) Probably not Ch’ang-gan, but Nan-king, which was the capital of +the Eastern Tsin dynasty under another name. + +(15) The whole of this paragraph is probably Fâ-Hien’s own conclusion +of his narrative. The second half of the second sentence, both in +sentiment and style in the Chinese text, seems to necessitate our +ascribing it to him, writing on the impulse of his own thoughts, in the +same indirect form which he adopted for his whole narrative. There are, +however, two peculiar phraseologies in it which might suggest the work +of another hand. For the name India, where the first (15) is placed, a +character is employed which is similarly applied nowhere else; and +again, “the three Honoured Ones,” at which the second (15) is placed, +must be the same as “the three Precious Ones,” which we have met with +so often; unless we suppose that {.} {.} is printed in all the +revisions for {.} {.}, “the World-honoured one,” which has often +occurred. On the whole, while I accept this paragraph as Fâ-Hien’s own, +I do it with some hesitation. That the following and concluding +paragraph is from another hand, there can be no doubt. And it is as +different as possible in style from the simple and straightforward +narrative of Fâ-Hien. + +(16) There is an error of date here, for which it is difficult to +account. The year Keah-yin was A.D. 414; but that was the tenth year of +the period E-he, and not the twelfth, the cyclical designation of which +was Ping-shin. According to the preceding paragraph, Fâ-Hien’s travels +had occupied him fifteen years, so that counting from A.D. 399, the +year Ke-hae, as that in which he set out, the year of his getting to +Ts’ing-chow would have been Kwei-chow, the ninth year of the period +E-he; and we might join on “This year Keah-yin” to that paragraph, as +the date at which the narrative was written out for the bamboo-tablets +and the silk, and then begins the Envoy, “In the twelfth year of E-he.” +This would remove the error as it stands at present, but unfortunately +there is a particle at the end of the second date ({.}), which seems to +tie the twelfth year of E-he to Keah-yin, as another designation of it. +The “year-star” is the planet Jupiter, the revolution of which, in +twelve years, constitutes “a great year.” Whether it would be possible +to fix exactly by mathematical calculation in what year Jupiter was in +the Chinese zodiacal sign embracing part of both Virgo and Scorpio, and +thereby help to solve the difficulty of the passage, I do not know, and +in the meantime must leave that difficulty as I have found it. + +(17) We do not know who the writer of the Envoy was. “The winter study +or library” would be the name of the apartment in his monastery or +house, where he sat and talked with Fâ-Hien. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS *** + +***** This file should be named 2124-0.txt or 2124-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2124/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Fâ-Hien</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March, 2000 [eBook #2124]<br /> +[Most recently updated: February 18, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers; Dagny and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:75%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms</h1> + +<h3>Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fâ-Hien<br /> +of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414)<br /> +in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline</h3> + +<h4>Translated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text</h4> + +<h3>BY JAMES LEGGE</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">PREFACE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref02">INTRODUCTION</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap00"><b>THE TRAVELS OF FÂ-HIEN</b></a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">CHAPTER XXX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap34">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap35">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap36">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap37">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap38">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap39">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap40">CHAPTER XL.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to read +through the “Narrative of Fâ-Hien;” but though interested with the +graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so +constantly—now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and +now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese characters, and +I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special labours on the Confucian +Classics, that my success was far from satisfactory. When Dr. Eitel’s +“Handbook for the Student of Chinese Buddhism” appeared in 1870, +the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit words and names was removed, but the +other difficulty remained; and I was not able to look into the book again for +several years. Nor had I much inducement to do so in the two copies of it which +I had been able to procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at +first, and so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in +their appearance to the student. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various sources; +and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels with my Davis +Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit scholar. As we went +on, I wrote out a translation in English for my own satisfaction of nearly half +the narrative. In the beginning of last year I made Fâ-Hien again the subject +of lecture, wrote out a second translation, independent of the former, and +pushed on till I had completed the whole. +</p> + +<p> +The want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr. Bunyiu +Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is appended to the +translation and notes, and of the nature of which some account is given in the +Introduction, and towards the end of this Preface. +</p> + +<p> +The present work consists of three parts: the Translation of Fâ-Hien’s +Narrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my copy from +Japan. +</p> + +<p> +It is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially responsible. +Portions of it were written out three times, and the whole of it twice. While +preparing my own version I made frequent reference to previous +translations:—those of M. Abel Rémusat, “Revu, complété, et +augmenté d’éclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landress” +(Paris, 1836); of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and his revision of it, +prefixed to his “Buddhist Records of the Western World” +(Trübner’s Oriental Series, 1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of +H.M.’s Consular Service in China (1877). To these I have to add a series +of articles on “Fa-hsien and his English Translators,” by Mr. T. +Watters, British Consul at Î-Chang (China Review, 1879, 1880). Those articles +are of the highest value, displaying accuracy of Chinese scholarship and an +extensive knowledge of Buddhism. I have regretted that Mr. Watters, while +reviewing others, did not himself write out and publish a version of the whole +of Fâ-Hien’s narrative. If he had done so, I should probably have +thought that, on the whole, nothing more remained to be done for the +distinguished Chinese pilgrim in the way of translation. Mr. Watters had to +judge of the comparative merits of the versions of Beal and Giles, and +pronounce on the many points of contention between them. I have endeavoured to +eschew those matters, and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in +defence of renderings of my own. +</p> + +<p> +The Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who divided +Rémusat’s translation into forty chapters. The division is helpful to the +reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or four instances. In the +reprinted Chinese text the chapters are separated by a circle in the column. +</p> + +<p> +In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally followed +the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is now in vogue. We +cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them was, about fifteen hundred +years ago, in the time of Fâ-Hien; but the southern mandarin must be a shade +nearer to it than that of Peking at the present day. In transliterating the +Indian names I have for the most part followed Dr. Eitel, with such +modification as seemed good and in harmony with growing usage. +</p> + +<p> +For the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection and +condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the text required +explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and Buddhist texts +especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do for them what many +hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done for the Greek and Latin +Classics during several hundred years, and what the thousands of critics and +commentators have been doing of our Sacred Scriptures for nearly eighteen +centuries. There are few predecessors in the field of Chinese literature into +whose labours translators of the present century can enter. This will be +received, I hope, as a sufficient apology for the minuteness and length of some +of the notes. A second object in them was to teach myself first, and then +others, something of the history and doctrines of Buddhism. I have thought that +they might be learned better in connexion with a lively narrative like that of +Fâ-Hien than by reading didactic descriptions and argumentative books. Such +has been my own experience. The books which I have consulted for these notes +have been many, besides Chinese works. My principal help has been the full and +masterly handbook of Eitel, mentioned already, and often referred to as E.H. +Spence Hardy’s “Eastern Monachism” (E.M.) and “Manual +of Buddhism” (M.B.) have been constantly in hand, as well as Rhys +Davids’ Buddhism, published by the Society for Promoting Christian +Knowledge, his Hibbert Lectures, and his Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of +the East, and other writings. I need not mention other authorities, having +endeavoured always to specify them where I make use of them. My proximity and +access to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have been of great +advantage. +</p> + +<p> +I may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, I think +there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature which still +require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, are we entitled to +regard the present Sûtras as genuine and sufficiently accurate copies of those +which were accepted by the Councils before our Christian era? Can anything be +done to trace the rise of the legends and marvels of Sâkyamuni’s history, +which were current so early (as it seems to us) as the time of Fâ-Hien, and +which startle us so frequently by similarities between them and narratives in +our Gospels? Dr. Hermann Oldenberg, certainly a great authority on Buddhistic +subjects, says that “a biography of Buddha has not come down to us from +ancient times, from the age of the Pâli texts; and, we can safely say, no such +biography existed then” (“Buddha—His Life, His Doctrine, His +Order,” as translated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also (in the same work, pp. +99, 416, 417) come to the conclusion that the hitherto unchallenged tradition +that the Buddha was “a king’s son” must be given up. The name +“king’s son” (in Chinese {...}), always used of the Buddha, +certainly requires to be understood in the highest sense. I am content myself +to wait for further information on these and other points, as the result of +prolonged and careful research. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and Notes, and I +most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many valuable corrections in the +Notes, and for other suggestions which I have received from him. I may not +always think on various points exactly as he does, but I am not more forward +than he is to say with Horace,— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri.” +</p> + +<p> +I have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean text of +Fâ-Hien’s narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It is on the +whole so much superior to the better-known texts, that I determined to attempt +to reproduce it at the end of the little volume, so far as our resources here +in Oxford would permit. To do so has not been an easy task. The two fonts of +Chinese types in the Clarendon Press were prepared primarily for printing the +translation of our Sacred Scriptures, and then extended so as to be available +for printing also the Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work necessarily +requires many types not found in them, while many other characters in the +Corean recension are peculiar in their forms, and some are what Chinese +dictionaries denominate “vulgar.” That we have succeeded so well as +we have done is owing chiefly to the intelligence, ingenuity, and untiring +attention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, the Oriental Reader. +</p> + +<p> +The pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb edition of a +History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-châu in Cheh-kiang, and +profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese art. I am indebted for the +use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, University Chinese Scholar. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +JAMES LEGGE. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Oxford:<br /> +June, 1886. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/fig01.jpg"> +<img src="images/fig01.jpg" width="510" height="600" alt="Illustration:" /></a> +<p class="caption">Sketch Map Of Fâ-Hien’s Travels</p> +</div> + +<p> +The accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on the different +places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently accurate knowledge +of Fâ-Hien’s route. +</p> + +<p> +There is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus from east +to west into the Punjâb, all the principal places, at which he touched or +rested, having been determined by Cunningham and other Indian geographers and +archaeologists. Most of the places from Ch’ang-an to Bannu have also been +identified. Woo-e has been put down as near Kutcha, or Kuldja, in 43° +25′ N., 81° 15′ E. The country of K’ieh-ch’a was +probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the place where the traveller +crossed the Indus and entered it must have been further east than Skardo. A +doubt is intimated on page 24 as to the identification of T’o-leih with +Darada, but Greenough’s “Physical and Geological Sketch-Map of +British India” shows “Dardu Proper,” all lying on the east of +the Indus, exactly in the position where the Narrative would lead us to place +it. The point at which Fâ-Hien recrossed the Indus into Udyâna on the west of +it is unknown. Takshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the +river, and has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the Punjâb. +It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese phonetisation will +allow;—see a note of Beal in his “Buddhist Records of the Western +World,” i. 138. +</p> + +<p> +We must suppose that Fâ-Hien went on from Nan-king to Ch’ang-an, but the +Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref02"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<p> +Life of Fâ-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his Narrative; +Number of the Adherents of Buddhism. +</p> + +<p> +1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fâ-Hien in addition to what may +be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read the accounts of him +in the “Memoirs of Eminent Monks,” compiled in A.D. 519, and a +later work, the “Memoirs of Marvellous Monks,” by the third emperor +of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is nearly all borrowed +from the other; and all in them that has an appearance of verisimilitude can be +brought within brief compass. +</p> + +<p> +His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wû-yang in +P’ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi. He +had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died before shedding +their first teeth, his father devoted him to the service of the Buddhist +society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, still keeping him at home in the +family. The little fellow fell dangerously ill, and the father sent him to the +monastery, where he soon got well and refused to return to his parents. +</p> + +<p> +When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering the +widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to renounce the +monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, “I did not quit +the family in compliance with my father’s wishes, but because I wished to +be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This is why I chose +monkhood.” The uncle approved of his words and gave over urging him. When +his mother also died, it appeared how great had been the affection for her of +his fine nature; but after her burial he returned to the monastery. +</p> + +<p> +On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his +fellow-disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away their +grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero stood his +ground, and said to the thieves, “If you must have the grain, take what +you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of charity which brought you +to your present state of destitution; and now, again, you wish to rob others. I +am afraid that in the coming ages you will have still greater poverty and +distress;—I am sorry for you beforehand.” With these words he +followed his companions into the monastery, while the thieves left the grain +and went away, all the monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage +to his conduct and courage. +</p> + +<p> +When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of the full +Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and strict regulation +of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, he undertook his journey to +India in search of complete copies of the Vinaya-pitaka. What follows this is +merely an account of his travels in India and return to China by sea, condensed +from his own narrative, with the addition of some marvellous incidents that +happened to him, on his visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha. +</p> + +<p> +It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the capital +(evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana Buddha-bhadra, +executed translations of some of the works which he had obtained in India; and +that before he had done all that he wished to do in this way, he removed to +King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and died in the monastery of Sin, at the +age of eighty-eight, to the great sorrow of all who knew him. It is added that +there is another larger work giving an account of his travels in various +countries. +</p> + +<p> +Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he himself has +told us. Fâ-Hien was his clerical name, and means “Illustrious in the +Law,” or “Illustrious master of the Law.” The Shih which +often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as Sâkyamuni, +“the Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and Silence,” and +may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes said to have belonged +to “the eastern Tsin dynasty” (A.D. 317-419), and sometimes to +“the Sung,” that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of Liu (A.D. +420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, and went to India when +he was twenty-five, his long life may have been divided pretty equally between +the two dynasties. +</p> + +<p> +2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fâ-Hien’s travels +than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long ceased to +be in existence. +</p> + +<p> +In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D. 589-618), the +name Fâ-Hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the last section of it +(page 22), after a reference to his travels, his labours in translation at +Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in conjunction with Buddha-bhadra, are +described. In the second section, page 15, we find “A Record of +Buddhistic Kingdoms;”—with a note, saying that it was the work of +the “Sramana, Fâ-Hien;” and again, on page 13, we have +“Narrative of Fâ-Hien in two Books,” and “Narrative of +Fâ-Hien’s Travels in one Book.” But all these three entries may +possibly belong to different copies of the same work, the first and the other +two being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue. +</p> + +<p> +In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title is +“Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms.” In the Japanese or Corean +recension subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, +“Narrative of the Distinguished Monk, Fâ-Hien;” and then, more at +large, “Incidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern +Tsin, Fâ-Hien, recorded by himself.” +</p> + +<p> +There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work than the +Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonné of the imperial library of the present +dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by Le Tao-yuen, a +geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei (A.D. 386-584), one of +them containing 89 characters, and the other 276; both of them given as from +the “Narrative of Fâ-Hien.” +</p> + +<p> +In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The evidence for +its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be required. It is clear to +myself that the “Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms” and the +“Narrative of his Travels by Fâ-Hien” were designations of one and +the same work, and that it is doubtful whether any larger work on the same +subject was ever current. With regard to the text subjoined to my translation, +it was published in Japan in 1779. The editor had before him four recensions of +the narrative; those of the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the +names of certain characters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea. He +wisely adopted the Corean text, published in accordance with a royal rescript +in 1726, so far as I can make out; but the different readings of the other +texts are all given in top-notes, instead of foot-notes as with us, this being +one of the points in which customs in the east and west go by contraries. Very +occasionally, the editor indicates by a single character, equivalent to +“right” or “wrong,” which reading in his opinion is to +be preferred. In the notes to the present republication of the Corean text, S +stands for Sung, M for Ming, and J for Japanese; R for right, and W for wrong. +I have taken the trouble to give all the various readings (amounting to more +than 300), partly as a curiosity and to make my text complete, and partly to +show how, in the transcription of writings in whatever language, such +variations are sure to occur, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“maculae, quas aut incuria fudit,<br /> +Aut humana parum cavit nature,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +while on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the document. +</p> + +<p> +The editors of the Catalogue Raisonné intimate their doubts of the good taste +and reliability of all Fâ-Hien’s statements. It offends them that he +should call central India the “Middle Kingdom,” and China, which to +them was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but “a Border +land;”—it offends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist +writer, whereas the reader will see in the expressions only an instance of what +Fâ-Hien calls his “simple straightforwardness.” +</p> + +<p> +As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the Buddhism +of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the Khoteners from ancient +times till now have been Mohammedans;—as if they could have been so 170 +years before Mohammed was born, and 222 years before the year of the Hegira! +And this is criticism in China. The Catalogue was ordered by the +K’ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between three and four hundred of the +“Great Scholars” of the empire were engaged on it in various +departments, and thus egregiously ignorant did they show themselves of all +beyond the limits of their own country, and even of the literature of that +country itself. +</p> + +<p> +Much of what Fâ-Hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and legends is +indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth as to what he +saw and heard. +</p> + +<p> +3. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some estimates +of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become current, believing, +as I do, that the smallest of them is much above what is correct. +</p> + +<p> +i. In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854), General +Cunningham says: “The Christians number about 270 millions; the Buddhists +about 222 millions, who are distributed as follows:—China 170 millions, +Japan 25, Anam 14, Siam 3, Ava 8, Nepal 1, and Ceylon 1; total, 222 +millions.” +</p> + +<p> +ii. In his article on M. J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire’s “Le Bouddha +et sa Religion,” republished in his “Chips from a German +Workshop,” vol. i. (1868), Professor Max Muller (p. 215) says, “The +young prince became the founder of a religion which, after more than two +thousand years, is still professed by 455 millions of human beings,” and +he appends the following note: “Though truth is not settled by +majorities, it would be interesting to know which religion counts at the +present moment the largest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in his +‘Physical Atlas,’ gives the following division of the human race +according to religion:—‘Buddhists 31.2 per cent, Christians 30.7, +Mohammedans 15.7, Brahmanists 13.4, Heathens 8.7, and Jews 0.3.’ As +Berghaus does not distinguish the Buddhists in China from the followers of +Confucius and Laotse, the first place on the scale really belongs to +Christianity. It is difficult to say to what religion a man belongs, as the +same person may profess two or three. The emperor himself, after sacrificing +according to the ritual of Confucius, visits a Tao-sse temple, and afterwards +bows before an image of Fo in a Buddhist chapel. (‘Mélanges Asiatiques de +St. Pétersbourg,’ vol. ii. p. 374.)” +</p> + +<p> +iii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids (intimating +also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers are no evidence of +truth) in the introduction to his “Manual of Buddhism.” The +Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500 millions:—30 millions +of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 +millions of North Buddhists, of whom nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, +and 414,686,974 to the eighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, +Christians amount to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, +Mohammedans to about 12 1<i>2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about 1</i>2. +</p> + +<p> +In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense numbers +assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese with which it is +credited. Subtract Cunningham’s 170 millions of Chinese from his total of +222, and there remains only 52 millions of Buddhists. Subtract Davids’ +(say) 414 1<i>2 millions of Chinese from his total of 500, and there remain +only 85 1</i>2 millions for Buddhism. Of the numbers assigned to other +countries, as well as of their whole populations, I am in considerable doubt, +excepting in the cases of Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates +turns upon the immense multitudes said to be in China. I do not know what total +population Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal he +allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;—perhaps he halved his estimate +of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the highest estimates +that have been given of the people. +</p> + +<p> +But we have no certain information of the population of China. At an interview +with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in Paris, in 1878, I begged +him to write out for me the amount, with the authority for it, and he assured +me that it could not be done. I have read probably almost everything that has +been published on the subject, and endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive +at a satisfactory conclusion;—without reaching a result which I can +venture to lay before the public. My impression has been that 400 millions is +hardly an exaggeration. +</p> + +<p> +But supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, how shall +we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, and Buddhists? +Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common name for it is Ju Chiao, +“the Doctrines held by the Learned Class,” entrance into the circle +of which is, with a few insignificant exceptions, open to all the people. The +mass of them and the masses under their influence are preponderatingly +Confucian; and in the observance of ancestral worship, the most remarkable +feature of the religion proper of China from the earliest times, of which +Confucius was not the author but the prophet, an overwhelming majority are +regular and assiduous. +</p> + +<p> +Among “the strange principles” which the emperor of the +K’ang-hsi period, in one of his famous Sixteen Precepts, exhorted his +people to “discountenance and put away, in order to exalt the correct +doctrine,” Buddhism and Taoism were both included. If, as stated in the +note quoted from Professor Muller, the emperor countenances both the Taoist +worship and the Buddhist, he does so for reasons of state;—to please +especially his Buddhist subjects in Thibet and Mongolia, and not to offend the +many whose superstitious fancies incline to Taoism. +</p> + +<p> +When I went out and in as a missionary among the Chinese people for about +thirty years, it sometimes occurred to me that only the inmates of their +monasteries and the recluses of both systems should be enumerated as Buddhists +and Taoists; but I was in the end constrained to widen that judgment, and to +admit a considerable following of both among the people, who have neither +received the tonsure nor assumed the yellow top. Dr. Eitel, in concluding his +discussion of this point in his “Lecture on Buddhism, an Event in +History,” says: “It is not too much to say that most Chinese are +theoretically Confucianists, but emotionally Buddhists or Taoists. But fairness +requires us to add that, though the mass of the people are more or less +influenced by Buddhist doctrines, yet the people, as a whole, have no respect +for the Buddhist church, and habitually sneer at Buddhist priests.” For +the “most” in the former of these two sentences I would substitute +“nearly all;” and between my friend’s “but” and +“emotionally” I would introduce “many are,” and would +not care to contest his conclusion farther. It does seem to me preposterous to +credit Buddhism with the whole of the vast population of China, the great +majority of whom are Confucianists. My own opinion is, that its adherents are +not so many as those even of Mohammedanism, and that instead of being the most +numerous of the religions (so called) of the world, it is only entitled to +occupy the fifth place, ranking below Christianity, Confucianism, Brahmanism, +and Mohammedanism, and followed, some distance off, by Taoism. To make a table +of percentages of mankind, and assign to each system its proportion, is to seem +to be wise where we are deplorably ignorant; and, moreover, if our means of +information were much better than they are, our figures would merely show the +outward adherence. A fractional per-centage might tell more for one system than +a very large integral one for another. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap00"></a>THE TRAVELS OF FÂ-HIEN<br /> +or RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +FROM CH’ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT</h2> + +<p> +Fâ-Hien had been living in Ch’ang-gan.(1) Deploring the mutilated and +imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the second +year of the period Hwăng-che, being the Ke-hâe year of the cycle,(2) he entered +into an engagement with Kwuy-king, Tâo-ching, Hwuy-ying, and Hwuy-wei,(3) that +they should go to India and seek for the Disciplinary Rules.(4) +</p> + +<p> +After starting from Ch’ang-gan, they passed through Lung,(5) and came to +the kingdom of K’een-kwei,(6) where they stopped for the summer +retreat.(7) When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom of +Now-t’an,(8) crossed the mountain of Yang-low, and reached the emporium +of Chang-yih.(9) There they found the country so much disturbed that travelling +on the roads was impossible for them. Its king, however, was very attentive to +them, kept them (in his capital), and acted the part of their danapati.(10) +</p> + +<p> +Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and Sang-king;(11) +and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the same journey with +themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that year)(12) together, +resuming after it their travelling, and going on to T’un-hwang,(13) (the +chief town) in the frontier territory of defence extending for about 80 le from +east to west, and about 40 from north to south. Their company, increased as it +had been, halted there for some days more than a month, after which Fâ-Hien +and his four friends started first in the suite of an envoy,(14) having +separated (for a time) from Pao-yun and his associates. +</p> + +<p> +Le Hao,(15) the prefect of T’un-hwang, had supplied them with the means +of crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many evil demons and +hot winds. (Travellers) who encounter them perish all to a man. There is not a +bird to be seen in the air above, nor an animal on the ground below. Though you +look all round most earnestly to find where you can cross, you know not where +to make your choice, the only mark and indication being the dry bones of the +dead (left upon the sand).(16) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Ch’ang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its city) +in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital of the first +empire of Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 24), as it subsequently was that of Suy (A.D. +589-618). The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards the close of which Fâ-Hien +lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, and Ch’ang-gan was the +capital of the principal of the three Ts’in kingdoms, which, with many +other minor ones, maintained a semi-independence of Tsin, their rulers +sometimes even assuming the title of emperor. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the greater +portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts’in, a powerful prince. +He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign in 399, and the cyclical name +of that year was Kang-tsze. It is not possible at this distance of time to +explain, if it could be explained, how Fâ-Hien came to say that Ke-hae was the +second year of the period. It seems most reasonable to suppose that he set out +on his pilgrimage in A.D. 399, the cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, the +second year, instead of {.}, the first, might easily creep into the text. In +the “Memoirs of Eminent Monks” it is said that our author started +in the third year of the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, which was A.D. +399. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) These, like Fâ-Hien itself, are all what we might call +“clerical” names, appellations given to the parties as monks or +sramanas. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) The Buddhist tripitaka or canon consists of three collections, containing, +according to Eitel (p. 150), “doctrinal aphorisms (or statements, +purporting to be from Buddha himself); works on discipline; and works on +metaphysics:”—called sutra, vinaya, and abhidharma; in Chinese, +king {.}, leuh {.}, and lun {.}, or texts, laws or rules, and discussions. Dr. +Rhys Davids objects to the designation of “metaphysics” as used of +the abhidharma works, saying that “they bear much more the relation to +‘dharma’ which ‘by-law’ bears to ‘law’ than +that which ‘metaphysics’ bears to ‘physics’” +(Hibbert Lectures, p. 49). However this be, it was about the vinaya works that +Fâ-Hien was chiefly concerned. He wanted a good code of the rules for the +government of “the Order” in all its internal and external +relations. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part of Kan-suh. +The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of Shen-se. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) K’een-kwei was the second king of “the Western +Ts’in.” His family was of northern or barbarous origin, from the +tribe of the Seen-pe, with the surname of K’eih-fuh. The first king was +Kwo-kin, and received his appointment from the sovereign of the chief +Ts’in kingdom in 385. He was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the +K’een-kwei of the text, who was very prosperous in 398, and took the +title of king of Ts’in. Fâ-Hien would find him at his capital, somewhere +in the present department of Lan-chow, Kan-suh. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Under varshas or vashavasana (Pâli, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass), Eitel (p. +163) says:—“One of the most ancient institutions of Buddhist +discipline, requiring all ecclesiastics to spend the rainy season in a +monastery in devotional exercises. Chinese Buddhists naturally substituted the +hot season for the rainy (from the 16th day of the 5th to the 15th of the 9th +Chinese month).” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five (usurping) +Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire ({.} {.}). The name Leang +remains in the department of Leang-chow in the northern part of Kan-suh. The +“southern Leang” arose in 397 under a Tuh-fah Wu-ku, who was +succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and he again by his brother, the +Now-t’an of the text, in 402, who was not yet king therefore when +Fâ-Hien and his friends reached his capital. How he is represented as being so +may be accounted for in various ways, of which it is not necessary to write. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department, Kan-suh. +It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far from the Great Wall. +Its king at this time was, probably, Twan-yeh of “the northern +Leang.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six paramitas, or +means of attaining to nirvâna; and a danapati is “one who practises dana +and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery.” It is given as “a title +of honour to all who support the cause of Buddhism by acts of charity, +especially to founders and patrons of monasteries;”—see Eitel, p. +29. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most distinguished was +Pao-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on his return from India, of +which only one seems to be now existing. He died in 449. See Nanjio’s +Catalogue of the Tripitaka, col. 417. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Ch’ang-gan. We +are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) T’un-hwang (lat. 39° 40′ N.; lon. 94° 50′ E.) is still +the name of one of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the +most western of the prefectures of Kan-suh; beyond the termination of the Great +Wall. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The text will +not admit of any other translation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) Le Hao was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and kindly in his +government. He was appointed governor or prefect of T’un-hwang by the +king of “the northern Leang,” in 400; and there he sustained +himself, becoming by and by “duke of western Leang,” till he died +in 417. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) “The river of sand;” the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having +various other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now before +them,—to cross this desert. The name of “river” in the +Chinese misleads the reader, and he thinks of crossing it as of crossing a +stream; but they had to traverse it from east to west. In his “Vocabulary +of Proper Names,” p. 23, Dr. Porter Smith says:—“It extends +from the eastern frontier of Mongolia, south-westward to the further frontier +of Turkestan, to within six miles of Ilchi, the chief town of Khoten. It thus +comprises some twenty-three degrees of longitude in length, and from three to +ten degrees of latitude in breadth, being about 2,100 miles in its greatest +length. In some places it is arable. Some idea may be formed of the terror with +which this ‘Sea of Sand,’ with its vast billows of shifting sands, +is regarded, from the legend that in one of the storms 360 cities were all +buried within the space of twenty-four hours.” So also Gilmour’s +“Among the Mongols,” chap. 5. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +ON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN</h2> + +<p> +After travelling for seventeen days, a distance we may calculate of about 1500 +le, (the pilgrims) reached the kingdom of Shen-shen,(1) a country rugged and +hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes of the common people are +coarse, and like those worn in our land of Han,(2) some wearing felt and others +coarse serge or cloth of hair;—this was the only difference seen among +them. The king professed (our) Law, and there might be in the country more than +four thousand monks,(3) who were all students of the hinayana.(4) The common +people of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the sramans,(5) +all practise the rules of India,(6) only that the latter do so more exactly, +and the former more loosely. So (the travellers) found it in all the kingdoms +through which they went on their way from this to the west, only that each had +its own peculiar barbarous speech.(7) (The monks), however, who had (given up +the worldly life) and quitted their families, were all students of Indian books +and the Indian language. Here they stayed for about a month, and then proceeded +on their journey, fifteen days walking to the north-west bringing them to the +country of Woo-e.(8) In this also there were more than four thousand monks, all +students of the hinayana. They were very strict in their rules, so that sramans +from the territory of Ts’in(9) were all unprepared for their regulations. +Fâ-Hien, through the management of Foo Kung-sun, <i>maitre +d’hotellerie</i>,(10) was able to remain (with his company in the +monastery where they were received) for more than two months, and here they +were rejoined by Pao-yun and his friends.(11) (At the end of that time) the +people of Woo-e neglected the duties of propriety and righteousness, and +treated the strangers in so niggardly a manner that Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, and +Hwuy-wei went back towards Kao-ch’ang,(12) hoping to obtain there the +means of continuing their journey. Fâ-Hien and the rest, however, through the +liberality of Foo Kung-sun, managed to go straight forward in a south-west +direction. They found the country uninhabited as they went along. The +difficulties which they encountered in crossing the streams and on their route, +and the sufferings which they endured, were unparalleled in human experience, +but in the course of a month and five days they succeeded in reaching +Yu-teen.(13) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the Books of +the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of China, about B.C. +80. The greater portion of that is now accessible to the English reader in a +translation by Mr. Wylie in the “Journal of the Anthropological +Institute,” August, 1880. Mr. Wylie says:—“Although we may +not be able to identify Shen-shen with certainty, yet we have sufficient +indications to give an appropriate idea of its position, as being south of and +not far from lake Lob.” He then goes into an exhibition of those +indications, which I need not transcribe. It is sufficient for us to know that +the capital city was not far from Lob or Lop Nor, into which in lon. 38° E. the +Tarim flows. Fâ-Hien estimated its distance to be 1500 le from +T’un-hwang. He and his companions must have gone more than twenty-five +miles a day to accomplish the journey in seventeen days. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) This is the name which Fâ-Hien always uses when he would speak of China, +his native country, as a whole, calling it from the great dynasty which had +ruled it, first and last, for between four and five centuries. Occasionally, as +we shall immediately see, he speaks of “the territory of Ts’in or +Ch’in,” but intending thereby only the kingdom or Ts’in, +having its capital, as described in the first note on the last chapter, in +Ch’ang-gan. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) So I prefer to translate the character {.} (sang) rather than by +“priests.” Even in Christianity, beyond the priestly privilege +which belongs to all believers, I object to the ministers of any denomination +or church calling themselves or being called “priests;” and much +more is the name inapplicable to the sramanas or bhikshus of Buddhism which +acknowledges no God in the universe, no soul in man, and has no services of +sacrifice or prayer in its worship. The only difficulty in the use of +“monks” is caused by the members of the sect in Japan which, since +the middle of the fifteenth century, has abolished the prohibition against +marrying on the part of its ministers, and other prohibitions in diet and +dress. Sang and sang-kea represent the Sanskrit sangha, constituted by at least +four members, and empowered to hear confession, to grant absolution, to admit +persons to holy orders, &c.; secondly, the third constituent of the +Buddhistic Trinity, a deification of the <i>communio sanctorum</i>, or the +Buddhist order. The name is used by our author of the monks collectively or +individually as belonging to the class, and may be considered as synonymous +with the name sramana, which will immediately claim our attention. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Meaning the “small vehicle, or conveyance.” There are in +Buddhism the triyana, or “three different means of salvation, i.e. of +conveyance across the samsara, or sea of transmigration, to the shores of +nirvâna. Afterwards the term was used to designate the different phases of +development through which the Buddhist dogma passed, known as the mahayana, +hinayana, and madhyamayana.” “The hinayana is the simplest vehicle +of salvation, corresponding to the first of the three degrees of saintship. +Characteristics of it are the preponderance of active moral asceticism, and the +absence of speculative mysticism and quietism.” E. H., pp. 151-2, 45, and +117. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and throughout +the book,—T’een-chuh ({.} {.}), the chuh being pronounced, +probably, in Fâ-Hien’s time as tuk. How the earliest name for India, +Shin-tuk or duk=Scinde, came to be changed into Thien-tuk, it would take too +much space to explain. I believe it was done by the Buddhists, wishing to give +a good auspicious name to the fatherland of their Law, and calling it +“the Heavenly Tuk,” just as the Mohammedans call Arabia “the +Heavenly region” ({.} {.}), and the court of China itself is called +“the Celestial” ({.} {.}). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Sraman may in English take the place of Sramana (Pâli, Samana; in Chinese, +Sha-man), the name for Buddhist monks, as those who have separated themselves +from (left) their families, and quieted their hearts from all intrusion of +desire and lust. “It is employed, first, as a general name for ascetics +of all denominations, and, secondly, as a general designation of Buddhistic +monks.” E. H., pp. 130, 131. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Tartar or Mongolian. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) Woo-e has not been identified. Watters (“China Review,” viii. +115) says:—“We cannot be far wrong if we place it in Kharaschar, or +between that and Kutscha.” It must have been a country of considerable +size to have so many monks in it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) This means in one sense China, but Fâ-Hien, in his use of the name, was +only thinking of the three Ts’in states of which I have spoken in a +previous note; perhaps only of that from the capital of which he had himself +set out. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) This sentence altogether is difficult to construe, and Mr. Watters, in the +“China Review,” was the first to disentangle more than one knot in +it. I am obliged to adopt the reading of {.} {.} in the Chinese editions, +instead of the {.} {.} in the Corean text. It seems clear that only one person +is spoken of as assisting the travellers, and his name, as appears a few +sentences farther on, was Foo Kung-sun. The {.} {.} which immediately follows +the surname Foo {.}, must be taken as the name of his office, corresponding, as +the {.} shows, to that of <i>le maitre d’hotellerie</i> in a Roman +Catholic abbey. I was once indebted myself to the kind help of such an officer +at a monastery in Canton province. The Buddhistic name for him is +uddesika=overseer. The Kung-sun that follows his surname indicates that he was +descended from some feudal lord in the old times of the Chow dynasty. We know +indeed of no ruling house which had the surname of Foo, but its adoption by the +grandson of a ruler can be satisfactorily accounted for; and his posterity +continued to call themselves Kung-sun, duke or lord’s grandson, and so +retain the memory of the rank of their ancestor. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Whom they had left behind them at T’un-hwang. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) The country of the Ouighurs, the district around the modern Turfan or +Tangut. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) Yu-teen is better known as Khoten. Dr. P. Smith gives (p. 11) the +following description of it:—“A large district on the south-west of +the desert of Gobi, embracing all the country south of Oksu and Yarkand, along +the northern base of the Kwun-lun mountains, for more than 300 miles from east +to west. The town of the same name, now called Ilchi, is in an extensive plain +on the Khoten river, in lat. 37° N., and lon. 80° 35′ E. After the +Tungani insurrection against Chinese rule in 1862, the Mufti Haji Habeeboolla +was made governor of Khoten, and held the office till he was murdered by Yakoob +Beg, who became for a time the conqueror of all Chinese Turkestan. Khoten +produces fine linen and cotton stuffs, jade ornaments, copper, grain, and +fruits.” The name in Sanskrit is Kustana. (E. H., p. 60). +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +KHOTEN. PROCESSIONS OF IMAGES. THE KING’S NEW MONASTERY.</h2> + +<p> +Yu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom, with a numerous and flourishing +population. The inhabitants all profess our Law, and join together in its +religious music for their enjoyment.(1) The monks amount to several myriads, +most of whom are students of the mahayana.(2) They all receive their food from +the common store.(3) Throughout the country the houses of the people stand +apart like (separate) stars, and each family has a small tope(4) reared in +front of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or rather +more.(5) They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from all quarters,(5) +the use of which is given to travelling monks who may arrive, and who are +provided with whatever else they require. +</p> + +<p> +The lord of the country lodged Fâ-Hien and the others comfortably, and +supplied their wants, in a monastery(6) called Gomati,(6) of the mahayana +school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who are called to their +meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the refectory, their demeanour is +marked by a reverent gravity, and they take their seats in regular order, all +maintaining a perfect silence. No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and +other utensils. When any of these pure men(7) require food, they are not +allowed to call out (to the attendants) for it, but only make signs with their +hands. +</p> + +<p> +Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the country of +K’eeh-ch’a;(8) but Fâ-Hien and the others, wishing to see the +procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are in this +country four(9) great monasteries, not counting the smaller ones. Beginning on +the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and water the streets inside the +city, making a grand display in the lanes and byways. Over the city gate they +pitch a large tent, grandly adorned in all possible ways, in which the king and +queen, with their ladies brilliantly arrayed,(10) take up their residence (for +the time). +</p> + +<p> +The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held in great +reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the procession. At a +distance of three or four le from the city, they made a four-wheeled image car, +more than thirty cubits high, which looked like the great hall (of a monastery) +moving along. The seven precious substances(11) were grandly displayed about +it, with silken streamers and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) +image(12) stood in the middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas(13) in +attendance upon it, while devas(14) were made to follow in waiting, all +brilliantly carved in gold and silver, and hanging in the air. When (the car) +was a hundred paces from the gate, the king put off his crown of state, changed +his dress for a fresh suit, and with bare feet, carrying in his hands flowers +and incense, and with two rows of attending followers, went out at the gate to +meet the image; and, with his head and face (bowed to the ground), he did +homage at its feet, and then scattered the flowers and burnt the incense. When +the image was entering the gate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in +the gallery above scattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which floated +about and fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way everything was done to +promote the dignity of the occasion. The carriages of the monasteries were all +different, and each one had its own day for the procession. (The ceremony) +began on the first day of the fourth month, and ended on the fourteenth, after +which the king and queen returned to the palace. +</p> + +<p> +Seven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the +King’s New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and +extended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in height, rich in elegant +carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, and finished +throughout with a combination of all the precious substances. Behind the tope +there has been built a Hall of Buddha,(15) of the utmost magnificence and +beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed doors, and windows being all overlaid +with gold-leaf. Besides this, the apartments for the monks are imposingly and +elegantly decorated, beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things +of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of +the (Ts’ung) range of mountains(16) are possessed, they contribute the +greater portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them +themselves.(17) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) This fondness for music among the Khoteners is mentioned by Hsuan and +Ch’wang and others. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Mahayana. It is a later form of the Buddhist doctrine, the second phase of +its development corresponding to the state of a Bodhisattva, who, being able to +transport himself and all mankind to nirvâna, may be compared to a huge +vehicle. See Davids on the “Key-note of the ‘Great +Vehicle,’” Hibbert Lectures, p. 254. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Fâ-Hien supplies sufficient information of how the common store or funds +of the monasteries were provided, farther on in chapters xvi and xxxix, as well +as in other passages. As the point is important, I will give here, from +Davids’ fifth Hibbert Lecture (p. 178), some of the words of the dying +Buddha, taken from “The Book of the Great Decease,” as illustrating +the statement in this text:—“So long as the brethren shall +persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought among the saints, both in +public and private; so long as they shall divide without partiality, and share +in common with the upright and holy, all such things as they receive in +accordance with the just provisions of the order, down even to the mere +contents of a begging bowl; . . . so long may the brethren be expected not to +decline, but to prosper.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) The Chinese {.} (t’ah; in Cantonese, t’ap), as used by +Fâ-Hien, is, no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or Pâli thupa; +and it is well in translating to use for the structures described by him the +name of topes,—made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian antiquarians. +In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one built under the +superintendence of Buddha himself, “as a model for all topes in +future.” They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes, and were +solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with a series of rings, +varying in number. But their form, I suppose, was often varied; just as we have +in China pagodas of different shapes. There are several topes now in the Indian +Institute at Oxford, brought from Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much +smaller than “the smallest” of those of Khoten. They were intended +chiefly to contain the relics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what +relics could there be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) The meaning here is much disputed. The author does not mean to say that the +monk’s apartments were made “square,” but that the +monasteries were made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,—Sangharama, +“gardens of the assembly,” originally denoting only “the +surrounding park, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the +premises” (E. H., p. 118). Gomati, the name of this monastery, means +“rich in cows.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) A denomination for the monks as vimala, “undefiled” or +“pure.” Giles makes it “the menials that attend on the +monks,” but I have not met with it in that application. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) K’eeh-ch’a has not been clearly identified. Rémusat made it +Cashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel, Khas’a, +“an ancient tribe on the Paropamisus, the Kasioi of Ptolemy.” I +think it was Ladak, or some well-known place in it. Hwuy-tah, unless that name +be an alias, appears here for the first time. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) Instead of “four,” the Chinese copies of the text have +“fourteen;” but the Corean reading is, probably, more correct. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) There may have been, as Giles says, “maids of honour;” but the +character does not say so. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) The Sapta-ratna, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, rubies, +diamonds or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East (Davids’ +Buddhist Suttas), vol. xi., p. 249. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) No doubt that of Sâkyamuni himself. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) A Bodhisattva is one whose essence has become intelligence; a Being who +will in some future birth as a man (not necessarily or usually the next) attain +to Buddhahood. The name does not include those Buddhas who have not yet +attained to pari-nirvâna. The symbol of the state is an elephant fording a +river. Popularly, its abbreviated form P’u-sa is used in China for any +idol or image; here the name has its proper signification. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) {.} {.}, “all the thien,” or simply “the thien” +taken as plural. But in Chinese the character called thien {.} denotes heaven, +or Heaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Ti, meaning God. With the +Buddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmanic gods, or all the inhabitants of the +six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism between Buddhism and Brahmanism, +and still more that between it and Confucianism. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) Giles and Williams call this “the oratory of Buddha.” But +“oratory” gives the idea of a small apartment, whereas the name +here leads the mind to think of a large “hall.” I once accompanied +the monks of a large monastery from their refectory to the Hall of Buddha, +which was a lofty and spacious apartment splendidly fitted up. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) The Ts’ung, or “Onion” range, called also the Belurtagh +mountains, including the Karakorum, and forming together the connecting links +between the more northern T’een-shan and the Kwun-lun mountains on the +north of Thibet. It would be difficult to name the six countries which Fâ-Hien +had in mind. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it was that the +author meant to say that the contributions which they received were spent by +the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to a small extent for themselves; +and I still hesitate between that view and the one in the version.<br /> + There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang {.} {.}, which is one of +the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not only of support in +the way of substantial contributions given to monks, monasteries, and Buddhism, +but generally of all Buddhistic worship, if I may use that term in the +connexion. Let me here quote two or three sentences from Davids’ Manual +(pp. 168-170):—“The members of the order are secured from want. +There is no place in the Buddhist scheme for churches; the offering of flowers +before the sacred tree or image of the Buddha takes the place of worship. +Buddhism does not acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the warm +countries where Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the law, or preaching +of the word, in public, can take place best in the open air, by moonlight, +under a simple roof of trees or palms. There are five principal kinds of +meditation, which in Buddhism takes the place of prayer.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +THROUGH THE TS’UNG OR “ONION” MOUNTAINS TO +K’EEH-CH’A;—PROBABLY SKARDO, OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN +LADAK.</h2> + +<p> +When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, Sang-shao, by +himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest follower of the Law,(1) and +proceeded towards Kophene.(2) Fâ-Hien and the others went forward to the +kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them twenty-five days to reach.(3) Its king +was a strenuous follower of our Law,(4) and had (around him) more than a +thousand monks, mostly students of the mahayana. Here (the travellers) abode +fifteen days, and then went south for four days, when they found themselves +among the Ts’ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,(5) +where they halted and kept their retreat.(6) When this was over, they went on +among the hills(7) for twenty-five days, and got to K’eeh-ch’a,(8) +there rejoining Hwuy-king(9) and his two companions. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) This Tartar is called a {.} {.}, “a man of the Tao,” or faith +of Buddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man who is +not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose faith is always +making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be used of followers of other +systems of faith besides Buddhism. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of the first +Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200 le from +Ch’ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan. The name +of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be the same as the +present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from the west, at Attock, +after passing Peshawar. The city of Cabul, the capital of Afghanistan, may be +the Kophene of the text; but we do not know that Sang-shao and his guide got so +far west. The text only says that they set out from Khoten “towards +it.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand, which, +however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters (“China Review,” p. +135) rather approves the suggestion of “Tashkurgan in Sirikul” for +it. As it took Fâ-Hien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have been at +least 150 miles from Khoten. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting the possession +of viryabala, “the power of energy; persevering exertion—one of the +five moral powers” (E. H., p. 170). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was directly south +from Tsze-hoh, and among the “Onion” mountains. Watters hazards the +conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the pilgrims in the +summer, the different phraseology, “quiet rest,” without any +mention of the season, indicating their approach to India, E. H., p. 168. Two, +if not three, years had elapsed since they left Ch’ang-gan. Are we now +with them in 402? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) This is the Corean reading {.}, much preferable to the {.} of the Chinese +editions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) Watters approves of Klaproth’s determination of +K’eeh-ch’a to be Iskardu or Skardo. There are difficulties in +connexion with the view, but it has the advantage, to my mind very great, of +bringing the pilgrims across the Indus. The passage might be accomplished with +ease at this point of the river’s course, and therefore is not +particularly mentioned. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) Who had preceded them from Khoten. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +GREAT QUINQUENNIAL ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. RELICS OF BUDDHA. PRODUCTIONS OF THE +COUNTRY.</h2> + +<p> +It happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha parishad, +that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.(1) When this is to be +held, the king requests the presence of the Sramans from all quarters (of his +kingdom). They come (as if) in clouds; and when they are all assembled, their +place of session is grandly decorated. Silken streamers and canopies are hung +out in, and water-lilies in gold and silver are made and fixed up behind the +places where (the chief of them) are to sit. When clean mats have been spread, +and they are all seated, the king and his ministers present their offerings +according to rule and law. (The assembly takes place), in the first, second, or +third month, for the most part in the spring. +</p> + +<p> +After the king has held the assembly, he further exhorts the ministers to make +other and special offerings. The doing of this extends over one, two, three, +five, or even seven days; and when all is finished, he takes his own +riding-horse, saddles, bridles, and waits on him himself,(2) while he makes the +noblest and most important minister of the kingdom mount him. Then, taking fine +white woollen cloth, all sorts of precious things, and articles which the +Sramans require, he distributes them among them, uttering vows at the same time +along with all his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place, he +again redeems (whatever he wishes) from the monks.(3) +</p> + +<p> +The country, being among the hills and cold, does not produce the other +cereals, and only the wheat gets ripe. After the monks have received their +annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show the hoar-frost, and on +this account the king always begs the monks to make the wheat ripen(4) before +they receive their portion. There is in the country a spitoon which belonged to +Buddha, made of stone, and in colour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth +of Buddha, for which the people have reared a tope, connected with which there +are more than a thousand monks and their disciples,(5) all students of the +hinayana. To the east of these hills the dress of the common people is of +coarse materials, as in our country of Ts’in, but here also(6) there were +among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of serge or haircloth. The +rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable, and too numerous to be mentioned +in detail. The country is in the midst of the Onion range. As you go forward +from these mountains, the plants, trees, and fruits are all different from +those of the land of Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate,(7) and +sugar-cane. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as “an ecclesiastical +conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of sins and +inculcation of morality.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, including +myself, have been puzzled by it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) See what we are told of king Asoka’s grant of all the Jambudvipa to +the monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of similar gifts +in the Mahavansa. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of +K’eeh-ch’a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone. I often found in monasteries boys +and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as their preceptors. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of Shen-shen. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary name for +“pomegranate” is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate was +called at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China from +Gan-seih by Chang-k’een, who is referred to in chapter vii. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +ON TOWARDS NORTH INDIA. DARADA. IMAGE OF MAITREYA BODHISATTVA.</h2> + +<p> +From this (the travellers) went westwards towards North India, and after being +on the way for a month, they succeeded in getting across and through the range +of the Onion mountains. The snow rests on them both winter and summer. There +are also among them venomous dragons, which, when provoked, spit forth +poisonous winds, and cause showers of snow and storms of sand and gravel. Not +one in ten thousand of those who encounter these dangers escapes with his life. +The people of the country call the range by the name of “The Snow +mountains.” When (the travellers) had got through them, they were in +North India, and immediately on entering its borders, found themselves in a +small kingdom called T’o-leih,(1) where also there were many monks, all +students of the hinayana. +</p> + +<p> +In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,(2) who by his supernatural +power(3) took a clever artificer up to the Tushita heaven, to see the height, +complexion, and appearance of Maitreya Bodhisattva,(4) and then return and make +an image of him in wood. First and last, this was done three times, and then +the image was completed, eighty cubits in height, and eight cubits at the base +from knee to knee of the crossed legs. On fast-days it emits an effulgent +light. The kings of the (surrounding) countries vie with one another in +presenting offerings to it. Here it is,—to be seen now as of old.(5) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Eitel and others identify this with Darada, the country of the ancient +Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30° 11′ N., lon. 73° 54′ E. +See E. H. p. 30. I am myself in more than doubt on the point. Cunningham +(“Ancient Geography of India,” p. 82) says “Darel is a valley +on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by Dardus or Dards, +from whom it received its name.” But as I read our narrative, Fâ-Hien is +here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only crosses to the western bank as +described in the next chapter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya, the +disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or eightfold +excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to be reborn again. +Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural powers, and is not to be +succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact of the saint having already +attained nirvâna. Popularly, the Chinese designate by this name the wider +circle of Buddha’s disciples, as well as the smaller ones of 500 and 18. +No temple in Canton is better worth a visit than that of the 500 Lo-han. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Riddhi-sakshatkriya, “the power of supernatural +footsteps,“=”a body flexible at pleasure,” or unlimited power +over the body. E. H., p. 104. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn before +finally appearing on earth as Buddha. Life lasts in Tushita 4000 years, but +twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on earth. E. H., p. 152. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, “the +Invincible,” was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of +Sâkyamuni’s retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary (historical) +disciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents. It was in the Tushita +heaven that Sâkyamuni met him and appointed him as his successor, to appear as +Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years. Maitreya is therefore the expected +Messiah of the Buddhists, residing at present in Tushita, and, according to the +account of him in Eitel (H., p. 70), “already controlling the propagation +of the Buddhistic faith.” The name means “gentleness” or +“kindness;” and this will be the character of his dispensation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding sentence, and so +frequently occurring throughout the narrative, has occasioned no little dispute +among previous translators. In the imperial thesaurus of phraseology +(P’ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an example of it is given from +Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} {.} is equivalent to {.} {.}, +“anciently and now.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE EAST +</h2> + +<p> +The travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot of the +mountains, and) following the course of their range. The way was difficult and +rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly precipitous, which rose up there, a +hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 cubits from the base. When one approaches the +edge of it, his eyes become unsteady; and if he wished to go forward in the +same direction, there was no place on which he could place his foot; and +beneath where the waters of the river called the Indus.(1) In former times men +had chiselled paths along the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face of +them, to the number altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there was a +suspension bridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its banks being +there eighty paces apart.(2) The (place and arrangements) are to be found in +the Records of the Nine Interpreters,(3) but neither Chang K’een(4) nor +Kan Ying(5) had reached the spot. +</p> + +<p> +The monks(6) asked Fâ-Hien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha first +went to the east. He replied, “When I asked the people of those countries +about it, they all said that it had been handed down by their fathers from of +old that, after the setting up of the image of Maitreya Bodhisattva, there were +Sramans of India who crossed this river, carrying with them Sûtras and Books of +Discipline. Now the image was set up rather more than 300 years after the +nirvâna(7) of Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king P’ing of +the Chow dynasty.(8) According to this account we may say that the diffusion of +our great doctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) this image. If +it had not been through that Maitreya,(9) the great spiritual master(10) (who +is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who could have caused the ‘Three +Precious Ones’(11) to be proclaimed so far, and the people of those +border lands to know our Law? We know of a truth that the opening of (the way +for such) a mysterious propagation is not the work of man; and so the dream of +the emperor Ming of Han(12) had its proper cause.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in China for +India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a name approaching +that in sound. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) the +following description of the course of the Indus in these parts, in striking +accordance with our author’s account:—“From Skardo to Rongdo, +and from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100 miles, the Indus +sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in the mountains, which for wild +sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo means the country of defiles. . . . +Between these points the Indus raves from side to side of the gloomy chasm, +foaming and chafing with ungovernable fury. Yet even in these inaccessible +places has daring and ingenious man triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning +abyss is spanned by frail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are +connected by ladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething cauldron +below.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese +copies,—one which Rémusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured +should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he was +acquainted. The “Nine Interpreters” would be a general name for the +official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in their attempts +to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The phrase occurs in the +memoir of Chang K’een, referred to in the next note. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Chang K’een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), is +celebrated as the first Chinese who “pierced the void,” and +penetrated to “the regions of the west,” corresponding very much to +the present Turkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse was +established between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of that +quarter;—see Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 5. The +memoir of Chang K’een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the +first Han dynasty, appears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, +referred to already. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K’een. Being sent in A.D. 88 +by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only got as far as +the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended, however, the knowledge of +his countrymen with regard to the western regions;—see the memoir of Pan +Chao in the Books of the second Han, and Mayers’ Manual, pp. 167, 168. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing the +Indus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) This may refer to Sâkyamuni’s becoming Buddha on attaining to +nirvâna, or more probably to his pari-nirvâna and death. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) As king P’ing’s reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would +place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent +inquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few years, +after that of Confucius, so that the two great “Masters” of the +east were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I think he +is, in fixing the date of Buddha’s death within a few years of 412 B.C. +(see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard’s still lower date, +then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of Confucius. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already controlling the +propagation of the faith. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) The Chinese characters for this simply mean “the great scholar or +officer;” but see Eitel’s Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) “The precious Buddha,” “the precious Law,” and +“the precious Monkhood;” Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole +being equivalent to Buddhism. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) Fâ-Hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into China in +this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +WOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA.</h2> + +<p> +After crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the kingdom of +Woo-chang,(1) which is indeed (a part) of North India. The people all use the +language of Central India, “Central India” being what we should +call the “Middle Kingdom.” The food and clothes of the common +people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of Buddha is very +(flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where the monks stay (for a +time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and of these there are in all 500, the +monks being all students of the hinayana. When stranger bhikshus(2) arrive at +one of them, their wants are supplied for three days, after which they are told +to find a resting-place for themselves. +</p> + +<p> +There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at once to +this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, which is long or short +according to the ideas of the beholder (on the subject). It exists, and the +same thing is true about it, at the present day. Here also are still to be seen +the rock on which he dried his clothes, and the place where he converted the +wicked dragon.(3) The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, +with one side of it smooth. +</p> + +<p> +Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place of) +Buddha’s shadow in the country of Nagara;(4) but Fâ-Hien and the others +remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.(5) That over, they +descended south, and arrived in the country of Soo-ho-to.(6) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Udyâna, meaning “the Park;” just north of the Punjâb, the +country along the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests, +flowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Bhikshu is the name for a monk as “living by alms,” a +mendicant. All bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are +used together by our author. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often meaning a +snake, especially the boa. “Chinese Buddhists,” says Eitel, p. 79, +“when speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them as enemies +of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, lakes, or oceans, they +describe them as piously inclined.” The dragon, however, is in China the +symbol of the Sovereign and Sage, a use of it unknown in Buddhism, according to +which all nagas need to be converted in order to obtain a higher phase of +being. The use of the character too {.}, as here, in the sense of “to +convert,” is entirely Buddhistic. The six paramitas are the six virtues +which carry men across {.} the great sea of life and death, as the sphere of +transmigration to nirvâna. With regard to the particular conversion here, Eitel +(p. 11) says the Naga’s name was Apatala, the guardian deity of the +Subhavastu river, and that he was converted by Sâkyamuni shortly before the +death of the latter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) In Chinese Na-k’eeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern bank +of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) We would seem now to be in 403. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Soo-ho-to has not been clearly identified. Beal says that later Buddhist +writers include it in Udyâna. It must have been between the Indus and the Swat. +I suppose it was what we now call Swastene. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA.</h2> + +<p> +In that country also Buddhism(1) is flourishing. There is in it the place where +Sakra,(2) Ruler of Devas, in a former age,(3) tried the Bodhisattva, by +producing(4) a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the Bodhisattva) cut off a +piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed the dove. After Buddha had +attained to perfect wisdom,(5) and in travelling about with his disciples +(arrived at this spot), he informed them that this was the place where he +ransomed the dove with a piece of his own flesh. In this way the people of the +country became aware of the fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with +layers(6) of gold and silver plates. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, “the Law of +Buddha,” and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent +occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate rendering of +them any more than Christianity would be of {to euaggelion Xristou}. The Fa or +Law is the equivalent of dharma comprehending all in the first Basket of the +Buddhist teaching,—as Dr. Davids says (Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), +“its ethics and philosophy, and its system of self-culture;” with +the theory of karma, it seems to me, especially underlying it. It has been +pointed out (Cunningham’s “Bhilsa Topes,” p. 102) that dharma +is the keystone of all king Priyadarsi or Asoka’s edicts. The whole of +them are dedicated to the attainment of one object, “the advancement of +dharma, or of the Law of Buddha.” His native Chinese afforded no better +character than {.} or Law, by which our author could express concisely his idea +of the Buddhistic system, as “a law of life,” a directory or system +of Rules, by which men could attain to the consummation of their being. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Sakra is a common name for the Brahmanic Indra, adopted by Buddhism into +the circle of its own great adherents;—it has been said, “because +of his popularity.” He is generally styled, as here, T’een Ti, +“God or Ruler of Devas.” He is now the representative of the +secular power, the valiant protector of the Buddhist body, but is looked upon +as inferior to Sâkyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He appears several times in +Fâ-Hien’s narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The Chinese character is {.}, “formerly,” and is often, as in +the first sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At other +times it means, as here, “in a former age,” some pre-existent state +in the time of a former birth. The incident related is “a Jataka +story.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters {.} {.} by +“changed himself to.” Such is often their meaning in the sequel, +but their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial test of the +meaning which I have given them here. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course {.} {.}. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) This seems to be the contribution of {.} (or {.}), to the force of the +binomial {.} {.}, which is continually occurring. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +GANDHARA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA.</h2> + +<p> +The travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in five days came +to the country of Gandhara,(1) the place where Dharma-vivardhana,(2) the son of +Asoka,(3) ruled. When Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave his eyes also for +another man here;(4) and at the spot they have also reared a large tope, +adorned with layers of gold and silver plates. The people of the country were +mostly students of the hinayana. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Eitel says “an ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about +Dheri and Banjour.” But see note 5. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fa Yi {.} {.} +of the text. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;—the Constantine of the +Buddhist society, and famous for the number of vihâras and topes which he +erected. He was the grandson of Chandragupta (i.q. Sandracottus), a rude +adventurer, who at one time was a refugee in the camp of Alexander the Great; +and within about twenty years afterwards drove the Greeks out of India, having +defeated Seleucus, the Greek ruler of the Indus provinces. He had by that time +made himself king of Magadha. His grandson was converted to Buddhism by the +bold and patient demeanour of an Arhat whom he had ordered to be buried alive, +and became a most zealous supporter of the new faith. Dr. Rhys Davids (Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xi, p. xlvi) says that “Asoka’s coronation +can be fixed with absolute certainty within a year or two either way of 267 +B.C.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth, constructed +from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +TAKSHASILA. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES.</h2> + +<p> +Seven days’ journey from this to the east brought the travellers to the +kingdom of Takshasila,(1) which means “the severed head” in the +language of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away his head +to a man;(2) and from this circumstance the kingdom got its name. +</p> + +<p> +Going on further for two days to the east, they came to the place where the +Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving tigress.(2) In these two +places also large topes have been built, both adorned with layers of all the +precious substances. The kings, ministers, and peoples of the kingdoms around +vie with one another in making offerings at them. The trains of those who come +to scatter flowers and light lamps at them never cease. The nations of those +quarters all those (and the other two mentioned before) “the four great +topes.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) See Julien’s “Methode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les Nomes +Sanscrits,” p. 206. Eitel says, “The Taxila of the Greeks, the +region near Hoosun Abdaul in lat. 35° 48′ N., lon. 72° 44′ +E.” But this identification, I am satisfied, is wrong. Cunningham, +indeed, takes credit (“Ancient Geography of India,” pp. 108, 109) +for determining this to be the site of Arrian’s Taxila,—in the +upper Punjâb, still existing in the ruins of Shahdheri, between the Indus and +Hydaspes (the modern Jhelum). So far he may be correct; but the Takshasila of +Fâ-Hien was on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between the river +and Gandhara. It took him, indeed, seven days travelling eastwards to reach it; +but we do not know what stoppages he may have made on the way. We must be wary +in reckoning distances from his specifications of days. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence Hardy’s +“Manual of Buddhism,” pp. 91, 92. It took place when Buddha had +been born as a Brahman in the village of Daliddi; and from the merit of the +act, he was next born in a devaloka. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +PURUSHAPURA, OR PESHAWUR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND HIS TOPE. +BUDDHA’S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING.</h2> + +<p> +Going southwards from Gandhara, (the travellers) in four days arrived at the +kingdom of Purushapura.(1) Formerly, when Buddha was travelling in this country +with his disciples, he said to Ananda,(2) “After my pari-nirvâna,(3) +there will be a king named Kanishka,(4) who shall on this spot build a +tope.” This Kanishka was afterwards born into the world; and (once), when +he had gone forth to look about him, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, wishing to excite +the idea in his mind, assumed the appearance of a little herd-boy, and was +making a tope right in the way (of the king), who asked what sort of thing he +was making. The boy said, “I am making a tope for Buddha.” The king +said, “Very good;” and immediately, right over the boy’s +tope, he (proceeded to) rear another, which was more than four hundred cubits +high, and adorned with layers of all the precious substances. Of all the topes +and temples which (the travellers) saw in their journeyings, there was not one +comparable to this in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur. There is a current +saying that this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa.(5) When the king’s +tope was completed, the little tope (of the boy) came out from its side on the +south, rather more than three cubits in height. +</p> + +<p> +Buddha’s alms-bowl is in this country. Formerly, a king of Yueh-she(6) +raised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the bowl away. +Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were sincere believers in +the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the bowl, they proceeded to present +their offerings on a great scale. When they had done so to the Three Precious +Ones, he made a large elephant be grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon +it. But the elephant knelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. +Again he caused a four-wheeled waggon to be prepared in which the bowl was put +to be conveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and dragged it with +their united strength; but neither were they able to go forward. The king knew +that the time for an association between himself and the bowl had not yet +arrived,(7) and was sad and deeply ashamed of himself. Forthwith he built a +tope at the place and a monastery, and left a guard to watch (the bowl), making +all sorts of contributions. +</p> + +<p> +There may be there more than seven hundred monks. When it is near midday, they +bring out the bowl, and, along with the common people,(8) make their various +offerings to it, after which they take their midday meal. In the evening, at +the time of incense, they bring the bowl out again.(9) It may contain rather +more than two pecks, and is of various colours, black predominating, with the +seams that show its fourfold composition distinctly marked.(10) Its thickness +is about the fifth of an inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor +people throw into it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some +very rich people, wishing to make offering of many flowers, might not stop till +they had thrown in hundreds, thousands, and myriads of bushels, and yet would +not be able to fill it.(11) +</p> + +<p> +Pao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the alms-bowl, and +(then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching had gone on +before the rest to Negara,(12) to make their offerings at (the places of) +Buddha’s shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone of his skull. (There) Hwuy-king +fell ill, and Tao-ching remained to look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone +to Purushapura, and saw the others, and (then) he with Pao-yun and Sang-king +took their way back to the land of Ts’in. Hwuy-king(13) came to his +end(14) in the monastery of Buddha’s alms-bowl, and on this Fâ-Hien went +forward alone towards the place of the flat-bone of Buddha’s skull. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) The modern Peshawur, lat. 34° 8′ N., lon. 71° 30′ E. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) A first cousin of Sâkyamuni, and born at the moment when he attained to +Buddhaship. Under Buddha’s teaching, Ananda became an Arhat, and is +famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he played an important part at +the first council for the formation of the Buddhist canon. The friendship +between Sâkyamuni and Ananda was very close and tender; and it is impossible to +read much of what the dying Buddha said to him and of him, as related in the +Maha-pari-nirvâna Sutra, without being moved almost to tears. Ananda is to +reappear on earth as Buddha in another Kalpa. See E. H., p. 9, and the Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xi. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) On his attaining to nirvâna, Sâkyamuni became the Buddha, and had no longer +to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and could rejoice in an +absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect purity. Still he continued to live +on for forty-five years, till he attained to pari-nirvâna, and had done with +all the life of sense and society, and had no more exercise of thought. He +died; but whether he absolutely and entirely <i>ceased</i> to be, in any sense +of the word <i>being</i>, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself +would not and could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use +of language is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of +immortality, his pari-nirvâna was his death. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Kanishka appeared, and began to reign, early in our first century, about +A.D. 10. He was the last of three brothers, whose original seat was in +Yueh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhara. Converted by the sudden appearance +of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and patronised the system as +liberally as Asoka had done. The finest topes in the north-west of India are +ascribed to him; he was certainly a great man and a magnificent sovereign. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Jambudvipa is one of the four great continents of the universe, +representing the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so called +because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree. It is south of +mount Meru, and divided among four fabulous kings (E. H., p. 36). It is often +used, as here perhaps, merely as the Buddhist name for India. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) This king was perhaps Kanishka himself, Fâ-Hien mixing up, in an +inartistic way, different legends about him. Eitel suggests that a relic of the +old name of the country may still exist in that of the Jats or Juts of the +present day. A more common name for it is Tukhara, and he observes that the +people were the Indo-Scythians of the Greeks, and the Tartars of Chinese +writers, who, driven on by the Huns (180 B.C.), conquered Transoxiana, +destroyed the Bactrian kingdom (126 B.C.), and finally conquered the Punjâb, +Cashmere, and great part of India, their greatest king being Kanishak (E. H., +p. 152). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Watters, clearly understanding the thought of the author in this sentence, +renders—“his destiny did not extend to a connexion with the +bowl;” but the term “destiny” suggests a controlling or +directing power without. The king thought that his virtue in the past was not +yet sufficient to give him possession of the bowl. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) The text is simply “those in white clothes.” This may mean +“the laity,” or the “upasakas;” but it is better to +take the characters in their common Chinese acceptation, as meaning +“commoners,” “men who have no rank.” See in +Williams’ Dictionary under {.}. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) I do not wonder that Rémusat should give for this—“et +s’en retournent apres.” But Fâ-Hien’s use of {.} in the +sense of “in the same way” is uniform throughout the narrative. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) Hardy’s M. B., p. 183, says:—“The alms-bowl, given by +Mahabrahma, having vanished (about the time that Gotama became Buddha), each of +the four guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of emerald, but he did not +accept them. They then brought four bowls made of stone, of the colour of the +mung fruit; and when each entreated that his own bowl might be accepted, Buddha +caused them to appear as if formed into a single bowl, appearing at the upper +rim as if placed one within the other.” See the account more correctly +given in the “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 110. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Compare the narrative in Luke’s Gospel, xxi. 1-4. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) See chapter viii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying. King was at this time ill in Nagara, +and indeed afterwards he dies in crossing the Little Snowy Mountains; but all +the texts make him die twice. The confounding of the two names has been pointed +out by Chinese critics. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) “Came to his end;” i.e., according to the text, “proved +the impermanence and uncertainty,” namely, of human life. See +Williams’ Dictionary under {.}. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +NAGARA. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA’S SKULL-BONE. OTHER RELICS, AND HIS +SHADOW.</h2> + +<p> +Going west for sixteen yojanas,(1) he came to the city He-lo(2) in the borders +of the country of Nagara, where there is the flat-bone of Buddha’s skull, +deposited in a vihâra(3) adorned all over with gold-leaf and the seven sacred +substances. The king of the country, revering and honouring the bone, and +anxious lest it should be stolen away, has selected eight individuals, +representing the great families in the kingdom, and committing to each a seal, +with which he should seal (its shrine) and guard (the relic). At early dawn +these eight men come, and after each has inspected his seal, they open the +door. This done, they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the +bone, which they place outside the vihâra, on a lofty platform, where it is +supported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances, and covered +with a bell of <i>lapis lazuli</i>, both adorned with rows of pearls. Its +colour is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect circle twelve inches +round,(4) curving upwards to the centre. Every day, after it has been brought +forth, the keepers of the vihâra ascend a high gallery, where they beat great +drums, blow conchs, and clash their copper cymbals. When the king hears them, +he goes to the vihâra, and makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When he +has done this, he (and his attendants) in order, one after another, (raise the +bone), place it (for a moment) on the top of their heads,(5) and then depart, +going out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east. The king +every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship, and afterwards +gives audience on the business of his government. The chiefs of the Vaisyas(6) +also make their offerings before they attend to their family affairs. Every day +it is so, and there is no remissness in the observance of the custom. When all +the offerings are over, they replace the bone in the vihâra, where there is a +vimoksha tope,(7) of the seven precious substances, and rather more than five +cubits high, sometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front of the +door of the vihâra, there are parties who every morning sell flowers and +incense,(8) and those who wish to make offerings buy some of all kinds. The +kings of various countries are also constantly sending messengers with +offerings. The vihâra stands in a square of thirty paces, and though heaven +should shake and earth be rent, this place would not move. +</p> + +<p> +Going on, north from this, for a yojana, (Fâ-Hien) arrived at the capital of +Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased with money five stalks +of flowers, as an offering to the Dipankara Buddha.(9) In the midst of the city +there is also the tope of Buddha’s tooth, where offerings are made in the +same way as to the flat-bone of his skull. +</p> + +<p> +A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of a valley, +where there is Buddha’s pewter staff;(10) and a vihâra also has been +built at which offerings are made. The staff is made of Gosîrsha Chandana, and +is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long. It is contained in a wooden tube, +and though a hundred or a thousand men ere to (try to) lift it, they could not +move it. +</p> + +<p> +Entering the mouth of the valley, and going west, he found Buddha’s +Sanghali,(11) where also there is reared a vihâra, and offerings are made. It +is a custom of the country when there is a great drought, for the people to +collect in crowds, bring out the robe, pay worship to it, and make offerings, +on which there is immediately a great rain from the sky. +</p> + +<p> +South of the city, half a yojana, there is a rock-cavern, in a great hill +fronting the south-west; and here it was that Buddha left his shadow. Looking +at it from a distance of more than ten paces, you seem to see Buddha’s +real form, with his complexion of gold, and his characteristic marks(12) in +their nicety clearly and brightly displayed. The nearer you approach, however, +the fainter it becomes, as if it were only in your fancy. When the kings from +the regions all around have sent skilful artists to take a copy, none of them +have been able to do so. Among the people of the country there is a saying +current that “the thousand Buddhas(13) must all leave their shadows +here.” +</p> + +<p> +Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when Buddha was at +the spot, he shaved his hair and clipt his nails, and proceeded, along with his +disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits high, to be a model for all +future topes; and it is still existing. By the side of it there is a monastery, +with more than seven hundred monks in it. At this place there are as many as a +thousand topes(14) of Arhans and Pratyeka Buddhas.(15) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Now in India, Fâ-Hien used the Indian measure of distance; but it is not +possible to determine exactly what its length then was. The estimates of it are +very different, and vary from four and a half or five miles to seven, and +sometimes more. See the subject exhaustively treated in Davids’ +“Ceylon Coins and Measures,” pp. 15-17. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The present Hidda, west of Peshawur, and five miles south of Jellalabad. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) “The vihâra,” says Hardy, “is the residence of a recluse +or priest;” and so Davids:—“the clean little hut where the +mendicant lives.” Our author, however, does not use the Indian name here, +but the Chinese characters which express its meaning—tsing shay, “a +pure dwelling.” He uses the term occasionally, and evidently, in this +sense; more frequently it occurs in his narrative in connexion with the +Buddhist relic worship; and at first I translated it by “shrine” +and “shrine-house;” but I came to the conclusion, at last, to +employ always the Indian name. The first time I saw a shrine-house was, I +think, in a monastery near Foo-chow;—a small pyramidical structure, about +ten feet high, glittering as if with the precious substances, but all, it +seemed to me, of tinsel. It was in a large apartment of the building, having +many images in it. The monks said it was the most precious thing in their +possession, and that if they opened it, as I begged them to do, there would be +a convulsion that would destroy the whole establishment. See E. H., p. 166. The +name of the province of Behar was given to it in consequence of its many +vihâras. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) According to the characters, “square, round, four inches.” +Hsuan-chwang says it was twelve inches round. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) In Williams’ Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, are +employed in the phrase for “to degrade an officer,” that is, +“to remove the token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;” +but to place a thing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described here as +“resident scholars.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) See Eitel’s Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained as +“the act of self-liberation,” and “the dwelling or state of +liberty.” There are eight acts of liberating one’s self from all +subjective and objective trammels, and as many states of liberty (vimukti) +resulting therefrom. They are eight degrees of self-inanition, and apparently +eight stages on the way to nirvâna. The tope in the text would be emblematic in +some way of the general idea of the mental progress conducting to the +Buddhistic consummation of existence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) This incense would be in long “sticks,” small and large, such +as are sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) “The illuminating Buddha,” the twenty-fourth predecessor of +Sâkyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he would +by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gosîrsha Chandana, or +“sandal-wood from the Cow’s-head mountain,” a species of +copper-brown sandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of +(the fabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles in +shape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a “pewter +staff” from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters, +“China Review,” viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams’ Dictionary, +under {.}. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk’s attire, +reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round the waist (E. H., +p. 118). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) These were the “marks and beauties” on the person of a supreme +Buddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya prince +to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet come out, being +visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) Probably=“all Buddhas.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size of topes +in chapter iii, note 4. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, and Pratyeka +Jinas, and explained by “individually intelligent,” +“completely intelligent,” “intelligent as regards the +nidanas.” This, says Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is “a degree of saintship +unknown to primitive Buddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to +Buddhaship ‘individually,’ that is, without a teacher, and without +being able to save others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha is compared +with the rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the wilderness. He is also +called Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the twelve nidanas (the twelve links +in the everlasting chain of cause and effect in the whole range of existence, +the understanding of which solves the riddle of life, revealing the inanity of +all forms of existence, and preparing the mind for nirvâna). He is also +compared to a horse, which, crossing a river, almost buries its body under the +water, without, however, touching the bottom of the river. Thus in crossing +samsara he ‘suppresses the errors of life and thought, and the effects of +habit and passion, without attaining to absolute perfection.’” +Whether these Buddhas were unknown, as Eitel says, to primitive Buddhism, may +be doubted. See Davids’ Hibbert Lectures, p. 146. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA. CROSSING THE +INDUS TO THE EAST.</h2> + +<p> +Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fâ-Hien and the two +others,(1) proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy mountains.(2) On +them the snow lies accumulated both winter and summer. On the north (side) of +the mountains, in the shade, they suddenly encountered a cold wind which made +them shiver and become unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A +white froth came from his mouth, and he said to Fâ-Hien, “I cannot live +any longer. Do you immediately go away, that we do not all die here;” and +with these words he died.(3) Fâ-Hien stroked the corpse, and cried out +piteously, “Our original plan has failed;—it is fate.(4) What can +we do?” He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to +the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,(5) where there were +nearly three thousand monks, students of both the mahayana and hinayana. Here +they stayed for the summer retreat,(6) and when that was over, they went on to +the south, and ten days’ journey brought them to the kingdom of +Poh-na,(7) where there are also more than three thousand monks, all students of +the hinayana. Proceeding from this place for three days, they again crossed the +Indus, where the country on each side was low and level.(8) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from the lips +of Fâ-Hien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed, may be rendered +rightly by “fate” or “destiny;” but the fate is not +unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the +ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame his +Buddhism. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it can be +here intended. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) We are now therefore in 404. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the Lieutenant-Governorship of +the Punjâb, between 32° 10′ and 33° 15′ N. lat., and 70° +26′ and 72° E. lon. See Hunter’s Gazetteer of India, i, p. 393. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed, twice; +first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and second, as described +in chapter vii. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.</h2> + +<p> +After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-t’oo,(1) +where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the mahayana +and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples from Ts’in passing +along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves +thus: “How is it that these men from a border-land should have learned to +become monks,(2) and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in +search of the Law of Buddha?” They supplied them with what they needed, +and treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Bhida. Eitel says, “The present Punjâb;” i.e. it was a portion +of that. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) “To come forth from their families;” that is, to become +celibates, and adopt the tonsure. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF THE MONKS, +VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES.</h2> + +<p> +From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of very many +monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted by myriads. After +passing all these places, they came to a country named Ma-t’aou-lo.(1) +They still followed the course of the P’oo-na(2) river, on the banks of +which, left and right, there were twenty monasteries, which might contain three +thousand monks; and (here) the Law of Buddha was still more flourishing. +Everywhere, from the Sandy Desert, in all the countries of India, the kings had +been firm believers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community +of monks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their relatives and +ministers, supply them with food with their own hands. That done, (the king) +has a carpet spread for himself on the ground, and sits down in front of the +chairman;—they dare not presume to sit on couches in front of the +community. The laws and ways, according to which the kings presented their +offerings when Buddha was in the world, have been handed down to the present +day. +</p> + +<p> +All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.(3) In it the cold and heat are +finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The people are +numerous and happy; they have not to register their households, or attend to +any magistrates and their rules; only those who cultivate the royal land have +to pay (a portion of) the grain from it. If they want to go, they go; if they +want to stay on, they stay. The king governs without decapitation or (other) +corporal punishments. Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according +to the circumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at +wicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king’s +body-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole country the +people do not kill any living creature, nor drink intoxicating liquor, nor eat +onions or garlic. The only exception is that of the Chandalas.(4) That is the +name for those who are (held to be) wicked men, and live apart from others. +When they enter the gate of a city or a market-place, they strike a piece of +wood to make themselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come +into contact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and fowls, and do +not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no butchers’ shops and no +dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and selling commodities they use +cowries.(5) Only the Chandalas are fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh meat. +</p> + +<p> +After Buddha attained to pari-nirvâna,(6) the kings of the various countries +and the heads of the Vaisyas(7) built vihâras for the priests, and endowed them +with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards, along with the resident populations +and their cattle, the grants being engraved on plates of metal,(8) so that +afterwards they were handed down from king to king, without any daring to annul +them, and they remain even to the present time. +</p> + +<p> +The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious virtue, and +to recite their Sûtras and sit wrapt in meditation. When stranger monks arrive +(at any monastery), the old residents meet and receive them, carry for them +their clothes and alms-bowl, give them water to wash their feet, oil with which +to anoint them, and the liquid food permitted out of the regular hours.(9) When +(the stranger) has enjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of +years that he has been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment +with its appurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything is done +for him which the rules prescribe.(10) +</p> + +<p> +Where a community of monks resides, they erect topes to Sariputtra,(11) to +Maha-maudgalyayana,(12) and to Ananda,(13) and also topes (in honour) of the +Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sûtras. A month after the (annual season of) +rest, the families which are looking out for blessing stimulate one another(14) +to make offerings to the monks, and send round to them the liquid food which +may be taken out of the ordinary hours. All the monks come together in a great +assembly, and preach the Law;(15) after which offerings are presented at the +tope of Sariputtra, with all kinds of flowers and incense. All through the +night lamps are kept burning, and skilful musicians are employed to +perform.(16) +</p> + +<p> +When Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged (to be +permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The great Mugalan and the +great Kasyapa(17) also did the same. The bhikshunis(18) for the most part make +their offerings at the tope of Ananda, because it was he who requested the +World-honoured one to allow females to quit their families (and become nuns). +The Sramaneras(19) mostly make their offerings to Rahula.(20) The professors of +the Abhidharma make their offerings to it; those of the Vinaya to it. Every +year there is one such offering, and each class has its own day for it. +Students of the mahayana present offerings to the Prajna-paramita,(21) to +Manjusri,(22) and to Kwan-she-yin.(23) When the monks have done receiving their +annual tribute (from the harvests),(24) the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the +Brahmans bring clothes and other such articles as the monks require for use, +and distribute among them. The monks, having received them, also proceed to +give portions to one another. From the nirvâna of Buddha,(25) the forms of +ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred communities, have been +handed down from one generation to another without interruption. +</p> + +<p> +From the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern India, and +on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty thousand le, all is level +plain. There are no large hills with streams (among them); there are simply the +waters of the rivers. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Muttra, “the peacock city;” lat. 27° 30′ N., lon. 77° +43′ E. (Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the +P’oo-na has yet to be explained. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) In Pâli, Majjhima-desa, “the Middle Country.” See Davids’ +“Buddhist Birth Stories,” page 61, note. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, “The name Chandalas is explained by +‘butchers,’ ‘wicked men,’ and those who carry +‘the awful flag,’ to warn off their betters;—the lowest and +most despised caste of India, members of which, however, when converted, were +admitted even into the ranks of the priesthood.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) “Cowries;” {.} {.}, not “shells and ivory,” as one +might suppose; but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from +the marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling “the teeth of +fishes.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha’s pari-nirvâna is equivalent to +Buddha’s death. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different here, +but with the same meaning. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as related +in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fâ-Hien’s time, and long before and after +it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of metal. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) “No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon,” +and total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids’ +Manual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is called vikala, and +forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive unseasonable refreshment, +consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev. viii. 282), of honey, butter, +treacle, and sesamum oil. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again in chapter +xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev. viii. 282, 3. The +rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, p. 272 and +foll., and p. 279 and foll. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of Buddha, +and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that he obtained the +title of {.} {.}, “knowledge and wisdom.” He is also called +Buddha’s “right-hand attendant.” His name is derived from +that of his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. In Spence +Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa (Upa-tishya), derived from +his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to him, and indeed the followers of +the Abhidharma look on him as their founder. He died before Sâkyamuni; but is +to reappear as a future Buddha. Eitel, pp. 123, 124. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more pronounceable. He +also was one of the principal disciples, called Buddha’s “left-hand +attendant.” He was distinguished for his power of vision, and his magical +powers. The name in the text is derived from the former attribute, and it was +by the latter that he took up an artist to Tushita to get a view of Sâkyamuni, +and so make a statue of him. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went +to hell, and released his mother. He also died before Sâkyamuni, and is to +reappear as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) See chapter xii, note 2. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) A passage rather difficult to construe. The “families” would +be those more devout than their neighbours. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I once +heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall of the temple, +and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One priest took the pulpit +after another; and the hearers nodded their heads occasionally, and indicated +their sympathy now and then by an audible “h’m,” which +reminded me of Carlyle’s description of meetings of “The +Ironsides” of Cromwell. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sâkyamuni. But this Maha-kasyapa +was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and became one of his +disciples. He took the lead after Sâkyamuni’s death, convoked and +directed the first synod, from which his title of Arya-sthavira is derived. As +the first compiler of the Canon, he is considered the fountain of Chinese +orthodoxy, and counted as the first patriarch. He also is to be reborn as +Buddha. Eitel, p. 64. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(18) The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same rules as +the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint. See Hardy’s E. +M., chap. 17. See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, p. 321. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(19) The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to observe +the Shikshapada, or ten commandments. Fâ-Hien was himself one of them from his +childhood. Having heard the Trisharana, or threefold formula of +Refuge,—“I take refuge in Buddha; the Law; the Church,—the +novice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that forbid—(1) destroying +life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; (5) intoxicating drinks; (6) +eating after midday; (7) dancing, singing, music, and stage-plays; (8) +garlands, scents, unguents, and ornaments; (9) high or broad couches; (10) +receiving gold or silver.” Davids’ Manual, p. 160; Hardy’s E. +M., pp. 23, 24. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(20) The eldest son of Sâkyamuni by Yasodhara. Converted to Buddhism, he +followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha’s death became the +founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika). He is now revered as +the patron saint of all novices, and is to be reborn as the eldest son of every +future Buddha. Eitel, p. 101. His mother also is to be reborn as Buddha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(21) There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, “means of +passing to nirvâna:—Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil +contemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper means; +science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only prajna which carries +men across the samsara to the shores of nirvâna.” Eitel, p. 90. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(22) According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), A famous Bodhisattva, now specially +worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless jumble of history and +fable. Fâ-Hien found him here worshipped by followers of the mahayana school; +but Hsuan-chwang connects his worship with the yogachara or tantra-magic +school. The mahayana school regard him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His +most common titles are Mahamati, “Great wisdom,” and Kumara-raja, +“King of teaching, with a thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(23) Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a mystery as +Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the Sanskrit name +Avalokitesvra, “On-looking Sovereign,” or even “On-looking +Self-Existent,” and means “Regarding or Looking on the sounds of +the world,”=“Hearer of Prayer.” Originally, and still in +Thibet, Avalokitesvara had only male attributes, but in China and Japan +(Kwannon), this deity (such popularly she is) is represented as a woman, +“Kwan-yin, the greatly gentle, with a thousand arms and a thousand +eyes;” and has her principal seat in the island of P’oo-t’oo, +on the China coast, which is a regular place of pilgrimage. To the worshippers +of whom Fâ-Hien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be Avalokitesvara. How he was +converted into the “goddess of mercy,” and her worship took the +place which it now has in China, is a difficult inquiry, which would take much +time and space, and not be brought after all, so far as I see, to a +satisfactory conclusion. See Eitel’s Handbook, pp. 18-20, and his Three +Lectures on Buddhism (third edition), pp. 124-131. I was talking on the subject +once with an intelligent Chinese gentleman, when he remarked, “Have you +not much the same thing in Europe in the worship of Mary?” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(24) Compare what is said in chap. v. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(25) This nirvâna of Buddha must be—not his death, but his attaining to +Buddhaship. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +SANKASYA. BUDDHA’S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS HEAVEN, +AND OTHER LEGENDS.</h2> + +<p> +From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found themselves +in a kingdom called Sankasya,(1) at the place where Buddha came down, after +ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(2) and there preaching for three months +his Law for the benefit of his mother.(3) Buddha had gone up to this heaven by +his supernatural power,(4) without letting his disciples know; but seven days +before the completion (of the three months) he laid aside his invisibility,(4) +and Anuruddha,(5) with his heavenly eyes,(5) saw the World-honoured one, and +immediately said to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, “Do you go and +salute the World-honoured one.” Mugalan forthwith went, and with head and +face did homage at (Buddha’s) feet. They then saluted and questioned each +other, and when this was over, Buddha said to Mugalan, “Seven days after +this I will go down to Jambudvipa;” and thereupon Mugalan returned. At +this time the great kings of eight countries with their ministers and people, +not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all thirstily looking up for him, +and had collected in clouds in this kingdom to wait for the World-honoured one. +</p> + +<p> +Then the bhikshuni Utpala(6) thought in her heart, “To-day the kings, +with their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming) Buddha. I +am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to see him?”(7) +Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her into the appearance +of a holy Chakravartti(8) king, and she was the foremost of all in doing +reverence to him. +</p> + +<p> +As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas heaven, when +he was coming down, there were made to appear three flights of precious steps. +Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps of which were composed of the seven +precious substances. The king of Brahma-loka(9) also made a flight of silver +steps appear on the right side, (where he was seen) attending with a white +chowry in his hand. Sakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple +gold on the left side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of +the seven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas followed +Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three flights all disappeared +in the ground, excepting seven steps, which continued to be visible. Afterwards +king Asoka, wishing to know where their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. +They went down to the yellow springs(10) without reaching the bottom of the +steps, and from this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, +and built a vihâra over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits in +height, right over the middle flight. Behind the vihâra he erected a stone +pillar, about fifty cubits high,(11) with a lion on the top of it.(12) Let into +the pillar, on each of its four sides,(13) there is an image of Buddha, inside +and out(14) shining and transparent, and pure as it were of <i>lapis +lazuli</i>. Some teachers of another doctrine(15) once disputed with the +Sramanas about (the right to) this as a place of residence, and the latter were +having the worst of the argument, when they took an oath on both sides on the +condition that, if the place did indeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be +some marvellous attestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the lion +on the top gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which their opponents +were frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +Through Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven, his body +emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man. He went +immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he did so, a +bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the place where the +bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to Buddha, a tope has now been +built. +</p> + +<p> +At the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair and nails, +topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas(16) that preceded Sâkyamuni +Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,(17) and where images of their +persons were made. At all these places topes were made, and are still existing. +At the place where Sakra, Ruler of the Devas, and the king of the Brahma-loka +followed Buddha down (from the Trayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a +tope. +</p> + +<p> +At this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive their food +from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of the mahayana and some +of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a white-eared dragon, which acts the +part of danapati to the community of these monks, causing abundant harvests in +the country, and the enriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence +of any calamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In gratitude +for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with a carpet for it to +sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, which they present for its +nourishment. Every day they set apart three of their number to go to its house, +and eat there. Whenever the summer retreat is ended, the dragon straightway +changes its form, and appears as a small snake,(18) with white spots at the +side of its ears. As soon as the monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel +with cream, into which they put the creature, and then carry it round from the +one who has the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, when +it appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round, immediately it +disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once. The country is very +productive, and the people are prosperous, and happy beyond comparison. When +people of other countries come to it, they are exceedingly attentive to them +all, and supply them with what they need. +</p> + +<p> +Fifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called “The +Great Heap.”(19) Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who was +converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a vihâra. When +it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on his hands,(20) some +drops fell on the ground. They are still on the spot, and however they may be +brushed away and removed, they continue to be visible, and cannot be made to +disappear. +</p> + +<p> +At this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit constantly +keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour of man being +required. A king of corrupt views once said, “Since you are able to do +this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside there till the dirt and +filth has increased and accumulated, and (see) whether you can cleanse it away +or not.” The spirit thereupon raised a great wind, which blew (the filth +away), and made the place pure. +</p> + +<p> +At this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep counting +a whole day without being able to know (their exact number). If he be firmly +bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of each tope. When this is +done, proceeding to count the number of men, whether they be many or few, he +will not get to know (the number).(21) +</p> + +<p> +There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which there is a +place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The nirvâna ground (where +he was burned(22) after death) is as large as a carriage wheel; and while grass +grows all around, on this spot there is none. The ground also where he dried +his clothes produces no grass, but the impression of them, where they lay on +it, continues to the present day. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five miles +northwest of Canouge, lat. 27° 3′ N., lon. 79° 50′ E. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning “the heaven of thirty-three +classes,” a name which has been explained both historically and +mythologically. “The description of it,” says Eitel, p. 148, +“tallies in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is +situated between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities +of devas, eight on each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra’s +capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a thousand +heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra, with his wife and +119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly reports of the four +Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and evil in the world,” +&c. &c. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Buddha’s mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the <i>mater immaculata</i> of +the Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, “Reborn in +Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted.” The Tushita +heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but was the +former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of Buddha’s visit +to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he calls Tawutisa, and speaks +of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now become a deva by the changing of her +sex. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Compare the account of the Arhat’s conveyance of the artist to the +Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more comprehensive. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sâkyamuni, being the son of his uncle +Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of Buddha’s last +moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or “heavenly eye,” +the first of the six abhijnas or “supernatural talents,” the +faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or by intuition, all beings +in all worlds. “He could see,” says Hardy, M. B., p. 232, +“all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard seed held in the +hand.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as in the +text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word, however, is +explained by “blue lotus flowers;” and Hsuan-chwang calls her the +nun “Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});”—the same as +Hardy’s Upulwan and Uppalawarna. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Perhaps we should read here “to see Buddha,” and then ascribe +the transformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which view +we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing to indicate +that the stop should be made before or after “Buddha.” And the one +view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the other. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) “A holy king who turns the wheel;” that is, the military +conqueror and monarch of the whole or part of a universe. “The +symbol,” says Eitel (p. 142) “of such a king is the chakra or +wheel, for when he ascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating +by its material (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of his +reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls his wheel +among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of a Buddha, who meekly +turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every universe by his teaching.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti, adopted by +Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed by every Buddhist +saint who attains to bodhi. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is found. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance from the +elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) A note of Mr. Beal says on this:—“General Cunningham, who +visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of Asoka, with a +well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was minus trunk and tail. He +supposes this to be the pillar seen by Fâ-Hien, who mistook the top of it for +a lion. It is possible such a mistake may have been made, as in the account of +one of the pillars at Sravasti, Fâ-Hien says an ox formed the capital, whilst +Hsuan-chwang calls it an elephant (P. 19, Arch. Survey).” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have been +square. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) Equivalent to “all through.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) Has always been translated “heretical teachers;” but I eschew +the terms <i>heresy</i> and <i>heretical</i>. The parties would not be +Buddhists of any creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, +as Fâ-Hien deemed it. The Chinese term means “outside” or +“foreign;”—in Pâli, anna-titthiya,=“those belonging to +another school.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) These three predecessors of Sâkyamuni were the three Buddhas of the +present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, and Maitreya is to be +the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda (Pâli, Kakusanda), “he who +readily solves all doubts;” a scion of the Kasyapa family. Human life +reached in his time 40,000 years, and so many persons were converted by him. +(2) Kanakamuni (Pâli, Konagamana), “body radiant with the colour of pure +gold;” of the same family. Human life reached in his time 30,000 years, +and so many persons were converted by him. (3) Kasyapa (Pâli, Kassapa), +“swallower of light.” Human life reached in his time 20,000 years, +and so many persons were converted by him. See Eitel, under the several names; +Hardy’s M. B., pp. 95-97; and Davids’ “Buddhist Birth +Stories,” p. 51. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana (Pâli, +Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery, made sometimes +with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic meditation. The +“sitting” would be not because of weariness or for rest, but for +meditation. E. H., p. 144. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(18) The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake for the +{.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be “a small +medusa.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(19) The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the Chinese +editions, which means “Fire Limit.” Buddha, it is said, {.} +converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first by +“in one of his incarnations;” and in his revised version he has +“himself.” The difference between Fâ-Hien’s usage of {.} and +{.} throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the doings +of Sâkyamuni; {.}, “formerly,” is often used of him and others in +the sense of “in a former age or birth.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(20) See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:—“As a token of the giving over of +the garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this time +it became one of the principal residences of the sage.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(21) This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended to convey +the idea that there was something mysterious about the number of the topes. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(22) This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all burned. +Hardy’s E. M., pp. 322-324. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA’S PREACHING.</h2> + +<p> +Fâ-Hien stayed at the Dragon vihâra till after the summer retreat,(1) and +then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived at the city of +Kanyakubja,(2) lying along the Ganges.(3) There are two monasteries in it, the +inmates of which are students of the hinayana. At a distance from the city of +six or seven le, on the west, on the northern bank of the Ganges, is a place +where Buddha preached the Law to his disciples. It has been handed down that +his subjects of discourse were such as “The bitterness and vanity (of +life) as impermanent and uncertain,” and that “The body is as a +bubble or foam on the water.” At this spot a tope was erected, and still +exists. +</p> + +<p> +Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the travellers) +arrived at a village named A-le,(4) containing places where Buddha preached the +Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of which topes have been built. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) We are now, probably, in 405. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a previous +note. The Sanskrit name means “the city of humpbacked maidens;” +with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king Brahma-datta, who +were made deformed by the curse of the rishi Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they +had refused. E. H., p. 51. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Ganga, explained by “Blessed water,” and “Come from +heaven to earth.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) This village (the Chinese editions read “forest”) has hardly +been clearly identified. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +SHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA’S DANTA-KASHTHA.</h2> + +<p> +Going on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to the great +kingdom of Sha-che.(1) As you go out of the city of Sha-che by the southern +gate, on the east of the road (is the place) where Buddha, after he had chewed +his willow branch,(2) stuck it in the ground, when it forthwith grew up seven +cubits, (at which height it remained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The +Brahmans with their contrary doctrines(3) became angry and jealous. Sometimes +they cut the tree down, sometimes they plucked it up, and cast it to a +distance, but it grew again on the same spot as at first. Here also is the +place where the four Buddhas walked and sat, and at which a tope was built that +is still existing. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham’s +identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. The change +of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi dictionary thinks the two +characters should be but one and the same. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or “dental +wood,” mostly a bit of the <i>ficus Indicus</i> or banyan tree, which the +monk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of health +generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at least Fâ-Hien +used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) instead of it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that we should +read “all the unbelievers and Brahmans,” or “heretics and +Brahmans?” I think the Brahmans were also “the unbelievers” +and “heretics,” having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and +opposed to, Buddha’s. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +KOSALA AND SRAVASTI. THE JETAVANA VIHARA AND OTHER MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS OF +BUDDHA. SYMPATHY OF THE MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.</h2> + +<p> +Going on from this to the south, for eight yojanas, (the travellers) came to +the city of Sravasti(1) in the kingdom of Kosala,(2) in which the inhabitants +were few and far between, amounting in all (only) to a few more than two +hundred families; the city where king Prasenajit(3) ruled, and the place of the +old vihâra of Maha-prajapti;(4) of the well and walls of (the house of) the +(Vaisya) head Sudatta;(5) and where the Angulimalya(6) became an Arhat, and his +body was (afterwards) burned on his attaining to pari-nirvâna. At all these +places topes were subsequently erected, which are still existing in the city. +The Brahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of hatred and envy in +their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there came from the heavens such +a storm of crashing thunder and flashing lightning that they were not able in +the end to effect their purpose. +</p> + +<p> +As you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from it, the +(Vaisya) head Sudatta built a vihâra, facing the south; and when the door was +open, on each side of it there was a stone pillar, with the figure of a wheel +on the top of that on the left, and the figure of an ox on the top of that on +the right. On the left and right of the building the ponds of water clear and +pure, the thickets of trees always luxuriant, and the numerous flowers of +various hues, constituted a lovely scene, the whole forming what is called the +Jetavana vihâra.(7) +</p> + +<p> +When Buddha went up to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(8) and preached the Law for +the benefit of his mother, (after he had been absent for) ninety days, +Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to be carved in Gosîrsha +Chandana wood,(9) and put in the place where he usually sat. When Buddha on his +return entered the vihâra, this image immediately left its place, and came +forth to meet him. Buddha said to it, “Return to your seat. After I have +attained to pari-nirvâna, you will serve as a pattern to the four classes of my +disciples,”(10) and on this the image returned to its seat. This was the +very first of all the images (of Buddha), and that which men subsequently +copied. Buddha then removed, and dwelt in a small vihâra on the south side (of +the other), a different place from that containing the image, and twenty paces +distant from it. +</p> + +<p> +The Jetavana vihâra was originally of seven storeys. The kings and people of +the countries around vied with one another in their offerings, hanging up about +it silken streamers and canopies, scattering flowers, burning incense, and +lighting lamps, so as to make the night as bright as the day. This they did day +after day without ceasing. (It happened that) a rat, carrying in its mouth the +wick of a lamp, set one of the streamers or canopies on fire, which caught the +vihâra, and the seven storeys were all consumed. The kings, with their officers +and people, were all very sad and distressed, supposing that the sandal-wood +image had been burned; but lo! after four or five days, when the door of a +small vihâra on the east was opened, there was immediately seen the original +image. They were all greatly rejoiced, and co-operated in restoring the vihâra. +When they had succeeded in completing two storeys, they removed the image back +to its former place. +</p> + +<p> +When Fâ-Hien and Tao-ching first arrived at the Jetavana monastery, and +thought how the World-honoured one had formerly resided there for twenty-five +years, painful reflections arose in their minds. Born in a border-land, along +with their like-minded friends, they had travelled through so many kingdoms; +some of those friends had returned (to their own land), and some had (died), +proving the impermanence and uncertainty of life; and to-day they saw the place +where Buddha had lived now unoccupied by him. They were melancholy through +their pain of heart, and the crowd of monks came out, and asked them from what +kingdom they were come. “We are come,” they replied, “from +the land of Han.” “Strange,” said the monks with a sigh, +“that men of a border country should be able to come here in search of +our Law!” Then they said to one another, “During all the time that +we, preceptors and monks,(11) have succeeded to one another, we have never seen +men of Han, followers of our system, arrive here.” +</p> + +<p> +Four le to the north-west of the vihâra there is a grove called “The +Getting of Eyes.” Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived +here in order that they might be near the vihâra.(12) Buddha preached his Law +to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full of joy, they stuck their +staves in the earth, and with their heads and faces on the ground, did +reverence. The staves immediately began to grow, and they grew to be great. +People made much of them, and no one dared to cut them down, so that they came +to form a grove. It was in this way that it got its name, and most of the +Jetavana monks, after they had taken their midday meal, went to the grove, and +sat there in meditation. +</p> + +<p> +Six or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha(13) built another +vihâra, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and which is still existing. +</p> + +<p> +To each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vihâra there were two +gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. The park (containing +the whole) was the space of ground which the (Vaisya) head Sudatta purchased by +covering it with gold coins. The vihâra was exactly in the centre. Here Buddha +lived for a longer time than at any other place, preaching his Law and +converting men. At the places where he walked and sat they also (subsequently) +reared topes, each having its particular name; and here was the place where +Sundari(14) murdered a person and then falsely charged Buddha (with the crime). +Outside the east gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of seventy paces to the +north, on the west of the road, Buddha held a discussion with the (advocates of +the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous doctrine, when the king and his great +officers, the householders, and people were all assembled in crowds to hear it. +Then a woman belonging to one of the erroneous systems, by name +Chanchamana,(15) prompted by the envious hatred in her heart, and having put on +(extra) clothes in front of her person, so as to give her the appearance of +being with child, falsely accused Buddha before all the assembly of having +acted unlawfully (towards her). On this, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed himself +and some devas into white mice, which bit through the strings about her waist; +and when this was done, the (extra) clothes which she wore dropt down on the +ground. The earth at the same time was rent, and she went (down) alive into +hell.(16) (This) also is the place where Devadatta,(17) trying with empoisoned +claws to injure Buddha, went down alive into hell. Men subsequently set up +marks to distinguish where both these events took place. +</p> + +<p> +Further, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a vihâra +rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image of Buddha in a +sitting posture. On the east of the road there was a devalaya(18) of (one of) +the contrary systems, called “The Shadow Covered,” right opposite +the vihâra on the place of discussion, with (only) the road between them, and +also rather more than sixty cubits high. The reason why it was called +“The Shadow Covered” was this:—When the sun was in the west, +the shadow of the vihâra of the World-honoured one fell on the devalaya of a +contrary system; but when the sun was in the east, the shadow of that devalaya +was diverted to the north, and never fell on the vihâra of Buddha. The +mal-believers regularly employed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and +water (all about it), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present offerings; +but in the morning the lamps were found to have been suddenly removed, and in +the vihâra of Buddha. The Brahmans were indignant, and said, “Those +Sramanas take out lamps and use them for their own service of Buddha, but we +will not stop our service for you!”(19) On that night the Brahmans +themselves kept watch, when they saw the deva spirits which they served take +the lamps and go three times round the vihâra of Buddha and present offerings. +After this ministration to Buddha they suddenly disappeared. The Brahmans +thereupon knowing how great was the spiritual power of Buddha, forthwith left +their families, and became monks.(20) It has been handed down, that, near the +time when these things occurred, around the Jetavana vihâra there were +ninety-eight monasteries, in all of which there were monks residing, excepting +only in one place which was vacant. In this Middle Kingdom(21) there are +ninety-six(21) sorts of views, erroneous and different from our system, all of +which recognise this world and the future world(22) (and the connexion between +them). Each had its multitude of followers, and they all beg their food: only +they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also, moreover, seek (to acquire) the +blessing (of good deeds) on unfrequented ways, setting up on the road-side +houses of charity, where rooms, couches, beds, and food and drink are supplied +to travellers, and also to monks, coming and going as guests, the only +difference being in the time (for which those parties remain). +</p> + +<p> +There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. They +regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not to Sâkyamuni +Buddha. +</p> + +<p> +Four le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been erected at the +place where the World-honoured one encountered king Virudhaha,(23) when he +wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,(23) and took his stand before him at +the side of the road.(24) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is placed by +Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of the Rapti, about +fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are still the ruins of a great +town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in this town, or in its neighbourhood, +that Sâkyamuni spent many years of his life after he became Buddha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a northern. +This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning “leader of the victorious +army.” He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of +Sâkyamuni. Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist +idolatory, because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See +Hardy’s M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Explained by “Path of Love,” and “Lord of Life.” +Prajapati was aunt and nurse of Sâkyamuni, the first woman admitted to the +monkhood, and the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to +become a Buddha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Sudatta, meaning “almsgiver,” was the original name of +Anatha-pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head, of +Sravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old house, only +the well and walls remained at the time of Fâ-Hien’s visit to Sravasti. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made +assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had joined them +by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha, he became a monk; but +when it is said in the text that he “got the Tao,” or doctrine, I +think that expression implies more than his conversion, and is equivalent to +his becoming an Arhat. His name in Pâli is Angulimala. That he did become an +Arhat is clear from his autobiographical poem in the “Songs of the +Theras.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Eitel (p. 37) says:—“A noted vihâra in the suburbs of Sravasti, +erected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son of +Prasenajit. Sâkyamuni made this place his favourite residence for many years. +Most of the Sûtras (authentic and supposititious) date from this spot.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) See chapter xvii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) See chapter xiii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) Arya, meaning “honourable,” “venerable,” is a +title given only to those who have mastered the four spiritual +truths:—(1) that “misery” is a necessary condition of all +sentient existence; this is duhkha: (2) that the “accumulation” of +misery is caused by the passions; this is samudaya: (3) that the +“extinction” of passion is possible; this is nirodha: and (4) that +the “path” leads to the extinction of passion; which is marga. +According to their attainment of these truths, the Aryas, or followers of +Buddha, are distinguished into four classes,—Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, +Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p. 14. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) This is the first time that Fâ-Hien employs the name Ho-shang {.} {.}, +which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks without distinction +of rank or office. It is the representative of the Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, +“explained,” says Eitel (p. 155) by “a self-taught +teacher,” or by “he who knows what is sinful and what is not +sinful,” with the note, “In India the vernacular of this term is +{.} {.} (? munshee (? Bronze)); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.} {.} +(hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese synonyms, {.} {.} +(ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang).” The Indian term was originally a +designation for those who teach only a part of the Vedas, the Vedangas. Adopted +by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made to signify the priests of the older +ritual, in distinction from the Lamas. In China it has been used first as a +synonym for {.} {.}, monks engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), +in distinction from {.} {.}, disciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative +philosophers (meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of +monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. In the text +there seems to be implied some distinction between the “teachers” +and the “ho-shang;”—probably, the Pâli Akariya and Upagghaya; +see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 178, 179. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) It might be added, “as depending on it,” in order to bring out +the full meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the help of the +police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early years, to keep the +approaches to the Cathedral free from the number of beggars, who squatted down +there during service, hoping that the hearers would come out with softened +hearts, and disposed to be charitable. I found the popular tutelary temples in +Peking and other places, and the path up Mount T’ai in Shan-lung +similarly frequented. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became “mother superior” +of many nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised it +does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this murderer; +see in Julien’s “Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang,” p. +125,—“a heretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated +Buddha.” See also the fuller account in Beal’s “Records of +Western Countries,” pp. 7, 8, where the murder is committed by several +Brahmacharins. In this passage Beal makes Sundari to be the name of the +murdered person (a harlot). But the text cannot be so construed. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the story +about her, M. B., pp. 275-277. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) “Earth’s prison,” or “one of Earth’s +prisons.” It was the Avichi naraka to which she went, the last of the +eight hot prisons, where the culprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted +succession (such being the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final +redemption. E. H. p. 21. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore of +Sâkyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had become so in +an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued in every successive +birth, through which they reappeared in the world. See the accounts of him, and +of his various devices against Buddha, and his own destruction at the last, in +M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330; and still better, in the Sacred Books of the East, +vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in +the text, see “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 107. When he was +engulphed, and the flames were around him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, +and we are told that he is expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name of +Devaraja, in a universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(18) “A devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is +worshipped,—a general name for all Brahmanical temples” (Eitel, p. +30). We read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa Matanga +came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or Sûtras, he was lodged in the +Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there was built for him +“The Court of the White-horse” ({.} {.} {.}), and in consequence +the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic temples. Fâ-Hien, +however, applies this term only to Brahmanical temples. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(19) Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in the +circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in I Samuel v. +about the Ark and Dagon, that “twice-battered god of Palestine.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(20) “Entered the doctrine or path.” Three stages in the Buddhistic +life are indicated by Fâ-Hien:—“entering it,” as here, by +becoming monks ({.} {.}); “getting it,” by becoming Arhats ({.} +{.}); and “completing it,” by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(21) It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central India as +a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it where he then +was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two sects, but there may +have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys Davids’ +“Buddhism,” pp. 98, 99. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(22) This mention of “the future world” is an important difference +between the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has been a +stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. Rémusat says in a note +that “the heretics limited themselves to speak of the duties of man in +his actual life without connecting it by the notion that the metempsychosis +with the anterior periods of existence through which he had passed.” But +this is just the opposite of what Fâ-Hien’s meaning was, according to +our Corean text. The notion of “the metempsychosis” was just that +in which all the ninety-six erroneous systems agreed among themselves and with +Buddhism. If he had wished to say what the French sinologue thinks he does say, +moreover, he would probably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, +however, that the connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world +(including the present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or +transmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate existence +of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of “the wheel,” I +would call its doctrine that of “The Transrotation of Births.” See +Rhys Davids’ third Hibbert Lecture. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(23) Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya. He was king +of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the destroyer of +Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility to the Sakyas is +sufficiently established, and it may be considered as certain that the name +Shay-e, which, according to Julien’s “Methode,” p. 89, may be +read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the phonetisations of +Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(24) This would be the interview in the “Life of the Buddha” in +Trübner’s Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found +Buddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he told the +king that the thought of the danger of “his relatives and kindred made it +shady.” The king was moved to sympathy for the time, and went back to +Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only postponed for a short +space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be inevitable in the connexion of +cause and effect. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +THE THREE PREDECESSORS OF SAKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP.</h2> + +<p> +Fifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named +Too-wei,(1) the birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha.(1) At the place where he and his +father met,(2) and at that where he attained to pari-nirvâna, topes were +erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, the Kasyapa +Tathagata,(3) a great tope was also erected. +</p> + +<p> +Going on south-east from the city of Sravasti for twelve yojanas, (the +travellers) came to a town named Na-pei-kea,(4) the birthplace of Krakuchanda +Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at that where he attained +to pari-nirvâna, topes were erected. Going north from here less than a yojana, +they came to a town which had been the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the +place where he and his father met, and where he attained to pari-nirvâna, topes +were erected. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine miles to +the west of Sahara-mahat. The birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha is generally thought +to have been Benares. According to a calculation of Rémusat, from his birth to +A.D. 1832 there were 1,992,859 years! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) It seems to be necessary to have a meeting between every Buddha and his +father. One at least is ascribed to Sâkyamuni and his father (real or supposed) +Suddhodana. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in Chinese {.} +{.}, meaning, as Eitel, p. 147 says, “<i>Sic profectus sum</i>.” It +is equivalent to “Rightful Buddha, the true successor in the Supreme +Buddha Line.” Hardy concludes his account of the Kasyapa Buddha (M. B., +p. 97) with the following sentence:—“After his body was burnt, the +bones still remained in their usual position, presenting the appearance of a +perfect skeleton; and the whole of the inhabitants of Jambudvipa, assembling +together, erected a dagoba over his relics one yojana in height!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Na-pei-kea or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this Buddha +was born at the city of Gan-ho ({.} {.} {.}) and Hardy gives his birthplace as +Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit, to reconcile these +statements. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +KAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA’S BIRTH, AND OTHER +INCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT.</h2> + +<p> +Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of +Kapilavastu;(1) but in it there was neither king nor people. All was mound and +desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a score or two of +families of the common people. At the spot where stood the old palace of king +Suddhodana(2) there have been made images of the prince (his eldest son) and +his mother;(3) and at the places where that son appeared mounted on a white +elephant when he entered his mother’s womb,(4) and where he turned his +carriage round on seeing the sick man after he had gone out of the city by the +eastern gate,(5) topes have been erected. The places (were also pointed out)(6) +where (the rishi) A-e(7) inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of the +heir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with Nanda and +others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one side, he tossed it +away;(8) where he shot an arrow to the south-east, and it went a distance of +thirty le, then entering the ground and making a spring to come forth, which +men subsequently fashioned into a well from which travellers might drink;(9) +where, after he had attained to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his +father;(10) where five hundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence +to Upali(11) while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where +Buddha preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and others kept +the four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his father, could not +enter;(12) where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, which is still +standing,(13) with his face to the east, and (his aunt) Maja-prajapati +presented him with a Sanghali;(14) and (where) king Vaidurya slew the seed of +Sakya, and they all in dying became Srotapannas.(15) A tope was erected at this +last place, which is still existing. +</p> + +<p> +Several le north-east from the city was the king’s field, where the +heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.(16) +</p> + +<p> +Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,(17) where the queen +entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on the northern +bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her hand, laid hold of a +branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, gave birth to the +heir-apparent.(18) When he fell to the ground, he (immediately) walked seven +paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and washed his body. At the place where they +did so, there was immediately formed a well, and from it, as well as from the +above pond, where (the queen) bathed,(19) the monks (even) now constantly take +the water, and drink it. +</p> + +<p> +There are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history of) all +Buddhas:—first, the place where they attained to perfect Wisdom (and +became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the wheel of the Law;(20) +third, the place where they preached the Law, discoursed of righteousness, and +discomfited (the advocates of) erroneous doctrines; and fourth, the place where +they came down, after going up to the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for +the benefit of their mothers. Other places in connexion with them became +remarkable, according to the manifestations which were made at them at +particular times. +</p> + +<p> +The country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The +inhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be on their +guard against white elephants(21) and lions, and should not travel +incautiously. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Kapilavastu, “the city of beautiful virtue,” was the birthplace +of Sâkyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last chapter, +during his lifetime. It was situated a short distance north-west of the present +Goruckpoor, lat. 26° 46′ N., lon. 83° 19′ E. Davids says (Manual, +p. 25), “It was on the banks of the river Rohini, the modern Kohana, +about 100 miles north-west of the city of Benares.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The father, or supposed father, of Sâkyamuni. He is here called “the +king white and pure” ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation is +“the king of pure rice” ({.} {.} {.}); but the character {.}, or +“rice,” must be a mistake for {.}, “Brahman,” and the +appellation= “Pure Brahman king.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The “eldest son,” or “prince” was Sâkyamuni, and +his mother had no other son. For “his mother,” see chap. xvii, note +3. She was a daughter of Anjana or Anusakya, king of the neighbouring country +of Koli, and Yasodhara, an aunt of Suddhodana. There appear to have been +various intermarriages between the royal houses of Kapila and Koli. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) In “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 15, we read that “Buddha +was now in the Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time for +his last rebirth in the course of which he would become Buddha), he made the +necessary examinations; and having decided that Maha-maya was the right mother, +in the midnight watch he entered her womb under the appearance of an +elephant.” See M. B., pp. 140-143, and, still better, Rhys Davids’ +“Birth Stories,” pp. 58-63. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) In Hardy’s M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, “As the prince +(Siddhartha, the first name given to Sâkyamuni; see Eitel, under +Sarvarthasiddha) was one day passing along, he saw a deva under the appearance +of a leper, full of sores, with a body like a water-vessel, and legs like the +pestle for pounding rice; and when he learned from his charioteer what it was +that he saw, he became agitated, and returned at once to the palace.” See +also Rhys Davids’ “Buddhism,” p. 29. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) This is an addition of my own, instead of “There are also topes +erected at the following spots,” of former translators. Fâ-Hien does not +say that there were memorial topes at all these places. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in Pâli Kala Devala, and had been a +minister of Suddhodana’s father. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) In “The Life of Buddha” we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali +had sent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was near +Kapilavastu, Devadatta, out of envy, killed it with a blow of his fist. Nanda +(not Ananda, but a half-brother of Siddhartha), coming that way, saw the +carcase lying on the road, and pulled it on one side; but the Bodhisattva, +seeing it there, took it by the tail, and tossed it over seven fences and +ditches, when the force of its fall made a great ditch. I suspect that the +characters in the column have been disarranged, and that we should read {.} {.} +{.} {.}, {.} {.}, {.} {.}. Buddha, that is Siddhartha, was at this time only +ten years old. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them all. He +was then seventeen. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, and as he +was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and said, +“Father, though I love thee, yet a fear possesses me, and I may not +stay;”—The Life of the Buddha, p. 25. Most probably it was that +related in M. B., pp. 199-204. See “Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. +120-127. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was only a +Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did Buddhism assert +its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste. Upali was distinguished by +his knowledge of the rules of discipline, and praised on that account by +Buddha. He was one of the three leaders of the first synod, and the principal +compiler of the original Vinaya books. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) I have not met with the particulars of this preaching. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) Meaning, as explained in Chinese, “a tree without knots;” the +<i>ficus Indica</i>. See Rhys Davids’ note, Manual, p. 39, where he says +that a branch of one of these trees was taken from Buddha Gaya to Anuradhapura +in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is still growing there, +the oldest historical tree in the world. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this +presentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of saints, who +are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to nirvâna after having been +reborn seven times consecutively as men or devas. The Chinese editions state +there were “1000” of the Sakya seed. The general account is that +they were 500, all maidens, who refused to take their place in king +Vaidurya’s harem, and were in consequence taken to a pond, and had their +hands and feet cut off. There Buddha came to them, had their wounds dressed, +and preached to them the Law. They died in the faith, and were reborn in the +region of the four Great Kings. Thence they came back and visited Buddha at +Jetavana in the night, and there they obtained the reward of Srotapanna. +“The Life of the Buddha,” p. 121. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of it reminds +me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an institution in China +from the earliest times. But there we have no magic and no extravagance. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) “The place of Liberation;” see chap. xiii, note 7. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(18) See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; “The Life of +the Buddha,” pp. 15, 16; and “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 66. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(19) There is difficulty in construing the text of this last statement. Mr. +Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his first translation. In his +revised version he gives for it, I cannot say happily, “As well as at the +pool, the water of which came down from above for washing (the child).” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(20) See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids’ Manual, p. 45. The latter +says, that “to turn the wheel of the Law” means “to set +rolling the royal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth and +righteousness;” but he admits that this is more grandiloquent than the +phraseology was in the ears of Buddhists. I prefer the words quoted from Eitel +in the note referred to. “They turned” is probably equivalent to +“They began to turn.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(21) Fâ-Hien does not say that he himself saw any of these white elephants, +nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour. We shall find +by-and-by, in a note further on, that, to make them appear more terrible, they +are spoken of as “black.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +RAMA, AND ITS TOPE.</h2> + +<p> +East from Buddha’s birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas, there +is a kingdom called Rama.(1) The king of this country, having obtained one +portion of the relics of Buddha’s body,(2) returned with it and built +over it a tope, named the Rama tope. By the side of it there was a pool, and in +the pool a dragon, which constantly kept watch over (the tope), and presented +offerings to it day and night. When king Asoka came forth into the world, he +wished to destroy the eight topes (over the relics), and to build (instead of +them) 84,000 topes.(3) After he had thrown down the seven (others), he wished +next to destroy this tope. But then the dragon showed itself, took the king +into its palace;(4) and when he had seen all the things provided for offerings, +it said to him, “If you are able with your offerings to exceed these, you +can destroy the tope, and take it all away. I will not contend with you.” +The king, however, knew that such appliances for offerings were not to be had +anywhere in the world, and thereupon returned (without carrying out his +purpose). +</p> + +<p> +(Afterwards), the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, and there +was nobody to sprinkle and sweep (about the tope); but a herd of elephants came +regularly, which brought water with their trunks to water the ground, and +various kinds of flowers and incense, which they presented at the tope. (Once) +there came from one of the kingdoms a devotee(5) to worship at the tope. When +he encountered the elephants he was greatly alarmed, and screened himself among +the trees; but when he saw them go through with the offerings in the most +proper manner, the thought filled him with great sadness—that there +should be no monastery here, (the inmates of which) might serve the tope, but +the elephants have to do the watering and sweeping. Forthwith he gave up the +great prohibitions (by which he was bound),(6) and resumed the status of a +Sramanera.(7) With his own hands he cleared away the grass and trees, put the +place in good order, and made it pure and clean. By the power of his +exhortations, he prevailed on the king of the country to form a residence for +monks; and when that was done, he became head of the monastery. At the present +day there are monks residing in it. This event is of recent occurrence; but in +all the succession from that time till now, there has always been a Sramanera +head of the establishment. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Rama or Ramagrama, between Kapilavastu and Kusanagara. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See the account of the eightfold division of the relics of Buddha’s +body in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 133-136. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000 atoms, and +hence the legend of Asoka’s wish to build 84,000 topes, one over each +atom of Sâkyamuni’s skeleton. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Fâ-Hien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that the +naga-guardian had a palace of his own, inside or underneath the pool or tank. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) It stands out on the narrative as a whole that we have not here “some +pilgrims,” but one devotee. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) What the “great prohibitions” which the devotee now gave up +were we cannot tell. Being what he was, a monk of more than ordinary ascetical +habits, he may have undertaken peculiar and difficult vows. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) The Sramanera, or in Chinese Shamei. See chap. xvi, note 19. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +WHERE BUDDHA FINALLY RENOUNCED THE WORLD, AND WHERE HE DIED.</h2> + +<p> +East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir-apparent sent +back Chandaka, with his white horse;(1) and there also a tope was erected. +</p> + +<p> +Four yojanas to the east from this, (the travellers) came to the Charcoal +tope,(2) where there is also a monastery. +</p> + +<p> +Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of +Kusanagara,(3) on the north of which, between two trees,(4) on the bank of the +Nairanjana(5) river, is the place where the World-honoured one, with his head +to the north, attained to pari-nirvâna (and died). There also are the places +where Subhadra,(6) the last (of his converts), attained to Wisdom (and became +an Arhat); where in his coffin of gold they made offerings to the +World-honoured one for seven days,(7) where the Vajrapani laid aside his golden +club,(8) and where the eight kings(9) divided the relics (of the burnt +body):—at all these places were built topes and monasteries, all of which +are now existing. +</p> + +<p> +In the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only the +families belonging to the (different) societies of monks. +</p> + +<p> +Going from this to the south-east for twelve yojanas, they came to the place +where the Lichchhavis(10) wished to follow Buddha to (the place of) his +pari-nirvâna, and where, when he would not listen to them and they kept +cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a large and deep ditch +which they could not cross over, and gave them his alms-bowl, as a pledge of +his regard, (thus) sending them back to their families. There a stone pillar +was erected with an account of this event engraved upon it. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) This was on the night when Sâkyamuni finally left his palace and family to +fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called. Chandaka, in Pâli +Channa, was the prince’s charioteer, and in sympathy with him. So also +was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Asvaraja), which neighed his delight +till the devas heard him. See M. B., pp. 158-161, and Davids’ Manual, pp. +32, 33. According to “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 87, the noble +horse never returned to the city, but died of grief at being left by his +master, to be reborn immediately in the Trayastrimsas heaven as the deva +Kanthaka! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Beal and Giles call this the “Ashes” tope. I also would have +preferred to call it so; but the Chinese character is {.}, not {.}. Rémusat has +“la tour des charbons.” It was over the place of Buddha’s +cremation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) In Pâli Kusinara. It got its name from the Kusa grass (the <i>poa +cynosuroides</i>); and its ruins are still extant, near Kusiah, 180 N.W. from +Patna; “about,” says Davids, “120 miles N.N.E. of Benares, +and 80 miles due east of Kapilavastu.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) The Sala tree, the <i>Shorea robusta</i>, which yields the famous teak +wood. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsuan-chwang, with the Hiranyavati, +which flows past the city on the south. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) A Brahman of Benares, said to have been 120 years old, who came to learn +from Buddha the very night he died. Ananda would have repulsed him; but Buddha +ordered him to be introduced; and then putting aside the ingenious but +unimportant question which he propounded, preached to him the Law. The Brahman +was converted and attained at once to Arhatship. Eitel says that he attained to +nirvâna a few moments before Sâkyamuni; but see the full account of him and his +conversion in “Buddhist Suttas,” p. 103-110. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Thus treating the dead Buddha as if he had been a Chakravartti king. +Hardy’s M. B., p. 347, says:—“For the place of cremation, the +princes (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was decorated +with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in a golden +sarcophagus.” See the account of a cremation which Fâ-Hien witnessed in +Ceylon, chap. xxxix. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) The name Vajrapani is explained as “he who holds in his hand the +diamond club (or pestle=sceptre),” which is one of the many names of +Indra or Sakra. He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would seem to +be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither in Hardy nor +Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any manifestation of himself +made by Indra on this occasion. The princes of Kusanagara were called mallas, +“strong or mighty heroes;” so also were those of Pava and Vaisali; +and a question arises whether the language may not refer to some story which +Fâ-Hien had heard,—something which they did on this great occasion. +Vajrapani is also explained as meaning “the diamond mighty hero;” +but the epithet of “diamond” is not so applicable to them as to +Indra. The clause may hereafter obtain more elucidation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) Of Kusanagara, Pava, Vaisali, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes, +brahmans,—each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an eightfold +division at the suggestion of the brahman Drona. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) These “strong heroes” were the chiefs of Vaisali, a kingdom +and city, with an oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early, and +were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second synod was held +at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins of the city still exist +at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I suppose, as Besarh, twenty miles north +of Hajipur. See Beal’s Revised Version, p. lii. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br /> +VAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED “WEAPONS LAID DOWN.” THE COUNCIL OF +VAISALI.</h2> + +<p> +East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom of +Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it the +double-galleried vihâra(1) where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over half the body +of Ananda.(2) Inside the city the woman Ambapali(3) built a vihâra in honour of +Buddha, which is now standing as it was at first. Three le south of the city, +on the west of the road, (is the) garden (which) the same Ambapali presented to +Buddha, in which he might reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his +pari-nirvâna, as he was quitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, +and, beholding the city on his right, said to them, “Here I have taken my +last walk.”(4) Men subsequently built a tope at this spot. +</p> + +<p> +Three le north-west of the city there is a tope called, “Bows and weapons +laid down.” The reason why it got that name was this:—The inferior +wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges, brought forth from +her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife, jealous of the other, said, +“You have brought forth a thing of evil omen,” and immediately it +was put into a box of wood and thrown into the river. Farther down the stream +another king was walking and looking about, when he saw the wooden box +(floating) in the water. (He had it brought to him), opened it, and found a +thousand little boys, upright and complete, and each one different from the +others. He took them and had them brought up. They grew tall and large, and +very daring, and strong, crushing all opposition in every expedition which they +undertook. By and by they attacked the kingdom of their real father, who became +in consequence greatly distressed and sad. His inferior wife asked what it was +that made him so, and he replied, “That king has a thousand sons, daring +and strong beyond compare, and he wishes with them to attack my kingdom; this +is what makes me sad.” The wife said, “You need not be sad and +sorrowful. Only make a high gallery on the wall of the city on the east; and +when the thieves come, I shall be able to make them retire.” The king did +as she said; and when the enemies came, she said to them from the tower, +“You are my sons; why are you acting so unnaturally and +rebelliously?” They replied, “If you do not believe me,” she +said, “look, all of you, towards me, and open your mouths.” She +then pressed her breasts with her two hands, and each sent forth 500 jets of +milk, which fell into the mouths of the thousand sons. The thieves (thus) knew +that she was their mother, and laid down their bows and weapons.(5) The two +kings, the fathers, thereupon fell into reflection, and both got to be Pratyeka +Buddhas.(6) The tope of the two Pratyeka Buddhas is still existing. +</p> + +<p> +In a subsequent age, when the World-honoured one had attained to perfect Wisdom +(and become Buddha), he said to is disciples, “This is the place where I +in a former age laid down my bow and weapons.”(7) It was thus that +subsequently men got to know (the fact), and raised the tope on this spot, +which in this way received its name. The thousand little boys were the thousand +Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa.(8) +</p> + +<p> +It was by the side of the “Weapons-laid-down” tope that Buddha, +having given up the idea of living longer, said to Ananda, “In three +months from this I will attain to pavi-nirvâna;” and king Mara(9) had so +fascinated and stupefied Ananda, that he was not able to ask Buddha to remain +longer in this world. +</p> + +<p> +Three or four le east from this place there is a tope (commemorating the +following occurrence):—A hundred years after the pari-nirvâna of Buddha, +some Bhikshus of Vaisali went wrong in the matter of the disciplinary rules in +ten particulars, and appealed for their justification to what they said were +the words of Buddha. Hereupon the Arhats and Bhikshus observant of the rules, +to the number in all of 700 monks, examined afresh and collated the collection +of disciplinary books.(10) Subsequently men built at this place the tope (in +question), which is still existing. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) It is difficult to tell what was the peculiar form of this vihâra from +which it gets its name; something about the construction of its door, or +cupboards, or galleries. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See the explanation of this in the next chapter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Ambapali, Amrapali, or Amradarika, “the guardian of the Amra +(probably the mango) tree,” is famous in Buddhist annals. See the account +of her in M. B., pp. 456-8. She was a courtesan. She had been in many narakas +or hells, was 100,000 times a female beggar, and 10,000 times a prostitute; but +maintaining perfect continence during the period of Kasyapa Buddha, +Sâkyamuni’s predecessor, she had been born a devi, and finally appeared +in earth under an Amra tree in Vaisali. There again she fell into her old ways, +and had a son by king Bimbisara; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and +chastity, renounced the world, and attained to the state of an Arhat. See the +earliest account of Ambapali’s presentation of the garden in +“Buddhist Suttas,” pp. 30-33, and the note there from Bishop +Bigandet on pp. 33, 34. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Beal gives, “In this place I have performed the last religious act of +my earthly career;” Giles, “This is the last place I shall +visit;” Rémusat, “C’est un lieu ou je reviendrai bien +longtemps apres ceci.” Perhaps the “walk” to which Buddha +referred had been for meditation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) See the account of this legend in the note in M. B., pp. 235, 236, +different, but not less absurd. The first part of Fâ-Hien’s narrative +will have sent the thoughts of some of my readers to the exposure of the infant +Moses, as related in Exodus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See chap. xiii, note 14. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Thus Sâkyamuni had been one of the thousand little boys who floated in the +box in the Ganges. How long back the former age was we cannot tell. I suppose +the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka Buddhas had been built like the +one commemorating the laying down of weapons after Buddha had told his +disciples of the strange events in the past. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) Bhadra-kalpa, “the Kalpa of worthies or sages.” +“This,” says Eitel, p. 22, “is a designation for a Kalpa of +stability, so called because 1000 Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our +present period is a Bhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is +to last 236 million years, but over 151 millions have already elapsed.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) “The king of demons.” The name Mara is explained by “the +murderer,” “the destroyer of virtue,” and similar +appellations. “He is,” says Eitel, “the personification of +lust, the god of love, sin, and death, the arch-enemy of goodness, residing in +the heaven Paranirmita Vasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes +different forms, especially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the saints, or +sends his daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta or the Nirgranthas +to do his work. He is often represented with 100 arms, and riding on an +elephant.” The oldest form of the legend in this paragraph is in +“Buddhist Suttas,” Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, pp. 41-55, +where Buddha says that, if Ananda had asked him thrice, he would have postponed +his death. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important one, and is +generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the Buddhist Church. See, on +the formation of the Buddhist Canon, Hardy’s E. M., chap. xviii, and the +last chapter of Davids’ Manual, on the History of the Order. The first +Council was that held at Rajagriha, shortly after Buddha’s death, under +the presidency of Kasyapa;—say about B.C. 410. The second was that spoken +of here;—say about B.C. 300. In Davids’ Manual (p. 216) we find the +ten points of discipline, in which the heretics (I can use that term here) +claimed at least indulgence. Two meetings were held to consider and discuss +them. At the former the orthodox party barely succeeded in carrying their +condemnation of the laxer monks; and a second and larger meeting, of which +Fâ-Hien speaks, was held in consequence, and a more emphatic condemnation +passed. At the same time all the books and subjects of discipline seem to have +undergone a careful revision.<br /> + The Corean text is clearer than the Chinese as to those who composed the +Council,—the Arhats and orthodox monks. The leader among them was a +Yasas, or Yasada, or Yedsaputtra, who had been a disciple of Ananda, and must +therefore have been a very old man. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> +REMARKABLE DEATH OF ANANDA.</h2> + +<p> +Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to the +confluence of the five rivers.(1) When Ananda was going from Magadha(2) to +Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirvâna to take place (there), the devas informed +king Ajatasatru(3) of it, and the king immediately pursued him, in his own +grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and had reached the river. (On the +other hand), the Lichchhavis of Vaisali had heard that Ananda was coming (to +their city), and they on their part came to meet him. (In this way), they all +arrived together at the river, and Ananda considered that, if he went forward, +king Ajatasatru would be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis +would resent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt +his body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,(4) and his pari-nirvâna was attained. +He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half of it on each bank; so +that each of the two kings got one half as a (sacred) relic, and took it back +(to his own capital), and there raised a tope over it. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be far from +Patna. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy land, +covered with vihâras; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed in a previous +note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern portion of which +corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M. B., pp. +321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the first royal +converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at least wrought his +death; and was at first opposed to Sâkyamuni, and a favourer of Devadatta. When +converted, he became famous for his liberality in almsgiving. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi, which is +one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy defines it as meaning +“perfect tranquillity;” Turnour, as “meditative +abstraction;” Burnouf, as “self-control;” and Edkins, as +“ecstatic reverie.” “Samadhi,” says Eitel, +“signifies the highest pitch of abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of +absolute indifference to all influences from within or without; a state of +torpor of both the material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of +terrestrial nirvâna, consistently culminating in total destruction of +life.” He then quotes apparently the language of the text, “He +consumed his body by Agni (the fire of) Samadhi,” and says it is “a +common expression for the effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic +self-annihilation.” All this is simply “a darkening of counsel by +words without knowledge.” Some facts concerning the death of Ananda are +hidden beneath the darkness of the phraseology, which it is impossible for us +to ascertain. By or in Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of the +river, and then he divides the relic of the burnt body into two parts (for so +evidently Fâ-Hien intended his narration to be taken), and leaves one half on +each bank. The account of Ananda’s death in Nien-ch’ang’s +“History of Buddha and the Patriarchs” is much more extravagant. +Crowds of men and devas are brought together to witness it. The body is divided +into four parts. One is conveyed to the Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace +of a certain Naga king; a third is given to Ajatasatru; and the fourth to the +Lichchhavis. What it all really means I cannot tell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> +PATALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING ASOKA’S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE AND +HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RADHA-SAMI. DISPENSARIES AND HOSPITALS.</h2> + +<p> +Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the travellers) +came to the town of Pataliputtra,(1) in the kingdom of Magadha, the city where +king Asoka(2) ruled. The royal palace and halls in the midst of the city, which +exist now as of old, were all made by spirits which he employed, and which +piled up the stones, reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant +carving and inlaid sculpture-work,—in a way which no human hands of this +world could accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +King Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and resided +on Gridhra-kuta(3) hill, finding his delight in solitude and quiet. The king, +who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him (to come and live) in his +family, where he could supply all his wants. The other, however, through his +delight in the stillness of the mountain, was unwilling to accept the +invitation, on which the king said to him, “Only accept my invitation, +and I will make a hill for you inside the city.” Accordingly, he provided +the materials of a feast, called to him the spirits, and announced to them, +“To-morrow you will all receive my invitation; but as there are no mats +for you to sit on, let each one bring (his own seat).” Next day the +spirits came, each one bringing with him a great rock, (like) a wall, four or +five paces square, (for a seat). When their sitting was over, the king made +them form a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and also at the +foot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make an apartment, which +might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and more than ten +cubits high. +</p> + +<p> +In this city there had resided a great Brahman,(4) named Radha-sami,(5) a +professor of the mahayana, of clear discernment and much wisdom, who understood +everything, living by himself in spotless purity. The king of the country +honoured and reverenced him, and served him as his teacher. If he went to +inquire for and greet him, the king did not presume to sit down alongside of +him; and if, in his love and reverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he +let it go, the Brahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. He might be +more than fifty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. By means of +this one man, the Law of Buddha was widely made known, and the followers of +other doctrines did not find it in their power to persecute the body of monks +in any way. +</p> + +<p> +By the side of the tope of Asoka, there has been made a mahayana monastery, +very grand and beautiful; there is also a hinayana one; the two together +containing six or seven hundred monks. The rules of demeanour and the +scholastic arrangements(6) in them are worthy of observation. +</p> + +<p> +Shamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students, inquirers +wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort to these +monasteries. There also resides in this monastery a Brahman teacher, whose name +also is Manjusri,(7) whom the Shamans of greatest virtue in the kingdom, and +the mahayana Bhikshus honour and look up to. +</p> + +<p> +The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the Middle +Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with one another in +the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every year on the eighth day of +the second month they celebrate a procession of images. They make a +four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure of four storeys by means of +bamboos tied together. This is supported by a king-post, with poles and lances +slanting from it, and is rather more than twenty cubits high, having the shape +of a tope. White and silk-like cloth of hair(8) is wrapped all round it, which +is then painted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold, +silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers and +canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a Buddha seated +in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on him. There may be twenty +cars, all grand and imposing, but each one different from the others. On the +day mentioned, the monks and laity within the borders all come together; they +have singers and skilful musicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and +incense. The Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do +so in order, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep lamps +burning, have skilful music, and present offerings. This is the practice in all +the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya families in them establish +in the cities houses for dispensing charity and medicines. All the poor and +destitute in the country, orphans, widowers, and childless men, maimed people +and cripples, and all who are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided +with every kind of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food +and medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and when +they are better, they go away of themselves. +</p> + +<p> +When king Asoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make eighty-four +thousand,(9) the first which he made was the great tope, more than three le to +the south of this city. In front of this there is a footprint of Buddha, where +a vihâra has been built. The door of it faces the north, and on the south of it +there is a stone pillar, fourteen or fifteen cubits in circumference, and more +than thirty cubits high, on which there is an inscription, saying, “Asoka +gave the jambudvipa to the general body of all the monks, and then redeemed it +from them with money. This he did three times.”(10) North from the tope +300 or 400 paces, king Asoka built the city of Ne-le.(11) In it there is a +stone pillar, which also is more than thirty feet high, with a lion on the top +of it. On the pillar there is an inscription recording the things which led to +the building of Ne-le, with the number of the year, the day, and the month. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) The modern Patna, lat. 25° 28′ N., lon. 85° 15′ E. The +Sanskrit name means “The city of flowers.” It is the Indian +Florence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See chap. x, note 3. Asoka transferred his court from Rajagriha to +Pataliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he convoked the +third Great Synod,—according, at least, to southern Buddhism. It must +have been held a few years before B.C. 250; Eitel says in 246. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) “The Vulture-hill;” so called because Mara, according to +Buddhist tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the +meditation of Ananda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of vultures. +It was near Rajagriha, the earlier capital of Asoka, so that Fâ-Hien connects +a legend of it with his account of Patna. It abounded in caverns, and was +famous as a resort of ascetics. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) A Brahman by cast, but a Buddhist in faith. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) So, by the help of Julien’s “Methode,” I transliterate +the Chinese characters {.} {.} {.} {.}. Beal gives Radhasvami, his Chinese text +having a {.} between {.} and {.}. I suppose the name was Radhasvami or +Radhasami. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) {.} {.}, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in the Li Ki +and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those monasteries in +India as there were in China? Fâ-Hien himself grew up with other boys in a +monastery, and no doubt had to “go to school.” And the next +sentence shows us there might be schools for more advanced students as well as +for the Sramaneras. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous +Bodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be “also” named +Manjusri. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) ? Cashmere cloth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) See chap. xxiii, note 3. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction, and that +we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It is to be observed +that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it from them. Their right was +from him, and he bought it back. He was the only “Power” that was. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small place; an +outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /> +RAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT.</h2> + +<p> +(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas, and came +to a small solitary rocky hill,(1) at the head or end of which(2) was an +apartment of stone, facing the south,—the place where Buddha sat, when +Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician, Pancha-(sikha),(3) to give +pleasure to him by playing on his lute. Sakra then asked Buddha about forty-two +subjects, tracing (the questions) out with his finger one by one on the +rock.(4) The prints of his tracing are still there; and here also there is a +monastery. +</p> + +<p> +A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of Nala,(5) +where Sariputtra(6) was born, and to which also he returned, and attained here +his pari-nirvâna. Over the spot (where his body was burned) there was built a +tope, which is still in existence. +</p> + +<p> +Another yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,(7)—the new city +which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in it. Three +hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having obtained one +portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a tope, high, large, grand, +and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south gate, and proceeding south four +le, one enters a valley, and comes to a circular space formed by five hills, +which stand all round it, and have the appearance of the suburban wall of a +city. Here was the old city of king Bimbisara; from east to west about five or +six le, and from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and +Maudgalyayana first saw Upasena;(8) that the Nirgrantha(9) made a pit of fire +and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with him); that king +Ajatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with liquor, wishing him to injure +Buddha;(10) and that at the north-east corner of the city in a (large) curving +(space) Jivaka built a vihâra in the garden of Ambapali,(11) and invited Buddha +with his 1250 disciples to it, that he might there make his offerings to +support them. (These places) are still there as of old, but inside the city all +is emptiness and desolation; no man dwells in it. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or “The cavern of +Indra.” It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on +the bank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The hill +terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more northern and +higher of these which Fâ-Hien had in mind. It bears an oblong terrace covered +with the ruins of several buildings, especially of a vihâra. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its +“headland,” where it ended at the river. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290. It is from +Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the musician, which appears +in Fâ-Hien as only Pancha, or “Five.” His harp or lute, we are +told, was “twelve miles long.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen, which are +still to be found in one of the Sûtras (“the Dik-Sanga, in the +Sakra-prasna Sutra”). Whether it was Sakra who wrote his questions, or +Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the punctuation. It seems better to +make Sakra the writer. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand monastery was +subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for five years of +Hsuan-chwang. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement that Nala +was his birthplace. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) The city of “Royal Palaces;” “the residence of the +Magadha kings from Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the +foot of the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within a year +after Sâkyamuni’s death. Its ruins are still extant at the village of +Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of pilgrimage to the +Jains (E. H., p. 100).” It is called New Rajagriha to distinguish it from +Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old residence of the kings. Eitel says +it was built by Bimbisara, while Fâ-Hien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose +the son finished what the father had begun. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) One of the five first followers of Sâkyamuni. He is also called Asvajit; in +Pâli Assaji; but Asvajit seems to be a military title= “Master or trainer +of horses.” The two more famous disciples met him, not to lead him, but +to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, +Vinaya Texts, pp. 144-147. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas=“erroneous teachers;” M. B., +pp. 290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on +Buddha’s life referred to by Fâ-Hien), or Brahmanical opponents of +Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore called +Nirgranthajnati. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the use of clothes, +and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting. He had a body of +followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel, pp. 84, 85), and were the +forerunners of the Jains. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant +disappointed them, and did homage to Sâkyamuni. See Sacred Books of the East, +vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali’s son by king Bimbisara, +and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the account of him in the +Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 171-194. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.<br /> +GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FÂ-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS REFLECTIONS. +</h2> + +<p> +Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the south-east, after +ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount Gridhra-kuta.(1) Three le +before you reach the top, there is a cavern in the rocks, facing the south, in +which Buddha sat in meditation. Thirty paces to the north-west there is +another, where Ananda was sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) +having assumed the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the +cavern, and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, +supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and stroked +Ananda’s shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away. The +footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha’s) hand are still there, +and hence comes the name of “The Hill of the Vulture Cavern.” +</p> + +<p> +In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas sat. There +are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and meditated, amounting to +several hundred in all. At the place where in front of his rocky apartment +Buddha was walking from east to west (in meditation), and Devadatta, from among +the beetling cliffs on the north of the mountain, threw a rock across, and hurt +Buddha’s toes,(3) the rock is still there.(4) +</p> + +<p> +The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only the +foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is beautifully +green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the five hills. In the +New City Fâ-Hien bought incense-(sticks), flowers, oil and lamps, and hired +two bhikshus, long resident (at the place), to carry them (to the peak). When +he himself got to it, he made his offerings with the flowers and incense, and +lighted the lamps when the darkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but +restrained his tears and said, “Here Buddha delivered the Surangama +(Sutra).(5) I, Fâ-Hien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I +only see the footprints which he has left, and the place where he lived, and +nothing more.” With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted the +Surangama Sutra, remained there over the night, and then returned towards the +New City.(6) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) See chap. xxviii, note 1. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, and signifies +“sinful lust.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta’s attempt was “by +the help of a machine;” but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what Fâ-Hien implies that he +threw the rock with his own arm. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits high, and +thirty paces round. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio’s “Catalogue of the Chinese Translation +of the Buddhist Tripitaka,” Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the +former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory of +Fâ-Hien. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal says, +“There is a full account of this perilous visit of Fâ-Hien, and how he +was attacked by tigers, in the ‘History of the High +Priests.’” But “the high priests” merely means +distinguished monks, “eminent monks,” as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders +the adjectival character. Nor was Fâ-Hien “attacked by tigers” on +the peak. No “tigers” appear in the Memoir. “Two black +lions” indeed crouched before him for a time this night, “licking +their lips and waving their tails;” but their appearance was to +“try,” and not to attack him; and when they saw him resolute, they +“drooped their heads, put down their tails, and prostrated themselves +before him.” This of course is not an historical account, but a legendary +tribute to his bold perseverance. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER XXX.<br /> +THE SRATAPARNA CAVE, OR CAVE OF THE FIRST COUNCIL. LEGENDS. SUICIDE OF A +BHIKSHU.</h2> + +<p> +Out from the old city, after walking over 300 paces, on the west of the road, +(the travellers) found the Karanda Bamboo garden,(1) where the (old) vihâra is +still in existence, with a company of monks, who keep (the ground about it) +swept and watered. +</p> + +<p> +North of the vihâra two or three le there was the Smasanam, which name means in +Chinese “the field of graves into which the dead are thrown.”(2) +</p> + +<p> +As they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for 300 paces, they +found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala cave,(3) in which Buddha +regularly sat in meditation after taking his (midday) meal. +</p> + +<p> +Going on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the hill, in the +shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna,(4) the place where, after the +nirvâna(5) of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the Sûtras. When they brought the +Sûtras forth, three lofty seats(6) had been prepared and grandly ornamented. +Sariputtra occupied the one on the left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. +Of the number of five hundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on +the middle seat). Ananda was then outside the door, and could not get in.(7) At +the place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still existing. +</p> + +<p> +Along (the sides of) the hill, there are also a very great many cells among the +rocks, where the various Arhans sat and meditated. As you leave the old city on +the north, and go down east for three le, there is the rock dwelling of +Devadatta, and at a distance of fifty paces from it there is a large, square, +black rock. Formerly there was a bhikshu, who, as he walked backwards and +forwards upon it, thought with himself:—“This body(8) is +impermanent, a thing of bitterness and vanity,(9) and which cannot be looked on +as pure.(10) I am weary of this body, and troubled by it as an evil.” +With this he grasped a knife, and was about to kill himself. But he thought +again:—“The World-honoured one laid down a prohibition against +one’s killing himself.”(11) Further it occurred to +him:—“Yes, he did; but I now only wish to kill three poisonous +thieves.”(12) Immediately with the knife he cut his throat. With the +first gash into the flesh he attained the state of a Srotapanna;(13) when he +had gone half through, he attained to be an Anagamin;(14) and when he had cut +right through, he was an Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvâna;(15) (and died). +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara, who also +built a vihâra in it. See the account of the transaction in M. B., p. 194. The +place was called Karanda, from a creature so named, which awoke the king just +as a snake was about to bite him, and thus saved his life. In Hardy the +creature appears as a squirrel, but Eitel says that the Karanda is a bird of +sweet voice, resembling a magpie, but herding in flocks; the <i>cuculus +melanoleucus</i>. See “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 118. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no sympathy +with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own Buddhistic method +of cremation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The Chinese characters used for the name of this cavern serve also to name +the pippala (peepul) tree, the <i>ficus religiosa</i>. They make us think that +there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but Fâ-Hien would hardly have +neglected to mention such a circumstance. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the Srataparna +cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to have been convoked by +the older members to settle the rules and doctrines of the order. The cave was +prepared for the occasion by king Ajatasatru. From the expression about the +“bringing forth of the King,” it would seem that the Sûtras or some +of them had been already committed to writing. May not the meaning of King {.} +here be extended to the Vinaya rules, as well as the Sûtras, and mean +“the standards” of the system generally? See Davids’ Manual, +chapter ix, and Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 370-385. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvâna. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) Instead of “high” seats, the Chinese texts have +“vacant.” The character for “prepared” denotes +“spread;”—they were carpeted; perhaps, both cushioned and +carpeted, being rugs spread on the ground, raised higher than the other places +for seats. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Did they not contrive to let him in, with some cachinnation, even in so +august an assembly, that so important a member should have been shut out? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) “The life of this body” would, I think, fairly express the idea +of the bhikshu. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) See the account of Buddha’s preaching in chapter xviii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) See E. M., p. 152:—“Buddha made a law forbidding the monks to +commit suicide. He prohibited any one from discoursing on the miseries of life +in such a manner as to cause desperation.” See also M. B., pp. 464, 465. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) Beal says:—“Evil desire; hatred; ignorance.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) See chap. xx, note 10. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship, the third +class of Aryas, who are no more liable to be reborn as men, but are to be born +once more as devas, when they will forthwith become Arhats, and attain to +nirvâna. E. H., pp. 8, 9. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) Our author expresses no opinion of his own on the act of this bhikshu. +Must it not have been a good act, when it was attended, in the very act of +performance, by such blessed consequences? But if Buddhism had not something +better to show than what appears here, it would not attract the interest which +it now does. The bhikshu was evidently rather out of his mind; and the verdict +of a coroner’s inquest of this nineteenth century would have pronounced +that he killed himself “in a fit of insanity.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.<br /> +GAYA. SAKYAMUNI’S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS. +</h2> + +<p> +From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the pilgrims) +came to the city of Gaya;(1) but inside the city all was emptiness and +desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty le, they arrived at the +place where the Bodhisattva for six years practised with himself painful +austerities. All around was forest. +</p> + +<p> +Three le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had gone into +the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree, by means of which he +succeeded in getting out of the pool.(2) +</p> + +<p> +Two le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented to +Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;(3) and two le north from this (again) was +the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and facing the east, he +ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there at the present day. The rock +may be six cubits in breadth and length, and rather more than two cubits in +height. In Central India the cold and heat are so equally tempered that trees +will live in it for several thousand and even for ten thousand years. +</p> + +<p> +Half a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in the +rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged with his face +to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, “If I am to attain to +perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be a supernatural attestation of +it.” On the wall of the rock there appeared immediately the shadow of a +Buddha, rather more than three feet in length, which is still bright at the +present day. At this moment heaven and earth were greatly moved, and devas in +the air spoke plainly, “This is not the place where any Buddha of the +past, or he that is to come, has attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. +Less than half a yojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the +patra(4) tree, where all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come must +attain, to perfect Wisdom.” When they had spoken these words, they +immediately led the way forwards to the place, singing as they did so. As they +thus went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked (after them). At a distance of +thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave him the grass of lucky omen,(5) which +he received and went on. After (he had proceeded) fifteen paces, 500 green +birds came flying towards him, went round him thrice, and disappeared. The +Bodhisattva went forward to the patra tree, placed the kusa grass at the foot +of it, and sat down with his face to the east. Then king Mara sent three +beautiful young ladies, who came from the north, to tempt him, while he himself +came from the south to do the same. The Bodhisattva put his toes down on the +ground, and the demon soldiers retired and dispersed, and the three young +ladies were changed into old (grand-)mothers.(6) +</p> + +<p> +At the place mentioned above of the six years’ painful austerities, and +at all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set up images, +which all exist at the present day. +</p> + +<p> +Where Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days contemplated +the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;(7) where, under the patra tree, +he walked backwards and forwards from west to east for seven days; where the +devas made a hall appear, composed of the seven precious substances, and +presented offerings to him for seven days; where the blind dragon Muchilinda(8) +encircled him for seven days; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a +square rock, with his face to the east, and Brahma-deva(9) came and made his +request to him; where the four deva kings brought to him their alms-bowls;(10) +where the 500 merchants(11) presented to him the roasted flour and honey; and +where he converted the brothers Kasyapa and their thousand +disciples;(12)—at all these places topes were reared. +</p> + +<p> +At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three +monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of their +people around supply the societies of these monks with an abundant sufficiency +of what they require, so that there is no lack or stint.(13) The disciplinary +rules are strictly observed by them. The laws regulating their demeanour in +sitting, rising, and entering when the others are assembled, are those which +have been practised by all the saints since Buddha was in the world down to the +present day. The places of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed +down without break, since Buddha attained to nirvâna. Those four great topes +are those at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained to Wisdom; +where he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he attained to +pari-nirvâna. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat. 24° +47′ N., lon. 85° 1′ E). It was here that Sâkyamuni lived for +seven years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The +place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being drowned; +but this does not appear in the only other account of the incident I have met +with,—in “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 31. And he was not yet +Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the narrative is confused, +and the incidents do not follow in the order of time. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in Hardy’s +M. B., pp. 166-168; “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 30; and the +“Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 91, 92; but the name of the +ministering girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in +Beal’s revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty +caused by the {.} {.} of Fâ-Hien. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Called “the tree of leaves,” and “the tree of +reflection;” a palm tree, the <i>borassus flabellifera</i>, described as +a tree which never loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. +E. H., p. 92. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179, and +“Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 96-101. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) See chap. xiii, note 7. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: “A naga king, +the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sâkyamuni once sat for seven days +absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him.” The account (p. 35) +in “The Life of the Buddha” is:—“Buddha went to where +lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from the sun +and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread out his hood over +his head; and there he remained seven days in thought.” So also the +Nidana Katha, in “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 109. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) This was Brahma himself, though “king” is omitted. What he +requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his Law. +Nidana Katha, p. 111. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) See chap. xii, note 10. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the Nidana +Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note 17. They +were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to this time holders +of “erroneous” views, having 500, 300, and 200 disciples +respectively. They became distinguished followers of Sâkyamuni; and +are—each of them—to become Buddha by-and-by. See the Nidana Katha, +pp. 114, 115. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some understand the +sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to the travellers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.<br /> +LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA.</h2> + +<p> +When king Asoka, in a former birth,(1) was a little boy and played on the road, +he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, and the boy +pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The Buddha took the +earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was walking; but because of +this (the boy) received the recompense of becoming a king of the iron wheel,(2) +to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) when he was making a judicial tour of +inspection through Jambudvipa, he saw, between the iron circuit of the two +hills, a naraka(3) for the punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his +ministers what sort of a thing it was, they replied, “It belongs to +Yama,(4) king of demons, for punishing wicked people.” The king thought +within himself:—“(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka +in which to deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, +make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men?” He forthwith asked his +ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the punishment of +wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man of extreme wickedness +who could make it; and the king thereupon sent officers to seek everywhere for +(such) a bad man; and they saw by the side of a pond a man tall and strong, +with a black countenance, yellow hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with +his feet, while he called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then +shot and killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took +him to the king, who secretly charged him, “You must make a square +enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits; make +good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every way, so that +men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates strong and sure; and +when any one enters, instantly seize him and punish him as a sinner, not +allowing him to get out. Even if I should enter, punish me as a sinner in the +same way, and do not let me go. I now appoint you master of that naraka.” +</p> + +<p> +Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his food, +entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka saw him, they +were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, frightened, begged them to +allow him a moment in which to eat his midday meal. Immediately after, there +came in another man, whom they thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red +froth overflowed. As the bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of +the impermanence, the painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it +is but as a bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. +Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of +boiling water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, however, in the +bhikshu’s countenance. The fire was extinguished, and the water became +cold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a lotus flower, with the +bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went and reported to the king that +there was a marvellous occurrence in the naraka, and wished him to go and see +it; but the king said, “I formerly made such an agreement that now I dare +not go (to the place).” The lictors said, “This is not a small +matter. Your majesty ought to go quickly. Let your former agreement be +altered.” The king thereupon followed them, and entered (the naraka), +when the bhikshu preached the Law to him, and he believed, and was made +free.(5) Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and repented of all the evil which +he had formerly done. From this time he believed in and honoured the Three +Precious Ones, and constantly went to a patra tree, repenting under it, with +self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the eight rules of abstinence.(6) +</p> + +<p> +The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the ministers +replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and such) a patra tree. +She watched for a time when the king was not there, and then sent men to cut +the tree down. When the king came, and saw what had been done, he swooned away +with sorrow, and fell to the ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, +and after a considerable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) +with bricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows’ milk on the roots; +and as he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this oath, +“If the tree do not live, I will never rise from this.” When he had +uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the roots, and it +has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100 cubits in height. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Here is an instance of {.} used, as was pointed out in chap. ix, note 3, +for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps “a former +birth” is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa Buddha is +certainly preferable to the Chinese “Sakya Buddha.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See chap. xvii, note 8. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating the +Chinese text by “Earth’s prison {.} {.},” or “a prison +in the earth;” the name for which has been adopted generally by Christian +missionaries in China for gehenna and hell. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Eitel (p. 173) says:—“Yama was originally the Aryan god of the +dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but +Brahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been retained by +Buddhism.” The Yama of the text is the “regent of the narakas, +residing south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the double circuit of +mountains above), in a palace built of brass and iron. He has a sister who +controls all the female culprits, as he exclusively deals with the male sex. +Three times, however, in every twenty-four hours, a demon pours boiling copper +into Yama’s mouth, and squeezes it down his throat, causing him +unspeakable pain.” Such, however, is the wonderful “transrotation +of births,” that when Yama’s sins have been expiated, he is to be +reborn as Buddha, under the name of “The Universal King.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Or, “was loosed;” from the bonds, I suppose, of his various +illusions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) I have not met with this particular numerical category. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap33"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br /> +MOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KASYAPA BUDDHA’S ENTIRE SKELETON IS.</h2> + +<p> +(The travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a mountain +named Gurupada,(1) inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He made a cleft, and +went down into it, though the place where he entered would not (now) admit a +man. Having gone down very far, there was a hole on one side, and there the +complete body of Kasyapa (still) abides. Outside the hole (at which he entered) +is the earth with which he had washed his hands.(2) If the people living +thereabouts have a sore on their heads, they plaster on it some of the earth +from this, and feel immediately easier.(3) On this mountain, now as of old, +there are Arhats abiding. Devotees of our Law from the various countries in +that quarter go year by year to the mountain, and present offerings to Kasyapa; +and to those whose hearts are strong in faith there come Arhats at night, and +talk with them, discussing and explaining their doubts, and disappearing +suddenly afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +On this hill hazels grow luxuriously; and there are many lions, tigers, and +wolves, so that people should not travel incautiously. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) “Fowl’s-foot hill,” “with three peaks, resembling +the foot of a chicken. It lies seven miles south-east of Gaya, and was the +residence of Mahakasyapa, who is said to be still living inside this +mountain.” So Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that +Kasyapa is in the mountain alive, but that his body entire is in a recess or +hole in it. Hardy (M. B., p. 97) says that after Kasyapa Buddha’s body +was burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, presenting the +appearance of a perfect skeleton. It is of him that the chapter speaks, and not +of the famous disciple of Sâkyamuni, who also is called Mahakasyapa. This will +appear also on a comparison of Eitel’s articles on +“Mahakasyapa” and “Kasyapa Buddha.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Was it a custom to wash the hands with “earth,” as is often +done with sand? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) This I conceive to be the meaning here. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap34"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br /> +ON THE WAY BACK TO PATNA. VARANASI, OR BENARES. SAKYAMUNI’S FIRST DOINGS +AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA. +</h2> + +<p> +Fâ-Hien(1) returned (from here) towards Pataliputtra,(2) keeping along the +course of the Ganges and descending in the direction of the west. After going +ten yojanas he found a vihâra, named “The Wilderness,”—a +place where Buddha had dwelt, and where there are monks now. +</p> + +<p> +Pursuing the same course, and going still to the west, he arrived, after twelve +yojanas, at the city of Varanasi(3) in the kingdom of Kasi. Rather more than +ten le to the north-east of the city, he found the vihâra in the park of +“The rishi’s Deer-wild.”(4) In this park there formerly +resided a Pratyeka Buddha,(5) with whom the deer were regularly in the habit of +stopping for the night. When the World-honoured one was about to attain to +perfect Wisdom, the devas sang in the sky, “The son of king Suddhodana, +having quitted his family and studied the Path (of Wisdom),(6) will now in +seven days become Buddha.” The Pratyeka Buddha heard their words, and +immediately attained to nirvâna; and hence this place was named “The Park +of the rishi’s Deer-wild.”(7) After the World-honoured one had +attained to perfect Wisdom, men build the vihâra in it. +</p> + +<p> +Buddha wished to convert Kaundinya(8) and his four companions; but they, (being +aware of his intention), said to one another, “This Sramana Gotama(9) for +six years continued in the practice of painful austerities, eating daily (only) +a single hemp-seed, and one grain of rice, without attaining to the Path (of +Wisdom); how much less will he do so now that he has entered (again) among men, +and is giving the reins to (the indulgence of) his body, his speech, and his +thoughts! What has he to do with the Path (of Wisdom)? To-day, when he comes to +us, let us be on our guard not to speak with him.” At the places where +the five men all rose up, and respectfully saluted (Buddha), when he came to +them; where, sixty paces north from this, he sat with his face to the east, and +first turned the wheel of the Law, converting Kaundinya and the four others; +where, twenty paces further to the north, he delivered his prophecy concerning +Maitreya;(10) and where, at a distance of fifty paces to the south, the dragon +Elapattra(11) asked him, “When shall I get free from this naga +body?”—at all these places topes were reared, and are still +existing. In (the park) there are two monasteries, in both of which there are +monks residing. +</p> + +<p> +When you go north-west from the vihâra of the Deer-wild park for thirteen +yojanas, there is a kingdom named Kausambi.(12) Its vihâra is named +Ghochiravana(13)—a place where Buddha formerly resided. Now, as of old, +there is a company of monks there, most of whom are students of the hinayana. +</p> + +<p> +East from (this), when you have travelled eight yojanas, is the place where +Buddha converted(14) the evil demon. There, and where he walked (in meditation) +and sat at the place which was his regular abode, there have been topes +erected. There is also a monastery, which may contain more than a hundred +monks. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Fâ-Hien is here mentioned singly, as in the account of his visit to the +cave on Gridhra-kuta. I think that Tao-ching may have remained at Patna after +their first visit to it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) See chap. xxvii, note 1. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) “The city surrounded by rivers;” the modern Benares, lat. 25° +23′ N., lon. 83° 5′ E. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) “The rishi,” says Eitel, “is a man whose bodily frame has +undergone a certain transformation by dint of meditation and ascetism, so that +he is, for an indefinite period, exempt from decrepitude, age, and death. As +this period is believed to extend far beyond the usual duration of human life, +such persons are called, and popularly believed to be, immortals.” Rishis +are divided into various classes; and rishi-ism is spoken of as a seventh part +of transrotation, and rishis are referred to as the seventh class of sentient +beings. Taoism, as well as Buddhism, has its Seen jin. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) See chap. xiii, note 15. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See chap. xxii, note 2. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) For another legend about this park, and the identification of “a fine +wood” still existing, see note in Beal’s first version, p. 135. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) A prince of Magadha and a maternal uncle of Sâkyamuni, who gave him the +name of Ajnata, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as Ajnata +Kaundinya. He and his four friends had followed Sâkyamuni into the Uruvilva +desert, sympathising with him in the austerities he endured, and hoping that +they would issue in his Buddhaship. They were not aware that that issue had +come; which may show us that all the accounts in the thirty-first chapter are +merely descriptions, by means of external imagery, of what had taken place +internally. The kingdom of nirvâna had come without observation. These friends +knew it not; and they were offended by what they considered Sâkyamuni’s +failure, and the course he was now pursuing. See the account of their +conversion in M. B., p. 186. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) This is the only instance in Fâ-Hien’s text where the Bodhisattva or +Buddha is called by the surname “Gotama.” For the most part our +traveller uses Buddha as a proper name, though it properly means “The +Enlightened.” He uses also the combinations “Sakya +Buddha,”=“The Buddha of the Sakya tribe,” and +“Sâkyamuni,”=“The Sakya sage.” This last is the most +common designation of the Buddha in China, and to my mind best combines the +characteristics of a descriptive and a proper name. Among other Buddhistic +peoples “Gotama” and “Gotama Buddha” are the more +frequent designations. It is not easy to account for the rise of the surname +Gotama in the Sakya family, as Oldenberg acknowledges. He says that “the +Sakyas, in accordance with the custom of Indian noble families, had borrowed it +from one of the ancient Vedic bard families.” Dr. Davids +(“Buddhism,” p. 27) says: “The family name was certainly +Gautama,” adding in a note, “It is a curious fact that Gautama is +still the family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the village which has +been identified with Kapilavastu.” Dr. Eitel says that “Gautama was +the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, which counted the ancient rishi +Gautama among its ancestors.” When we proceed, however, to endeavour to +trace the connexion of that Brahmanical rishi with the Sakya house, by means of +1323, 1468, 1469, and other historical works in Nanjio’s Catalogue, we +soon find that Indian histories have no surer foundation than the shifting +sand;—see E. H., on the name Sakya, pp. 108, 109. We must be content for +the present simply to accept Gotama as one of the surnames of the Buddha with +whom we have to do. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) See chap. vi, note 5. It is there said that the prediction of +Maitreya’s succession to the Buddhaship was made to him in the Tushita +heaven. Was there a repetition of it here in the Deer-park, or was a prediction +now given concerning something else? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) Nothing seems to be known of this naga but what we read here. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) Identified by some with Kusia, near Kurrah (lat. 25° 41′ N., lon. +81° 27′ E.); by others with Kosam on the Jumna, thirty miles above +Allahabad. See E. H., p. 55. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) Ghochira was the name of a Vaisya elder, or head, who presented a garden +and vihâra to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement from a +Singhalese authority that Sâkyamuni resided here during the ninth year of his +Buddhaship. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) Dr. Davids thinks this may refer to the striking and beautiful story of +the conversion of the Yakkha Alavaka, as related in the Uragavagga, +Alavakasutta, pp. 29-31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x, part ii). +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap35"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.<br /> +DAKSHINA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY.</h2> + +<p> +South from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshina,(1) where there +is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kasyapa Buddha, and which has been +hewn out from a large hill of rock. It consists in all of five +storeys;—the lowest, having the form of an elephant, with 500 apartments +in the rock; the second, having the form of a lion, with 400 apartments; the +third, having the form of a horse, with 300 apartments; the fourth, having the +form of an ox, with 200 apartments; and the fifth, having the form of a pigeon, +with 100 apartments. At the very top there is a spring, the water of which, +always in front of the apartments in the rock, goes round among the rooms, now +circling, now curving, till in this way it arrives at the lowest storey, having +followed the shape of the structure, and flows out there at the door. +Everywhere in the apartments of the monks, the rock has been pierced so as to +form windows for the admission of light, so that they are all bright, without +any being left in darkness. At the four corners of the (tiers of) apartments, +the rock has been hewn so as to form steps for ascending to the top (of each). +The men of the present day, being of small size, and going up step by step, +manage to get to the top; but in a former age, they did so at one step.(2) +Because of this, the monastery is called Paravata, that being the Indian name +for a pigeon. There are always Arhats residing in it. +</p> + +<p> +The country about is (a tract of) uncultivated hillocks,(3) without +inhabitants. At a very long distance from the hill there are villages, where +the people all have bad and erroneous views, and do not know the Sramanas of +the Law of Buddha, Brahmanas, or (devotees of) any of the other and different +schools. The people of that country are constantly seeing men on the wing, who +come and enter this monastery. On one occasion, when devotees of various +countries came to perform their worship at it, the people of those villages +said to them, “Why do you not fly? The devotees whom we have seen +hereabouts all fly;” and the strangers answered, on the spur of the +moment, “Our wings are not yet fully formed.” +</p> + +<p> +The kingdom of Dakshina is out of the way, and perilous to traverse. There are +difficulties in connexion with the roads; but those who know how to manage such +difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with them money and various +articles, and give them to the king. He will then send men to escort them. +These will (at different stages) pass them over to others, who will show them +the shortest routes. Fâ-Hien, however, was after all unable to go there; but +having received the (above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated +them. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Said to be the ancient name of the Deccan. As to the various marvels in the +chapter, it must be borne in mind that our author, as he tells us at the end, +only gives them from hearsay. See “Buddhist Records of the Western +World,” vol. ii, pp. 214, 215, where the description, however, is very +different. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Compare the account of Buddha’s great stride of fifteen yojanas in +Ceylon, as related in chapter xxxviii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) See the same phrase in the Books of the Later Han dynasty, the +twenty-fourth Book of Biographies, p. 9b. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap36"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.<br /> +IN PATNA. FÂ-HIEN’S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN +STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS.</h2> + +<p> +From Varanasi (the travellers) went back east to Pataliputtra. Fâ-Hien’s +original object had been to search for (copies of) the Vinaya. In the various +kingdoms of North India, however, he had found one master transmitting orally +(the rules) to another, but no written copies which he could transcribe. He had +therefore travelled far and come on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana +monastery,(1) he found a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika(2) +rules,—those which were observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha +was still in the world. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana +vihâra. As to the other eighteen schools,(3) each one has the views and +decisions of its own masters. Those agree (with this) in the general meaning, +but they have small and trivial differences, as when one opens and another +shuts.(4) This copy (of the rules), however, is the most complete, with the +fullest explanations.(5) +</p> + +<p> +He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand gathas,(6) +being the sarvastivadah(7) rules,—those which are observed by the +communities of monks in the land of Ts’in; which also have all been +handed down orally from master to master without being committed to writing. In +the community here, moreover, we got the +Samyuktabhi-dharma-hridaya-(sastra),(8) containing about six or seven thousand +gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of the +Parinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,(9) of about 5000 gathas; and the Mahasan-ghikah +Abhidharma. +</p> + +<p> +In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fâ-Hien stayed here for three +years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and writing out the +Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central Kingdom, and saw the rules +observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified demeanour in their societies which +he remarked under all occurring circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what +a mutilated and imperfect condition the rules were among the monkish +communities in the land of Ts’in, and made the following +aspiration:—“From this time forth till I come to the state of +Buddha, let me not be born in a frontier land.”(10) He remained +accordingly (in India), and did not return (to the land of Han). Fâ-Hien, +however, whose original purpose had been to secure the introduction of the +complete Vinaya rules into the land of Han, returned there alone. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Mentioned before in chapter xxvii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Mahasanghikah simply means “the Great Assembly,” that is, of +monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Sâkyamuni held? It does not +appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the time. The +document found by Fâ-Hien would be a record of those rules; or rather a copy +of that record. We must suppose that the original record had disappeared from +the Jetavana vihâra, or Fâ-Hien would probably have spoken of it when he was +there, and copied it, if he had been allowed to do so. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character called pu +occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only have the meaning, +often belonging to it, of “copy.” The second instance, however, is +different. How should there be eighteen copies, all different from the +original, and from one another, in minor matters? We are compelled to +translate—“the eighteen schools,” an expression well known in +all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids’ Manual, p. 218, and the +authorities there quoted. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) This is equivalent to the “binding” and “loosing,” +“opening” and “shutting,” which found their way into +the New Testament, and the Christian Church, from the schools of the Jewish +Rabbins. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) It was afterwards translated by Fâ-Hien into Chinese. See Nanjio’s +Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 and +1150, columns 247 and 253. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) A gatha is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of a few, +commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do not know that its +length is strictly defined. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) “A branch,” says Eitel, “of the great vaibhashika school, +asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the authority of +Rahula.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) See Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his +account of Fâ-Hien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka Sutra. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) Probably Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) This then would be the consummation of the Sramana’s being,—to +get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tao-ching thought +that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of births; and was +likely to attain to it sooner by living only in India. If all this was not in +his mind, he yet felt that each of his successive lives would be happier, if +lived in India. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap37"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.<br /> +TO CHAMPA AND TAMALIPTI. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. TAKES SHIP TO +SINGHALA, OR CEYLON.</h2> + +<p> +Following the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for eighteen +yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom of Champa,(1) with +topes reared at the places where Buddha walked in meditation by his vihâra, and +where he and the three Buddhas, his predecessors, sat. There were monks +residing at them all. Continuing his journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he +came to the country of Tamalipti,(2) (the capital of which is) a seaport. In +the country there are twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks +residing. The Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here Fâ-Hien stayed two +years, writing out his Sûtras,(3) and drawing pictures of images. +</p> + +<p> +After this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating over the +sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and the wind was +favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and night, they came to the +country of Singhala.(4) The people said that it was distant (from Tamalipti) +about 700 yojanas. +</p> + +<p> +The kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty yojanas, +and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it there are as many as 100 +small islands, distant from one another ten, twenty, or even 200 le; but all +subject to the large island. Most of them produce pearls and precious stones of +various kinds; there is one which produces the pure and brilliant +pearl,(5)—an island which would form a square of about ten le. The king +employs men to watch and protect it, and requires three out of every ten such +pearls, which the collectors find. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor, lat. 25° +14′ N., lon. 56° 55′ E. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China; the modern +Tam-look, lat. 22° 17′ N., lon. 88° 2′ E.; near the mouth of the +Hoogly. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Perhaps Ching {.} is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka which he +had obtained. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) “The Kingdom of the Lion,” Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a +merchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom was +ascribed. His father was named Singha, “the Lion,” which became the +name of the country;—Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, “the Country of +the Lion.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning “free +from stain,” “bright and growing purer.” It is a symbol of +Buddha and of his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap38"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.<br /> +AT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND MONASTERIES. STATUE +OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA’S TOOTH.</h2> + +<p> +The country originally had no human inhabitants,(1) but was occupied only by +spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries carried on a +trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits did not show +themselves. They simply set forth their precious commodities, with labels of +the price attached to them; while the merchants made their purchases according +to the price; and took the things away. +</p> + +<p> +Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they went +away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant the land was, +and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great nation. The (climate) is +temperate and attractive, without any difference of summer and winter. The +vegetation is always luxuriant. Cultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: +there are no fixed seasons for it. +</p> + +<p> +When Buddha came to this country,(2) wishing to transform the wicked nagas, by +his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of the royal city, and +the other on the top of a mountain,(3) the two being fifteen yojanas apart. +Over the footprint at the north of the city the king built a large tope, 400 +cubits high, grandly adorned with gold and silver, and finished with a +combination of all the precious substances. By the side of the top he further +built a monastery, called the Abhayagiri,(4) where there are (now) five +thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid +works of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which +there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, +glittering all over with those substances, and having an appearance of solemn +dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a +priceless pearl. Several years had now elapsed since Fâ-Hien left the land of +Han; the men with whom he had been in intercourse had all been of regions +strange to him; his eyes had not rested on an old and familiar hill or river, +plant or tree; his fellow-travellers, moreover, had been separated from him, +some by death, and others flowing off in different directions; no face or +shadow was now with him but his own, and a constant sadness was in his heart. +Suddenly (one day), when by the side of this image of jade, he saw a merchant +presenting as his offering a fan of white silk;(5) and the tears of sorrow +involuntarily filled his eyes and fell down. +</p> + +<p> +A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip of the +patra tree,(6) which he planted by the side of the hall of Buddha, where a tree +grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it bent on one side towards the +south-east, the king, fearing it would fall, propped it with a post eight or +nine spans round. The tree began to grow at the very heart of the prop, where +it met (the trunk); (a shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the +ground, where it entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were +about four spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer +portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them. Beneath the +tree there has been built a vihâra, in which there is an image (of Buddha) +seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and look up to without ever +becoming wearied. In the city there has been reared also the vihâra of +Buddha’s tooth, on which, as well as on the other, the seven precious +substances have been employed. +</p> + +<p> +The king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity of the +faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also great. Since the +establishment of government in the kingdom there has been no famine or +scarcity, no revolution or disorder. In the treasuries of the monkish +communities there are many precious stones, and the priceless manis. One of the +kings (once) entered one of those treasuries, and when he looked all round and +saw the priceless pearls, his covetous greed was excited, and he wished to take +them to himself by force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and +immediately went and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, to +show his repentance of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he informed the +monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them to make a regulation +that from that day forth the king should not be allowed to enter the treasury +and see (what it contained), and that no bhikshu should enter it till after he +had been in orders for a period of full forty years.(7) +</p> + +<p> +In the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean(8) merchants, whose houses +are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are kept in good order. At +the heads of the four principal streets there have been built preaching halls, +where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the month, they spread +carpets, and set forth a pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all +quarters come together to hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom +there may be altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their +common stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common +supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take their +great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as much as the +vessels will hold, all returning with them full. +</p> + +<p> +The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third month. +Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large elephant, on which he +mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is dressed in royal robes, to beat a +large drum, and make the following proclamation:—“The Bodhisattva, +during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,(9) manifested his activity, and did not spare +his own life. He gave up kingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes +and gave them to another;(10) he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom the +life of a dove;(10) he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;(11) he gave his +body to feed a starving tigress;(11) he grudged not his marrow and his brains. +In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for the sake of all living. And +so it was, that, having become Buddha, he continued in the world for forty-five +years, preaching his Law, teaching and transforming, so that those who had no +rest found rest, and the unconverted were converted. When his connexion with +the living was completed,(12) he attained to pari-nirvâna (and died). Since +that event, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,(13) and all +living beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold! ten days after this, +Buddha’s tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the Abhayagiri-vihâra. +Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish to amass merit for +themselves, make the roads smooth and in good condition, grandly adorn the +lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant store of flowers and incense to be used +as offerings to it.” +</p> + +<p> +When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both sides of +the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the Bodhisattva has +in the course of his history appeared:—here as Sudana,(14) there as +Sama;(15) now as the king of elephants;(16) and then as a stag or a horse.(16) +All these figures are brightly coloured and grandly executed, looking as if +they were alive. After this the tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is +carried along in the middle of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are +presented to it, and thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the +Abhayagiri-vihâra. There monks and laics are collected in crowds. They burn +incense, light lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night +without ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is +returned to the vihâra within the city. On fast-days the door of that vihâra is +opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to the +rules. +</p> + +<p> +Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihâra there is a hill, with a vihâra on +it, called the Chaitya,(17) where there may be 2000 monks. Among them there is +a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,(18) honoured and looked up to by +all the kingdom. He has lived for more than forty years in an apartment of +stone, constantly showing such gentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes +and rats to stop together in the same room, without doing one another any harm. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) It is desirable to translate {.} {.}, for which “inhabitants” +or “people” is elsewhere sufficient, here by “human +inhabitants.” According to other accounts Singhala was originally +occupied by Rakshasas or Rakshas, “demons who devour men,” and +“beings to be feared,” monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the +terror of the shipwrecked mariner. Our author’s “spirits” {.} +{.} were of a gentler type. His dragons or nagas have come before us again and +again. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) That Sâkyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful. Hardy, in +M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends of three visits,—in +the first, fifth, and eighth years of his Buddhaship. It is plain, however, +from Fâ-Hien’s narrative, that in the beginning of our fifth century, +Buddhism prevailed throughout the island. Davids in the last chapter of his +“Buddhism” ascribes its introduction to one of Asoka’s +missions, after the Council of Patna, under his son Mahinda, when Tissa, +“the delight of the gods,” was king (B.C. 250-230). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) This would be what is known as “Adam’s peak,” having, +according to Hardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano, +Samastakuta, and Samanila. “There is an indentation on the top of +it,” a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 3<i>4 inches long, and about 2 1</i>2 +feet wide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohameddans, as +that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,—as having been made by +Buddha. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) Meaning “The Fearless Hill.” There is still the Abhayagiri +tope, the highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and built +about B.C. 90, by Watta Gamini, in whose reign, about 160 years after the +Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death of Sâkyamuni, the Tripitaka was +first reduced to writing in Ceylon;—“Buddhism,” p. 234. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a Chinese, as indeed the +Chinese texts say, and the fan such as Fâ-Hien had seen and used in his native +land. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) This should be the pippala, or bodhidruma, generally spoken of, in +connexion with Buddha, as the Bo tree, under which he attained to the +Buddhaship. It is strange our author should have confounded them as he seems to +do. In what we are told of the tree here, we have, no doubt, his account of the +planting, growth, and preservation of the famous Bo tree, which still exists in +Ceylon. It has been stated in a previous note that Asoka’s son, Mahinda, +went as the apostle of Buddhism to Ceylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister +Sanghamitta, who had entered the order at the same time as himself, and whose +help was needed, some of the king’s female relations having signified +their wish to become nuns. On leaving India, she took with her a branch of the +sacred Bo tree at Buddha Gaya, under which Sâkyamuni had become Buddha. Of how +the tree has grown and still lives we have an account in Davids’ +“Buddhism.” He quotes the words of Sir Emerson Tennent, that it is +“the oldest historical tree in the world;” but this must be denied +if it be true, as Eitel says, that the tree at Buddha Gaya, from which the slip +that grew to be this tree was taken more than 2000 years ago, is itself still +living in its place. We must conclude that Fâ-Hien, when in Ceylon, heard +neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made at monasteries +as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and duration of their ministry. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in Sanskrit sa; +and va, bo or bha. “Sabaean” is Mr. Beal’s reading of them, +probably correct. I suppose the merchants were Arabs, forerunners of the +so-called Moormen, who still form so important a part of the mercantile +community in Ceylon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period during +which a physical universe is formed and destroyed. Asankhyeya denotes the +highest sum for which a conventional term exists;—according to Chinese +calculations equal to one followed by seventeen ciphers; according to Thibetan +and Singhalese, equal to one followed by ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa +consists of four Asankhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) See chapter ix. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) See chapter xi. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the +character of all his past births required, and he had done it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and note on p. 89. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth which +preceded his appearance as Sâkyamuni or Gotama, when he became the Supreme +Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka, of which Hardy, M. B., +pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also “Buddhist Birth +Stories,” the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana, he fulfilled +“the Perfections,” his distinguishing attribute being entire +self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha is made to say +(“Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 159):—<br /> + “This earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or grief, +Even she by my free-giving’s mighty power was shaken seven +times.”<br /> + Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to enter in +due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sâkyamuni. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) I take the name Sama from Beal’s revised version. He says in a note +that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented in the Sanchi +sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet know. But adopting this +name, the two Chinese characters in the text should be translated “the +change into Sama.” Rémusat gives for them, “la transformation en +eclair;” Beal, in his first version, “his appearance as a bright +flash of light;” Giles, “as a flash of lightning.” +Julien’s Methode does not give the phonetic value in Sanskrit of {.}. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in which +Sâkyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M. B., p. 100), it +is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant; ten times as a deer; and +four times as a horse. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects of religious +worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and including therefore +Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics, pictures, statues, &c. It is +defined as “a fane,” “a place for worship and presenting +offerings.” Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is the sacred hill of +Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo tree;—Davids’ +Buddhism, pp. 230, 231. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(18) Eitel says (p. 31): “A famous ascetic, the founder of a school, +which flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400.” But Fâ-Hien gives no intimation +of Dharma-gupta’s founding a school. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap39"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.<br /> +CREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE.</h2> + +<p> +South of the city seven le there is a vihâra, called the Maha-vihâra, where +3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana, of such lofty virtue, +and so holy and pure in his observance of the disciplinary rules, that the +people all surmised that he was an Arhat. When he drew near his end, the king +came to examine into the point; and having assembled the monks according to +rule, asked whether the bhikshu had attained to the full degree of Wisdom.(1) +They answered in the affirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king +accordingly, when he died, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the +regular rules prescribed. Four of five le east from the vihâra there was reared +a great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty cubits square, and +the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, aloe, and other kinds of +fragrant wood. +</p> + +<p> +On the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it. With +clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body) round and +round.(2) They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our funeral car, but +without the dragons and fishes.(3) +</p> + +<p> +At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes from all +quarters, collected together, and presented offerings of flowers and incense. +While they were following the car to the burial-ground,(4) the king himself +presented flowers and incense. When this was finished, the car was lifted on +the pile, all over which oil of sweet basil was poured, and then a light was +applied. While the fire was blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled +off his upper garment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a +distance into the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When the +cremation was over, they collected and preserved the bones, and proceeded to +erect a tope. Fâ-Hien had not arrived in time (to see the distinguished +Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial. +</p> + +<p> +At that time the king,(5) who was a sincere believer in the Law of Buddha and +wished to build a new vihâra for the monks, first convoked a great assembly. +After giving the monks a meal of rice, and presenting his offerings (on the +occasion), he selected a pair of first-rate oxen, the horns of which were +grandly decorated with gold, silver, and the precious substances. A golden +plough had been provided, and the king himself turned up a furrow on the four +sides of the ground within which the building was supposed to be. He then +endowed the community of the monks with the population, fields, and houses, +writing the grant on plates of metal, (to the effect) that from that time +onwards, from generation to generation, no one should venture to annul or alter +it. +</p> + +<p> +In this country Fâ-Hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a Sutra from +the pulpit, say:—“Buddha’s alms-bowl was at first in Vaisali, +and now it is in Gandhara.(6) After so many hundred years” (he gave, when +Fâ-Hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he has forgotten it), +“it will go to Western Tukhara;(7) after so many hundred years, to +Khoten; after so many hundred years, to Kharachar;(8) after so many hundred +years, to the land of Han; after so many hundred years, it will come to +Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will return to Central India. +After that, it will ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the Bodhisattva +Maitreya sees it, he will say with a sigh, ‘The alms-bowl of Sâkyamuni +Buddha is come;’ and with all the devas he will present to it flowers and +incense for seven days. When these have expired, it will return to Jambudvipa, +where it will be received by the king of the sea nagas, and taken into his naga +palace. When Maitreya shall be about to attain to perfect Wisdom (and become +Buddha), it will again separate into four bowls,(9) which will return to the +top of mount Anna,(9) whence they came. After Maitreya has become Buddha, the +four deva kings will again think of the Buddha (with their bowls as they did in +the case of the previous Buddha). The thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, +indeed, will all use the same alms-bowl; and when the bowl has disappeared, the +Law of Buddha will go on gradually to be extinguished. After that extinction +has taken place, the life of man will be shortened, till it is only a period of +five years. During this period of a five years’ life, rice, butter, and +oil will all vanish away, and men will become exceedingly wicked. The grass and +trees which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs, with which they +will hurt, cut, and kill one another. Those among them on whom there is +blessing will withdraw from society among the hills; and when the wicked have +exterminated one another, they will again come forth, and say among themselves, +‘The men of former times enjoyed a very great longevity; but through +becoming exceedingly wicked, and doing all lawless things, the length of our +life has been shortened and reduced even to five years. Let us now unite +together in the practice of what is good, cherishing a gentle and sympathising +heart, and carefully cultivating good faith and righteousness. When each one in +this way practises that faith and righteousness, life will go on to double its +length till it reaches 80,000 years. When Maitreya appears in the world, and +begins to turn the wheel of his Law, he will in the first place save those +among the disciples of the Law left by the Sakya who have quitted their +families, and those who have accepted the three Refuges, undertaken the five +Prohibitions and the eight Abstinences, and given offerings to the three +Precious Ones; secondly and thirdly, he will save those between whom and +conversion there is a connexion transmitted from the past.’”(10) +</p> + +<p> +(Such was the discourse), and Fâ-Hien wished to write it down as a portion of +doctrine; but the man said, “This is taken from no Sutra, it is only the +utterance of my own mind.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) Possibly, “and asked the bhikshu,” &c. I prefer the other +way of construing, however. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) It seems strange that this should have been understood as a wrapping of the +immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in the text to necessitate such a +version, but the contrary. Compare “Buddhist Suttas,” pp. 92, 93. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. Fâ-Hien’s {.} {.}, +“in this (country),” which I have expressed by “our,” +shows that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the +account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he had the +usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This disposes of all +difficulty occasioned by the “dragons” and “fishes.” +The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence our +author writes of it as such. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410-432). In the time of his +predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368-410), the pitakas were first translated into +Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his commentaries. Both were +great builders of vihâras. See the Mahavansa, pp. 247, foll. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) See chapter xii. Fâ-Hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel says was +“the ancient capital of Gandhara.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara ({.}) of +chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to carry off the bowl +from Purushapura. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. H., p. +56). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of “Anna” the Chinese recensions +have Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of one or +other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount Meru, the fabled +home of the deva guardians of the bowl. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such +conversion in the present. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap40"></a>CHAPTER XL.<br /> +AFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; AND THENCE TO +CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG; AND GOES TO NANKING. CONCLUSION OR L’ENVOI +BY ANOTHER WRITER.</h2> + +<p> +Fâ-Hien abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to his acquisitions +in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the Vinaya-pitaka of the Mahisasakah +(school);(1) the Dirghagama and Samyuktagama(2) (Sûtras); and also the +Samyukta-sanchaya-pitaka;(3)—all being works unknown in the land of Han. +Having obtained these Sanskrit works, he took passage in a large merchantman, +on board of which there were more than 200 men, and to which was attached by a +rope a smaller vessel, as a provision against damage or injury to the large one +from the perils of the navigation. With a favourable wind, they proceeded +eastwards for three days, and then they encountered a great wind. The vessel +sprang a leak and the water came in. The merchants wished to go to the small +vessel; but the men on board it, fearing that too many would come, cut the +connecting rope. The merchants were greatly alarmed, feeling their risk of +instant death. Afraid that the vessel would fill, they took their bulky goods +and threw them into the water. Fâ-Hien also took his pitcher(4) and +washing-basin, with some other articles, and cast them into the sea; but +fearing that the merchants would cast overboard his books and images, he could +only think with all his heart of Kwan-she-yin,(5) and commit his life to (the +protection of) the church of the land of Han,(6) (saying in effect), “I +have travelled far in search of our Law. Let me, by your dread and supernatural +(power), return from my wanderings, and reach my resting-place!” +</p> + +<p> +In this way the tempest(7) continued day and night, till on the thirteenth day +the ship was carried to the side of an island, where, on the ebbing of the +tide, the place of the leak was discovered, and it was stopped, on which the +voyage was resumed. On the sea (hereabouts) there are many pirates, to meet +with whom is speedy death. The great ocean spreads out, a boundless expanse. +There is no knowing east or west; only by observing the sun, moon, and stars +was it possible to go forward. If the weather were dark and rainy, (the ship) +went as she was carried by the wind, without any definite course. In the +darkness of the night, only the great waves were to be seen, breaking on one +another, and emitting a brightness like that of fire, with huge turtles and +other monsters of the deep (all about). The merchants were full of terror, not +knowing where they were going. The sea was deep and bottomless, and there was +no place where they could drop anchor and stop. But when the sky became clear, +they could tell east and west, and (the ship) again went forward in the right +direction. If she had come on any hidden rock, there would have been no way of +escape. +</p> + +<p> +After proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they arrived at +a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error and Brahmanism are +flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth speaking of. After staying there +for five months, (Fâ-Hien) again embarked in another large merchantman, which +also had on board more than 200 men. They carried provisions for fifty days, +and commenced the voyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month. +</p> + +<p> +Fâ-Hien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the +north-east, intending to fetch Kwang-chow. After more than a month, when the +night-drum had sounded the second watch, they encountered a black wind and +tempestuous rain, which threw the merchants and passengers into consternation. +Fâ-Hien again with all his heart directed his thoughts to Kwan-she-yin and the +monkish communities of the land of Han; and, through their dread and mysterious +protection, was preserved to day-break. After day-break, the Brahmans +deliberated together and said, “It is having this Sramana on board which +has occasioned our misfortune and brought us this great and bitter suffering. +Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore. We must not for the +sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to such imminent peril.” A +patron of Fâ-Hien, however, said to them, “If you land the bhikshu, you +must at the same time land me; and if you do not, then you must kill me. If you +land this Sramana, when I get to the land of Han, I will go to the king, and +inform against you. The king also reveres and believes the Law of Buddha, and +honours the bhikshus.” The merchants hereupon were perplexed, and did not +dare immediately to land (Fâ-Hien). +</p> + +<p> +At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the sailing-masters +looked at one another and made mistakes. More than seventy days passed (from +their leaving Java), and the provisions and water were nearly exhausted. They +used the salt-water of the sea for cooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) +water, each man getting two pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the +merchants took counsel and said, “At the ordinary rate of sailing we +ought to have reached Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many +days;—must we not have held a wrong course?” Immediately they +directed the ship to the north-west, looking out for land; and after sailing +day and night for twelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount +Lao,(8) on the borders of the prefecture of Ch’ang-kwang,(8) and +immediately got good water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils +and hardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many days +together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing those +(well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh,(9) they knew indeed that it was the +land of Han. Not seeing, however, any inhabitants nor any traces of them, they +did not know whereabouts they were. Some said that they had not yet got to +Kwang-chow, and others that they had passed it. Unable to come to a definite +conclusion, (some of them) got into a small boat and entered a creek, to look +for some one of whom they might ask what the place was. They found two hunters, +whom they brought back with them, and then called on Fâ-Hien to act as +interpreter and question them. Fâ-Hien first spoke assuringly to them, and +then slowly and distinctly asked them, “Who are you?” They replied, +“We are disciples of Buddha?” He then asked, “What are you +looking for among these hills?” They began to lie,(10) and said, +“To-morrow is the fifteenth day of the seventh month. We wanted to get +some peaches to present(11) to Buddha.” He asked further, “What +country is this?” They replied, “This is the border of the +prefecture of Ch’ang-kwang, a part of Ts’ing-chow under the +(ruling) House of Tsin.” When they heard this, the merchants were glad, +immediately asked for (a portion of) their money and goods, and sent men to +Ch’ang-kwang city. +</p> + +<p> +The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When he heard +that a Sramana had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing with him books +and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an escort to meet (the +traveller), and receive the books and images, and took them back with him to +the seat of his government. On this the merchants went back in the direction of +Yang-chow;(12) (but) when (Fâ-Hien) arrived at Ts’ing-chow, (the prefect +there)(13) begged him (to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the +summer retreat was ended, Fâ-Hien, having been separated for a long time from +his (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Ch’ang-gan; but as the business +which he had in hand was important, he went south to the Capital;(14) and at an +interview with the masters (there) exhibited the Sûtras and the collection of +the Vinaya (which he had procured). +</p> + +<p> +After Fâ-Hien set out from Ch’ang-gan, it took him six years to reach +Central India;(15) stoppages there extended over (other) six years; and on his +return it took him three years to reach Ts’ing-chow. The countries +through which he passed were a few under thirty. From the sandy desert +westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified demeanour of the monkhood +and of the transforming influence of the Law was beyond the power of language +fully to describe; and reflecting how our masters had not heard any complete +account of them, he therefore (went on) without regarding his own poor life, or +(the dangers to be encountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring +hardships and difficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through +the dread power of the three Honoured Ones,(15) to receive help and protection +in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his experiences, that +worthy readers might share with him in what he had heard and said.(15) +</p> + +<p> +It was in the year Keah-yin,(16) the twelfth year of the period E-he of the +(Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, in the summer, at +the close of the period of retreat, that I met the devotee Fâ-Hien. On his +arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter study,(17) and there, in our +meetings for conversation, I asked him again and again about his travels. The +man was modest and complaisant, and answered readily according to the truth. I +thereupon advised him to enter into details where he had at first only given a +summary, and he proceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to +the end. He said himself, “When I look back on what I have gone through, +my heart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. That I +encountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without thinking of or +sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, and thought of nothing but to +do my best in my simplicity and straightforwardness. Thus it was that I exposed +my life where death seemed inevitable, if I might accomplish but a +ten-thousandth part of what I hoped.” These words affected me in turn, +and I thought:—“This man is one of those who have seldom been seen +from ancient times to the present. Since the Great Doctrine flowed on to the +East there has been no one to be compared with Hien in his forgetfulness of +self and search for the Law. Henceforth I know that the influence of sincerity +finds no obstacle, however great, which it does not overcome, and that force of +will does not fail to accomplish whatever service it undertakes. Does not the +accomplishing of such service arise from forgetting (and disregarding) what is +(generally) considered as important, and attaching importance to what is +(generally) forgotten?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(1) No. 1122 in Nanjio’s Catalogue, translated into Chinese by Buddhajiva +and a Chinese Sramana about A.D. 425. Mahisasakah means “the school of +the transformed earth,” or “the sphere within which the Law of +Buddha is influential.” The school is one of the subdivisions of the +Sarvastivadah. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(2) Nanjio’s 545 and 504. The Agamas are Sûtras of the hinayana, divided, +according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or Dirghagamas (long +Agamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the third class contains the +Samyuktagamas (mixed Agamas). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(3) Meaning “Miscellaneous Collections;” a sort of fourth Pitaka. +See Nanjio’s fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese +miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is known +either in Sanskrit or Pâli literature. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(4) We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kundika, which is +explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as=“washing +basin,” but two things evidently are intended. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(5) See chap. xvi, note 23. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(6) At his novitiate Fâ-Hien had sought the refuge of the “three +Precious Ones” (the three Refuges {.} {.} of last chapter), of which the +congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts turn naturally +to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart were not exactly words of +prayer, but very nearly so. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(7) In the text {.} {.}, ta-fung, “the great wind,”=the typhoon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(8) They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the foot of +mount Lao, which still rises under the same name on the extreme south of the +peninsula, east from Keao Chow, and having the district of Tsieh-mih on the +east of it. All the country there is included in the present Phing-too Chow of +the department Lae-chow. The name Phing-too dates from the Han dynasty, but +under the dynasty of the After Ch’e {.} {.}, (A.D. 479-501), it was +changed into Ch’ang-kwang. Fâ-Hien may have lived, and composed the +narrative of his travels, after the change of name was adopted. See the +Topographical Tables of the different Dynasties ({.} {.} {.} {.} {.}), +published in 1815. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(9) What these vegetables exactly were it is difficult to say; and there are +different readings of the characters for them. Williams’ Dictionary, +under kwoh, brings the two names together in a phrase, but the rendering of it +is simply “a soup of simples.” For two or three columns here, +however, the text appears to me confused and imperfect. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(10) I suppose these men were really hunters; and, when brought before +Fâ-Hien, because he was a Sramana, they thought they would please him by +saying they were disciples of Buddha. But what had disciples of Buddha to do +with hunting and taking life? They were caught in their own trap, and said they +were looking for peaches. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(11) The Chinese character here has occurred twice before, but in a different +meaning and connexion. Rémusat, Beal, and Giles take it as equivalent to +“to sacrifice.” But his followers do not “sacrifice” to +Buddha. That is a priestly term, and should not be employed of anything done at +Buddhistic services. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(12) Probably the present department of Yang-chow in Keang-soo; but as I have +said in a previous note, the narrative does not go on so clearly as it +generally does. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(13) Was, or could, this prefect be Le E? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(14) Probably not Ch’ang-gan, but Nan-king, which was the capital of the +Eastern Tsin dynasty under another name. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(15) The whole of this paragraph is probably Fâ-Hien’s own conclusion of +his narrative. The second half of the second sentence, both in sentiment and +style in the Chinese text, seems to necessitate our ascribing it to him, +writing on the impulse of his own thoughts, in the same indirect form which he +adopted for his whole narrative. There are, however, two peculiar phraseologies +in it which might suggest the work of another hand. For the name India, where +the first (15) is placed, a character is employed which is similarly applied +nowhere else; and again, “the three Honoured Ones,” at which the +second (15) is placed, must be the same as “the three Precious +Ones,” which we have met with so often; unless we suppose that {.} {.} is +printed in all the revisions for {.} {.}, “the World-honoured one,” +which has often occurred. On the whole, while I accept this paragraph as +Fâ-Hien’s own, I do it with some hesitation. That the following and +concluding paragraph is from another hand, there can be no doubt. And it is as +different as possible in style from the simple and straightforward narrative of +Fâ-Hien. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(16) There is an error of date here, for which it is difficult to account. The +year Keah-yin was A.D. 414; but that was the tenth year of the period E-he, and +not the twelfth, the cyclical designation of which was Ping-shin. According to +the preceding paragraph, Fâ-Hien’s travels had occupied him fifteen +years, so that counting from A.D. 399, the year Ke-hae, as that in which he set +out, the year of his getting to Ts’ing-chow would have been Kwei-chow, +the ninth year of the period E-he; and we might join on “This year +Keah-yin” to that paragraph, as the date at which the narrative was +written out for the bamboo-tablets and the silk, and then begins the Envoy, +“In the twelfth year of E-he.” This would remove the error as it +stands at present, but unfortunately there is a particle at the end of the +second date ({.}), which seems to tie the twelfth year of E-he to Keah-yin, as +another designation of it. The “year-star” is the planet Jupiter, +the revolution of which, in twelve years, constitutes “a great +year.” Whether it would be possible to fix exactly by mathematical +calculation in what year Jupiter was in the Chinese zodiacal sign embracing +part of both Virgo and Scorpio, and thereby help to solve the difficulty of the +passage, I do not know, and in the meantime must leave that difficulty as I +have found it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +(17) We do not know who the writer of the Envoy was. “The winter study or +library” would be the name of the apartment in his monastery or house, +where he sat and talked with Fâ-Hien. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 2124-h.htm or 2124-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2124/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2881c68 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2124 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2124) diff --git a/old/2124.txt b/old/2124.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f4fafb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2124.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5798 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fa-Hsien + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms + +Author: Fa-Hsien + +Translator: James Legge + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2124] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS + +Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hsien of his Travels in +India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of +Discipline + +Translated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text + +BY + +JAMES LEGGE + + + + +PREFACE + +Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to +read through the "Narrative of Fa-Hsien;" but though interested with +the graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so +constantly--now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, +and now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese +characters, and I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special +labours on the Confucian Classics, that my success was far from +satisfactory. When Dr. Eitel's "Handbook for the Student of Chinese +Buddhism" appeared in 1870, the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit +words and names was removed, but the other difficulty remained; and I +was not able to look into the book again for several years. Nor had I +much inducement to do so in the two copies of it which I had been able +to procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at first, +and so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in +their appearance to the student. + +In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various +sources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels +with my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit +scholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my +own satisfaction of nearly half the narrative. In the beginning of +last year I made Fa-Hsien again the subject of lecture, wrote out a +second translation, independent of the former, and pushed on till I +had completed the whole. + +The want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr. +Bunyiu Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is +appended to the translation and notes, and of the nature of which +some account is given in the Introduction, and towards the end of this +Preface. + +The present work consists of three parts: the Translation of Fa-Hsien's +Narrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my +copy from Japan. + +It is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially +responsible. Portions of it were written out three times, and the +whole of it twice. While preparing my own version I made frequent +reference to previous translations:--those of M. Abel Remusat, "Revu, +complete, et augmente d'eclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et +Landress" (Paris, 1836); of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and +his revision of it, prefixed to his "Buddhist Records of the Western +World" (Trubner's Oriental Series, 1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, +of H.M.'s Consular Service in China (1877). To these I have to add a +series of articles on "Fa-hsien and his English Translators," by Mr. +T. Watters, British Consul at I-Chang (China Review, 1879, 1880). +Those articles are of the highest value, displaying accuracy of +Chinese scholarship and an extensive knowledge of Buddhism. I have +regretted that Mr. Watters, while reviewing others, did not himself +write out and publish a version of the whole of Fa-Hsien's narrative. +If he had done so, I should probably have thought that, on the whole, +nothing more remained to be done for the distinguished Chinese pilgrim +in the way of translation. Mr. Watters had to judge of the comparative +merits of the versions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many +points of contention between them. I have endeavoured to eschew those +matters, and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence +of renderings of my own. + +The Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who +divided Remusat's translation into forty chapters. The division is +helpful to the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three +or four instances. In the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are +separated by a circle in the column. + +In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally +followed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is +now in vogue. We cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them +was, about fifteen hundred years ago, in the time of Fa-Hsien; but the +southern mandarin must be a shade nearer to it than that of Peking at +the present day. In transliterating the Indian names I have for the +most part followed Dr. Eitel, with such modification as seemed good +and in harmony with growing usage. + +For the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection +and condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the +text required explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and +Buddhist texts especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do +for them what many hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done +for the Greek and Latin Classics during several hundred years, and +what the thousands of critics and commentators have been doing of +our Sacred Scriptures for nearly eighteen centuries. There are few +predecessors in the field of Chinese literature into whose labours +translators of the present century can enter. This will be received, I +hope, as a sufficient apology for the minuteness and length of some of +the notes. A second object in them was to teach myself first, and then +others, something of the history and doctrines of Buddhism. I have +thought that they might be learned better in connexion with a lively +narrative like that of Fa-Hsien than by reading didactic descriptions +and argumentative books. Such has been my own experience. The books +which I have consulted for these notes have been many, besides Chinese +works. My principal help has been the full and masterly handbook of +Eitel, mentioned already, and often referred to as E.H. Spence Hardy's +"Eastern Monachism" (E.M.) and "Manual of Buddhism" (M.B.) have been +constantly in hand, as well as Rhys Davids' Buddhism, published by the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, his Hibbert Lectures, +and his Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of the East, and other +writings. I need not mention other authorities, having endeavoured +always to specify them where I make use of them. My proximity and +access to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have been of +great advantage. + +I may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, +I think there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature +which still require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, +are we entitled to regard the present Sutras as genuine and +sufficiently accurate copies of those which were accepted by the +Councils before our Christian era? Can anything be done to trace the +rise of the legends and marvels of Sakyamuni's history, which were +current so early (as it seems to us) as the time of Fa-Hsien, and which +startle us so frequently by similarities between them and narratives +in our Gospels? Dr. Hermann Oldenberg, certainly a great authority +on Buddhistic subjects, says that "a biography of Buddha has not come +down to us from ancient times, from the age of the Pali texts; and, +we can safely say, no such biography existed then" ("Buddha--His Life, +His Doctrine, His Order," as translated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also +(in the same work, pp. 99, 416, 417) come to the conclusion that the +hitherto unchallenged tradition that the Buddha was "a king's son" +must be given up. The name "king's son" (in Chinese {...}), always +used of the Buddha, certainly requires to be understood in the highest +sense. I am content myself to wait for further information on these +and other points, as the result of prolonged and careful research. + +Dr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and +Notes, and I most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many +valuable corrections in the Notes, and for other suggestions which +I have received from him. I may not always think on various points +exactly as he does, but I am not more forward than he is to say with +Horace,-- + +"Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri." + +I have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean +text of Fa-Hsien's narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It +is on the whole so much superior to the better-known texts, that I +determined to attempt to reproduce it at the end of the little volume, +so far as our resources here in Oxford would permit. To do so has not +been an easy task. The two fonts of Chinese types in the Clarendon +Press were prepared primarily for printing the translation of our +Sacred Scriptures, and then extended so as to be available for +printing also the Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work +necessarily requires many types not found in them, while many other +characters in the Corean recension are peculiar in their forms, and +some are what Chinese dictionaries denominate "vulgar." That we +have succeeded so well as we have done is owing chiefly to the +intelligence, ingenuity, and untiring attention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, +the Oriental Reader. + +The pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb +edition of a History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-chau in +Cheh-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese +art. I am indebted for the use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, +University Chinese Scholar. + +James Legge. + +Oxford: June, 1886. + + +[ Picture: Sketch Map Of Fa-Hien's Travels ] + + +The accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on the +different places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently +accurate knowledge of Fa-Hsien's route. + +There is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus +from east to west into the Punjab, all the principal places, at which +he touched or rested, having been determined by Cunningham and +other Indian geographers and archaeologists. Most of the places from +Ch'ang-an to Bannu have also been identified. Woo-e has been put down +as near Kutcha, or Kuldja, in 43d 25s N., 81d 15s E. The country of +K'ieh-ch'a was probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the +place where the traveller crossed the Indus and entered it must have +been further east than Skardo. A doubt is intimated on page 24 as to +the identification of T'o-leih with Darada, but Greenough's "Physical +and Geological Sketch-Map of British India" shows "Dardu Proper," +all lying on the east of the Indus, exactly in the position where +the Narrative would lead us to place it. The point at which Fa-Hsien +recrossed the Indus into Udyana on the west of it is unknown. +Takshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the river, +and has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the +Punjab. It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese +phonetisation will allow;--see a note of Beal in his "Buddhist Records +of the Western World," i. 138. + +We must suppose that Fa-Hsien went on from Nan-king to Ch'ang-an, but +the Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Life of Fa-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his +Narrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism. + +1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fa-Hsien in addition to +what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read +the accounts of him in the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled in +A.D. 519, and a later work, the "Memoirs of Marvellous Monks," by the +third emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, +is nearly all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an +appearance of verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass. + +His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wu-yang in +P'ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi. +He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died +before shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the +service of the Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, +still keeping him at home in the family. The little fellow fell +dangerously ill, and the father sent him to the monastery, where he +soon got well and refused to return to his parents. + +When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering +the widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to +renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, +"I did not quit the family in compliance with my father's wishes, but +because I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This +is why I chose monkhood." The uncle approved of his words and gave +over urging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had +been the affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he +returned to the monastery. + +On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his +fellow-disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away +their grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young +hero stood his ground, and said to the thieves, "If you must have the +grain, take what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of +charity which brought you to your present state of destitution; and +now, again, you wish to rob others. I am afraid that in the coming +ages you will have still greater poverty and distress;--I am sorry for +you beforehand." With these words he followed his companions into the +monastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away, all the +monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage to his conduct +and courage. + +When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of +the full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and +strict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, +he undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the +Vinaya-pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels +in India and return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative, +with the addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him, +on his visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha. + +It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the +capital (evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana +Buddha-bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had +obtained in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to +do in this way, he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and +died in the monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great +sorrow of all who knew him. It is added that there is another larger +work giving an account of his travels in various countries. + +Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what +he himself has told us. Fa-Hsien was his clerical name, and means +"Illustrious in the Law," or "Illustrious master of the Law." The Shih +which often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha +as Sakyamuni, "the Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and +Silence," and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes +said to have belonged to "the eastern Tsin dynasty" (A.D. 317-419), +and sometimes to "the Sung," that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of +Liu (A.D. 420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, +and went to India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been +divided pretty equally between the two dynasties. + +2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fa-Hsien's travels +than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long +ceased to be in existence. + +In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty +(A.D. 589-618), the name Fa-Hsien occurs four times. Towards the end of +the last section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, +his labours in translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in +conjunction with Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section, +page 15, we find "A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;"--with a note, +saying that it was the work of the "Sramana, Fa-Hsien;" and again, on +page 13, we have "Narrative of Fa-Hsien in two Books," and "Narrative +of Fa-Hsien's Travels in one Book." But all these three entries may +possibly belong to different copies of the same work, the first and +the other two being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue. + +In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the +title is "Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms." In the Japanese or Corean +recension subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, +"Narrative of the Distinguished Monk, Fa-Hsien;" and then, more at +large, "Incidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern +Tsin, Fa-Hsien, recorded by himself." + +There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work +than the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonne of the imperial library +of the present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by +Le Tao-yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei +(A.D. 386-584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other +276; both of them given as from the "Narrative of Fa-Hsien." + +In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The +evidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could +be required. It is clear to myself that the "Record of Buddhistic +Kingdoms" and the "Narrative of his Travels by Fa-Hsien" were +designations of one and the same work, and that it is doubtful whether +any larger work on the same subject was ever current. With regard to +the text subjoined to my translation, it was published in Japan in +1779. The editor had before him four recensions of the narrative; +those of the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the names +of certain characters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea. He +wisely adopted the Corean text, published in accordance with a royal +rescript in 1726, so far as I can make out; but the different readings +of the other texts are all given in top-notes, instead of foot-notes +as with us, this being one of the points in which customs in the east +and west go by contraries. Very occasionally, the editor indicates by +a single character, equivalent to "right" or "wrong," which reading +in his opinion is to be preferred. In the notes to the present +republication of the Corean text, S stands for Sung, M for Ming, and +J for Japanese; R for right, and W for wrong. I have taken the trouble +to give all the various readings (amounting to more than 300), partly +as a curiosity and to make my text complete, and partly to show how, +in the transcription of writings in whatever language, such variations +are sure to occur, + + "maculae, quas aut incuria fudit, + Aut humana parum cavit nature," + +while on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the +document. + +The editors of the Catalogue Raisonne intimate their doubts of the +good taste and reliability of all Fa-Hsien's statements. It offends +them that he should call central India the "Middle Kingdom," and +China, which to them was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but "a +Border land;"--it offends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist +writer, whereas the reader will see in the expressions only an +instance of what Fa-Hsien calls his "simple straightforwardness." + +As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of +the Buddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the +Khoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;--as if +they could have been so 170 years before Mohammed was born, and 222 +years before the year of the Hegira! And this is criticism in China. +The Catalogue was ordered by the K'ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between +three and four hundred of the "Great Scholars" of the empire were +engaged on it in various departments, and thus egregiously ignorant +did they show themselves of all beyond the limits of their own +country, and even of the literature of that country itself. + +Much of what Fa-Hsien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and +legends is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the +truth as to what he saw and heard. + +3. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some +estimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become +current, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above +what is correct. + +i. In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854), +General Cunningham says: "The Christians number about 270 +millions; the Buddhists about 222 millions, who are distributed as +follows:--China 170 millions, Japan 25, Anam 14, Siam 3, Ava 8, Nepal +1, and Ceylon 1; total, 222 millions." + +ii. In his article on M. J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire's "Le Bouddha et +sa Religion," republished in his "Chips from a German Workshop," +vol. i. (1868), Professor Max Muller (p. 215) says, "The young prince +became the founder of a religion which, after more than two thousand +years, is still professed by 455 millions of human beings," and +he appends the following note: "Though truth is not settled by +majorities, it would be interesting to know which religion counts at +the present moment the largest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in +his 'Physical Atlas,' gives the following division of the human race +according to religion:--'Buddhists 31.2 per cent, Christians 30.7, +Mohammedans 15.7, Brahmanists 13.4, Heathens 8.7, and Jews 0.3.' +As Berghaus does not distinguish the Buddhists in China from the +followers of Confucius and Laotse, the first place on the scale really +belongs to Christianity. It is difficult to say to what religion a +man belongs, as the same person may profess two or three. The emperor +himself, after sacrificing according to the ritual of Confucius, +visits a Tao-sse temple, and afterwards bows before an image of Fo in +a Buddhist chapel. ('Melanges Asiatiques de St. Petersbourg,' vol. ii. +p. 374.)" + +iii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids +(intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers +are no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his "Manual of +Buddhism." The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500 +millions:--30 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, +Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of +whom nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to +the eighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, Christians +amount to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, +Mohammedans to about 12 1_2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about +1_2. + +In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense +numbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese +with which it is credited. Subtract Cunningham's 170 millions of +Chinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of +Buddhists. Subtract Davids' (say) 414 1_2 millions of Chinese from his +total of 500, and there remain only 85 1_2 millions for Buddhism. Of +the numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole +populations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of +Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the +immense multitudes said to be in China. I do not know what total +population Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal +he allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;--perhaps he halved his +estimate of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the +highest estimates that have been given of the people. + +But we have no certain information of the population of China. At an +interview with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in +Paris, in 1878, I begged him to write out for me the amount, with the +authority for it, and he assured me that it could not be done. I +have read probably almost everything that has been published on +the subject, and endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive at a +satisfactory conclusion;--without reaching a result which I can +venture to lay before the public. My impression has been that 400 +millions is hardly an exaggeration. + +But supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, +how shall we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, +and Buddhists? Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common +name for it is Ju Chiao, "the Doctrines held by the Learned Class," +entrance into the circle of which is, with a few insignificant +exceptions, open to all the people. The mass of them and the masses +under their influence are preponderatingly Confucian; and in the +observance of ancestral worship, the most remarkable feature of the +religion proper of China from the earliest times, of which Confucius +was not the author but the prophet, an overwhelming majority are +regular and assiduous. + +Among "the strange principles" which the emperor of the K'ang-hsi +period, in one of his famous Sixteen Precepts, exhorted his people to +"discountenance and put away, in order to exalt the correct doctrine," +Buddhism and Taoism were both included. If, as stated in the note +quoted from Professor Muller, the emperor countenances both the Taoist +worship and the Buddhist, he does so for reasons of state;--to please +especially his Buddhist subjects in Thibet and Mongolia, and not to +offend the many whose superstitious fancies incline to Taoism. + +When I went out and in as a missionary among the Chinese people for +about thirty years, it sometimes occurred to me that only the inmates +of their monasteries and the recluses of both systems should be +enumerated as Buddhists and Taoists; but I was in the end constrained +to widen that judgment, and to admit a considerable following of both +among the people, who have neither received the tonsure nor assumed +the yellow top. Dr. Eitel, in concluding his discussion of this point +in his "Lecture on Buddhism, an Event in History," says: "It is not +too much to say that most Chinese are theoretically Confucianists, +but emotionally Buddhists or Taoists. But fairness requires us to add +that, though the mass of the people are more or less influenced by +Buddhist doctrines, yet the people, as a whole, have no respect for +the Buddhist church, and habitually sneer at Buddhist priests." For +the "most" in the former of these two sentences I would substitute +"nearly all;" and between my friend's "but" and "emotionally" I would +introduce "many are," and would not care to contest his conclusion +farther. It does seem to me preposterous to credit Buddhism with the +whole of the vast population of China, the great majority of whom are +Confucianists. My own opinion is, that its adherents are not so many +as those even of Mohammedanism, and that instead of being the most +numerous of the religions (so called) of the world, it is only +entitled to occupy the fifth place, ranking below Christianity, +Confucianism, Brahmanism, and Mohammedanism, and followed, some +distance off, by Taoism. To make a table of percentages of mankind, +and assign to each system its proportion, is to seem to be wise where +we are deplorably ignorant; and, moreover, if our means of information +were much better than they are, our figures would merely show the +outward adherence. A fractional per-centage might tell more for one +system than a very large integral one for another. + + + + + +THE TRAVELS OF FA-HIEN + +or RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM CH'ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT + +Fa-Hsien had been living in Ch'ang-gan.(1) Deploring the mutilated and +imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the +second year of the period Hwang-che, being the Ke-hae year of the +cycle,(2) he entered into an engagement with Kwuy-king, Tao-ching, +Hwuy-ying, and Hwuy-wei,(3) that they should go to India and seek for +the Disciplinary Rules.(4) + +After starting from Ch'ang-gan, they passed through Lung,(5) and came +to the kingdom of K'een-kwei,(6) where they stopped for the summer +retreat.(7) When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom +of Now-t'an,(8) crossed the mountain of Yang-low, and reached the +emporium of Chang-yih.(9) There they found the country so much +disturbed that travelling on the roads was impossible for them. Its +king, however, was very attentive to them, kept them (in his capital), +and acted the part of their danapati.(10) + +Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and +Sang-king;(11) and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the +same journey with themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that +year)(12) together, resuming after it their travelling, and going +on to T'un-hwang,(13) (the chief town) in the frontier territory of +defence extending for about 80 le from east to west, and about 40 from +north to south. Their company, increased as it had been, halted there +for some days more than a month, after which Fa-Hsien and his four +friends started first in the suite of an envoy,(14) having separated +(for a time) from Pao-yun and his associates. + +Le Hao,(15) the prefect of T'un-hwang, had supplied them with the +means of crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many +evil demons and hot winds. (Travellers) who encounter them perish +all to a man. There is not a bird to be seen in the air above, nor an +animal on the ground below. Though you look all round most earnestly +to find where you can cross, you know not where to make your choice, +the only mark and indication being the dry bones of the dead (left +upon the sand).(16) + + NOTES + + (1) Ch'ang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its + city) in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital + of the first empire of Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 24), as it subsequently was + that of Suy (A.D. 589-618). The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards + the close of which Fa-Hsien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, + and Ch'ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three + Ts'in kingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a + semi-independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the + title of emperor. + + (2) The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the + greater portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts'in, a + powerful prince. He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign + in 399, and the cyclical name of that year was Kang-tsze. It is + not possible at this distance of time to explain, if it could be + explained, how Fa-Hsien came to say that Ke-hae was the second year of + the period. It seems most reasonable to suppose that he set out on his + pilgrimage in A.D. 399, the cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, + the second year, instead of {.}, the first, might easily creep into + the text. In the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks" it is said that our author + started in the third year of the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, + which was A.D. 399. + + (3) These, like Fa-Hsien itself, are all what we might call "clerical" + names, appellations given to the parties as monks or sramanas. + + (4) The Buddhist tripitaka or canon consists of three collections, + containing, according to Eitel (p. 150), "doctrinal aphorisms + (or statements, purporting to be from Buddha himself); works on + discipline; and works on metaphysics:"--called sutra, vinaya, and + abhidharma; in Chinese, king {.}, leuh {.}, and lun {.}, or texts, + laws or rules, and discussions. Dr. Rhys Davids objects to the + designation of "metaphysics" as used of the abhidharma works, saying + that "they bear much more the relation to 'dharma' which 'by-law' + bears to 'law' than that which 'metaphysics' bears to 'physics'" + (Hibbert Lectures, p. 49). However this be, it was about the vinaya + works that Fa-Hsien was chiefly concerned. He wanted a good code of + the rules for the government of "the Order" in all its internal and + external relations. + + (5) Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part + of Kan-suh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of + Shen-se. + + (6) K'een-kwei was the second king of "the Western Ts'in." His family + was of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe, + with the surname of K'eih-fuh. The first king was Kwo-kin, and + received his appointment from the sovereign of the chief Ts'in kingdom + in 385. He was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the K'een-kwei of the + text, who was very prosperous in 398, and took the title of king of + Ts'in. Fa-Hsien would find him at his capital, somewhere in the present + department of Lan-chow, Kan-suh. + + (7) Under varshas or vashavasana (Pali, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass), + Eitel (p. 163) says:--"One of the most ancient institutions of + Buddhist discipline, requiring all ecclesiastics to spend the rainy + season in a monastery in devotional exercises. Chinese Buddhists + naturally substituted the hot season for the rainy (from the 16th day + of the 5th to the 15th of the 9th Chinese month)." + + (8) During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five + (usurping) Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire ({.} + {.}). The name Leang remains in the department of Leang-chow in the + northern part of Kan-suh. The "southern Leang" arose in 397 under a + Tuh-fah Wu-ku, who was succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and + he again by his brother, the Now-t'an of the text, in 402, who was not + yet king therefore when Fa-Hsien and his friends reached his capital. + How he is represented as being so may be accounted for in various + ways, of which it is not necessary to write. + + (9) Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department, + Kan-suh. It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far + from the Great Wall. Its king at this time was, probably, Twan-yeh of + "the northern Leang." + + (10) Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six + paramitas, or means of attaining to nirvana; and a danapati is "one + who practises dana and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery." It is + given as "a title of honour to all who support the cause of + Buddhism by acts of charity, especially to founders and patrons of + monasteries;"--see Eitel, p. 29. + + (11) Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most + distinguished was Pao-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on + his return from India, of which only one seems to be now existing. He + died in 449. See Nanjio's Catalogue of the Tripitaka, col. 417. + + (12) This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Ch'ang-gan. We + are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400. + + (13) T'un-hwang (lat. 39d 40s N.; lon. 94d 50s E.) is still the name + of one of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the + most western of the prefectures of Kan-suh; beyond the termination of + the Great Wall. + + (14) Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The + text will not admit of any other translation. + + (15) Le Hao was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and + kindly in his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of + T'un-hwang by the king of "the northern Leang," in 400; and there he + sustained himself, becoming by and by "duke of western Leang," till he + died in 417. + + (16) "The river of sand;" the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having + various other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now + before them,--to cross this desert. The name of "river" in the Chinese + misleads the reader, and he thinks of crossing it as of crossing + a stream; but they had to traverse it from east to west. In his + "Vocabulary of Proper Names," p. 23, Dr. Porter Smith says:--"It + extends from the eastern frontier of Mongolia, south-westward to the + further frontier of Turkestan, to within six miles of Ilchi, the + chief town of Khoten. It thus comprises some twenty-three degrees + of longitude in length, and from three to ten degrees of latitude + in breadth, being about 2,100 miles in its greatest length. In some + places it is arable. Some idea may be formed of the terror with + which this 'Sea of Sand,' with its vast billows of shifting sands, is + regarded, from the legend that in one of the storms 360 cities were + all buried within the space of twenty-four hours." So also Gilmour's + "Among the Mongols," chap. 5. + + + +CHAPTER II + +ON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN + +After travelling for seventeen days, a distance we may calculate of +about 1500 le, (the pilgrims) reached the kingdom of Shen-shen,(1) a +country rugged and hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes +of the common people are coarse, and like those worn in our land +of Han,(2) some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth +of hair;--this was the only difference seen among them. The king +professed (our) Law, and there might be in the country more than +four thousand monks,(3) who were all students of the hinayana.(4) The +common people of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well +as the sramans,(5) all practise the rules of India,(6) only that +the latter do so more exactly, and the former more loosely. So (the +travellers) found it in all the kingdoms through which they went on +their way from this to the west, only that each had its own peculiar +barbarous speech.(7) (The monks), however, who had (given up the +worldly life) and quitted their families, were all students of Indian +books and the Indian language. Here they stayed for about a month, +and then proceeded on their journey, fifteen days walking to the +north-west bringing them to the country of Woo-e.(8) In this also +there were more than four thousand monks, all students of the +hinayana. They were very strict in their rules, so that sramans from +the territory of Ts'in(9) were all unprepared for their regulations. +Fa-Hsien, through the management of Foo Kung-sun, _maitre +d'hotellerie_,(10) was able to remain (with his company in the +monastery where they were received) for more than two months, and here +they were rejoined by Pao-yun and his friends.(11) (At the end of +that time) the people of Woo-e neglected the duties of propriety and +righteousness, and treated the strangers in so niggardly a manner that +Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, and Hwuy-wei went back towards Kao-ch'ang,(12) +hoping to obtain there the means of continuing their journey. Fa-Hsien +and the rest, however, through the liberality of Foo Kung-sun, managed +to go straight forward in a south-west direction. They found the +country uninhabited as they went along. The difficulties which they +encountered in crossing the streams and on their route, and the +sufferings which they endured, were unparalleled in human experience, +but in the course of a month and five days they succeeded in reaching +Yu-teen.(13) + + NOTES + + (1) An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the + Books of the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of + China, about B.C. 80. The greater portion of that is now accessible + to the English reader in a translation by Mr. Wylie in the "Journal + of the Anthropological Institute," August, 1880. Mr. Wylie + says:--"Although we may not be able to identify Shen-shen with + certainty, yet we have sufficient indications to give an appropriate + idea of its position, as being south of and not far from lake Lob." + He then goes into an exhibition of those indications, which I need not + transcribe. It is sufficient for us to know that the capital city + was not far from Lob or Lop Nor, into which in lon. 38d E. the Tarim + flows. Fa-Hsien estimated its distance to be 1500 le from T'un-hwang. + He and his companions must have gone more than twenty-five miles a day + to accomplish the journey in seventeen days. + + (2) This is the name which Fa-Hsien always uses when he would speak + of China, his native country, as a whole, calling it from the great + dynasty which had ruled it, first and last, for between four and five + centuries. Occasionally, as we shall immediately see, he speaks of + "the territory of Ts'in or Ch'in," but intending thereby only the + kingdom or Ts'in, having its capital, as described in the first note + on the last chapter, in Ch'ang-gan. + + (3) So I prefer to translate the character {.} (sang) rather than by + "priests." Even in Christianity, beyond the priestly privilege + which belongs to all believers, I object to the ministers of any + denomination or church calling themselves or being called "priests;" + and much more is the name inapplicable to the sramanas or bhikshus of + Buddhism which acknowledges no God in the universe, no soul in man, + and has no services of sacrifice or prayer in its worship. The only + difficulty in the use of "monks" is caused by the members of the + sect in Japan which, since the middle of the fifteenth century, + has abolished the prohibition against marrying on the part of its + ministers, and other prohibitions in diet and dress. Sang and sang-kea + represent the Sanskrit sangha, constituted by at least four members, + and empowered to hear confession, to grant absolution, to admit + persons to holy orders, &c.; secondly, the third constituent of the + Buddhistic Trinity, a deification of the _communio sanctorum_, or + the Buddhist order. The name is used by our author of the monks + collectively or individually as belonging to the class, and may be + considered as synonymous with the name sramana, which will immediately + claim our attention. + + (4) Meaning the "small vehicle, or conveyance." There are in + Buddhism the triyana, or "three different means of salvation, i.e. of + conveyance across the samsara, or sea of transmigration, to the shores + of nirvana. Afterwards the term was used to designate the different + phases of development through which the Buddhist dogma passed, known + as the mahayana, hinayana, and madhyamayana." "The hinayana is the + simplest vehicle of salvation, corresponding to the first of the three + degrees of saintship. Characteristics of it are the preponderance of + active moral asceticism, and the absence of speculative mysticism and + quietism." E. H., pp. 151-2, 45, and 117. + + (5) The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and + throughout the book,--T'een-chuh ({.} {.}), the chuh being pronounced, + probably, in Fa-Hsien's time as tuk. How the earliest name for India, + Shin-tuk or duk=Scinde, came to be changed into Thien-tuk, it + would take too much space to explain. I believe it was done by the + Buddhists, wishing to give a good auspicious name to the fatherland of + their Law, and calling it "the Heavenly Tuk," just as the Mohammedans + call Arabia "the Heavenly region" ({.} {.}), and the court of China + itself is called "the Celestial" ({.} {.}). + + (6) Sraman may in English take the place of Sramana (Pali, Samana; + in Chinese, Sha-man), the name for Buddhist monks, as those who have + separated themselves from (left) their families, and quieted their + hearts from all intrusion of desire and lust. "It is employed, first, + as a general name for ascetics of all denominations, and, secondly, as + a general designation of Buddhistic monks." E. H., pp. 130, 131. + + (7) Tartar or Mongolian. + + (8) Woo-e has not been identified. Watters ("China Review," viii. + 115) says:--"We cannot be far wrong if we place it in Kharaschar, or + between that and Kutscha." It must have been a country of considerable + size to have so many monks in it. + + (9) This means in one sense China, but Fa-Hsien, in his use of the + name, was only thinking of the three Ts'in states of which I have + spoken in a previous note; perhaps only of that from the capital of + which he had himself set out. + + (10) This sentence altogether is difficult to construe, and Mr. + Watters, in the "China Review," was the first to disentangle more than + one knot in it. I am obliged to adopt the reading of {.} {.} in the + Chinese editions, instead of the {.} {.} in the Corean text. It seems + clear that only one person is spoken of as assisting the travellers, + and his name, as appears a few sentences farther on, was Foo Kung-sun. + The {.} {.} which immediately follows the surname Foo {.}, must be + taken as the name of his office, corresponding, as the {.} shows, to + that of _le maitre d'hotellerie_ in a Roman Catholic abbey. I was once + indebted myself to the kind help of such an officer at a monastery in + Canton province. The Buddhistic name for him is uddesika=overseer. The + Kung-sun that follows his surname indicates that he was descended from + some feudal lord in the old times of the Chow dynasty. We know indeed + of no ruling house which had the surname of Foo, but its adoption by + the grandson of a ruler can be satisfactorily accounted for; and + his posterity continued to call themselves Kung-sun, duke or lord's + grandson, and so retain the memory of the rank of their ancestor. + + (11) Whom they had left behind them at T'un-hwang. + + (12) The country of the Ouighurs, the district around the modern + Turfan or Tangut. + + (13) Yu-teen is better known as Khoten. Dr. P. Smith gives (p. 11) the + following description of it:--"A large district on the south-west + of the desert of Gobi, embracing all the country south of Oksu and + Yarkand, along the northern base of the Kwun-lun mountains, for more + than 300 miles from east to west. The town of the same name, now + called Ilchi, is in an extensive plain on the Khoten river, in lat. + 37d N., and lon. 80d 35s E. After the Tungani insurrection against + Chinese rule in 1862, the Mufti Haji Habeeboolla was made governor of + Khoten, and held the office till he was murdered by Yakoob Beg, who + became for a time the conqueror of all Chinese Turkestan. Khoten + produces fine linen and cotton stuffs, jade ornaments, copper, grain, + and fruits." The name in Sanskrit is Kustana. (E. H., p. 60). + + + +CHAPTER III + +KHOTEN. PROCESSIONS OF IMAGES. THE KING'S NEW MONASTERY. + +Yu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom, with a numerous and +flourishing population. The inhabitants all profess our Law, and join +together in its religious music for their enjoyment.(1) The +monks amount to several myriads, most of whom are students of the +mahayana.(2) They all receive their food from the common store.(3) +Throughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like +(separate) stars, and each family has a small tope(4) reared in front +of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or +rather more.(5) They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from +all quarters,(5) the use of which is given to travelling monks who may +arrive, and who are provided with whatever else they require. + +The lord of the country lodged Fa-Hsien and the others comfortably, +and supplied their wants, in a monastery(6) called Gomati,(6) of the +mahayana school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who +are called to their meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the +refectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they +take their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence. +No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any +of these pure men(7) require food, they are not allowed to call out +(to the attendants) for it, but only make signs with their hands. + +Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the +country of K'eeh-ch'a;(8) but Fa-Hsien and the others, wishing to see +the procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are +in this country four(9) great monasteries, not counting the smaller +ones. Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and +water the streets inside the city, making a grand display in the +lanes and byways. Over the city gate they pitch a large tent, grandly +adorned in all possible ways, in which the king and queen, with their +ladies brilliantly arrayed,(10) take up their residence (for the +time). + +The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held +in great reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the +procession. At a distance of three or four le from the city, they made +a four-wheeled image car, more than thirty cubits high, which looked +like the great hall (of a monastery) moving along. The seven precious +substances(11) were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers +and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image(12) stood in the +middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas(13) in attendance upon it, +while devas(14) were made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved +in gold and silver, and hanging in the air. When (the car) was a +hundred paces from the gate, the king put off his crown of state, +changed his dress for a fresh suit, and with bare feet, carrying +in his hands flowers and incense, and with two rows of attending +followers, went out at the gate to meet the image; and, with his head +and face (bowed to the ground), he did homage at its feet, and then +scattered the flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was +entering the gate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in +the gallery above scattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which +floated about and fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way +everything was done to promote the dignity of the occasion. The +carriages of the monasteries were all different, and each one had its +own day for the procession. (The ceremony) began on the first day of +the fourth month, and ended on the fourteenth, after which the king +and queen returned to the palace. + +Seven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the +King's New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and +extended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in height, rich in +elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, +and finished throughout with a combination of all the precious +substances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of Buddha,(15) +of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed +doors, and windows being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, +the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, +beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest +value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of +the (Ts'ung) range of mountains(16) are possessed, they contribute the +greater portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them +themselves.(17) + + NOTES + + (1) This fondness for music among the Khoteners is mentioned by Hsuan + and Ch'wang and others. + + (2) Mahayana. It is a later form of the Buddhist doctrine, the second + phase of its development corresponding to the state of a Bodhisattva, + who, being able to transport himself and all mankind to nirvana, may + be compared to a huge vehicle. See Davids on the "Key-note of the + 'Great Vehicle,'" Hibbert Lectures, p. 254. + + (3) Fa-Hsien supplies sufficient information of how the common store or + funds of the monasteries were provided, farther on in chapters xvi and + xxxix, as well as in other passages. As the point is important, I will + give here, from Davids' fifth Hibbert Lecture (p. 178), some of the + words of the dying Buddha, taken from "The Book of the Great Decease," + as illustrating the statement in this text:--"So long as the brethren + shall persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought among + the saints, both in public and private; so long as they shall divide + without partiality, and share in common with the upright and holy, all + such things as they receive in accordance with the just provisions of + the order, down even to the mere contents of a begging bowl; . . . so + long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper." + + (4) The Chinese {.} (t'ah; in Cantonese, t'ap), as used by Fa-Hsien, + is, no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or Pali thupa; and + it is well in translating to use for the structures described by + him the name of topes,--made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian + antiquarians. In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one + built under the superintendence of Buddha himself, "as a model for all + topes in future." They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes, + and were solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with + a series of rings, varying in number. But their form, I suppose, was + often varied; just as we have in China pagodas of different shapes. + There are several topes now in the Indian Institute at Oxford, brought + from Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much smaller than "the + smallest" of those of Khoten. They were intended chiefly to contain + the relics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what relics + could there be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi? + + (5) The meaning here is much disputed. The author does not mean to + say that the monk's apartments were made "square," but that the + monasteries were made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms. + + (6) The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,--Sangharama, + "gardens of the assembly," originally denoting only "the surrounding + park, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the premises" (E. H., + p. 118). Gomati, the name of this monastery, means "rich in cows." + + (7) A denomination for the monks as vimala, "undefiled" or "pure." + Giles makes it "the menials that attend on the monks," but I have not + met with it in that application. + + (8) K'eeh-ch'a has not been clearly identified. Remusat made it + Cashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel, + Khas'a, "an ancient tribe on the Paropamisus, the Kasioi of Ptolemy." + I think it was Ladak, or some well-known place in it. Hwuy-tah, unless + that name be an alias, appears here for the first time. + + (9) Instead of "four," the Chinese copies of the text have "fourteen;" + but the Corean reading is, probably, more correct. + + (10) There may have been, as Giles says, "maids of honour;" but the + character does not say so. + + (11) The Sapta-ratna, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, + rubies, diamonds or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East + (Davids' Buddhist Suttas), vol. xi., p. 249. + + (12) No doubt that of Sakyamuni himself. + + (13) A Bodhisattva is one whose essence has become intelligence; + a Being who will in some future birth as a man (not necessarily or + usually the next) attain to Buddhahood. The name does not include + those Buddhas who have not yet attained to pari-nirvana. The symbol of + the state is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its abbreviated + form P'u-sa is used in China for any idol or image; here the name has + its proper signification. + + (14) {.} {.}, "all the thien," or simply "the thien" taken as plural. + But in Chinese the character called thien {.} denotes heaven, or + Heaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Ti, meaning God. With + the Buddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmanic gods, or all the + inhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism + between Buddhism and Brahmanism, and still more that between it and + Confucianism. + + (15) Giles and Williams call this "the oratory of Buddha." But + "oratory" gives the idea of a small apartment, whereas the name here + leads the mind to think of a large "hall." I once accompanied the + monks of a large monastery from their refectory to the Hall of Buddha, + which was a lofty and spacious apartment splendidly fitted up. + + (16) The Ts'ung, or "Onion" range, called also the Belurtagh + mountains, including the Karakorum, and forming together the + connecting links between the more northern T'een-shan and the Kwun-lun + mountains on the north of Thibet. It would be difficult to name the + six countries which Fa-Hsien had in mind. + + (17) This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it + was that the author meant to say that the contributions which they + received were spent by the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to + a small extent for themselves; and I still hesitate between that view + and the one in the version. + + There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang {.} {.}, which is one + of the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not only + of support in the way of substantial contributions given to monks, + monasteries, and Buddhism, but generally of all Buddhistic worship, if + I may use that term in the connexion. Let me here quote two or three + sentences from Davids' Manual (pp. 168-170):--"The members of the + order are secured from want. There is no place in the Buddhist scheme + for churches; the offering of flowers before the sacred tree or + image of the Buddha takes the place of worship. Buddhism does not + acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the warm countries where + Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the law, or preaching of the + word, in public, can take place best in the open air, by moonlight, + under a simple roof of trees or palms. There are five principal kinds + of meditation, which in Buddhism takes the place of prayer." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THROUGH THE TS'UNG OR "ONION" MOUNTAINS TO K'EEH-CH'A;--PROBABLY +SKARDO, OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK + +When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, +Sang-shao, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest +follower of the Law,(1) and proceeded towards Kophene.(2) Fa-Hsien and +the others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them +twenty-five days to reach.(3) Its king was a strenuous follower of +our Law,(4) and had (around him) more than a thousand monks, mostly +students of the mahayana. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days, +and then went south for four days, when they found themselves among +the Ts'ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,(5) +where they halted and kept their retreat.(6) When this was over, +they went on among the hills(7) for twenty-five days, and got to +K'eeh-ch'a,(8) there rejoining Hwuy-king(9) and his two companions. + + NOTES + + (1) This Tartar is called a {.} {.}, "a man of the Tao," or faith of + Buddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man who + is not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose faith + is always making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be used of + followers of other systems of faith besides Buddhism. + + (2) See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of the + first Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200 le + from Ch'ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan. + The name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be + the same as the present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from + the west, at Attock, after passing Peshawar. The city of Cabul, the + capital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text; but we do not + know that Sang-shao and his guide got so far west. The text only says + that they set out from Khoten "towards it." + + (3) Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand, + which, however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters ("China Review," + p. 135) rather approves the suggestion of "Tashkurgan in Sirikul" for + it. As it took Fa-Hsien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have been + at least 150 miles from Khoten. + + (4) The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting + the possession of viryabala, "the power of energy; persevering + exertion--one of the five moral powers" (E. H., p. 170). + + (5) Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was directly + south from Tsze-hoh, and among the "Onion" mountains. Watters hazards + the conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps. + + (6) This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the + pilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, "quiet rest," + without any mention of the season, indicating their approach to India, + E. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they left + Ch'ang-gan. Are we now with them in 402? + + (7) This is the Corean reading {.}, much preferable to the {.} of the + Chinese editions. + + (8) Watters approves of Klaproth's determination of K'eeh-ch'a to be + Iskardu or Skardo. There are difficulties in connexion with the view, + but it has the advantage, to my mind very great, of bringing the + pilgrims across the Indus. The passage might be accomplished with ease + at this point of the river's course, and therefore is not particularly + mentioned. + + (9) Who had preceded them from Khoten. + + + +CHAPTER V + +GREAT QUINQUENNIAL ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. RELICS OF BUDDHA. PRODUCTIONS OF +THE COUNTRY. + +It happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha +parishad, that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.(1) +When this is to be held, the king requests the presence of the Sramans +from all quarters (of his kingdom). They come (as if) in clouds; +and when they are all assembled, their place of session is grandly +decorated. Silken streamers and canopies are hung out in, and +water-lilies in gold and silver are made and fixed up behind the +places where (the chief of them) are to sit. When clean mats have been +spread, and they are all seated, the king and his ministers present +their offerings according to rule and law. (The assembly takes place), +in the first, second, or third month, for the most part in the spring. + +After the king has held the assembly, he further exhorts the ministers +to make other and special offerings. The doing of this extends over +one, two, three, five, or even seven days; and when all is finished, +he takes his own riding-horse, saddles, bridles, and waits on him +himself,(2) while he makes the noblest and most important minister +of the kingdom mount him. Then, taking fine white woollen cloth, all +sorts of precious things, and articles which the Sramans require, he +distributes them among them, uttering vows at the same time along +with all his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place, he +again redeems (whatever he wishes) from the monks.(3) + +The country, being among the hills and cold, does not produce the +other cereals, and only the wheat gets ripe. After the monks have +received their annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show +the hoar-frost, and on this account the king always begs the monks to +make the wheat ripen(4) before they receive their portion. There is in +the country a spitoon which belonged to Buddha, made of stone, and in +colour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth of Buddha, for which +the people have reared a tope, connected with which there are more +than a thousand monks and their disciples,(5) all students of the +hinayana. To the east of these hills the dress of the common people +is of coarse materials, as in our country of Ts'in, but here also(6) +there were among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of +serge or haircloth. The rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable, +and too numerous to be mentioned in detail. The country is in the +midst of the Onion range. As you go forward from these mountains, the +plants, trees, and fruits are all different from those of the land of +Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate,(7) and sugar-cane. + + NOTES + + (1) See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as "an ecclesiastical + conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of + sins and inculcation of morality." + + (2) The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, + including myself, have been puzzled by it. + + (3) See what we are told of king Asoka's grant of all the Jambudvipa + to the monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of + similar gifts in the Mahavansa. + + (4) Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of + K'eeh-ch'a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers. + + (5) The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone. I often found in + monasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as + their preceptors. + + (6) Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of + Shen-shen. + + (7) Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary + name for "pomegranate" is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate + was called at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China + from Gan-seih by Chang-k'een, who is referred to in chapter vii. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ON TOWARDS NORTH INDIA. DARADA. IMAGE OF MAITREYA BODHISATTVA. + +From this (the travellers) went westwards towards North India, and +after being on the way for a month, they succeeded in getting across +and through the range of the Onion mountains. The snow rests on them +both winter and summer. There are also among them venomous dragons, +which, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause showers of +snow and storms of sand and gravel. Not one in ten thousand of those +who encounter these dangers escapes with his life. The people of the +country call the range by the name of "The Snow mountains." When +(the travellers) had got through them, they were in North India, +and immediately on entering its borders, found themselves in a small +kingdom called T'o-leih,(1) where also there were many monks, all +students of the hinayana. + +In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,(2) who by his +supernatural power(3) took a clever artificer up to the Tushita +heaven, to see the height, complexion, and appearance of Maitreya +Bodhisattva,(4) and then return and make an image of him in wood. +First and last, this was done three times, and then the image was +completed, eighty cubits in height, and eight cubits at the base from +knee to knee of the crossed legs. On fast-days it emits an effulgent +light. The kings of the (surrounding) countries vie with one another +in presenting offerings to it. Here it is,--to be seen now as of +old.(5) + + NOTES + + (1) Eitel and others identify this with Darada, the country of the + ancient Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30d 11s N., lon. 73d + 54s E. See E. H. p. 30. I am myself in more than doubt on the point. + Cunningham ("Ancient Geography of India," p. 82) says "Darel is a + valley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by + Dardus or Dards, from whom it received its name." But as I read our + narrative, Fa-Hsien is here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only + crosses to the western bank as described in the next chapter. + + (2) Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya, + the disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or + eightfold excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to + be reborn again. Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural + powers, and is not to be succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact + of the saint having already attained nirvana. Popularly, the Chinese + designate by this name the wider circle of Buddha's disciples, as well + as the smaller ones of 500 and 18. No temple in Canton is better worth + a visit than that of the 500 Lo-han. + + (3) Riddhi-sakshatkriya, "the power of supernatural footsteps,"="a + body flexible at pleasure," or unlimited power over the body. E. H., + p. 104. + + (4) Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn + before finally appearing on earth as Buddha. Life lasts in Tushita + 4000 years, but twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on + earth. E. H., p. 152. + + (5) Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, "the + Invincible," was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, + of Sakyamuni's retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary + (historical) disciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents. It + was in the Tushita heaven that Sakyamuni met him and appointed him + as his successor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years. + Maitreya is therefore the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing + at present in Tushita, and, according to the account of him in Eitel + (H., p. 70), "already controlling the propagation of the Buddhistic + faith." The name means "gentleness" or "kindness;" and this will be + the character of his dispensation. + + (6) The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding + sentence, and so frequently occurring throughout the narrative, + has occasioned no little dispute among previous translators. In the + imperial thesaurus of phraseology (P'ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an + example of it is given from Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} + {.} is equivalent to {.} {.}, "anciently and now." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE +EAST + +The travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot +of the mountains, and) following the course of their range. The +way was difficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly +precipitous, which rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 +cubits from the base. When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes +become unsteady; and if he wished to go forward in the same direction, +there was no place on which he could place his foot; and beneath where +the waters of the river called the Indus.(1) In former times men had +chiselled paths along the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face +of them, to the number altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there +was a suspension bridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its +banks being there eighty paces apart.(2) The (place and arrangements) +are to be found in the Records of the Nine Interpreters,(3) but +neither Chang K'een(4) nor Kan Ying(5) had reached the spot. + +The monks(6) asked Fa-Hsien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha +first went to the east. He replied, "When I asked the people of those +countries about it, they all said that it had been handed down by +their fathers from of old that, after the setting up of the image of +Maitreya Bodhisattva, there were Sramans of India who crossed this +river, carrying with them Sutras and Books of Discipline. Now the +image was set up rather more than 300 years after the nirvana(7) of +Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king P'ing of the Chow +dynasty.(8) According to this account we may say that the diffusion of +our great doctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) +this image. If it had not been through that Maitreya,(9) the great +spiritual master(10) (who is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who +could have caused the 'Three Precious Ones'(11) to be proclaimed so +far, and the people of those border lands to know our Law? We know +of a truth that the opening of (the way for such) a mysterious +propagation is not the work of man; and so the dream of the emperor +Ming of Han(12) had its proper cause." + + NOTES + + (1) The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in + China for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a + name approaching that in sound. + + (2) Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) + the following description of the course of the Indus in these parts, + in striking accordance with our author's account:--"From Skardo to + Rongdo, and from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100 + miles, the Indus sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in + the mountains, which for wild sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo + means the country of defiles. . . . Between these points the Indus + raves from side to side of the gloomy chasm, foaming and chafing with + ungovernable fury. Yet even in these inaccessible places has daring + and ingenious man triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning abyss + is spanned by frail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are + connected by ladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething + cauldron below." + + (3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese + copies,--one which Remusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured + should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he + was acquainted. The "Nine Interpreters" would be a general name for + the official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in + their attempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The + phrase occurs in the memoir of Chang K'een, referred to in the next + note. + + (4) Chang K'een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), + is celebrated as the first Chinese who "pierced the void," and + penetrated to "the regions of the west," corresponding very much to + the present Turkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse + was established between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of + that quarter;--see Mayers' Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 5. The memoir + of Chang K'een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the first + Han dynasty, appears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, + referred to already. + + (5) Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K'een. Being sent in A.D. + 88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only + got as far as the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended, + however, the knowledge of his countrymen with regard to the western + regions;--see the memoir of Pan Chao in the Books of the second Han, + and Mayers' Manual, pp. 167, 168. + + (6) Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing + the Indus. + + (7) This may refer to Sakyamuni's becoming Buddha on attaining to + nirvana, or more probably to his pari-nirvana and death. + + (8) As king P'ing's reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would + place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent + inquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few + years, after that of Confucius, so that the two great "Masters" of the + east were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I + think he is, in fixing the date of Buddha's death within a few years + of 412 B.C. (see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard's + still lower date, then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of + Confucius. + + (9) This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already + controlling the propagation of the faith. + + (10) The Chinese characters for this simply mean "the great scholar or + officer;" but see Eitel's Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha. + + (11) "The precious Buddha," "the precious Law," and "the precious + Monkhood;" Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to + Buddhism. + + (12) Fa-Hsien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into + China in this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA. + +After crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the +kingdom of Woo-chang,(1) which is indeed (a part) of North India. The +people all use the language of Central India, "Central India" being +what we should call the "Middle Kingdom." The food and clothes of +the common people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of +Buddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where +the monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and +of these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the +hinayana. When stranger bhikshus(2) arrive at one of them, their +wants are supplied for three days, after which they are told to find a +resting-place for themselves. + +There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at +once to this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, +which is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder (on +the subject). It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the +present day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried +his clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon.(3) +The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one +side of it smooth. + +Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place +of) Buddha's shadow in the country of Nagara;(4) but Fa-Hsien and the +others remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.(5) +That over, they descended south, and arrived in the country of +Soo-ho-to.(6) + + NOTES + + (1) Udyana, meaning "the Park;" just north of the Punjab, the country + along the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests, + flowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153). + + (2) Bhikshu is the name for a monk as "living by alms," a mendicant. + All bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are used + together by our author. + + (3) Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often + meaning a snake, especially the boa. "Chinese Buddhists," says Eitel, + p. 79, "when speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them + as enemies of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, + lakes, or oceans, they describe them as piously inclined." The dragon, + however, is in China the symbol of the Sovereign and Sage, a use of it + unknown in Buddhism, according to which all nagas need to be converted + in order to obtain a higher phase of being. The use of the character + too {.}, as here, in the sense of "to convert," is entirely + Buddhistic. The six paramitas are the six virtues which carry + men across {.} the great sea of life and death, as the sphere of + transmigration to nirvana. With regard to the particular conversion + here, Eitel (p. 11) says the Naga's name was Apatala, the guardian + deity of the Subhavastu river, and that he was converted by Sakyamuni + shortly before the death of the latter. + + (4) In Chinese Na-k'eeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern + bank of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad. + + (5) We would seem now to be in 403. + + (6) Soo-ho-to has not been clearly identified. Beal says that later + Buddhist writers include it in Udyana. It must have been between the + Indus and the Swat. I suppose it was what we now call Swastene. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA. + +In that country also Buddhism(1) is flourishing. There is in it the +place where Sakra,(2) Ruler of Devas, in a former age,(3) tried the +Bodhisattva, by producing(4) a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the +Bodhisattva) cut off a piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed +the dove. After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom,(5) and in +travelling about with his disciples (arrived at this spot), he +informed them that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with +a piece of his own flesh. In this way the people of the country +became aware of the fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with +layers(6) of gold and silver plates. + + NOTES + + (1) Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, "the Law + of Buddha," and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent + occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate + rendering of them any more than Christianity would be of {to + euaggelion Xristou}. The Fa or Law is the equivalent of dharma + comprehending all in the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,--as + Dr. Davids says (Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), "its ethics and philosophy, + and its system of self-culture;" with the theory of karma, it seems + to me, especially underlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham's + "Bhilsa Topes," p. 102) that dharma is the keystone of all king + Priyadarsi or Asoka's edicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the + attainment of one object, "the advancement of dharma, or of the Law of + Buddha." His native Chinese afforded no better character than {.} + or Law, by which our author could express concisely his idea of the + Buddhistic system, as "a law of life," a directory or system of Rules, + by which men could attain to the consummation of their being. + + (2) Sakra is a common name for the Brahmanic Indra, adopted by + Buddhism into the circle of its own great adherents;--it has been + said, "because of his popularity." He is generally styled, as here, + T'een Ti, "God or Ruler of Devas." He is now the representative of + the secular power, the valiant protector of the Buddhist body, but + is looked upon as inferior to Sakyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He + appears several times in Fa-Hsien's narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46. + + (3) The Chinese character is {.}, "formerly," and is often, as in the + first sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At + other times it means, as here, "in a former age," some pre-existent + state in the time of a former birth. The incident related is "a Jataka + story." + + (4) It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters + {.} {.} by "changed himself to." Such is often their meaning in the + sequel, but their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial + test of the meaning which I have given them here. + + (5) That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course {.} {.}. + + (6) This seems to be the contribution of {.} (or {.}), to the force of + the binomial {.} {.}, which is continually occurring. + + + +CHAPTER X + +GANDHARA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. + +The travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in +five days came to the country of Gandhara,(1) the place where +Dharma-vivardhana,(2) the son of Asoka,(3) ruled. When Buddha was a +Bodhisattva, he gave his eyes also for another man here;(4) and at the +spot they have also reared a large tope, adorned with layers of gold +and silver plates. The people of the country were mostly students of +the hinayana. + + NOTES + + (1) Eitel says "an ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about + Dheri and Banjour." But see note 5. + + (2) Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fa + Yi {.} {.} of the text. + + (3) Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;--the Constantine of + the Buddhist society, and famous for the number of viharas and + topes which he erected. He was the grandson of Chandragupta (i.q. + Sandracottus), a rude adventurer, who at one time was a refugee in the + camp of Alexander the Great; and within about twenty years afterwards + drove the Greeks out of India, having defeated Seleucus, the Greek + ruler of the Indus provinces. He had by that time made himself king + of Magadha. His grandson was converted to Buddhism by the bold and + patient demeanour of an Arhat whom he had ordered to be buried alive, + and became a most zealous supporter of the new faith. Dr. Rhys Davids + (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, p. xlvi) says that "Asoka's + coronation can be fixed with absolute certainty within a year or two + either way of 267 B.C." + + (4) This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth, + constructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TAKSHASILA. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES. + +Seven days' journey from this to the east brought the travellers to +the kingdom of Takshasila,(1) which means "the severed head" in the +language of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away +his head to a man;(2) and from this circumstance the kingdom got its +name. + +Going on further for two days to the east, they came to the place +where the Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving +tigress.(2) In these two places also large topes have been built, +both adorned with layers of all the precious substances. The kings, +ministers, and peoples of the kingdoms around vie with one another +in making offerings at them. The trains of those who come to scatter +flowers and light lamps at them never cease. The nations of those +quarters all those (and the other two mentioned before) "the four +great topes." + + NOTES + + (1) See Julien's "Methode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les Nomes + Sanscrits," p. 206. Eitel says, "The Taxila of the Greeks, the region + near Hoosun Abdaul in lat. 35d 48s N., lon. 72d 44s E." But this + identification, I am satisfied, is wrong. Cunningham, indeed, takes + credit ("Ancient Geography of India," pp. 108, 109) for determining + this to be the site of Arrian's Taxila,--in the upper Punjab, still + existing in the ruins of Shahdheri, between the Indus and Hydaspes + (the modern Jhelum). So far he may be correct; but the Takshasila of + Fa-Hsien was on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between + the river and Gandhara. It took him, indeed, seven days travelling + eastwards to reach it; but we do not know what stoppages he may have + made on the way. We must be wary in reckoning distances from his + specifications of days. + + (2) Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence + Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism," pp. 91, 92. It took place when Buddha + had been born as a Brahman in the village of Daliddi; and from the + merit of the act, he was next born in a devaloka. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +PURUSHAPURA, OR PESHAWUR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND HIS TOPE. +BUDDHA'S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING. + +Going southwards from Gandhara, (the travellers) in four days arrived +at the kingdom of Purushapura.(1) Formerly, when Buddha was travelling +in this country with his disciples, he said to Ananda,(2) "After my +pari-nirvana,(3) there will be a king named Kanishka,(4) who shall on +this spot build a tope." This Kanishka was afterwards born into the +world; and (once), when he had gone forth to look about him, Sakra, +Ruler of Devas, wishing to excite the idea in his mind, assumed the +appearance of a little herd-boy, and was making a tope right in the +way (of the king), who asked what sort of thing he was making. The boy +said, "I am making a tope for Buddha." The king said, "Very good;" +and immediately, right over the boy's tope, he (proceeded to) rear +another, which was more than four hundred cubits high, and adorned +with layers of all the precious substances. Of all the topes and +temples which (the travellers) saw in their journeyings, there was not +one comparable to this in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur. There +is a current saying that this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa.(5) +When the king's tope was completed, the little tope (of the boy) +came out from its side on the south, rather more than three cubits in +height. + +Buddha's alms-bowl is in this country. Formerly, a king of Yueh-she(6) +raised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the +bowl away. Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were +sincere believers in the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the +bowl, they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale. When +they had done so to the Three Precious Ones, he made a large elephant +be grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon it. But the elephant +knelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. Again he +caused a four-wheeled waggon to be prepared in which the bowl was +put to be conveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and +dragged it with their united strength; but neither were they able to +go forward. The king knew that the time for an association between +himself and the bowl had not yet arrived,(7) and was sad and deeply +ashamed of himself. Forthwith he built a tope at the place and a +monastery, and left a guard to watch (the bowl), making all sorts of +contributions. + +There may be there more than seven hundred monks. When it is near +midday, they bring out the bowl, and, along with the common people,(8) +make their various offerings to it, after which they take their midday +meal. In the evening, at the time of incense, they bring the bowl out +again.(9) It may contain rather more than two pecks, and is of various +colours, black predominating, with the seams that show its fourfold +composition distinctly marked.(10) Its thickness is about the fifth of +an inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor people throw +into it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some very +rich people, wishing to make offering of many flowers, might not stop +till they had thrown in hundreds, thousands, and myriads of bushels, +and yet would not be able to fill it.(11) + +Pao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the +alms-bowl, and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and +Tao-ching had gone on before the rest to Negara,(12) to make their +offerings at (the places of) Buddha's shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone +of his skull. (There) Hwuy-king fell ill, and Tao-ching remained to +look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the +others, and (then) he with Pao-yun and Sang-king took their way +back to the land of Ts'in. Hwuy-king(13) came to his end(14) in the +monastery of Buddha's alms-bowl, and on this Fa-Hsien went forward +alone towards the place of the flat-bone of Buddha's skull. + + NOTES + + (1) The modern Peshawur, lat. 34d 8s N., lon. 71d 30s E. + + (2) A first cousin of Sakyamuni, and born at the moment when he + attained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha's teaching, Ananda became an + Arhat, and is famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he + played an important part at the first council for the formation of the + Buddhist canon. The friendship between Sakyamuni and Ananda was very + close and tender; and it is impossible to read much of what the dying + Buddha said to him and of him, as related in the Maha-pari-nirvana + Sutra, without being moved almost to tears. Ananda is to reappear + on earth as Buddha in another Kalpa. See E. H., p. 9, and the Sacred + Books of the East, vol. xi. + + (3) On his attaining to nirvana, Sakyamuni became the Buddha, and had + no longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, + and could rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect + purity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he + attained to pari-nirvana, and had done with all the life of sense and + society, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether + he absolutely and entirely _ceased_ to be, in any sense of the word + _being_, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not + and could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use + of language is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of + immortality, his pari-nirvana was his death. + + (4) Kanishka appeared, and began to reign, early in our first century, + about A.D. 10. He was the last of three brothers, whose original seat + was in Yueh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhara. Converted by + the sudden appearance of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and + patronised the system as liberally as Asoka had done. The finest topes + in the north-west of India are ascribed to him; he was certainly a + great man and a magnificent sovereign. + + (5) Jambudvipa is one of the four great continents of the universe, + representing the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so + called because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree. It + is south of mount Meru, and divided among four fabulous kings (E. H., + p. 36). It is often used, as here perhaps, merely as the Buddhist name + for India. + + (6) This king was perhaps Kanishka himself, Fa-Hsien mixing up, in an + inartistic way, different legends about him. Eitel suggests that a + relic of the old name of the country may still exist in that of the + Jats or Juts of the present day. A more common name for it is Tukhara, + and he observes that the people were the Indo-Scythians of the Greeks, + and the Tartars of Chinese writers, who, driven on by the Huns (180 + B.C.), conquered Transoxiana, destroyed the Bactrian kingdom (126 + B.C.), and finally conquered the Punjab, Cashmere, and great part of + India, their greatest king being Kanishak (E. H., p. 152). + + (7) Watters, clearly understanding the thought of the author in this + sentence, renders--"his destiny did not extend to a connexion with + the bowl;" but the term "destiny" suggests a controlling or directing + power without. The king thought that his virtue in the past was not + yet sufficient to give him possession of the bowl. + + (8) The text is simply "those in white clothes." This may mean "the + laity," or the "upasakas;" but it is better to take the characters + in their common Chinese acceptation, as meaning "commoners," "men who + have no rank." See in Williams' Dictionary under {.}. + + (9) I do not wonder that Remusat should give for this--"et s'en + retournent apres." But Fa-Hsien's use of {.} in the sense of "in the + same way" is uniform throughout the narrative. + + (10) Hardy's M. B., p. 183, says:--"The alms-bowl, given by + Mahabrahma, having vanished (about the time that Gotama became + Buddha), each of the four guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of + emerald, but he did not accept them. They then brought four bowls made + of stone, of the colour of the mung fruit; and when each entreated + that his own bowl might be accepted, Buddha caused them to appear as + if formed into a single bowl, appearing at the upper rim as if placed + one within the other." See the account more correctly given in the + "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 110. + + (11) Compare the narrative in Luke's Gospel, xxi. 1-4. + + (12) See chapter viii. + + (13) This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying. King was at this time ill + in Nagara, and indeed afterwards he dies in crossing the Little Snowy + Mountains; but all the texts make him die twice. The confounding of + the two names has been pointed out by Chinese critics. + + (14) "Came to his end;" i.e., according to the text, "proved the + impermanence and uncertainty," namely, of human life. See Williams' + Dictionary under {.}. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +NAGARA. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA'S SKULL-BONE. OTHER RELICS, AND HIS SHADOW. + +Going west for sixteen yojanas,(1) he came to the city He-lo(2) in +the borders of the country of Nagara, where there is the flat-bone +of Buddha's skull, deposited in a vihara(3) adorned all over with +gold-leaf and the seven sacred substances. The king of the country, +revering and honouring the bone, and anxious lest it should be stolen +away, has selected eight individuals, representing the great families +in the kingdom, and committing to each a seal, with which he should +seal (its shrine) and guard (the relic). At early dawn these eight men +come, and after each has inspected his seal, they open the door. This +done, they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the bone, +which they place outside the vihara, on a lofty platform, where it is +supported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances, and +covered with a bell of _lapis lazuli_, both adorned with rows of +pearls. Its colour is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect +circle twelve inches round,(4) curving upwards to the centre. Every +day, after it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vihara ascend +a high gallery, where they beat great drums, blow conchs, and clash +their copper cymbals. When the king hears them, he goes to the vihara, +and makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When he has done this, +he (and his attendants) in order, one after another, (raise the bone), +place it (for a moment) on the top of their heads,(5) and then depart, +going out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east. +The king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship, +and afterwards gives audience on the business of his government. The +chiefs of the Vaisyas(6) also make their offerings before they +attend to their family affairs. Every day it is so, and there is no +remissness in the observance of the custom. When all the offerings are +over, they replace the bone in the vihara, where there is a vimoksha +tope,(7) of the seven precious substances, and rather more than five +cubits high, sometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front +of the door of the vihara, there are parties who every morning sell +flowers and incense,(8) and those who wish to make offerings buy +some of all kinds. The kings of various countries are also constantly +sending messengers with offerings. The vihara stands in a square of +thirty paces, and though heaven should shake and earth be rent, this +place would not move. + +Going on, north from this, for a yojana, (Fa-Hsien) arrived at the +capital of Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased +with money five stalks of flowers, as an offering to the Dipankara +Buddha.(9) In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha's +tooth, where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of +his skull. + +A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of a +valley, where there is Buddha's pewter staff;(10) and a vihara also +has been built at which offerings are made. The staff is made of +Gosirsha Chandana, and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long. It +is contained in a wooden tube, and though a hundred or a thousand men +ere to (try to) lift it, they could not move it. + +Entering the mouth of the valley, and going west, he found Buddha's +Sanghali,(11) where also there is reared a vihara, and offerings are +made. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought, for +the people to collect in crowds, bring out the robe, pay worship to +it, and make offerings, on which there is immediately a great rain +from the sky. + +South of the city, half a yojana, there is a rock-cavern, in a great +hill fronting the south-west; and here it was that Buddha left his +shadow. Looking at it from a distance of more than ten paces, you +seem to see Buddha's real form, with his complexion of gold, and +his characteristic marks(12) in their nicety clearly and brightly +displayed. The nearer you approach, however, the fainter it becomes, +as if it were only in your fancy. When the kings from the regions all +around have sent skilful artists to take a copy, none of them have +been able to do so. Among the people of the country there is a saying +current that "the thousand Buddhas(13) must all leave their shadows +here." + +Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when +Buddha was at the spot, he shaved his hair and clipt his nails, and +proceeded, along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty +cubits high, to be a model for all future topes; and it is still +existing. By the side of it there is a monastery, with more than seven +hundred monks in it. At this place there are as many as a thousand +topes(14) of Arhans and Pratyeka Buddhas.(15) + + NOTES + + (1) Now in India, Fa-Hsien used the Indian measure of distance; but + it is not possible to determine exactly what its length then was. The + estimates of it are very different, and vary from four and a half or + five miles to seven, and sometimes more. See the subject exhaustively + treated in Davids' "Ceylon Coins and Measures," pp. 15-17. + + (2) The present Hilda, west of Peshawur, and five miles south of + Jellalabad. + + (3) "The vihara," says Hardy, "is the residence of a recluse or + priest;" and so Davids:--"the clean little hut where the mendicant + lives." Our author, however, does not use the Indian name here, but + the Chinese characters which express its meaning--tsing shay, "a + pure dwelling." He uses the term occasionally, and evidently, in this + sense; more frequently it occurs in his narrative in connexion with + the Buddhist relic worship; and at first I translated it by "shrine" + and "shrine-house;" but I came to the conclusion, at last, to employ + always the Indian name. The first time I saw a shrine-house was, I + think, in a monastery near Foo-chow;--a small pyramidical structure, + about ten feet high, glittering as if with the precious substances, + but all, it seemed to me, of tinsel. It was in a large apartment of + the building, having many images in it. The monks said it was the most + precious thing in their possession, and that if they opened it, as I + begged them to do, there would be a convulsion that would destroy the + whole establishment. See E. H., p. 166. The name of the province of + Behar was given to it in consequence of its many viharas. + + (4) According to the characters, "square, round, four inches." + Hsuan-chwang says it was twelve inches round. + + (5) In Williams' Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, + are employed in the phrase for "to degrade an officer," that is, "to + remove the token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;" but to + place a thing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage. + + (6) The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described + here as "resident scholars." + + (7) See Eitel's Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained + as "the act of self-liberation," and "the dwelling or state of + liberty." There are eight acts of liberating one's self from all + subjective and objective trammels, and as many states of + liberty (vimukti) resulting therefrom. They are eight degrees of + self-inanition, and apparently eight stages on the way to nirvana. The + tope in the text would be emblematic in some way of the general idea + of the mental progress conducting to the Buddhistic consummation of + existence. + + (8) This incense would be in long "sticks," small and large, such as + are sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples. + + (9) "The illuminating Buddha," the twenty-fourth predecessor of + Sakyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he + would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23. + + (10) The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gosirsha Chandana, or + "sandal-wood from the Cow's-head mountain," a species of copper-brown + sandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of (the + fabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles + in shape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a "pewter + staff" from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters, + "China Review," viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams' Dictionary, under + {.}. + + (11) Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk's + attire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round + the waist (E. H., p. 118). + + (12) These were the "marks and beauties" on the person of a supreme + Buddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya + prince to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet + come out, being visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149). + + (13) Probably="all Buddhas." + + (14) The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size + of topes in chapter iii, note 4. + + (15) In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, + and Pratyeka Jinas, and explained by "individually intelligent," + "completely intelligent," "intelligent as regards the nidanas." + This, says Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is "a degree of saintship unknown to + primitive Buddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to + Buddhaship 'individually,' that is, without a teacher, and without + being able to save others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha + is compared with the rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the + wilderness. He is also called Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the + twelve nidanas (the twelve links in the everlasting chain of cause + and effect in the whole range of existence, the understanding of + which solves the riddle of life, revealing the inanity of all forms of + existence, and preparing the mind for nirvana). He is also compared + to a horse, which, crossing a river, almost buries its body under the + water, without, however, touching the bottom of the river. Thus in + crossing samsara he 'suppresses the errors of life and thought, + and the effects of habit and passion, without attaining to absolute + perfection.'" Whether these Buddhas were unknown, as Eitel says, to + primitive Buddhism, may be doubted. See Davids' Hibbert Lectures, p. + 146. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA. +CROSSING THE INDUS TO THE EAST. + +Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fa-Hsien and +the two others,(1) proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy +mountains.(2) On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and +summer. On the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they +suddenly encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become +unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth +came from his mouth, and he said to Fa-Hsien, "I cannot live any +longer. Do you immediately go away, that we do not all die here;" and +with these words he died.(3) Fa-Hsien stroked the corpse, and cried out +piteously, "Our original plan has failed;--it is fate.(4) What can we +do?" He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to +the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,(5) where +there were nearly three thousand monks, students of both the mahayana +and hinayana. Here they stayed for the summer retreat,(6) and when +that was over, they went on to the south, and ten days' journey +brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na,(7) where there are also more +than three thousand monks, all students of the hinayana. Proceeding +from this place for three days, they again crossed the Indus, where +the country on each side was low and level.(8) + + NOTES + + (1) These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king. + + (2) Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass. + + (3) All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13. + + (4) A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from + the lips of Fa-Hsien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed, + may be rendered rightly by "fate" or "destiny;" but the fate is not + unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the + ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame + his Buddhism. + + (5) Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it + can be here intended. + + (6) We are now therefore in 404. + + (7) No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the + Lieutenant-Governorship of the Punjab, between 32d 10s and 33d 15s N. + lat., and 70d 26s and 72d E. lon. See Hunter's Gazetteer of India, i, + p. 393. + + (8) They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed, + twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and + second, as described in chapter vii. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + +After they had crossed the river, there was a country named +Pe-t'oo,(1) where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) +studied both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their +fellow-disciples from Ts'in passing along, they were moved with great +pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: "How is it that +these men from a border-land should have learned to become monks,(2) +and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search +of the Law of Buddha?" They supplied them with what they needed, and +treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law. + + NOTES + + (1) Bhida. Eitel says, "The present Punjab;" i.e. it was a portion of + that. + + (2) "To come forth from their families;" that is, to become celibates, + and adopt the tonsure. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF +THE MONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES. + +From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of +very many monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted +by myriads. After passing all these places, they came to a country +named Ma-t'aou-lo.(1) They still followed the course of the P'oo-na(2) +river, on the banks of which, left and right, there were twenty +monasteries, which might contain three thousand monks; and (here) the +Law of Buddha was still more flourishing. Everywhere, from the +Sandy Desert, in all the countries of India, the kings had been firm +believers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community +of monks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their +relatives and ministers, supply them with food with their own hands. +That done, (the king) has a carpet spread for himself on the ground, +and sits down in front of the chairman;--they dare not presume to sit +on couches in front of the community. The laws and ways, according +to which the kings presented their offerings when Buddha was in the +world, have been handed down to the present day. + +All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.(3) In it the cold and +heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. +The people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their +households, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those +who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the grain from +it. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay. +The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments. +Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the +circumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at +wicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king's +body-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole +country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink +intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is +that of the Chandalas.(4) That is the name for those who are (held to +be) wicked men, and live apart from others. When they enter the gate +of a city or a market-place, they strike a piece of wood to make +themselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come +into contact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and +fowls, and do not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no +butchers' shops and no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying +and selling commodities they use cowries.(5) Only the Chandalas are +fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh meat. + +After Buddha attained to pari-nirvana,(6) the kings of the various +countries and the heads of the Vaisyas(7) built viharas for the +priests, and endowed them with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards, +along with the resident populations and their cattle, the grants being +engraved on plates of metal,(8) so that afterwards they were handed +down from king to king, without any daring to annul them, and they +remain even to the present time. + +The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious +virtue, and to recite their Sutras and sit wrapt in meditation. When +stranger monks arrive (at any monastery), the old residents meet and +receive them, carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl, give them +water to wash their feet, oil with which to anoint them, and the +liquid food permitted out of the regular hours.(9) When (the stranger) +has enjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of years +that he has been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment +with its appurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything +is done for him which the rules prescribe.(10) + +Where a community of monks resides, they erect topes to +Sariputtra,(11) to Maha-maudgalyayana,(12) and to Ananda,(13) and also +topes (in honour) of the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sutras. +A month after the (annual season of) rest, the families which are +looking out for blessing stimulate one another(14) to make offerings +to the monks, and send round to them the liquid food which may be +taken out of the ordinary hours. All the monks come together in a +great assembly, and preach the Law;(15) after which offerings are +presented at the tope of Sariputtra, with all kinds of flowers and +incense. All through the night lamps are kept burning, and skilful +musicians are employed to perform.(16) + +When Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged +(to be permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The +great Mugalan and the great Kasyapa(17) also did the same. The +bhikshunis(18) for the most part make their offerings at the tope +of Ananda, because it was he who requested the World-honoured one +to allow females to quit their families (and become nuns). The +Sramaneras(19) mostly make their offerings to Rahula.(20) The +professors of the Abhidharma make their offerings to it; those of the +Vinaya to it. Every year there is one such offering, and each class +has its own day for it. Students of the mahayana present offerings +to the Prajna-paramita,(21) to Manjusri,(22) and to Kwan-she-yin.(23) +When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute (from the +harvests),(24) the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the Brahmans bring +clothes and other such articles as the monks require for use, and +distribute among them. The monks, having received them, also proceed +to give portions to one another. From the nirvana of Buddha,(25) +the forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred +communities, have been handed down from one generation to another +without interruption. + +From the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern +India, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty +thousand le, all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams +(among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers. + + NOTES + + (1) Muttra, "the peacock city;" lat. 27d 30s N., lon. 77d 43s E. + (Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock. + + (2) This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the + P'oo-na has yet to be explained. + + (3) In Pali, Majjhima-desa, "the Middle Country." See Davids' + "Buddhist Birth Stories," page 61, note. + + (4) Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, "The name Chandalas is explained by + 'butchers,' 'wicked men,' and those who carry 'the awful flag,' to + warn off their betters;--the lowest and most despised caste of India, + members of which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the + ranks of the priesthood." + + (5) "Cowries;" {.} {.}, not "shells and ivory," as one might suppose; + but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the + marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling "the teeth of fishes." + + (6) See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha's pari-nirvana is equivalent to + Buddha's death. + + (7) See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different + here, but with the same meaning. + + (8) See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as + related in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fa-Hsien's time, and long before + and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of + metal. + + (9) "No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon," + and total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids' + Manual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is + called vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive + unseasonable refreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev. + viii. 282), of honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil. + + (10) The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again + in chapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev. + viii. 282, 3. The rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the + East, vol. xx, p. 272 and foll., and p. 279 and foll. + + (11) Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of + Buddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that + he obtained the title of {.} {.}, "knowledge and wisdom." He is also + called Buddha's "right-hand attendant." His name is derived from that + of his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. + In Spence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa + (Upa-tishya), derived from his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to + him, and indeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their + founder. He died before Sakyamuni; but is to reappear as a future + Buddha. Eitel, pp. 123, 124. + + (12) Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more + pronounceable. He also was one of the principal disciples, called + Buddha's "left-hand attendant." He was distinguished for his power of + vision, and his magical powers. The name in the text is derived from + the former attribute, and it was by the latter that he took up an + artist to Tushita to get a view of Sakyamuni, and so make a statue + of him. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went to hell, and + released his mother. He also died before Sakyamuni, and is to reappear + as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65. + + (13) See chapter xii, note 2. + + (14) A passage rather difficult to construe. The "families" would be + those more devout than their neighbours. + + (15) One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I + once heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall + of the temple, and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One + priest took the pulpit after another; and the hearers nodded their + heads occasionally, and indicated their sympathy now and then by an + audible "h'm," which reminded me of Carlyle's description of meetings + of "The Ironsides" of Cromwell. + + (16) This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions. + + (17) There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sakyamuni. But this + Maha-kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, + and became one of his disciples. He took the lead after Sakyamuni's + death, convoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of + Arya-sthavira is derived. As the first compiler of the Canon, he is + considered the fountain of Chinese orthodoxy, and counted as the first + patriarch. He also is to be reborn as Buddha. Eitel, p. 64. + + (18) The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same + rules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint. + See Hardy's E. M., chap. 17. See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. + xx, p. 321. + + (19) The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to + observe the Shikshapada, or ten commandments. Fa-Hsien was himself one + of them from his childhood. Having heard the Trisharana, or + threefold formula of Refuge,--"I take refuge in Buddha; the Law; + the Church,--the novice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that + forbid--(1) destroying life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; + (5) intoxicating drinks; (6) eating after midday; (7) dancing, + singing, music, and stage-plays; (8) garlands, scents, unguents, and + ornaments; (9) high or broad couches; (10) receiving gold or silver." + Davids' Manual, p. 160; Hardy's E. M., pp. 23, 24. + + (20) The eldest son of Sakyamuni by Yasodhara. Converted to Buddhism, + he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha's death + became the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika). + He is now revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be + reborn as the eldest son of every future Buddha. Eitel, p. 101. His + mother also is to be reborn as Buddha. + + (21) There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, "means of + passing to nirvana:--Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil + contemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper + means; science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only + prajna which carries men across the samsara to the shores of nirvana." + Eitel, p. 90. + + (22) According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), A famous Bodhisattva, now + specially worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless + jumble of history and fable. Fa-Hsien found him here worshipped by + followers of the mahayana school; but Hsuan-chwang connects his + worship with the yogachara or tantra-magic school. The mahayana school + regard him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His most common titles + are Mahamati, "Great wisdom," and Kumara-raja, "King of teaching, with + a thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls." + + (23) Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a + mystery as Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of + the Sanskrit name Avalokitesvra, "On-looking Sovereign," or even + "On-looking Self-Existent," and means "Regarding or Looking on the + sounds of the world,"="Hearer of Prayer." Originally, and still in + Thibet, Avalokitesvara had only male attributes, but in China and + Japan (Kwannon), this deity (such popularly she is) is represented + as a woman, "Kwan-yin, the greatly gentle, with a thousand arms and a + thousand eyes;" and has her principal seat in the island of P'oo-t'oo, + on the China coast, which is a regular place of pilgrimage. To + the worshippers of whom Fa-Hsien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be + Avalokitesvara. How he was converted into the "goddess of mercy," and + her worship took the place which it now has in China, is a difficult + inquiry, which would take much time and space, and not be brought + after all, so far as I see, to a satisfactory conclusion. See Eitel's + Handbook, pp. 18-20, and his Three Lectures on Buddhism (third + edition), pp. 124-131. I was talking on the subject once with an + intelligent Chinese gentleman, when he remarked, "Have you not much + the same thing in Europe in the worship of Mary?" + + (24) Compare what is said in chap. v. + + (25) This nirvana of Buddha must be--not his death, but his attaining + to Buddhaship. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SANKASYA. BUDDHA'S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS +HEAVEN, AND OTHER LEGENDS. + +From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found +themselves in a kingdom called Sankasya,(1) at the place where Buddha +came down, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(2) and there +preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.(3) +Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power,(4) +without letting his disciples know; but seven days before the +completion (of the three months) he laid aside his invisibility,(4) +and Anuruddha,(5) with his heavenly eyes,(5) saw the World-honoured +one, and immediately said to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, "Do +you go and salute the World-honoured one." Mugalan forthwith went, and +with head and face did homage at (Buddha's) feet. They then saluted +and questioned each other, and when this was over, Buddha said to +Mugalan, "Seven days after this I will go down to Jambudvipa;" and +thereupon Mugalan returned. At this time the great kings of eight +countries with their ministers and people, not having seen Buddha for +a long time, were all thirstily looking up for him, and had collected +in clouds in this kingdom to wait for the World-honoured one. + +Then the bhikshuni Utpala(6) thought in her heart, "To-day the kings, +with their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming) +Buddha. I am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to +see him?"(7) Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her +into the appearance of a holy Chakravartti(8) king, and she was the +foremost of all in doing reverence to him. + +As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas +heaven, when he was coming down, there were made to appear three +flights of precious steps. Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps +of which were composed of the seven precious substances. The king of +Brahma-loka(9) also made a flight of silver steps appear on the right +side, (where he was seen) attending with a white chowry in his hand. +Sakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple gold on the +left side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of +the seven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas +followed Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three +flights all disappeared in the ground, excepting seven steps, which +continued to be visible. Afterwards king Asoka, wishing to know where +their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the +yellow springs(10) without reaching the bottom of the steps, and from +this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, and +built a vihara over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits +in height, right over the middle flight. Behind the vihara he erected +a stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,(11) with a lion on the top of +it.(12) Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,(13) there is +an image of Buddha, inside and out(14) shining and transparent, +and pure as it were of _lapis lazuli_. Some teachers of another +doctrine(15) once disputed with the Sramanas about (the right to) this +as a place of residence, and the latter were having the worst of the +argument, when they took an oath on both sides on the condition that, +if the place did indeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be some +marvellous attestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the +lion on the top gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which +their opponents were frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew. + +Through Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven, +his body emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man. +He went immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he +did so, a bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the +place where the bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to +Buddha, a tope has now been built. + +At the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair +and nails, topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas(16) that +preceded Sakyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,(17) +and where images of their persons were made. At all these places topes +were made, and are still existing. At the place where Sakra, Ruler of +the Devas, and the king of the Brahma-loka followed Buddha down (from +the Trayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a tope. + +At this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive +their food from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of +the mahayana and some of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a +white-eared dragon, which acts the part of danapati to the community +of these monks, causing abundant harvests in the country, and the +enriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence of any +calamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In +gratitude for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with +a carpet for it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, +which they present for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three +of their number to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer +retreat is ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears +as a small snake,(18) with white spots at the side of its ears. As +soon as the monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel with cream, +into which they put the creature, and then carry it round from the one +who has the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, +when it appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round, +immediately it disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once. +The country is very productive, and the people are prosperous, and +happy beyond comparison. When people of other countries come to it, +they are exceedingly attentive to them all, and supply them with what +they need. + +Fifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called +"The Great Heap."(19) Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who +was converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a +vihara. When it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on +his hands,(20) some drops fell on the ground. They are still on the +spot, and however they may be brushed away and removed, they continue +to be visible, and cannot be made to disappear. + +At this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit +constantly keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour +of man being required. A king of corrupt views once said, "Since you +are able to do this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside +there till the dirt and filth has increased and accumulated, and (see) +whether you can cleanse it away or not." The spirit thereupon raised a +great wind, which blew (the filth away), and made the place pure. + +At this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep +counting a whole day without being able to know (their exact number). +If he be firmly bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of +each tope. When this is done, proceeding to count the number of men, +whether they be many or few, he will not get to know (the number).(21) + +There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which +there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The +nirvana ground (where he was burned(22) after death) is as large as a +carriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there +is none. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass, +but the impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the +present day. + + NOTES + + (1) The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five + miles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27d 3s N., lon. 79d 50s E. + + (2) The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning "the heaven of thirty-three + classes," a name which has been explained both historically and + mythologically. "The description of it," says Eitel, p. 148, "tallies + in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated + between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities + of devas, eight one each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra's + capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a + thousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra, + with his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly + reports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and + evil in the world," &c. &c. + + (3) Buddha's mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the _mater immaculata_ of the + Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, "Reborn in + Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted." The Tushita + heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; + but was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account + of Buddha's visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he + calls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now + become a deva by the changing of her sex. + + (4) Compare the account of the Arhat's conveyance of the artist to + the Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more + comprehensive. + + (5) Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sakyamuni, being the son of his + uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of + Buddha's last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or + "heavenly eye," the first of the six abhijnas or "supernatural + talents," the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or + by intuition, all beings in all worlds. "He could see," says Hardy, + M. B., p. 232, "all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard + seed held in the hand." + + (6) Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as + in the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word, + however, is explained by "blue lotus flowers;" and Hsuan-chwang calls + her the nun "Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});"--the same as Hardy's + Upulwan and Uppalawarna. + + (7) Perhaps we should read here "to see Buddha," and then ascribe the + transformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which + view we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing + to indicate that the stop should be made before or after "Buddha." + And the one view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the + other. + + (8) "A holy king who turns the wheel;" that is, the military conqueror + and monarch of the whole or part of a universe. "The symbol," says + Eitel (p. 142) "of such a king is the chakra or wheel, for when he + ascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating by its + material (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of + his reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls + his wheel among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of + a Buddha, who meekly turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every + universe by his teaching." + + (9) This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti, + adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed + by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi. + + (10) A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is + found. + + (11) The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance + from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated. + + (12) A note of Mr. Beal says on this:--"General Cunningham, who + visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of + Asoka, with a well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was + minus trunk and tail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by + Fa-Hsien, who mistook the top of it for a lion. It is possible such a + mistake may have been made, as in the account of one of the pillars at + Sravasti, Fa-Hsien says an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsuan-chwang + calls it an elephant (P. 19, Arch. Survey)." + + (13) That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have + been square. + + (14) Equivalent to "all through." + + (15) Has always been translated "heretical teachers;" but I eschew the + terms _heresy_ and _heretical_. The parties would not be Buddhists of + any creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, as + Fa-Hsien deemed it. The Chinese term means "outside" or "foreign;"--in + Pali, anna-titthiya,="those belonging to another school." + + (16) These three predecessors of Sakyamuni were the three Buddhas + of the present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, + and Maitreya is to be the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda + (Pali, Kakusanda), "he who readily solves all doubts;" a scion of the + Kasyapa family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so + many persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pali, Konagamana), + "body radiant with the colour of pure gold;" of the same family. + Human life reached in his time 30,000 years, and so many persons were + converted by him. (3) Kasyapa (Pali, Kassapa), "swallower of light." + Human life reached in his time 20,000 years, and so many persons were + converted by him. See Eitel, under the several names; Hardy's M. B., + pp. 95-97; and Davids' "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 51. + + (17) That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana + (Pali, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery, + made sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic + meditation. The "sitting" would be not because of weariness or for + rest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144. + + (18) The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake + for the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be + "a small medusa." + + (19) The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the + Chinese editions, which means "Fire Limit." Buddha, it is said, {.} + converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first + by "in one of his incarnations;" and in his revised version he has + "himself." The difference between Fa-Hsien's usage of {.} and {.} + throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the + doings of Sakyamuni; {.}, "formerly," is often used of him and others + in the sense of "in a former age or birth." + + (20) See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:--"As a token of the giving over of the + garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this + time it became one of the principal residences of the sage." + + (21) This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended + to convey the idea that there was something mysterious about the + number of the topes. + + (22) This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all + burned. Hardy's E. M., pp. 322-324. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA'S PREACHING. + +Fa-Hsien stayed at the Dragon vihara till after the summer retreat,(1) +and then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived +at the city of Kanyakubja,(2) lying along the Ganges.(3) There are two +monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana. +At a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the +northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the +Law to his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects +of discourse were such as "The bitterness and vanity (of life) as +impermanent and uncertain," and that "The body is as a bubble or foam +on the water." At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists. + +Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the +travellers) arrived at a village named A-le,(4) containing places +where Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at +all of which topes have been built. + + NOTES + + (1) We are now, probably, in 405. + + (2) Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in + a previous note. The Sanskrit name means "the city of humpbacked + maidens;" with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of + king Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi + Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51. + + (3) Ganga, explained by "Blessed water," and "Come from heaven to + earth." + + (4) This village (the Chinese editions read "forest") has hardly been + clearly identified. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA'S DANTA-KASHTHA. + +Going on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to +the great kingdom of Sha-che.(1) As you go out of the city of Sha-che +by the southern gate, on the east of the road (is the place) where +Buddha, after he had chewed his willow branch,(2) stuck it in the +ground, when it forthwith grew up seven cubits, (at which height it +remained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans with their +contrary doctrines(3) became angry and jealous. Sometimes they cut the +tree down, sometimes they plucked it up, and cast it to a distance, +but it grew again on the same spot as at first. Here also is the place +where the four Buddhas walked and sat, and at which a tope was built +that is still existing. + + NOTES + + (1) Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham's + identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. + The change of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi + dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same. + + (2) This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or "dental + wood," mostly a bit of the _ficus Indicus_ or banyan tree, which the + monk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of + health generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or + at least Fa-Hsien used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) + instead of it. + + (3) Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that + we should read "all the unbelievers and Brahmans," or "heretics + and Brahmans?" I think the Brahmans were also "the unbelievers" and + "heretics," having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and opposed to, + Buddha's. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +KOSALA AND SRAVASTI. THE JETAVANA VIHARA AND OTHER MEMORIALS AND +LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. SYMPATHY OF THE MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + +Going on from this to the south, for eight yojanas, (the travellers) +came to the city of Sravasti(1) in the kingdom of Kosala,(2) in which +the inhabitants were few and far between, amounting in all (only) to a +few more than two hundred families; the city where king Prasenajit(3) +ruled, and the place of the old vihara of Maha-prajapti;(4) of the +well and walls of (the house of) the (Vaisya) head Sudatta;(5) +and where the Angulimalya(6) became an Arhat, and his body was +(afterwards) burned on his attaining to pari-nirvana. At all these +places topes were subsequently erected, which are still existing in +the city. The Brahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of +hatred and envy in their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there +came from the heavens such a storm of crashing thunder and flashing +lightning that they were not able in the end to effect their purpose. + +As you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from +it, the (Vaisya) head Sudatta built a vihara, facing the south; and +when the door was open, on each side of it there was a stone pillar, +with the figure of a wheel on the top of that on the left, and the +figure of an ox on the top of that on the right. On the left and right +of the building the ponds of water clear and pure, the thickets of +trees always luxuriant, and the numerous flowers of various hues, +constituted a lovely scene, the whole forming what is called the +Jetavana vihara.(7) + +When Buddha went up to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(8) and preached the +Law for the benefit of his mother, (after he had been absent for) +ninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to +be carved in Gosirsha Chandana wood,(9) and put in the place where he +usually sat. When Buddha on his return entered the vihara, Buddha said +to it, "Return to your seat. After I have attained to pari-nirvana, +you will serve as a pattern to the four classes of my disciples,"(10) +and on this the image returned to its seat. This was the very first +of all the images (of Buddha), and that which men subsequently copied. +Buddha then removed, and dwelt in a small vihara on the south side +(of the other), a different place from that containing the image, and +twenty paces distant from it. + +The Jetavana vihara was originally of seven storeys. The kings +and people of the countries around vied with one another in their +offerings, hanging up about it silken streamers and canopies, +scattering flowers, burning incense, and lighting lamps, so as to make +the night as bright as the day. This they did day after day without +ceasing. (It happened that) a rat, carrying in its mouth the wick of +a lamp, set one of the streamers or canopies on fire, which caught the +vihara, and the seven storeys were all consumed. The kings, with their +officers and people, were all very sad and distressed, supposing that +the sandal-wood image had been burned; but lo! after four or five +days, when the door of a small vihara on the east was opened, there +was immediately seen the original image. They were all greatly +rejoiced, and co-operated in restoring the vihara. When they had +succeeded in completing two storeys, they removed the image back to +its former place. + +When Fa-Hsien and Tao-ching first arrived at the Jetavana monastery, +and thought how the World-honoured one had formerly resided there for +twenty-five years, painful reflections arose in their minds. Born in a +border-land, along with their like-minded friends, they had travelled +through so many kingdoms; some of those friends had returned (to +their own land), and some had (died), proving the impermanence and +uncertainty of life; and to-day they saw the place where Buddha had +lived now unoccupied by him. They were melancholy through their pain +of heart, and the crowd of monks came out, and asked them from what +kingdom they were come. "We are come," they replied, "from the land +of Han." "Strange," said the monks with a sigh, "that men of a border +country should be able to come here in search of our Law!" Then they +said to one another, "During all the time that we, preceptors and +monks,(11) have succeeded to one another, we have never seen men of +Han, followers of our system, arrive here." + +Four le to the north-west of the vihara there is a grove called "The +Getting of Eyes." Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who +lived here in order that they might be near the vihara.(12) Buddha +preached his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full +of joy, they stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and +faces on the ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to +grow, and they grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one +dared to cut them down, so that they came to form a grove. It was in +this way that it got its name, and most of the Jetavana monks, after +they had taken their midday meal, went to the grove, and sat there in +meditation. + +Six or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha(13) +built another vihara, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and +which is still existing. + +To each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vihara there +were two gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. +The park (containing the whole) was the space of ground which the +(Vaisya) head Sudatta purchased by covering it with gold coins. The +vihara was exactly in the centre. Here Buddha lived for a longer time +than at any other place, preaching his Law and converting men. At the +places where he walked and sat they also (subsequently) reared +topes, each having its particular name; and here was the place where +Sundari(14) murdered a person and then falsely charged Buddha (with +the crime). Outside the east gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of +seventy paces to the north, on the west of the road, Buddha held a +discussion with the (advocates of the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous +doctrine, when the king and his great officers, the householders, and +people were all assembled in crowds to hear it. Then a woman belonging +to one of the erroneous systems, by name Chanchamana,(15) prompted by +the envious hatred in her heart, and having put on (extra) clothes in +front of her person, so as to give her the appearance of being with +child, falsely accused Buddha before all the assembly of having acted +unlawfully (towards her). On this, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed +himself and some devas into white mice, which bit through the strings +about her waist; and when this was done, the (extra) clothes which she +wore dropt down on the ground. The earth at the same time was rent, +and she went (down) alive into hell.(16) (This) also is the place +where Devadatta,(17) trying with empoisoned claws to injure +Buddha, went down alive into hell. Men subsequently set up marks to +distinguish where both these events took place. + +Further, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a +vihara rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image +of Buddha in a sitting posture. On the east of the road there was +a devalaya(18) of (one of) the contrary systems, called "The Shadow +Covered," right opposite the vihara on the place of discussion, with +(only) the road between them, and also rather more than sixty +cubits high. The reason why it was called "The Shadow Covered" was +this:--When the sun was in the west, the shadow of the vihara of the +World-honoured one fell on the devalaya of a contrary system; but when +the sun was in the east, the shadow of that devalaya was diverted to +the north, and never fell on the vihara of Buddha. The mal-believers +regularly employed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and water +(all about it), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present +offerings; but in the morning the lamps were found to have been +suddenly removed, and in the vihara of Buddha. The Brahmans were +indignant, and said, "Those Sramanas take out lamps and use them for +their own service of Buddha, but we will not stop our service for +you!"(19) On that night the Brahmans themselves kept watch, when they +saw the deva spirits which they served take the lamps and go three +times round the vihara of Buddha and present offerings. After this +ministration to Buddha they suddenly disappeared. The Brahmans +thereupon knowing how great was the spiritual power of Buddha, +forthwith left their families, and became monks.(20) It has been +handed down, that, near the time when these things occurred, around +the Jetavana vihara there were ninety-eight monasteries, in all of +which there were monks residing, excepting only in one place which was +vacant. In this Middle Kingdom(21) there are ninety-six(21) sorts of +views, erroneous and different from our system, all of which recognise +this world and the future world(22) (and the connexion between them). +Each had its multitude of followers, and they all beg their food: +only they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also, moreover, seek (to +acquire) the blessing (of good deeds) on unfrequented ways, setting +up on the road-side houses of charity, where rooms, couches, beds, and +food and drink are supplied to travellers, and also to monks, coming +and going as guests, the only difference being in the time (for which +those parties remain). + +There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. +They regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not +to Sakyamuni Buddha. + +Four le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been +erected at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king +Virudhaha,(23) when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,(23) and +took his stand before him at the side of the road.(24) + + NOTES + + (1) In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is + placed by Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of + the Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are + still the ruins of a great town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in + this town, or in its neighbourhood, that Sakyamuni spent many years of + his life after he became Buddha. + + (2) There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a + northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh. + + (3) In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning "leader of the victorious army." + He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Sakyamuni. + Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory, + because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy's + M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al. + + (4) Explained by "Path of Love," and "Lord of Life." Prajapati was + aunt and nurse of Sakyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood, + and the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to + become a Buddha. + + (5) Sudatta, meaning "almsgiver," was the original name of + Anatha-pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head, + of Sravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old + house, only the well and walls remained at the time of Fa-Hsien's visit + to Sravasti. + + (6) The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made + assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had + joined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha, + he became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he "got the + Tao," or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his + conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in + Pali is Angulimala. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his + autobiographical poem in the "Songs of the Theras." + + (7) Eitel (p. 37) says:--"A noted vihara in the suburbs of Sravasti, + erected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son + of Prasenajit. Sakyamuni made this place his favourite residence for + many years. Most of the Sutras (authentic and supposititious) date + from this spot." + + (8) See chapter xvii. + + (9) See chapter xiii. + + (10) Arya, meaning "honourable," "venerable," is a title given only to + those who have mastered the four spiritual truths:--(1) that "misery" + is a necessary condition of all sentient existence; this is duhkha: + (2) that the "accumulation" of misery is caused by the passions; this + is samudaya: (3) that the "extinction" of passion is possible; this is + nirodha: and (4) that the "path" leads to the extinction of passion; + which is marga. According to their attainment of these truths, + the Aryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four + classes,--Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p. + 14. + + (11) This is the first time that Fa-Hsien employs the name Ho-shang + {.} {.}, which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks + without distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of + the Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, "explained," says Eitel (p. 155) by "a + self-taught teacher," or by "he who knows what is sinful and what is + not sinful," with the note, "In India the vernacular of this term is + {.} {.} (? munshee (? Bronze)); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.} + {.} (hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese + synonyms, {.} {.} (ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang)." The Indian term + was originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the + Vedas, the Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made + to signify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the + Lamas. In China it has been used first as a synonym for {.} {.}, monks + engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction + from {.} {.}, disciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative philosophers + (meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of + monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. + In the text there seems to be implied some distinction between + the "teachers" and the "ho-shang;"--probably, the Pali Akariya and + Upagghaya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. + 178, 179. + + (12) It might be added, "as depending on it," in order to bring out + the full meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the + help of the police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early + years, to keep the approaches to the Cathedral free from the number + of beggars, who squatted down there during service, hoping that + the hearers would come out with softened hearts, and disposed to be + charitable. I found the popular tutelary temples in Peking and other + places, and the path up Mount T'ai in Shan-lung similarly frequented. + + (13) The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became "mother superior" of + many nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised + it does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha. + + (14) See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this + murderer; see in Julien's "Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang," p. + 125,--"a heretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated Buddha." See + also the fuller account in Beal's "Records of Western Countries," pp. + 7, 8, where the murder is committed by several Brahmacharins. In this + passage Beal makes Sundari to be the name of the murdered person (a + harlot). But the text cannot be so construed. + + (15) Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the + story about her, M. B., pp. 275-277. + + (16) "Earth's prison," or "one of Earth's prisons." It was the Avichi + naraka to which she went, the last of the eight hot prisons, where + the culprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted succession + (such being the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final + redemption. E. H. p. 21. + + (17) Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore + of Sakyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had + become so in an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued + in every successive birth, through which they reappeared in the world. + See the accounts of him, and of his various devices against Buddha, + and his own destruction at the last, in M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330; + and still better, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya + Texts, pp. 233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in the + text, see "The Life of the Buddha," p. 107. When he was engulphed, and + the flames were around him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, and we + are told that he is expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name + of Devaraja, in a universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39. + + (18) "A devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is + worshipped,--a general name for all Brahmanical temples" (Eitel, p. + 30). We read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa + Matanga came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or Sutras, he + was lodged in the Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there + was built for him "The Court of the White-horse" ({.} {.} {.}), and + in consequence the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic + temples. Fa-Hsien, however, applies this term only to Brahmanical + temples. + + (19) Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in + the circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in + I Samuel v. about the Ark and Dagon, that "twice-battered god of + Palestine." + + (20) "Entered the doctrine or path." Three stages in the Buddhistic + life are indicated by Fa-Hsien:--"entering it," as here, by becoming + monks ({.} {.}); "getting it," by becoming Arhats ({.} {.}); and + "completing it," by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}). + + (21) It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central + India as a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it + where he then was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two + sects, but there may have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys + Davids' "Buddhism," pp. 98, 99. + + (22) This mention of "the future world" is an important difference + between the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has + been a stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. Remusat + says in a note that "the heretics limited themselves to speak of the + duties of man in his actual life without connecting it by the notion + that the metempsychosis with the anterior periods of existence through + which he had passed." But this is just the opposite of what Fa-Hsien's + meaning was, according to our Corean text. The notion of "the + metempsychosis" was just that in which all the ninety-six erroneous + systems agreed among themselves and with Buddhism. If he had wished to + say what the French sinologue thinks he does say, moreover, he would + probably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, however, that + the connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world (including + the present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or + transmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate + existence of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of "the wheel," + I would call its doctrine that of "The Transrotation of Births." See + Rhys Davids' third Hibbert Lecture. + + (23) Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya. + He was king of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the + destroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility + to the Sakyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as + certain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien's "Methode," + p. 89, may be read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the + phonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel. + + (24) This would be the interview in the "Life of the Buddha" in + Trubner's Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found + Buddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he + told the king that the thought of the danger of "his relatives and + kindred made it shady." The king was moved to sympathy for the time, + and went back to Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only + postponed for a short space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be + inevitable in the connexion of cause and effect. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE THREE PREDECESSORS OF SAKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP. + +Fifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named +Too-wei,(1) the birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha.(1) At the place where he +and his father met,(2) and at that where he attained to pari-nirvana, +topes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, +the Kasyapa Tathagata,(3) a great tope was also erected. + +Going on south-east from the city of Sravasti for twelve yojanas, +(the travellers) came to a town named Na-pei-kea,(4) the birthplace of +Krakuchanda Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and +at that where he attained to pari-nirvana, topes were erected. Going +north from here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been +the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the place where he and his +father met, and where he attained to pari-nirvana, topes were erected. + + NOTES + + (1) Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine + miles to the west of Sahara-mahat. The birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha is + generally thought to have been Benares. According to a calculation of + Remusat, from his birth to A.D. 1832 there were 1,992,859 years! + + (2) It seems to be necessary to have a meeting between every Buddha + and his father. One at least is ascribed to Sakyamuni and his father + (real or supposed) Suddhodana. + + (3) This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in + Chinese {.} {.}, meaning, as Eitel, p. 147 says, "_Sic profectus + sum_." It is equivalent to "Rightful Buddha, the true successor in + the Supreme Buddha Line." Hardy concludes his account of the Kasyapa + Buddha (M. B., p. 97) with the following sentence:--"After his + body was burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, + presenting the appearance of a perfect skeleton; and the whole of the + inhabitants of Jambudvipa, assembling together, erected a dagoba over + his relics one yojana in height!" + + (4) Na-pei-kea or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this + Buddha was born at the city of Gan-ho ({.} {.} {.}) and Hardy gives + his birthplace as Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit, + to reconcile these statements. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +KAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA'S BIRTH, AND OTHER +INCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT. + +Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of +Kapilavastu;(1) but in it there was neither king nor people. All was +mound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a +score or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood +the old palace of king Suddhodana(2) there have been made images of +the prince (his eldest son) and his mother;(3) and at the places where +that son appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his +mother's womb,(4) and where he turned his carriage round on seeing +the sick man after he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate,(5) +topes have been erected. The places (were also pointed out)(6) where +(the rishi) A-e(7) inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of +the heir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with +Nanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one +side, he tossed it away;(8) where he shot an arrow to the south-east, +and it went a distance of thirty le, then entering the ground and +making a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into +a well from which travellers might drink;(9) where, after he had +attained to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father;(10) +where five hundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence to +Upali(11) while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where +Buddha preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and +others kept the four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his +father, could not enter;(12) where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, +which is still standing,(13) with his face to the east, and (his aunt) +Maja-prajapati presented him with a Sanghali;(14) and (where) +king Vaidurya slew the seed of Sakya, and they all in dying became +Srotapannas.(15) A tope was erected at this last place, which is still +existing. + +Several le north-east from the city was the king's field, where the +heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.(16) + +Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,(17) where the +queen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond +on the northern bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her +hand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, +gave birth to the heir-apparent.(18) When he fell to the ground, he +(immediately) walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and +washed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately +formed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where (the +queen) bathed,(19) the monks (even) now constantly take the water, and +drink it. + +There are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history +of) all Buddhas:--first, the place where they attained to perfect +Wisdom (and became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the +wheel of the Law;(20) third, the place where they preached the Law, +discoursed of righteousness, and discomfited (the advocates of) +erroneous doctrines; and fourth, the place where they came down, after +going up to the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for the +benefit of their mothers. Other places in connexion with them became +remarkable, according to the manifestations which were made at them at +particular times. + +The country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The +inhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be +on their guard against white elephants(21) and lions, and should not +travel incautiously. + + NOTES + + (1) Kapilavastu, "the city of beautiful virtue," was the birthplace + of Sakyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last + chapter, during his lifetime. It was situated a short distance + north-west of the present Goruckpoor, lat. 26d 46s N., lon. 83d 19s E. + Davids says (Manual, p. 25), "It was on the banks of the river Rohini, + the modern Kohana, about 100 miles north-west of the city of Benares." + + (2) The father, or supposed father, of Sakyamuni. He is here called + "the king white and pure" ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation + is "the king of pure rice" ({.} {.} {.}); but the character {.}, or + "rice," must be a mistake for {.}, "Brahman," and the appellation= + "Pure Brahman king." + + (3) The "eldest son," or "prince" was Sakyamuni, and his mother had + no other son. For "his mother," see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a + daughter of Anjana or Anusakya, king of the neighbouring country of + Koli, and Yasodhara, an aunt of Suddhodana. There appear to have been + various intermarriages between the royal houses of Kapila and Koli. + + (4) In "The Life of the Buddha," p. 15, we read that "Buddha was now + in the Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time + for his last rebirth in the course of which he would become Buddha), + he made the necessary examinations; and having decided that Maha-maya + was the right mother, in the midnight watch he entered her womb under + the appearance of an elephant." See M. B., pp. 140-143, and, still + better, Rhys Davids' "Birth Stories," pp. 58-63. + + (5) In Hardy's M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, "As the prince + (Siddhartha, the first name given to Sakyamuni; see Eitel, under + Sarvarthasiddha) was one day passing along, he saw a deva under the + appearance of a leper, full of sores, with a body like a water-vessel, + and legs like the pestle for pounding rice; and when he learned + from his charioteer what it was that he saw, he became agitated, and + returned at once to the palace." See also Rhys Davids' "Buddhism," p. + 29. + + (6) This is an addition of my own, instead of "There are also topes + erected at the following spots," of former translators. Fa-Hsien does + not say that there were memorial topes at all these places. + + (7) Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in Pali Kala Devala, and had + been a minister of Suddhodana's father. + + (8) In "The Life of Buddha" we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali + had sent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was + near Kapilavastu, Devadatta, out of envy, killed it with a blow of + his fist. Nanda (not Ananda, but a half-brother of Siddhartha), coming + that way, saw the carcase lying on the road, and pulled it on one + side; but the Bodhisattva, seeing it there, took it by the tail, and + tossed it over seven fences and ditches, when the force of its fall + made a great ditch. I suspect that the characters in the column have + been disarranged, and that we should read {.} {.} {.} {.}, {.} {.}, + {.} {.}. Buddha, that is Siddhartha, was at this time only ten years + old. + + (9) The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them + all. He was then seventeen. + + (10) This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, + and as he was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and + said, "Father, though I love thee, yet a fear possesses me, and I may + not stay;"--The Life of the Buddha, p. 25. Most probably it was that + related in M. B., pp. 199-204. See "Buddhist Birth Stories," + pp. 120-127. + + (11) They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was + only a Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did + Buddhism assert its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste. + Upali was distinguished by his knowledge of the rules of discipline, + and praised on that account by Buddha. He was one of the three leaders + of the first synod, and the principal compiler of the original Vinaya + books. + + (12) I have not met with the particulars of this preaching. + + (13) Meaning, as explained in Chinese, "a tree without knots;" the + _ficus Indica_. See Rhys Davids' note, Manual, p. 39, where he says + that a branch of one of these trees was taken from Buddha Gaya to + Anuradhapura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is + still growing there, the oldest historical tree in the world. + + (14) See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this + presentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315. + + (15) See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of + saints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to + nirvana after having been reborn seven times consecutively as men or + devas. The Chinese editions state there were "1000" of the Sakya seed. + The general account is that they were 500, all maidens, who refused + to take their place in king Vaidurya's harem, and were in consequence + taken to a pond, and had their hands and feet cut off. There Buddha + came to them, had their wounds dressed, and preached to them the Law. + They died in the faith, and were reborn in the region of the four + Great Kings. Thence they came back and visited Buddha at Jetavana in + the night, and there they obtained the reward of Srotapanna. "The Life + of the Buddha," p. 121. + + (16) See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of + it reminds me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an + institution in China from the earliest times. But there we have no + magic and no extravagance. + + (17) "The place of Liberation;" see chap. xiii, note 7. + + (18) See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; "The Life + of the Buddha," pp. 15, 16; and "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 66. + + (19) There is difficulty in construing the text of this last + statement. Mr. Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his + first translation. In his revised version he gives for it, I cannot + say happily, "As well as at the pool, the water of which came down + from above for washing (the child)." + + (20) See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids' Manual, p. 45. The + latter says, that "to turn the wheel of the Law" means "to set + rolling the royal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth and + righteousness;" but he admits that this is more grandiloquent than the + phraseology was in the ears of Buddhists. I prefer the words quoted + from Eitel in the note referred to. "They turned" is probably + equivalent to "They began to turn." + + (21) Fa-Hsien does not say that he himself saw any of these white + elephants, nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour. + We shall find by-and-by, in a note further on, that, to make them + appear more terrible, they are spoken of as "black." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +RAMA, AND ITS TOPE. + +East from Buddha's birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas, +there is a kingdom called Rama.(1) The king of this country, having +obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha's body,(2) returned with +it and built over it a tope, named the Rama tope. By the side of it +there was a pool, and in the pool a dragon, which constantly kept +watch over (the tope), and presented offerings to it day and night. +When king Asoka came forth into the world, he wished to destroy the +eight topes (over the relics), and to build (instead of them) 84,000 +topes.(3) After he had thrown down the seven (others), he wished next +to destroy this tope. But then the dragon showed itself, took the king +into its palace;(4) and when he had seen all the things provided for +offerings, it said to him, "If you are able with your offerings to +exceed these, you can destroy the tope, and take it all away. I will +not contend with you." The king, however, knew that such appliances +for offerings were not to be had anywhere in the world, and thereupon +returned (without carrying out his purpose). + +(Afterwards), the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, +and there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep (about the tope); but +a herd of elephants came regularly, which brought water with their +trunks to water the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, +which they presented at the tope. (Once) there came from one of the +kingdoms a devotee(5) to worship at the tope. When he encountered +the elephants he was greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the +trees; but when he saw them go through with the offerings in the most +proper manner, the thought filled him with great sadness--that there +should be no monastery here, (the inmates of which) might serve +the tope, but the elephants have to do the watering and sweeping. +Forthwith he gave up the great prohibitions (by which he was +bound),(6) and resumed the status of a Sramanera.(7) With his own +hands he cleared away the grass and trees, put the place in good +order, and made it pure and clean. By the power of his exhortations, +he prevailed on the king of the country to form a residence for +monks; and when that was done, he became head of the monastery. At the +present day there are monks residing in it. This event is of recent +occurrence; but in all the succession from that time till now, there +has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment. + + NOTES + + (1) Rama or Ramagrama, between Kapilavastu and Kusanagara. + + (2) See the account of the eightfold division of the relics of + Buddha's body in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist + Suttas, pp. 133-136. + + (3) The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000 + atoms, and hence the legend of Asoka's wish to build 84,000 topes, one + over each atom of Sakyamuni's skeleton. + + (4) Fa-Hsien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that + the naga-guardian had a palace of his own, inside or underneath the + pool or tank. + + (5) It stands out on the narrative as a whole that we have not here + "some pilgrims," but one devotee. + + (6) What the "great prohibitions" which the devotee now gave up + were we cannot tell. Being what he was, a monk of more than ordinary + ascetical habits, he may have undertaken peculiar and difficult vows. + + (7) The Sramanera, or in Chinese Shamei. See chap. xvi, note 19. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WHERE BUDDHA FINALLY RENOUNCED THE WORLD, AND WHERE HE DIED. + +East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the +heir-apparent sent back Chandaka, with his white horse;(1) and there +also a tope was erected. + +Four yojanas to the east from this, (the travellers) came to the +Charcoal tope,(2) where there is also a monastery. + +Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of +Kusanagara,(3) on the north of which, between two trees,(4) on the +bank of the Nairanjana(5) river, is the place where the World-honoured +one, with his head to the north, attained to pari-nirvana (and +died). There also are the places where Subhadra,(6) the last (of his +converts), attained to Wisdom (and became an Arhat); where in his +coffin of gold they made offerings to the World-honoured one for seven +days,(7) where the Vajrapani laid aside his golden club,(8) and where +the eight kings(9) divided the relics (of the burnt body):--at all +these places were built topes and monasteries, all of which are now +existing. + +In the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only +the families belonging to the (different) societies of monks. + +Going from this to the south-east for twelve yojanas, they came to the +place where the Lichchhavis(10) wished to follow Buddha to (the place +of) his pari-nirvana, and where, when he would not listen to them and +they kept cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a +large and deep ditch which they could not cross over, and gave them +his alms-bowl, as a pledge of his regard, (thus) sending them back to +their families. There a stone pillar was erected with an account of +this event engraved upon it. + + NOTES + + (1) This was on the night when Sakyamuni finally left his palace + and family to fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called. + Chandaka, in Pali Channa, was the prince's charioteer, and in sympathy + with him. So also was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Asvaraja), + which neighed his delight till the devas heard him. See M. B., pp. + 158-161, and Davids' Manual, pp. 32, 33. According to "Buddhist Birth + Stories," p. 87, the noble horse never returned to the city, but died + of grief at being left by his master, to be reborn immediately in the + Trayastrimsas heaven as the deva Kanthaka! + + (2) Beal and Giles call this the "Ashes" tope. I also would have + preferred to call it so; but the Chinese character is {.}, not {.}. + Remusat has "la tour des charbons." It was over the place of Buddha's + cremation. + + (3) In Pali Kusinara. It got its name from the Kusa grass (the _poa + cynosuroides_); and its ruins are still extant, near Kusiah, 180 N.W. + from Patna; "about," says Davids, "120 miles N.N.E. of Benares, and 80 + miles due east of Kapilavastu." + + (4) The Sala tree, the _Shorea robusta_, which yields the famous teak + wood. + + (5) Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsuan-chwang, with the + Hiranyavati, which flows past the city on the south. + + (6) A Brahman of Benares, said to have been 120 years old, who came to + learn from Buddha the very night he died. Ananda would have repulsed + him; but Buddha ordered him to be introduced; and then putting aside + the ingenious but unimportant question which he propounded, preached + to him the Law. The Brahman was converted and attained at once to + Arhatship. Eitel says that he attained to nirvana a few moments before + Sakyamuni; but see the full account of him and his conversion in + "Buddhist Suttas," p. 103-110. + + (7) Thus treating the dead Buddha as if he had been a Chakravartti + king. Hardy's M. B., p. 347, says:--"For the place of cremation, the + princes (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was + decorated with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in + a golden sarcophagus." See the account of a cremation which Fa-Hsien + witnessed in Ceylon, chap. xxxix. + + (8) The name Vajrapani is explained as "he who holds in his hand the + diamond club (or pestle=sceptre)," which is one of the many names of + Indra or Sakra. He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would + seem to be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither + in Hardy nor Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any + manifestation of himself made by Indra on this occasion. The princes + of Kusanagara were called mallas, "strong or mighty heroes;" so also + were those of Pava and Vaisali; and a question arises whether + the language may not refer to some story which Fa-Hsien had + heard,--something which they did on this great occasion. Vajrapani is + also explained as meaning "the diamond mighty hero;" but the epithet + of "diamond" is not so applicable to them as to Indra. The clause may + hereafter obtain more elucidation. + + (9) Of Kusanagara, Pava, Vaisali, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes, + brahmans,--each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an + eightfold division at the suggestion of the brahman Drona. + + (10) These "strong heroes" were the chiefs of Vaisali, a kingdom and + city, with an oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early, + and were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second + synod was held at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins + of the city still exist at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I + suppose, as Besarh, twenty miles north of Hajipur. See Beal's Revised + Version, p. lii. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +VAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED "WEAPONS LAID DOWN." THE COUNCIL OF VAISALI. + +East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom +of Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it +the double-galleried vihara(1) where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over +half the body of Ananda.(2) Inside the city the woman Ambapali(3) +built a vihara in honour of Buddha, which is now standing as it was at +first. Three le south of the city, on the west of the road, (is the) +garden (which) the same Ambapali presented to Buddha, in which he +might reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirvana, +as he was quitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, and, +beholding the city on his right, said to them, "Here I have taken my +last walk."(4) Men subsequently built a tope at this spot. + +Three le north-west of the city there is a tope called, "Bows and +weapons laid down." The reason why it got that name was this:--The +inferior wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges, +brought forth from her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife, +jealous of the other, said, "You have brought forth a thing of evil +omen," and immediately it was put into a box of wood and thrown +into the river. Farther down the stream another king was walking and +looking about, when he saw the wooden box (floating) in the water. (He +had it brought to him), opened it, and found a thousand little boys, +upright and complete, and each one different from the others. He +took them and had them brought up. They grew tall and large, and very +daring, and strong, crushing all opposition in every expedition which +they undertook. By and by they attacked the kingdom of their real +father, who became in consequence greatly distressed and sad. His +inferior wife asked what it was that made him so, and he replied, +"That king has a thousand sons, daring and strong beyond compare, and +he wishes with them to attack my kingdom; this is what makes me sad." +The wife said, "You need not be sad and sorrowful. Only make a high +gallery on the wall of the city on the east; and when the thieves +come, I shall be able to make them retire." The king did as she said; +and when the enemies came, she said to them from the tower, "You are +my sons; why are you acting so unnaturally and rebelliously?" They +replied, "If you do not believe me," she said, "look, all of you, +towards me, and open your mouths." She then pressed her breasts with +her two hands, and each sent forth 500 jets of milk, which fell into +the mouths of the thousand sons. The thieves (thus) knew that she was +their mother, and laid down their bows and weapons.(5) The two kings, +the fathers, thereupon fell into reflection, and both got to be +Pratyeka Buddhas.(6) The tope of the two Pratyeka Buddhas is still +existing. + +In a subsequent age, when the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), he said to is disciples, "This is +the place where I in a former age laid down my bow and weapons."(7) It +was thus that subsequently men got to know (the fact), and raised the +tope on this spot, which in this way received its name. The thousand +little boys were the thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa.(8) + +It was by the side of the "Weapons-laid-down" tope that Buddha, having +given up the idea of living longer, said to Ananda, "In three months +from this I will attain to pavi-nirvana;" and king Mara(9) had so +fascinated and stupefied Ananda, that he was not able to ask Buddha to +remain longer in this world. + +Three or four le east from this place there is a tope (commemorating +the following occurrence):--A hundred years after the pari-nirvana +of Buddha, some Bhikshus of Vaisali went wrong in the matter of +the disciplinary rules in ten particulars, and appealed for their +justification to what they said were the words of Buddha. Hereupon the +Arhats and Bhikshus observant of the rules, to the number in all of +700 monks, examined afresh and collated the collection of disciplinary +books.(10) Subsequently men built at this place the tope (in +question), which is still existing. + + NOTES + + (1) It is difficult to tell what was the peculiar form of this vihara + from which it gets its name; something about the construction of its + door, or cupboards, or galleries. + + (2) See the explanation of this in the next chapter. + + (3) Ambapali, Amrapali, or Amradarika, "the guardian of the Amra + (probably the mango) tree," is famous in Buddhist annals. See the + account of her in M. B., pp. 456-8. She was a courtesan. She had + been in many narakas or hells, was 100,000 times a female beggar, and + 10,000 times a prostitute; but maintaining perfect continence during + the period of Kasyapa Buddha, Sakyamuni's predecessor, she had been + born a devi, and finally appeared in earth under an Amra tree in + Vaisali. There again she fell into her old ways, and had a son by + king Bimbisara; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and chastity, + renounced the world, and attained to the state of an Arhat. See the + earliest account of Ambapali's presentation of the garden in "Buddhist + Suttas," pp. 30-33, and the note there from Bishop Bigandet on pp. 33, + 34. + + (4) Beal gives, "In this place I have performed the last religious act + of my earthly career;" Giles, "This is the last place I shall visit;" + Remusat, "C'est un lieu ou je reviendrai bien longtemps apres ceci." + Perhaps the "walk" to which Buddha referred had been for meditation. + + (5) See the account of this legend in the note in M. B., pp. 235, 236, + different, but not less absurd. The first part of Fa-Hsien's narrative + will have sent the thoughts of some of my readers to the exposure of + the infant Moses, as related in Exodus. (Certainly did.--JB.) + + (6) See chap. xiii, note 14. + + (7) Thus Sakyamuni had been one of the thousand little boys who + floated in the box in the Ganges. How long back the former age was we + cannot tell. I suppose the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka + Buddhas had been built like the one commemorating the laying down of + weapons after Buddha had told his disciples of the strange events in + the past. + + (8) Bhadra-kalpa, "the Kalpa of worthies or sages." "This," says + Eitel, p. 22, "is a designation for a Kalpa of stability, so called + because 1000 Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our present period is + a Bhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is to last + 236 million years, but over 151 millions have already elapsed." + + (9) "The king of demons." The name Mara is explained by "the + murderer," "the destroyer of virtue," and similar appellations. "He + is," says Eitel, "the personification of lust, the god of love, + sin, and death, the arch-enemy of goodness, residing in the heaven + Paranirmita Vasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes + different forms, especially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the + saints, or sends his daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta + or the Nirgranthas to do his work. He is often represented with 100 + arms, and riding on an elephant." The oldest form of the legend in + this paragraph is in "Buddhist Suttas," Sacred Books of the East, vol. + xi, pp. 41-55, where Buddha says that, if Ananda had asked him thrice, + he would have postponed his death. + + (10) Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important + one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the + Buddhist Church. See, on the formation of the Buddhist Canon, Hardy's + E. M., chap. xviii, and the last chapter of Davids' Manual, on the + History of the Order. The first Council was that held at Rajagriha, + shortly after Buddha's death, under the presidency of Kasyapa;--say + about B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here;--say about B.C. + 300. In Davids' Manual (p. 216) we find the ten points of discipline, + in which the heretics (I can use that term here) claimed at least + indulgence. Two meetings were held to consider and discuss them. + At the former the orthodox party barely succeeded in carrying their + condemnation of the laxer monks; and a second and larger meeting, of + which Fa-Hsien speaks, was held in consequence, and a more emphatic + condemnation passed. At the same time all the books and subjects of + discipline seem to have undergone a careful revision. + + The Corean text is clearer than the Chinese as to those who composed + the Council,--the Arhats and orthodox monks. The leader among them was + a Yasas, or Yasada, or Yedsaputtra, who had been a disciple of Ananda, + and must therefore have been a very old man. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +REMARKABLE DEATH OF ANANDA. + +Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers +to the confluence of the five rivers.(1) When Ananda was going from +Magadha(2) to Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirvana to take place (there), +the devas informed king Ajatasatru(3) of it, and the king immediately +pursued him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and +had reached the river. (On the other hand), the Lichchhavis of Vaisali +had heard that Ananda was coming (to their city), and they on their +part came to meet him. (In this way), they all arrived together at the +river, and Ananda considered that, if he went forward, king Ajatasatru +would be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would +resent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt +his body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,(4) and his pari-nirvana was +attained. He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half +of it on each bank; so that each of the two kings got one half as +a (sacred) relic, and took it back (to his own capital), and there +raised a tope over it. + + NOTES + + (1) This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be + far from Patna. + + (2) Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy + land, covered with viharas; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed + in a previous note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern + portion of which corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha. + + (3) In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M. + B., pp. 321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the + first royal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at + least wrought his death; and was at first opposed to Sakyamuni, and + a favourer of Devadatta. When converted, he became famous for his + liberality in almsgiving. + + (4) Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi, + which is one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy + defines it as meaning "perfect tranquillity;" Turnour, as "meditative + abstraction;" Burnouf, as "self-control;" and Edkins, as "ecstatic + reverie." "Samadhi," says Eitel, "signifies the highest pitch of + abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to + all influences from within or without; a state of torpor of both + the material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial + nirvana, consistently culminating in total destruction of life." He + then quotes apparently the language of the text, "He consumed his body + by Agni (the fire of) Samadhi," and says it is "a common expression + for the effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic self-annihilation." All + this is simply "a darkening of counsel by words without knowledge." + Some facts concerning the death of Ananda are hidden beneath the + darkness of the phraseology, which it is impossible for us to + ascertain. By or in Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of + the river, and then he divides the relic of the burnt body into two + parts (for so evidently Fa-Hsien intended his narration to be taken), + and leaves one half on each bank. The account of Ananda's death in + Nien-ch'ang's "History of Buddha and the Patriarchs" is much more + extravagant. Crowds of men and devas are brought together to witness + it. The body is divided into four parts. One is conveyed to the + Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace of a certain Naga king; a + third is given to Ajatasatru; and the fourth to the Lichchhavis. What + it all really means I cannot tell. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PATALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING ASOKA'S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE +AND HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RADHA-SAMI. DISPENSARIES AND +HOSPITALS. + +Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the +travellers) came to the town of Pataliputtra,(1) in the kingdom of +Magadha, the city where king Asoka(2) ruled. The royal palace and +halls in the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all +made by spirits which he employed, and which piled up the stones, +reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and +inlaid sculpture-work,--in a way which no human hands of this world +could accomplish. + +King Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and +resided on Gridhra-kuta(3) hill, finding his delight in solitude and +quiet. The king, who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him +(to come and live) in his family, where he could supply all his +wants. The other, however, through his delight in the stillness of the +mountain, was unwilling to accept the invitation, on which the king +said to him, "Only accept my invitation, and I will make a hill for +you inside the city." Accordingly, he provided the materials of a +feast, called to him the spirits, and announced to them, "To-morrow +you will all receive my invitation; but as there are no mats for you +to sit on, let each one bring (his own seat)." Next day the spirits +came, each one bringing with him a great rock, (like) a wall, four or +five paces square, (for a seat). When their sitting was over, the king +made them form a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and +also at the foot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make +an apartment, which might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty +cubits wide, and more than ten cubits high. + +In this city there had resided a great Brahman,(4) named +Radha-sami,(5) a professor of the mahayana, of clear discernment and +much wisdom, who understood everything, living by himself in spotless +purity. The king of the country honoured and reverenced him, and +served him as his teacher. If he went to inquire for and greet him, +the king did not presume to sit down alongside of him; and if, in his +love and reverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he let it go, +the Brahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. He might be +more than fifty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. By +means of this one man, the Law of Buddha was widely made known, and +the followers of other doctrines did not find it in their power to +persecute the body of monks in any way. + +By the side of the tope of Asoka, there has been made a mahayana +monastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hinayana one; +the two together containing six or seven hundred monks. The rules of +demeanour and the scholastic arrangements(6) in them are worthy of +observation. + +Shamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students, +inquirers wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort +to these monasteries. There also resides in this monastery a Brahman +teacher, whose name also is Manjusri,(7) whom the Shamans of greatest +virtue in the kingdom, and the mahayana Bhikshus honour and look up +to. + +The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the +Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with +one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every +year on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession +of images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure +of four storeys by means of bamboos tied together. This is supported +by a king-post, with poles and lances slanting from it, and is rather +more than twenty cubits high, having the shape of a tope. White and +silk-like cloth of hair(8) is wrapped all round it, which is then +painted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold, +silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers +and canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with +a Buddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on +him. There may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one +different from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity +within the borders all come together; they have singers and skilful +musicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and incense. The +Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so +in order, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep +lamps burning, have skilful music, and present offerings. This is the +practice in all the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya +families in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity +and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, +widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who +are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind +of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and +medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and +when they are better, they go away of themselves. + +When king Asoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make +eighty-four thousand,(9) the first which he made was the great tope, +more than three le to the south of this city. In front of this there +is a footprint of Buddha, where a vihara has been built. The door of +it faces the north, and on the south of it there is a stone pillar, +fourteen or fifteen cubits in circumference, and more than thirty +cubits high, on which there is an inscription, saying, "Asoka gave the +jambudvipa to the general body of all the monks, and then redeemed +it from them with money. This he did three times."(10) North from the +tope 300 or 400 paces, king Asoka built the city of Ne-le.(11) In it +there is a stone pillar, which also is more than thirty feet high, +with a lion on the top of it. On the pillar there is an inscription +recording the things which led to the building of Ne-le, with the +number of the year, the day, and the month. + + NOTES + + (1) The modern Patna, lat. 25d 28s N., lon. 85d 15s E. The Sanskrit + name means "The city of flowers." It is the Indian Florence. + + (2) See chap. x, note 3. Asoka transferred his court from Rajagriha + to Pataliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he + convoked the third Great Synod,--according, at least, to southern + Buddhism. It must have been held a few years before B.C. 250; Eitel + says in 246. + + (3) "The Vulture-hill;" so called because Mara, according to Buddhist + tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the + meditation of Ananda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of + vultures. It was near Rajagriha, the earlier capital of Asoka, so that + Fa-Hsien connects a legend of it with his account of Patna. It abounded + in caverns, and was famous as a resort of ascetics. + + (4) A Brahman by cast, but a Buddhist in faith. + + (5) So, by the help of Julien's "Methode," I transliterate the Chinese + characters {.} {.} {.} {.}. Beal gives Radhasvami, his Chinese text + having a {.} between {.} and {.}. I suppose the name was Radhasvami or + Radhasami. + + (6) {.} {.}, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in + the Li Ki and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those + monasteries in India as there were in China? Fa-Hsien himself grew up + with other boys in a monastery, and no doubt had to "go to school." + And the next sentence shows us there might be schools for more + advanced students as well as for the Sramaneras. + + (7) See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous + Bodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be "also" named Manjusri. + + (8) ? Cashmere cloth. + + (9) See chap. xxiii, note 3. + + (10) We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction, + and that we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It + is to be observed that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it + from them. Their right was from him, and he bought it back. He was the + only "Power" that was. + + (11) We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small + place; an outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +RAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT. + +(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas, +and came to a small solitary rocky hill,(1) at the head or end of +which(2) was an apartment of stone, facing the south,--the place where +Buddha sat, when Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician, +Pancha-(sikha),(3) to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute. +Sakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the +questions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.(4) The prints +of his tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery. + +A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of +Nala,(5) where Sariputtra(6) was born, and to which also he returned, +and attained here his pari-nirvana. Over the spot (where his body was +burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence. + +Another yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,(7)--the new +city which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in +it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having +obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a +tope, high, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south +gate, and proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to +a circular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and +have the appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old +city of king Bimbisara; from east to west about five or six le, and +from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and +Maudgalyayana first saw Upasena;(8) that the Nirgrantha(9) made a pit +of fire and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with +him); that king Ajatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with +liquor, wishing him to injure Buddha;(10) and that at the north-east +corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jivaka built a vihara +in the garden of Ambapali,(11) and invited Buddha with his 1250 +disciples to it, that he might there make his offerings to support +them. (These places) are still there as of old, but inside the city +all is emptiness and desolation; no man dwells in it. + + NOTES + + (1) Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or "The cavern of Indra." + It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the + bank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The + hill terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more + northern and higher of these which Fa-Hsien had in mind. It bears an + oblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially + of a vihara. + + (2) This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its + "headland," where it ended at the river. + + (3) See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290. + It is from Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the + musician, which appears in Fa-Hsien as only Pancha, or "Five." His harp + or lute, we are told, was "twelve miles long." + + (4) Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen, + which are still to be found in one of the Sutras ("the Dik-Sanga, + in the Sakra-prasna Sutra"). Whether it was Sakra who wrote + his questions, or Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the + punctuation. It seems better to make Sakra the writer. + + (5) Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand + monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for + five years of Hsuan-chwang. + + (6) See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement + that Nala was his birthplace. + + (7) The city of "Royal Palaces;" "the residence of the Magadha kings + from Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot + of the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within + a year after Sakyamuni's death. Its ruins are still extant at the + village of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of + pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100)." It is called New Rajagriha + to distinguish it from Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old + residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisara, while + Fa-Hsien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose the son finished what the + father had begun. + + (8) One of the five first followers of Sakyamuni. He is also called + Asvajit; in Pali Assaji; but Asvajit seems to be a military title= + "Master or trainer of horses." The two more famous disciples met him, + not to lead him, but to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred + Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 144-147. + + (9) One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas="erroneous teachers;" M. B., + pp. 290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on + Buddha's life referred to by Fa-Hsien), or Brahmanical opponents of + Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore + called Nirgranthajnati. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the + use of clothes, and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting. + He had a body of followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel, + pp. 84, 85), and were the forerunners of the Jains. + + (10) The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant + disappointed them, and did homage to Sakyamuni. See Sacred Books of + the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247. + + (11) See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali's son by king + Bimbisara, and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the + account of him in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya + Texts, pp. 171-194. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FA-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS +REFLECTIONS. + +Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the +south-east, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount +Gridhra-kuta.(1) Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern +in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. +Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was +sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) having assumed +the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, +and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, +supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and +stroked Ananda's shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away. +The footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha's) hand are still +there, and hence comes the name of "The Hill of the Vulture Cavern." + +In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas +sat. There are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and +meditated, amounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in +front of his rocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west +(in meditation), and Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the +north of the mountain, threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha's toes,(3) +the rock is still there.(4) + +The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only +the foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is +beautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the +five hills. In the New City Fa-Hsien bought incense-(sticks), flowers, +oil and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident (at the place), +to carry them (to the peak). When he himself got to it, he made his +offerings with the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when +the darkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his +tears and said, "Here Buddha delivered the Surangama (Sutra).(5) I, +Fa-Hsien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only +see the footprints which he has left, and the place where he lived, +and nothing more." With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted +the Surangama Sutra, remained there over the night, and then returned +towards the New City.(6) + + NOTES + + (1) See chap. xxviii, note 1. + + (2) See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, and + signifies "sinful lust." + + (3) See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta's attempt was "by the + help of a machine;" but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the + East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what Fa-Hsien implies + that he threw the rock with his own arm. + + (4) And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits + high, and thirty paces round. + + (5) See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's "Catalogue of the Chinese Translation + of the Buddhist Tripitaka," Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the + former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory + of Fa-Hsien. + + (6) In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal + says, "There is a full account of this perilous visit of Fa-Hsien, and + how he was attacked by tigers, in the 'History of the High Priests.'" + But "the high priests" merely means distinguished monks, "eminent + monks," as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders the adjectival character. Nor + was Fa-Hsien "attacked by tigers" on the peak. No "tigers" appear in + the Memoir. "Two black lions" indeed crouched before him for a time + this night, "licking their lips and waving their tails;" but their + appearance was to "try," and not to attack him; and when they saw + him resolute, they "drooped their heads, put down their tails, and + prostrated themselves before him." This of course is not an historical + account, but a legendary tribute to his bold perseverance. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SRATAPARNA CAVE, OR CAVE OF THE FIRST COUNCIL. LEGENDS. SUICIDE OF +A BHIKSHU. + +Out from the old city, after walking over 300 paces, on the west of +the road, (the travellers) found the Karanda Bamboo garden,(1) where +the (old) vihara is still in existence, with a company of monks, who +keep (the ground about it) swept and watered. + +North of the vihara two or three le there was the Smasanam, which +name means in Chinese "the field of graves into which the dead are +thrown."(2) + +As they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for +300 paces, they found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala +cave,(3) in which Buddha regularly sat in meditation after taking his +(midday) meal. + +Going on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the +hill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna,(4) the +place where, after the nirvana(5) of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the +Sutras. When they brought the Sutras forth, three lofty seats(6) had +been prepared and grandly ornamented. Sariputtra occupied the one on +the left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. Of the number of five +hundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on the middle +seat). Ananda was then outside the door, and could not get in.(7) +At the place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still +existing. + +Along (the sides of) the hill, there are also a very great many cells +among the rocks, where the various Arhans sat and meditated. As you +leave the old city on the north, and go down east for three le, there +is the rock dwelling of Devadatta, and at a distance of fifty paces +from it there is a large, square, black rock. Formerly there was a +bhikshu, who, as he walked backwards and forwards upon it, thought +with himself:--"This body(8) is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and +vanity,(9) and which cannot be looked on as pure.(10) I am weary of +this body, and troubled by it as an evil." With this he grasped a +knife, and was about to kill himself. But he thought again:--"The +World-honoured one laid down a prohibition against one's killing +himself."(11) Further it occurred to him:--"Yes, he did; but I now +only wish to kill three poisonous thieves."(12) Immediately with +the knife he cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he +attained the state of a Srotapanna;(13) when he had gone half through, +he attained to be an Anagamin;(14) and when he had cut right through, +he was an Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvana;(15) (and died). + + NOTES + + (1) Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara, + who also built a vihara in it. See the account of the transaction in + M. B., p. 194. The place was called Karanda, from a creature so named, + which awoke the king just as a snake was about to bite him, and thus + saved his life. In Hardy the creature appears as a squirrel, but Eitel + says that the Karanda is a bird of sweet voice, resembling a magpie, + but herding in flocks; the _cuculus melanoleucus_. See "Buddhist Birth + Stories," p. 118. + + (2) The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no + sympathy with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own + Buddhistic method of cremation. + + (3) The Chinese characters used for the name of this cavern serve also + to name the pippala (peepul) tree, the _ficus religiosa_. They make us + think that there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but Fa-Hsien + would hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance. + + (4) A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the + Srataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears + to have been convoked by the older members to settle the rules and + doctrines of the order. The cave was prepared for the occasion by + king Ajatasatru. From the expression about the "bringing forth of the + King," it would seem that the Sutras or some of them had been already + committed to writing. May not the meaning of King {.} here be extended + to the Vinaya rules, as well as the Sutras, and mean "the standards" + of the system generally? See Davids' Manual, chapter ix, and Sacred + Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 370-385. + + (5) So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvana. + + (6) Instead of "high" seats, the Chinese texts have "vacant." The + character for "prepared" denotes "spread;"--they were carpeted; + perhaps, both cushioned and carpeted, being rugs spread on the ground, + raised higher than the other places for seats. + + (7) Did they not contrive to let him in, with some cachinnation, even + in so august an assembly, that so important a member should have been + shut out? + + (8) "The life of this body" would, I think, fairly express the idea of + the bhikshu. + + (9) See the account of Buddha's preaching in chapter xviii. + + (10) The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught. + + (11) See E. M., p. 152:--"Buddha made a law forbidding the monks to + commit suicide. He prohibited any one from discoursing on the miseries + of life in such a manner as to cause desperation." See also M. B., pp. + 464, 465. + + (12) Beal says:--"Evil desire; hatred; ignorance." + + (13) See chap. xx, note 10. + + (14) The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship, + the third class of Aryas, who are no more liable to be reborn as men, + but are to be born once more as devas, when they will forthwith become + Arhats, and attain to nirvana. E. H., pp. 8, 9. + + (15) Our author expresses no opinion of his own on the act of this + bhikshu. Must it not have been a good act, when it was attended, in + the very act of performance, by such blessed consequences? But if + Buddhism had not something better to show than what appears here, + it would not attract the interest which it now does. The bhikshu + was evidently rather out of his mind; and the verdict of a coroner's + inquest of this nineteenth century would have pronounced that he + killed himself "in a fit of insanity." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +GAYA. SAKYAMUNI'S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS. + +From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the +pilgrims) came to the city of Gaya;(1) but inside the city all was +emptiness and desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty +le, they arrived at the place where the Bodhisattva for six years +practised with himself painful austerities. All around was forest. + +Three le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had +gone into the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree, +by means of which he succeeded in getting out of the pool.(2) + +Two le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented +to Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;(3) and two le north from this +(again) was the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and +facing the east, he ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there +at the present day. The rock may be six cubits in breadth and length, +and rather more than two cubits in height. In Central India the +cold and heat are so equally tempered that trees will live in it for +several thousand and even for ten thousand years. + +Half a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in +the rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged +with his face to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, "If +I am to attain to perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be +a supernatural attestation of it." On the wall of the rock there +appeared immediately the shadow of a Buddha, rather more than three +feet in length, which is still bright at the present day. At this +moment heaven and earth were greatly moved, and devas in the air spoke +plainly, "This is not the place where any Buddha of the past, or he +that is to come, has attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. Less +than half a yojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the +patra(4) tree, where all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come +must attain, to perfect Wisdom." When they had spoken these words, +they immediately led the way forwards to the place, singing as they +did so. As they thus went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked +(after them). At a distance of thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave +him the grass of lucky omen,(5) which he received and went on. After +(he had proceeded) fifteen paces, 500 green birds came flying towards +him, went round him thrice, and disappeared. The Bodhisattva went +forward to the patra tree, placed the kusa grass at the foot of it, +and sat down with his face to the east. Then king Mara sent three +beautiful young ladies, who came from the north, to tempt him, while +he himself came from the south to do the same. The Bodhisattva put his +toes down on the ground, and the demon soldiers retired and dispersed, +and the three young ladies were changed into old (grand-)mothers.(6) + +At the place mentioned above of the six years' painful austerities, +and at all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set +up images, which all exist at the present day. + +Where Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days +contemplated the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;(7) where, +under the patra tree, he walked backwards and forwards from west to +east for seven days; where the devas made a hall appear, composed +of the seven precious substances, and presented offerings to him for +seven days; where the blind dragon Muchilinda(8) encircled him for +seven days; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a square rock, +with his face to the east, and Brahma-deva(9) came and made his +request to him; where the four deva kings brought to him their +alms-bowls;(10) where the 500 merchants(11) presented to him the +roasted flour and honey; and where he converted the brothers Kasyapa +and their thousand disciples;(12)--at all these places topes were +reared. + +At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three +monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families +of their people around supply the societies of these monks with an +abundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or +stint.(13) The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them. The +laws regulating their demeanour in sitting, rising, and entering when +the others are assembled, are those which have been practised by all +the saints since Buddha was in the world down to the present day. +The places of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed down +without break, since Buddha attained to nirvana. Those four great +topes are those at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained +to Wisdom; where he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he +attained to pari-nirvana. + + NOTES + + (1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat. + 24d 47s N., lon. 85d 1s E). It was here that Sakyamuni lived for seven + years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The + place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41. + + (2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being + drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the + incident I have met with,--in "The Life of the Buddha," p. 31. And + he was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the + narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of + time. + + (3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in + Hardy's M. B., pp. 166-168; "The Life of the Buddha," p. 30; and the + "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering + girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal's + revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty + caused by the {.} {.} of Fa-Hsien. + + (4) Called "the tree of leaves," and "the tree of reflection;" a palm + tree, the _borassus flabellifera_, described as a tree which never + loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p. + 92. + + (5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note. + + (6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179, + and "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 96-101. + + (7) See chap. xiii, note 7. + + (8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: "A naga + king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sakyamuni once sat for + seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him." The + account (p. 35) in "The Life of the Buddha" is:--"Buddha went to where + lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from + the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread + out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in + thought." So also the Nidana Katha, in "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. + 109. + + (9) This was Brahma himself, though "king" is omitted. What he + requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his + Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111. + + (10) See chap. xii, note 10. + + (11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and + the Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with + them. + + (12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note + 17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up + to this time holders of "erroneous" views, having 500, 300, and + 200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of + Sakyamuni; and are--each of them--to become Buddha by-and-by. See the + Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115. + + (13) This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some + understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population + to the travellers. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA. + +When king Asoka, in a former birth,(1) was a little boy and played on +the road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, +and the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The +Buddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was +walking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of +becoming a king of the iron wheel,(2) to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) +when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa, +he saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka(3) for the +punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what +sort of a thing it was, they replied, "It belongs to Yama,(4) king +of demons, for punishing wicked people." The king thought within +himself:--"(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which +to deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, +make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men?" He forthwith asked +his ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the +punishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man +of extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent +officers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the +side of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow +hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he +called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and +killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took +him to the king, who secretly charged him, "You must make a square +enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and +fruits; make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing +in every way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make +its gates strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize +him and punish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I +should enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me +go. I now appoint you master of that naraka." + +Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his +food, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka +saw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, +frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his +midday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they +thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the +bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence, +the painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it is but +as a bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. +Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a +caldron of boiling water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, +however, in the bhikshu's countenance. The fire was extinguished, and +the water became cold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a +lotus flower, with the bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went +and reported to the king that there was a marvellous occurrence in +the naraka, and wished him to go and see it; but the king said, +"I formerly made such an agreement that now I dare not go (to the +place)." The lictors said, "This is not a small matter. Your majesty +ought to go quickly. Let your former agreement be altered." The king +thereupon followed them, and entered (the naraka), when the bhikshu +preached the Law to him, and he believed, and was made free.(5) +Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and repented of all the evil which +he had formerly done. From this time he believed in and honoured the +Three Precious Ones, and constantly went to a patra tree, repenting +under it, with self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the eight +rules of abstinence.(6) + +The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the +ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and +such) a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not +there, and then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and +saw what had been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to +the ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a +considerable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) with +bricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows' milk on the roots; and +as he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this +oath, "If the tree do not live, I will never rise from this." When +he had uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the +roots, and it has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100 +cubits in height. + + NOTES + + (1) Here is an instance of {.} used, as was pointed out in chap. ix, + note 3, for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps "a + former birth" is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa + Buddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese "Sakya Buddha." + + (2) See chap. xvii, note 8. + + (3) I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating + the Chinese text by "Earth's prison {.} {.}," or "a prison in the + earth;" the name for which has been adopted generally by Christian + missionaries in China for gehenna and hell. + + (4) Eitel (p. 173) says:--"Yama was originally the Aryan god of the + dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; + but Brahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been + retained by Buddhism." The Yama of the text is the "regent of the + narakas, residing south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the + double circuit of mountains above), in a palace built of brass and + iron. He has a sister who controls all the female culprits, as he + exclusively deals with the male sex. Three times, however, in every + twenty-four hours, a demon pours boiling copper into Yama's mouth, + and squeezes it down his throat, causing him unspeakable pain." Such, + however, is the wonderful "transrotation of births," that when Yama's + sins have been expiated, he is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name + of "The Universal King." + + (5) Or, "was loosed;" from the bonds, I suppose, of his various + illusions. + + (6) I have not met with this particular numerical category. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +MOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KASYAPA BUDDHA'S ENTIRE SKELETON IS. + +(The travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a +mountain named Gurupada,(1) inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He +made a cleft, and went down into it, though the place where he entered +would not (now) admit a man. Having gone down very far, there was +a hole on one side, and there the complete body of Kasyapa (still) +abides. Outside the hole (at which he entered) is the earth with which +he had washed his hands.(2) If the people living thereabouts have a +sore on their heads, they plaster on it some of the earth from this, +and feel immediately easier.(3) On this mountain, now as of old, there +are Arhats abiding. Devotees of our Law from the various countries in +that quarter go year by year to the mountain, and present offerings +to Kasyapa; and to those whose hearts are strong in faith there come +Arhats at night, and talk with them, discussing and explaining their +doubts, and disappearing suddenly afterwards. + +On this hill hazels grow luxuriously; and there are many lions, +tigers, and wolves, so that people should not travel incautiously. + + NOTES + + (1) "Fowl's-foot hill," "with three peaks, resembling the foot of a + chicken. It lies seven miles south-east of Gaya, and was the residence + of Mahakasyapa, who is said to be still living inside this mountain." + So Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that Kasyapa is in + the mountain alive, but that his body entire is in a recess or hole + in it. Hardy (M. B., p. 97) says that after Kasyapa Buddha's body was + burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, presenting + the appearance of a perfect skeleton. It is of him that the chapter + speaks, and not of the famous disciple of Sakyamuni, who also is + called Mahakasyapa. This will appear also on a comparison of Eitel's + articles on "Mahakasyapa" and "Kasyapa Buddha." + + (2) Was it a custom to wash the hands with "earth," as is often done + with sand? + + (3) This I conceive to be the meaning here. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +ON THE WAY BACK TO PATNA. VARANASI, OR BENARES. SAKYAMUNI'S FIRST +DOINGS AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA. + +Fa-Hsien(1) returned (from here) towards Pataliputtra,(2) keeping along +the course of the Ganges and descending in the direction of the west. +After going ten yojanas he found a vihara, named "The Wilderness,"--a +place where Buddha had dwelt, and where there are monks now. + +Pursuing the same course, and going still to the west, he arrived, +after twelve yojanas, at the city of Varanasi(3) in the kingdom of +Kasi. Rather more than ten le to the north-east of the city, he found +the vihara in the park of "The rishi's Deer-wild."(4) In this park +there formerly resided a Pratyeka Buddha,(5) with whom the deer +were regularly in the habit of stopping for the night. When the +World-honoured one was about to attain to perfect Wisdom, the devas +sang in the sky, "The son of king Suddhodana, having quitted his +family and studied the Path (of Wisdom),(6) will now in seven days +become Buddha." The Pratyeka Buddha heard their words, and immediately +attained to nirvana; and hence this place was named "The Park of the +rishi's Deer-wild."(7) After the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom, men build the vihara in it. + +Buddha wished to convert Kaundinya(8) and his four companions; but +they, (being aware of his intention), said to one another, "This +Sramana Gotama(9) for six years continued in the practice of painful +austerities, eating daily (only) a single hemp-seed, and one grain of +rice, without attaining to the Path (of Wisdom); how much less will +he do so now that he has entered (again) among men, and is giving the +reins to (the indulgence of) his body, his speech, and his thoughts! +What has he to do with the Path (of Wisdom)? To-day, when he comes to +us, let us be on our guard not to speak with him." At the places where +the five men all rose up, and respectfully saluted (Buddha), when he +came to them; where, sixty paces north from this, he sat with his +face to the east, and first turned the wheel of the Law, converting +Kaundinya and the four others; where, twenty paces further to the +north, he delivered his prophecy concerning Maitreya;(10) and where, +at a distance of fifty paces to the south, the dragon Elapattra(11) +asked him, "When shall I get free from this naga body?"--at all these +places topes were reared, and are still existing. In (the park) there +are two monasteries, in both of which there are monks residing. + +When you go north-west from the vihara of the Deer-wild park for +thirteen yojanas, there is a kingdom named Kausambi.(12) Its vihara is +named Ghochiravana(13)--a place where Buddha formerly resided. Now, as +of old, there is a company of monks there, most of whom are students +of the hinayana. + +East from (this), when you have travelled eight yojanas, is the place +where Buddha converted(14) the evil demon. There, and where he walked +(in meditation) and sat at the place which was his regular abode, +there have been topes erected. There is also a monastery, which may +contain more than a hundred monks. + + NOTES + + (1) Fa-Hsien is here mentioned singly, as in the account of his visit + to the cave on Gridhra-kuta. I think that Tao-ching may have remained + at Patna after their first visit to it. + + (2) See chap. xxvii, note 1. + + (3) "The city surrounded by rivers;" the modern Benares, lat. 25d 23s + N., lon. 83d 5s E. + + (4) "The rishi," says Eitel, "is a man whose bodily frame has + undergone a certain transformation by dint of meditation and ascetism, + so that he is, for an indefinite period, exempt from decrepitude, age, + and death. As this period is believed to extend far beyond the + usual duration of human life, such persons are called, and popularly + believed to be, immortals." Rishis are divided into various classes; + and rishi-ism is spoken of as a seventh part of transrotation, and + rishis are referred to as the seventh class of sentient beings. + Taoism, as well as Buddhism, has its Seen jin. + + (5) See chap. xiii, note 15. + + (6) See chap. xxii, note 2. + + (7) For another legend about this park, and the identification of "a + fine wood" still existing, see note in Beal's first version, p. 135. + + (8) A prince of Magadha and a maternal uncle of Sakyamuni, who gave + him the name of Ajnata, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as + Ajnata Kaundinya. He and his four friends had followed Sakyamuni + into the Uruvilva desert, sympathising with him in the austerities he + endured, and hoping that they would issue in his Buddhaship. They were + not aware that that issue had come; which may show us that all the + accounts in the thirty-first chapter are merely descriptions, by means + of external imagery, of what had taken place internally. The kingdom + of nirvana had come without observation. These friends knew it not; + and they were offended by what they considered Sakyamuni's failure, + and the course he was now pursuing. See the account of their + conversion in M. B., p. 186. + + (9) This is the only instance in Fa-Hsien's text where the Bodhisattva + or Buddha is called by the surname "Gotama." For the most part our + traveller uses Buddha as a proper name, though it properly means + "The Enlightened." He uses also the combinations "Sakya Buddha,"="The + Buddha of the Sakya tribe," and "Sakyamuni,"="The Sakya sage." This + last is the most common designation of the Buddha in China, and to my + mind best combines the characteristics of a descriptive and a proper + name. Among other Buddhistic peoples "Gotama" and "Gotama Buddha" are + the more frequent designations. It is not easy to account for the rise + of the surname Gotama in the Sakya family, as Oldenberg acknowledges. + He says that "the Sakyas, in accordance with the custom of Indian + noble families, had borrowed it from one of the ancient Vedic bard + families." Dr. Davids ("Buddhism," p. 27) says: "The family name + was certainly Gautama," adding in a note, "It is a curious fact that + Gautama is still the family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the + village which has been identified with Kapilavastu." Dr. Eitel says + that "Gautama was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, which + counted the ancient rishi Gautama among its ancestors." When we + proceed, however, to endeavour to trace the connexion of that + Brahmanical rishi with the Sakya house, by means of 1323, 1468, 1469, + and other historical works in Nanjio's Catalogue, we soon find that + Indian histories have no surer foundation than the shifting sand;--see + E. H., on the name Sakya, pp. 108, 109. We must be content for the + present simply to accept Gotama as one of the surnames of the Buddha + with whom we have to do. + + (10) See chap. vi, note 5. It is there said that the prediction of + Maitreya's succession to the Buddhaship was made to him in the Tushita + heaven. Was there a repetition of it here in the Deer-park, or was a + prediction now given concerning something else? + + (11) Nothing seems to be known of this naga but what we read here. + + (12) Identified by some with Kusia, near Kurrah (lat. 25d 41s N., lon. + 81d 27s E.); by others with Kosam on the Jumna, thirty miles above + Allahabad. See E. H., p. 55. + + (13) Ghochira was the name of a Vaisya elder, or head, who presented a + garden and vihara to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement + from a Singhalese authority that Sakyamuni resided here during the + ninth year of his Buddhaship. + + (14) Dr. Davids thinks this may refer to the striking and beautiful + story of the conversion of the Yakkha Alavaka, as related in the + Uragavagga, Alavakasutta, pp. 29-31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x, + part ii). + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +DAKSHINA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY. + +South from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshina,(1) +where there is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kasyapa Buddha, +and which has been hewn out from a large hill of rock. It consists in +all of five storeys;--the lowest, having the form of an elephant, with +500 apartments in the rock; the second, having the form of a lion, +with 400 apartments; the third, having the form of a horse, with 300 +apartments; the fourth, having the form of an ox, with 200 apartments; +and the fifth, having the form of a pigeon, with 100 apartments. At +the very top there is a spring, the water of which, always in front of +the apartments in the rock, goes round among the rooms, now circling, +now curving, till in this way it arrives at the lowest storey, having +followed the shape of the structure, and flows out there at the door. +Everywhere in the apartments of the monks, the rock has been pierced +so as to form windows for the admission of light, so that they are all +bright, without any being left in darkness. At the four corners of the +(tiers of) apartments, the rock has been hewn so as to form steps for +ascending to the top (of each). The men of the present day, being of +small size, and going up step by step, manage to get to the top; but +in a former age, they did so at one step.(2) Because of this, the +monastery is called Paravata, that being the Indian name for a pigeon. +There are always Arhats residing in it. + +The country about is (a tract of) uncultivated hillocks,(3) without +inhabitants. At a very long distance from the hill there are villages, +where the people all have bad and erroneous views, and do not know the +Sramanas of the Law of Buddha, Brahmanas, or (devotees of) any of the +other and different schools. The people of that country are constantly +seeing men on the wing, who come and enter this monastery. On one +occasion, when devotees of various countries came to perform their +worship at it, the people of those villages said to them, "Why do you +not fly? The devotees whom we have seen hereabouts all fly;" and the +strangers answered, on the spur of the moment, "Our wings are not yet +fully formed." + +The kingdom of Dakshina is out of the way, and perilous to traverse. +There are difficulties in connexion with the roads; but those who know +how to manage such difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with +them money and various articles, and give them to the king. He will +then send men to escort them. These will (at different stages) pass +them over to others, who will show them the shortest routes. Fa-Hsien, +however, was after all unable to go there; but having received the +(above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated them. + + NOTES + + (1) Said to be the ancient name of the Deccan. As to the various + marvels in the chapter, it must be borne in mind that our author, as + he tells us at the end, only gives them from hearsay. See "Buddhist + Records of the Western World," vol. ii, pp. 214, 215, where the + description, however, is very different. + + (2) Compare the account of Buddha's great stride of fifteen yojanas in + Ceylon, as related in chapter xxxviii. + + (3) See the same phrase in the Books of the Later Han dynasty, the + twenty-fourth Book of Biographies, p. 9b. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +IN PATNA. FA-HIEN'S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND +INDIAN STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS. + +From Varanasi (the travellers) went back east to Pataliputtra. +Fa-Hsien's original object had been to search for (copies of) the +Vinaya. In the various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found +one master transmitting orally (the rules) to another, but no written +copies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and +come on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana monastery,(1) he found +a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika(2) rules,--those +which were observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha was +still in the world. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana +vihara. As to the other eighteen schools,(3) each one has the views +and decisions of its own masters. Those agree (with this) in the +general meaning, but they have small and trivial differences, as when +one opens and another shuts.(4) This copy (of the rules), however, is +the most complete, with the fullest explanations.(5) + +He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand +gathas,(6) being the sarvastivadah(7) rules,--those which are observed +by the communities of monks in the land of Ts'in; which also have all +been handed down orally from master to master without being +committed to writing. In the community here, moreover, we got the +Samyuktabhi-dharma-hridaya-(sastra),(8) containing about six or seven +thousand gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of +the Parinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,(9) of about 5000 gathas; and the +Mahasan-ghikah Abhidharma. + +In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fa-Hsien stayed here +for three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and +writing out the Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central +Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified +demeanour in their societies which he remarked under all occurring +circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and +imperfect condition the rules were among the monkish communities in +the land of Ts'in, and made the following aspiration:--"From this +time forth till I come to the state of Buddha, let me not be born in +a frontier land."(10) He remained accordingly (in India), and did not +return (to the land of Han). Fa-Hsien, however, whose original purpose +had been to secure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into +the land of Han, returned there alone. + + NOTES + + (1) Mentioned before in chapter xxvii. + + (2) Mahasanghikah simply means "the Great Assembly," that is, of + monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Sakyamuni held? It + does not appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the + time. The document found by Fa-Hsien would be a record of those rules; + or rather a copy of that record. We must suppose that the original + record had disappeared from the Jetavana vihara, or Fa-Hsien would + probably have spoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had + been allowed to do so. + + (3) The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character + called pu occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can + only have the meaning, often belonging to it, of "copy." The second + instance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies, + all different from the original, and from one another, in minor + matters? We are compelled to translate--"the eighteen schools," an + expression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids' + Manual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted. + + (4) This is equivalent to the "binding" and "loosing," "opening" and + "shutting," which found their way into the New Testament, and the + Christian Church, from the schools of the Jewish Rabbins. + + (5) It was afterwards translated by Fa-Hsien into Chinese. See Nanjio's + Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 + and 1150, columns 247 and 253. + + (6) A gatha is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of + a few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do + not know that its length is strictly defined. + + (7) "A branch," says Eitel, "of the great vaibhashika school, + asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the + authority of Rahula." + + (8) See Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his + account of Fa-Hsien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka + Sutra. + + (9) Probably Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with + it. + + (10) This then would be the consummation of the Sramana's being,--to + get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tao-ching + thought that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of + births; and was likely to attain to it sooner by living only in + India. If all this was not in his mind, he yet felt that each of his + successive lives would be happier, if lived in India. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +TO CHAMPA AND TAMALIPTI. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. TAKES +SHIP TO SINGHALA, OR CEYLON. + +Following the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for +eighteen yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom +of Champa,(1) with topes reared at the places where Buddha walked +in meditation by his vihara, and where he and the three Buddhas, his +predecessors, sat. There were monks residing at them all. Continuing +his journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he came to the country +of Tamalipti,(2) (the capital of which is) a seaport. In the country +there are twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks +residing. The Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here Fa-Hsien +stayed two years, writing out his Sutras,(3) and drawing pictures of +images. + +After this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating +over the sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and +the wind was favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and +night, they came to the country of Singhala.(4) The people said that +it was distant (from Tamalipti) about 700 yojanas. + +The kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty +yojanas, and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it +there are as many as 100 small islands, distant from one another ten, +twenty, or even 200 le; but all subject to the large island. Most of +them produce pearls and precious stones of various kinds; there is one +which produces the pure and brilliant pearl,(5)--an island which +would form a square of about ten le. The king employs men to watch and +protect it, and requires three out of every ten such pearls, which the +collectors find. + + NOTES + + (1) Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor, + lat. 25d 14s N., lon. 56d 55s E. + + (2) Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China; + the modern Tam-look, lat. 22d 17s N., lon. 88d 2s E.; near the mouth + of the Hoogly. + + (3) Perhaps Ching {.} is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka + which he had obtained. + + (4) "The Kingdom of the Lion," Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a + merchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom + was ascribed. His father was named Singha, "the Lion," which became + the name of the country;--Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, "the Country of + the Lion." + + (5) Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning "free + from stain," "bright and growing purer." It is a symbol of Buddha and + of his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +AT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND +MONASTERIES. STATUE OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA'S +TOOTH. + +The country originally had no human inhabitants,(1) but was occupied +only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries +carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the +spirits did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious +commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the +merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the +things away. + +Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they +went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant +the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great +nation. The (climate) is temperate and attractive, without any +difference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant. +Cultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed +seasons for it. + +When Buddha came to this country,(2) wishing to transform the wicked +nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of +the royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain,(3) the two +being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the +city the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned +with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the +precious substances. By the side of the top he further built a +monastery, called the Abhayagiri,(4) where there are (now) five +thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved +and inlaid works of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious +substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, +more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those +substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words +cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless +pearl. Several years had now elapsed since Fa-Hsien left the land of +Han; the men with whom he had been in intercourse had all been of +regions strange to him; his eyes had not rested on an old and familiar +hill or river, plant or tree; his fellow-travellers, moreover, had +been separated from him, some by death, and others flowing off in +different directions; no face or shadow was now with him but his own, +and a constant sadness was in his heart. Suddenly (one day), when by +the side of this image of jade, he saw a merchant presenting as his +offering a fan of white silk;(5) and the tears of sorrow involuntarily +filled his eyes and fell down. + +A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip +of the patra tree,(6) which he planted by the side of the hall of +Buddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it +bent on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would +fall, propped it with a post eight or nine spans round. The tree began +to grow at the very heart of the prop, where it met (the trunk); (a +shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where +it entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about +four spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer +portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them. +Beneath the tree there has been built a vihara, in which there is an +image (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and +look up to without ever becoming wearied. In the city there has been +reared also the vihara of Buddha's tooth, on which, as well as on the +other, the seven precious substances have been employed. + +The king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity +of the faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also +great. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there +has been no famine or scarcity, no revolution or disorder. In the +treasuries of the monkish communities there are many precious stones, +and the priceless manis. One of the kings (once) entered one of those +treasuries, and when he looked all round and saw the priceless pearls, +his covetous greed was excited, and he wished to take them to himself +by force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and immediately +went and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, +to show his repentance of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he +informed the monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them +to make a regulation that from that day forth the king should not be +allowed to enter the treasury and see (what it contained), and that no +bhikshu should enter it till after he had been in orders for a period +of full forty years.(7) + +In the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean(8) merchants, +whose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are +kept in good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there +have been built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, +and fifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a +pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together +to hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom there may be +altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common +stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common +supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take +their great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as +much as the vessels will hold, all returning with them full. + +The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the +third month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large +elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is +dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following +proclamation:--"The Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,(9) +manifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up +kingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes and gave them to +another;(10) he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom the life +of a dove;(10) he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;(11) he gave +his body to feed a starving tigress;(11) he grudged not his marrow +and his brains. In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for +the sake of all living. And so it was, that, having become Buddha, +he continued in the world for forty-five years, preaching his Law, +teaching and transforming, so that those who had no rest found rest, +and the unconverted were converted. When his connexion with the living +was completed,(12) he attained to pari-nirvana (and died). Since that +event, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,(13) and +all living beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold! ten days +after this, Buddha's tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the +Abhayagiri-vihara. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who +wish to amass merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good +condition, grandly adorn the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant +store of flowers and incense to be used as offerings to it." + +When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both +sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which +the Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:--here as +Sudana,(14) there as Sama;(15) now as the king of elephants;(16) and +then as a stag or a horse.(16) All these figures are brightly coloured +and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the +tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle +of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and +thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihara. There +monks and laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light +lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night without +ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is +returned to the vihara within the city. On fast-days the door of that +vihara is opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed +according to the rules. + +Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihara there is a hill, with a +vihara on it, called the Chaitya,(17) where there may be 2000 monks. +Among them there is a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,(18) +honoured and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more +than forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such +gentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop +together in the same room, without doing one another any harm. + + NOTES + + (1) It is desirable to translate {.} {.}, for which "inhabitants" + or "people" is elsewhere sufficient, here by "human inhabitants." + According to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by + Rakshasas or Rakshas, "demons who devour men," and "beings to be + feared," monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the terror of the + shipwrecked mariner. Our author's "spirits" {.} {.} were of a gentler + type. His dragons or nagas have come before us again and again. + + (2) That Sakyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful. + Hardy, in M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends + of three visits,--in the first, fifth, and eighth years of his + Buddhaship. It is plain, however, from Fa-Hsien's narrative, that in + the beginning of our fifth century, Buddhism prevailed throughout + the island. Davids in the last chapter of his "Buddhism" ascribes its + introduction to one of Asoka's missions, after the Council of Patna, + under his son Mahinda, when Tissa, "the delight of the gods," was king + (B.C. 250-230). + + (3) This would be what is known as "Adam's peak," having, according + to Hardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano, + Samastakuta, and Samanila. "There is an indentation on the top of it," + a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 3_4 inches long, and about 2 1_2 feet + wide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohameddans, + as that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,--as having been + made by Buddha. + + (4) Meaning "The Fearless Hill." There is still the Abhayagiri tope, + the highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and + built about B.C. 90, by Watta Gamini, in whose reign, about 160 + years after the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death + of Sakyamuni, the Tripitaka was first reduced to writing in + Ceylon;--"Buddhism," p. 234. + + (5) We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a Chinese, as + indeed the Chinese texts say, and the fan such as Fa-Hsien had seen and + used in his native land. + + (6) This should be the pippala, or bodhidruma, generally spoken of, in + connexion with Buddha, as the Bo tree, under which he attained to the + Buddhaship. It is strange our author should have confounded them as he + seems to do. In what we are told of the tree here, we have, no doubt, + his account of the planting, growth, and preservation of the famous Bo + tree, which still exists in Ceylon. It has been stated in a previous + note that Asoka's son, Mahinda, went as the apostle of Buddhism to + Ceylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister Sanghamitta, who had entered + the order at the same time as himself, and whose help was needed, some + of the king's female relations having signified their wish to become + nuns. On leaving India, she took with her a branch of the sacred Bo + tree at Buddha Gaya, under which Sakyamuni had become Buddha. Of + how the tree has grown and still lives we have an account in Davids' + "Buddhism." He quotes the words of Sir Emerson Tennent, that it is + "the oldest historical tree in the world;" but this must be denied if + it be true, as Eitel says, that the tree at Buddha Gaya, from which + the slip that grew to be this tree was taken more than 2000 years ago, + is itself still living in its place. We must conclude that Fa-Hsien, + when in Ceylon, heard neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta. + + (7) Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made + at monasteries as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and + duration of their ministry. + + (8) The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in + Sanskrit sa; and va, bo or bha. "Sabaean" is Mr. Beal's reading + of them, probably correct. I suppose the merchants were Arabs, + forerunners of the so-called Moormen, who still form so important a + part of the mercantile community in Ceylon. + + (9) A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period + during which a physical universe is formed and destroyed. + Asankhyeya denotes the highest sum for which a conventional term + exists;--according to Chinese calculations equal to one followed by + seventeen ciphers; according to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one + followed by ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four + Asankhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15. + + (10) See chapter ix. + + (11) See chapter xi. + + (12) He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the + character of all his past births required, and he had done it. + + (13) They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the + Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and + note on p. 89. + + (14) Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth + which preceded his appearance as Sakyamuni or Gotama, when he became + the Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka, + of which Hardy, M. B., pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also + "Buddhist Birth Stories," the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana, + he fulfilled "the Perfections," his distinguishing attribute being + entire self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha + is made to say ("Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 159):-- + + "This earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or grief, + Even she by my free-giving's mighty power was shaken seven times." + + Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to enter + in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sakyamuni. + + (15) I take the name Sama from Beal's revised version. He says in a + note that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented + in the Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet + know. But adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text + should be translated "the change into Sama." Remusat gives for them, + "la transformation en eclair;" Beal, in his first version, "his + appearance as a bright flash of light;" Giles, "as a flash of + lightning." Julien's Methode does not give the phonetic value in + Sanskrit of {.}. + + (16) In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in + which Sakyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M. + B., p. 100), it is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant; + ten times as a deer; and four times as a horse. + + (17) Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects + of religious worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and + including therefore Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics, + pictures, statues, &c. It is defined as "a fane," "a place for worship + and presenting offerings." Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is + the sacred hill of Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo + tree;--Davids' Buddhism, pp. 230, 231. + + (18) Eitel says (p. 31): "A famous ascetic, the founder of a school, + which flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400." But Fa-Hsien gives no intimation + of Dharma-gupta's founding a school. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +CREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE. + +South of the city seven le there is a vihara, called the Maha-vihara, +where 3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana, of +such lofty virtue, and so holy and pure in his observance of the +disciplinary rules, that the people all surmised that he was an Arhat. +When he drew near his end, the king came to examine into the point; +and having assembled the monks according to rule, asked whether the +bhikshu had attained to the full degree of Wisdom.(1) They answered +in the affirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king accordingly, +when he died, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the regular +rules prescribed. Four of five le east from the vihara there was +reared a great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty +cubits square, and the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, +aloe, and other kinds of fragrant wood. + +On the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it. +With clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body) +round and round.(2) They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our +funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes.(3) + +At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes +from all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings +of flowers and incense. While they were following the car to the +burial-ground,(4) the king himself presented flowers and incense. When +this was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil +of sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the +fire was blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his +upper garment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a +distance into the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When +the cremation was over, they collected and preserved the bones, and +proceeded to erect a tope. Fa-Hsien had not arrived in time (to see the +distinguished Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial. + +At that time the king,(5) who was a sincere believer in the Law of +Buddha and wished to build a new vihara for the monks, first +convoked a great assembly. After giving the monks a meal of rice, +and presenting his offerings (on the occasion), he selected a pair of +first-rate oxen, the horns of which were grandly decorated with +gold, silver, and the precious substances. A golden plough had been +provided, and the king himself turned up a furrow on the four sides +of the ground within which the building was supposed to be. He then +endowed the community of the monks with the population, fields, and +houses, writing the grant on plates of metal, (to the effect) that +from that time onwards, from generation to generation, no one should +venture to annul or alter it. + +In this country Fa-Hsien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting +a Sutra from the pulpit, say:--"Buddha's alms-bowl was at first in +Vaisali, and now it is in Gandhara.(6) After so many hundred years" +(he gave, when Fa-Hsien heard him, the exact number of years, but he +has forgotten it), "it will go to Western Tukhara;(7) after so +many hundred years, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to +Kharachar;(8) after so many hundred years, to the land of Han; after +so many hundred years, it will come to Sinhala; and after so many +hundred years, it will return to Central India. After that, it will +ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees +it, he will say with a sigh, 'The alms-bowl of Sakyamuni Buddha +is come;' and with all the devas he will present to it flowers and +incense for seven days. When these have expired, it will return to +Jambudvipa, where it will be received by the king of the sea nagas, +and taken into his naga palace. When Maitreya shall be about to attain +to perfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), it will again separate into +four bowls,(9) which will return to the top of mount Anna,(9) whence +they came. After Maitreya has become Buddha, the four deva kings will +again think of the Buddha (with their bowls as they did in the case +of the previous Buddha). The thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, +indeed, will all use the same alms-bowl; and when the bowl +has disappeared, the Law of Buddha will go on gradually to be +extinguished. After that extinction has taken place, the life of man +will be shortened, till it is only a period of five years. During this +period of a five years' life, rice, butter, and oil will all vanish +away, and men will become exceedingly wicked. The grass and trees +which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs, with which +they will hurt, cut, and kill one another. Those among them on whom +there is blessing will withdraw from society among the hills; and when +the wicked have exterminated one another, they will again come forth, +and say among themselves, 'The men of former times enjoyed a very +great longevity; but through becoming exceedingly wicked, and doing +all lawless things, the length of our life has been shortened and +reduced even to five years. Let us now unite together in the practice +of what is good, cherishing a gentle and sympathising heart, and +carefully cultivating good faith and righteousness. When each one in +this way practises that faith and righteousness, life will go on to +double its length till it reaches 80,000 years. When Maitreya appears +in the world, and begins to turn the wheel of his Law, he will in +the first place save those among the disciples of the Law left by the +Sakya who have quitted their families, and those who have accepted +the three Refuges, undertaken the five Prohibitions and the eight +Abstinences, and given offerings to the three Precious Ones; secondly +and thirdly, he will save those between whom and conversion there is a +connexion transmitted from the past.'"(10) + +(Such was the discourse), and Fa-Hsien wished to write it down as a +portion of doctrine; but the man said, "This is taken from no Sutra, +it is only the utterance of my own mind." + + NOTES + + (1) Possibly, "and asked the bhikshu," &c. I prefer the other way of + construing, however. + + (2) It seems strange that this should have been understood as a + wrapping of the immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in + the text to necessitate such a version, but the contrary. Compare + "Buddhist Suttas," pp. 92, 93. + + (3) See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the + Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. Fa-Hsien's + {.} {.}, "in this (country)," which I have expressed by "our," shows + that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the + account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when + he had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This + disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the "dragons" and "fishes." + The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle. + + (4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence + our author writes of it as such. + + (5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410-432). In the time + of his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368-410), the pitakas were first + translated into Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his + commentaries. Both were great builders of viharas. See the Mahavansa, + pp. 247, foll. + + (6) See chapter xii. Fa-Hsien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel + says was "the ancient capital of Gandhara." + + (7) Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara + ({.}) of chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to + carry off the bowl from Purushapura. + + (8) North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. + H., p. 56). + + (9) See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of "Anna" the Chinese recensions + have Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of + one or other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount + Meru, the fabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl. + + (10) That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such + conversion in the present. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; AND +THENCE TO CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG; AND GOES TO NANKING. CONCLUSION +OR L'ENVOI BY ANOTHER WRITER. + +Fa-Hsien abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to +his acquisitions in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the +Vinaya-pitaka of the Mahisasakah (school);(1) the Dirghagama +and Samyuktagama(2) (Sutras); and also the +Samyukta-sanchaya-pitaka;(3)--all being works unknown in the land of +Han. Having obtained these Sanskrit works, he took passage in a large +merchantman, on board of which there were more than 200 men, and to +which was attached by a rope a smaller vessel, as a provision against +damage or injury to the large one from the perils of the navigation. +With a favourable wind, they proceeded eastwards for three days, and +then they encountered a great wind. The vessel sprang a leak and the +water came in. The merchants wished to go to the small vessel; but the +men on board it, fearing that too many would come, cut the connecting +rope. The merchants were greatly alarmed, feeling their risk of +instant death. Afraid that the vessel would fill, they took their +bulky goods and threw them into the water. Fa-Hsien also took his +pitcher(4) and washing-basin, with some other articles, and cast them +into the sea; but fearing that the merchants would cast overboard +his books and images, he could only think with all his heart of +Kwan-she-yin,(5) and commit his life to (the protection of) the church +of the land of Han,(6) (saying in effect), "I have travelled far in +search of our Law. Let me, by your dread and supernatural (power), +return from my wanderings, and reach my resting-place!" + +In this way the tempest(7) continued day and night, till on the +thirteenth day the ship was carried to the side of an island, where, +on the ebbing of the tide, the place of the leak was discovered, +and it was stopped, on which the voyage was resumed. On the sea +(hereabouts) there are many pirates, to meet with whom is speedy +death. The great ocean spreads out, a boundless expanse. There is no +knowing east or west; only by observing the sun, moon, and stars was +it possible to go forward. If the weather were dark and rainy, (the +ship) went as she was carried by the wind, without any definite +course. In the darkness of the night, only the great waves were to be +seen, breaking on one another, and emitting a brightness like that of +fire, with huge turtles and other monsters of the deep (all about). +The merchants were full of terror, not knowing where they were going. +The sea was deep and bottomless, and there was no place where they +could drop anchor and stop. But when the sky became clear, they could +tell east and west, and (the ship) again went forward in the right +direction. If she had come on any hidden rock, there would have been +no way of escape. + +After proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they +arrived at a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error +and Brahmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth +speaking of. After staying there for five months, (Fa-Hsien) again +embarked in another large merchantman, which also had on board more +than 200 men. They carried provisions for fifty days, and commenced +the voyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month. + +Fa-Hsien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the +north-east, intending to fetch Kwang-chow. After more than a month, +when the night-drum had sounded the second watch, they encountered +a black wind and tempestuous rain, which threw the merchants and +passengers into consternation. Fa-Hsien again with all his heart +directed his thoughts to Kwan-she-yin and the monkish communities of +the land of Han; and, through their dread and mysterious protection, +was preserved to day-break. After day-break, the Brahmans deliberated +together and said, "It is having this Sramana on board which has +occasioned our misfortune and brought us this great and bitter +suffering. Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore. +We must not for the sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to +such imminent peril." A patron of Fa-Hsien, however, said to them, "If +you land the bhikshu, you must at the same time land me; and if you +do not, then you must kill me. If you land this Sramana, when I get +to the land of Han, I will go to the king, and inform against you. +The king also reveres and believes the Law of Buddha, and honours the +bhikshus." The merchants hereupon were perplexed, and did not dare +immediately to land (Fa-Hsien). + +At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the +sailing-masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than +seventy days passed (from their leaving Java), and the provisions and +water were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for +cooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) water, each man getting two +pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel +and said, "At the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached +Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;--must we not +have held a wrong course?" Immediately they directed the ship to the +north-west, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for +twelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao,(8) on +the borders of the prefecture of Ch'ang-kwang,(8) and immediately got +good water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils and +hardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many +days together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing +those (well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh,(9) they knew indeed +that it was the land of Han. Not seeing, however, any inhabitants nor +any traces of them, they did not know whereabouts they were. Some +said that they had not yet got to Kwang-chow, and others that they had +passed it. Unable to come to a definite conclusion, (some of them) got +into a small boat and entered a creek, to look for some one of whom +they might ask what the place was. They found two hunters, whom +they brought back with them, and then called on Fa-Hsien to act as +interpreter and question them. Fa-Hsien first spoke assuringly to +them, and then slowly and distinctly asked them, "Who are you?" They +replied, "We are disciples of Buddha?" He then asked, "What are you +looking for among these hills?" They began to lie,(10) and said, +"To-morrow is the fifteenth day of the seventh month. We wanted to +get some peaches to present(11) to Buddha." He asked further, "What +country is this?" They replied, "This is the border of the prefecture +of Ch'ang-kwang, a part of Ts'ing-chow under the (ruling) House of +Tsin." When they heard this, the merchants were glad, immediately +asked for (a portion of) their money and goods, and sent men to +Ch'ang-kwang city. + +The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When +he heard that a Sramana had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing +with him books and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an +escort to meet (the traveller), and receive the books and images, and +took them back with him to the seat of his government. On this the +merchants went back in the direction of Yang-chow;(12) (but) when +(Fa-Hsien) arrived at Ts'ing-chow, (the prefect there)(13) begged +him (to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the summer +retreat was ended, Fa-Hsien, having been separated for a long time +from his (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Ch'ang-gan; but as the +business which he had in hand was important, he went south to the +Capital;(14) and at an interview with the masters (there) exhibited +the Sutras and the collection of the Vinaya (which he had procured). + +After Fa-Hsien set out from Ch'ang-gan, it took him six years to reach +Central India;(15) stoppages there extended over (other) six years; +and on his return it took him three years to reach Ts'ing-chow. The +countries through which he passed were a few under thirty. From +the sandy desert westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified +demeanour of the monkhood and of the transforming influence of the Law +was beyond the power of language fully to describe; and reflecting how +our masters had not heard any complete account of them, he therefore +(went on) without regarding his own poor life, or (the dangers to be +encountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring hardships and +difficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through +the dread power of the three Honoured Ones,(15) to receive help and +protection in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his +experiences, that worthy readers might share with him in what he had +heard and said.(15) + +It was in the year Keah-yin,(16) the twelfth year of the period E-he +of the (Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, +in the summer, at the close of the period of retreat, that I met the +devotee Fa-Hsien. On his arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter +study,(17) and there, in our meetings for conversation, I asked him +again and again about his travels. The man was modest and complaisant, +and answered readily according to the truth. I thereupon advised him +to enter into details where he had at first only given a summary, and +he proceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to the +end. He said himself, "When I look back on what I have gone through, +my heart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. +That I encountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without +thinking of or sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, +and thought of nothing but to do my best in my simplicity and +straightforwardness. Thus it was that I exposed my life where death +seemed inevitable, if I might accomplish but a ten-thousandth part of +what I hoped." These words affected me in turn, and I thought:--"This +man is one of those who have seldom been seen from ancient times to +the present. Since the Great Doctrine flowed on to the East there has +been no one to be compared with Hien in his forgetfulness of self and +search for the Law. Henceforth I know that the influence of sincerity +finds no obstacle, however great, which it does not overcome, and +that force of will does not fail to accomplish whatever service it +undertakes. Does not the accomplishing of such service arise from +forgetting (and disregarding) what is (generally) considered as +important, and attaching importance to what is (generally) forgotten?" + + NOTES + + (1) No. 1122 in Nanjio's Catalogue, translated into Chinese by + Buddhajiva and a Chinese Sramana about A.D. 425. Mahisasakah means + "the school of the transformed earth," or "the sphere within which the + Law of Buddha is influential." The school is one of the subdivisions + of the Sarvastivadah. + + (2) Nanjio's 545 and 504. The Agamas are Sutras of the hinayana, + divided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or + Dirghagamas (long Agamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the + third class contains the Samyuktagamas (mixed Agamas). + + (3) Meaning "Miscellaneous Collections;" a sort of fourth Pitaka. See + Nanjio's fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese + miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is + known either in Sanskrit or Pali literature. + + (4) We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kundika, which + is explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as="washing + basin," but two things evidently are intended. + + (5) See chap. xvi, note 23. + + (6) At his novitiate Fa-Hsien had sought the refuge of the "three + Precious Ones" (the three Refuges {.} {.} of last chapter), of which + the congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts + turn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart + were not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so. + + (7) In the text {.} {.}, ta-fung, "the great wind,"=the typhoon. + + (8) They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the + foot of mount Lao, which still rises under the same name on the + extreme south of the peninsula, east from Keao Chow, and having the + district of Tsieh-mih on the east of it. All the country there is + included in the present Phing-too Chow of the department Lae-chow. The + name Phing-too dates from the Han dynasty, but under the dynasty + of the After Ch'e {.} {.}, (A.D. 479-501), it was changed into + Ch'ang-kwang. Fa-Hsien may have lived, and composed the narrative + of his travels, after the change of name was adopted. See the + Topographical Tables of the different Dynasties ({.} {.} {.} {.} {.}), + published in 1815. + + (9) What these vegetables exactly were it is difficult to say; and + there are different readings of the characters for them. Williams' + Dictionary, under kwoh, brings the two names together in a phrase, but + the rendering of it is simply "a soup of simples." For two or three + columns here, however, the text appears to me confused and imperfect. + + (10) I suppose these men were really hunters; and, when brought before + Fa-Hsien, because he was a Sramana, they thought they would please him + by saying they were disciples of Buddha. But what had disciples of + Buddha to do with hunting and taking life? They were caught in their + own trap, and said they were looking for peaches. + + (11) The Chinese character here has occurred twice before, but in a + different meaning and connexion. Remusat, Beal, and Giles take it as + equivalent to "to sacrifice." But his followers do not "sacrifice" + to Buddha. That is a priestly term, and should not be employed of + anything done at Buddhistic services. + + (12) Probably the present department of Yang-chow in Keang-soo; but + as I have said in a previous note, the narrative does not go on so + clearly as it generally does. + + (13) Was, or could, this prefect be Le E? + + (14) Probably not Ch'ang-gan, but Nan-king, which was the capital of + the Eastern Tsin dynasty under another name. + + (15) The whole of this paragraph is probably Fa-Hsien's own conclusion + of his narrative. The second half of the second sentence, both in + sentiment and style in the Chinese text, seems to necessitate our + ascribing it to him, writing on the impulse of his own thoughts, in + the same indirect form which he adopted for his whole narrative. There + are, however, two peculiar phraseologies in it which might suggest + the work of another hand. For the name India, where the first (15) + is placed, a character is employed which is similarly applied nowhere + else; and again, "the three Honoured Ones," at which the second (15) + is placed, must be the same as "the three Precious Ones," which we + have met with so often; unless we suppose that {.} {.} is printed in + all the revisions for {.} {.}, "the World-honoured one," which + has often occurred. On the whole, while I accept this paragraph as + Fa-Hsien's own, I do it with some hesitation. That the following and + concluding paragraph is from another hand, there can be no doubt. + And it is as different as possible in style from the simple and + straightforward narrative of Fa-Hsien. + + (16) There is an error of date here, for which it is difficult to + account. The year Keah-yin was A.D. 414; but that was the tenth year + of the period E-he, and not the twelfth, the cyclical designation of + which was Ping-shin. According to the preceding paragraph, Fa-Hsien's + travels had occupied him fifteen years, so that counting from A.D. + 399, the year Ke-hae, as that in which he set out, the year of his + getting to Ts'ing-chow would have been Kwei-chow, the ninth year of + the period E-he; and we might join on "This year Keah-yin" to that + paragraph, as the date at which the narrative was written out for + the bamboo-tablets and the silk, and then begins the Envoy, "In the + twelfth year of E-he." This would remove the error as it stands at + present, but unfortunately there is a particle at the end of the + second date ({.}), which seems to tie the twelfth year of E-he to + Keah-yin, as another designation of it. The "year-star" is the planet + Jupiter, the revolution of which, in twelve years, constitutes + "a great year." Whether it would be possible to fix exactly by + mathematical calculation in what year Jupiter was in the Chinese + zodiacal sign embracing part of both Virgo and Scorpio, and thereby + help to solve the difficulty of the passage, I do not know, and in the + meantime must leave that difficulty as I have found it. + + (17) We do not know who the writer of the Envoy was. "The winter study + or library" would be the name of the apartment in his monastery or + house, where he sat and talked with Fa-Hsien. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fa-Hsien + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS *** + +***** This file should be named 2124.txt or 2124.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2124/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com + + + + + +A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS + +Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his +Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the +Buddhist Books of Discipline + +Translated and annotated +with a Corean recension of the Chinese text + +BY + +JAMES LEGGE + + + +PREFACE + +Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to +read through the "Narrative of Fa-hien;" but though interested with +the graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so +constantly--now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, +and now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese +characters, and I was, moreover, so much occupied with my own special +labours on the Confucian Classics, that my success was far from +satisfactory. When Dr. Eitel's "Handbook for the Student of Chinese +Buddhism" appeared in 1870, the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit +words and names was removed, but the other difficulty remained; and I +was not able to look into the book again for several years. Nor had I +much inducement to do so in the two copies of it which I had been able +to procure, on poor paper, and printed from blocks badly cut at first, +and so worn with use as to yield books the reverse of attractive in +their appearance to the student. + +In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various +sources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels +with my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit +scholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my +own satisfaction of nearly half the narrative. In the beginning of +last year I made Fa-hien again the subject of lecture, wrote out a +second translation, independent of the former, and pushed on till I +had completed the whole. + +The want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr. +Bunyiu Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is +appended to the translation and notes, and of the nature of which some +account is given in the Introduction, and towards the end of this +Preface. + +The present work consists of three parts: the Translation of Fa-hien's +Narrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my +copy from Japan. + +It is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially +responsible. Portions of it were written out three times, and the +whole of it twice. While preparing my own version I made frequent +reference to previous translations:--those of M. Abel Remusat, "Revu, +complete, et augmente d'eclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et +Landress" (Paris, 1836); of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and +his revision of it, prefixed to his "Buddhist Records of the Western +World" (Trubner's Oriental Series, 1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, +of H.M.'s Consular Service in China (1877). To these I have to add a +series of articles on "Fa-hsien and his English Translators," by Mr. +T. Watters, British Consul at I-Chang (China Review, 1879, 1880). +Those articles are of the highest value, displaying accuracy of +Chinese scholarship and an extensive knowledge of Buddhism. I have +regretted that Mr. Watters, while reviewing others, did not himself +write out and publish a version of the whole of Fa-hien's narrative. +If he had done so, I should probably have thought that, on the whole, +nothing more remained to be done for the distinguished Chinese pilgrim +in the way of translation. Mr. Watters had to judge of the comparative +merits of the versions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many +points of contention between them. I have endeavoured to eschew those +matters, and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence +of renderings of my own. + +The Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who +divided Remusat's translation into forty chapters. The division is +helpful to the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or +four instances. In the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are +separated by a circle in the column. + +In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally +followed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is +now in vogue. We cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them +was, about fifteen hundred years ago, in the time of Fa-hien; but the +southern mandarin must be a shade nearer to it than that of Peking at +the present day. In transliterating the Indian names I have for the +most part followed Dr. Eitel, with such modification as seemed good +and in harmony with growing usage. + +For the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection +and condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the +text required explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and +Buddhist texts especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do +for them what many hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done +for the Greek and Latin Classics during several hundred years, and +what the thousands of critics and commentators have been doing of our +Sacred Scriptures for nearly eighteen centuries. There are few +predecessors in the field of Chinese literature into whose labours +translators of the present century can enter. This will be received, I +hope, as a sufficient apology for the minuteness and length of some of +the notes. A second object in them was to teach myself first, and then +others, something of the history and doctrines of Buddhism. I have +thought that they might be learned better in connexion with a lively +narrative like that of Fa-hien than by reading didactic descriptions +and argumentative books. Such has been my own experience. The books +which I have consulted for these notes have been many, besides Chinese +works. My principal help has been the full and masterly handbook of +Eitel, mentioned already, and often referred to as E.H. Spence Hardy's +"Eastern Monachism" (E.M.) and "Manual of Buddhism" (M.B.) have been +constantly in hand, as well as Rhys Davids' Buddhism, published by the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, his Hibbert Lectures, and +his Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of the East, and other +writings. I need not mention other authorities, having endeavoured +always to specify them where I make use of them. My proximity and +access to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have been of +great advantage. + +I may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, I +think there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature +which still require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, +are we entitled to regard the present Sutras as genuine and +sufficiently accurate copies of those which were accepted by the +Councils before our Christian era? Can anything be done to trace the +rise of the legends and marvels of Sakyamuni's history, which were +current so early (as it seems to us) as the time of Fa-hien, and which +startle us so frequently by similarities between them and narratives +in our Gospels? Dr. Hermann Oldenberg, certainly a great authority on +Buddhistic subjects, says that "a biography of Buddha has not come +down to us from ancient times, from the age of the Pali texts; and, we +can safely say, no such biography existed then" ("Buddha--His Life, +His Doctrine, His Order," as translated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also +(in the same work, pp. 99, 416, 417) come to the conclusion that the +hitherto unchallenged tradition that the Buddha was "a king's son" +must be given up. The name "king's son" (in Chinese {...}), always +used of the Buddha, certainly requires to be understood in the highest +sense. I am content myself to wait for further information on these +and other points, as the result of prolonged and careful research. + +Dr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and +Notes, and I most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many +valuable corrections in the Notes, and for other suggestions which I +have received from him. I may not always think on various points +exactly as he does, but I am not more forward than he is to say with +Horace,-- + + "Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri." + +I have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean +text of Fa-hien's narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It is +on the whole so much superior to the better-known texts, that I +determined to attempt to reproduce it at the end of the little volume, +so far as our resources here in Oxford would permit. To do so has not +been an easy task. The two fonts of Chinese types in the Clarendon +Press were prepared primarily for printing the translation of our +Sacred Scriptures, and then extended so as to be available for +printing also the Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work +necessarily requires many types not found in them, while many other +characters in the Corean recension are peculiar in their forms, and +some are what Chinese dictionaries denominate "vulgar." That we have +succeeded so well as we have done is owing chiefly to the +intelligence, ingenuity, and untiring attention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, +the Oriental Reader. + +The pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb +edition of a History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-chau in +Cheh-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese +art. I am indebted for the use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, +University Chinese Scholar. + +James Legge. + +Oxford: +June, 1886. + + + +[ PICTURE: SKETCH MAP OF FA-HIEN'S TRAVELS ] + +The accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on the +different places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently +accurate knowledge of Fa-hien's route. + +There is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus +from east to west into the Punjab, all the principal places, at which +he touched or rested, having been determined by Cunningham and other +Indian geographers and archaeologists. Most of the places from Ch'ang- +an to Bannu have also been identified. Woo-e has been put down as near +Kutcha, or Kuldja, in 43d 25s N., 81d 15s E. The country of K'ieh-ch'a +was probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the place where +the traveller crossed the Indus and entered it must have been further +east than Skardo. A doubt is intimated on page 24 as to the +identification of T'o-leih with Darada, but Greenough's "Physical and +Geological Sketch-Map of British India" shows "Dardu Proper," all +lying on the east of the Indus, exactly in the position where the +Narrative would lead us to place it. The point at which Fa-hien +recrossed the Indus into Udyana on the west of it is unknown. +Takshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the river, +and has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the +Punjab. It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese +phonetisation will allow;--see a note of Beal in his "Buddhist Records +of the Western World," i. 138. + +We must suppose that Fa-hien went on from Nan-king to Ch'ang-an, but +the Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so. + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Life of Fa-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his +Narrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism. + +1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fa-hien in addition to +what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read +the accounts of him in the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled in +A.D. 519, and a later work, the "Memoirs of Marvellous Monks," by the +third emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is +nearly all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an +appearance of verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass. + +His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wu-yang in +P'ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi. +He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died +before shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the +service of the Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, +still keeping him at home in the family. The little fellow fell +dangerously ill, and the father sent him to the monastery, where he +soon got well and refused to return to his parents. + +When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering +the widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to +renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, "I +did not quit the family in compliance with my father's wishes, but +because I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This +is why I chose monkhood." The uncle approved of his words and gave +over urging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had +been the affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he +returned to the monastery. + +On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his fellow- +disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away their +grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero +stood his ground, and said to the thieves, "If you must have the +grain, take what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of +charity which brought you to your present state of destitution; and +now, again, you wish to rob others. I am afraid that in the coming +ages you will have still greater poverty and distress;--I am sorry for +you beforehand." With these words he followed his companions into the +monastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away, all the +monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage to his conduct +and courage. + +When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of +the full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and +strict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, +he undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the +Vinaya-pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels +in India and return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative, +with the addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him, +on his visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha. + +It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the +capital (evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana +Buddha-bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had +obtained in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to +do in this way, he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and +died in the monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great +sorrow of all who knew him. It is added that there is another larger +work giving an account of his travels in various countries. + +Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he +himself has told us. Fa-hien was his clerical name, and means +"Illustrious in the Law," or "Illustrious master of the Law." The Shih +which often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as +Sakyamuni, "the Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and +Silence," and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes +said to have belonged to "the eastern Tsin dynasty" (A.D. 317-419), +and sometimes to "the Sung," that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of +Liu (A.D. 420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, and +went to India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been +divided pretty equally between the two dynasties. + +2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fa-hien's travels +than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long +ceased to be in existence. + +In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D. 589- +618), the name Fa-hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the last +section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, his labours +in translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in conjunction +with Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section, page 15, we +find "A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;"--with a note, saying that it +was the work of the "Sramana, Fa-hien;" and again, on page 13, we have +"Narrative of Fa-hien in two Books," and "Narrative of Fa-hien's +Travels in one Book." But all these three entries may possibly belong +to different copies of the same work, the first and the other two +being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue. + +In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title +is "Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms." In the Japanese or Corean +recension subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, +"Narrative of the Distinguished Monk, Fa-hien;" and then, more at +large, "Incidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern +Tsin, Fa-hien, recorded by himself." + +There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work +than the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonne of the imperial library +of the present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by +Le Tao-yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei +(A.D. 386-584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other +276; both of them given as from the "Narrative of Fa-hien." + +In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The +evidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be +required. It is clear to myself that the "Record of Buddhistic +Kingdoms" and the "Narrative of his Travels by Fa-hien" were +designations of one and the same work, and that it is doubtful whether +any larger work on the same subject was ever current. With regard to +the text subjoined to my translation, it was published in Japan in +1779. The editor had before him four recensions of the narrative; +those of the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the names of +certain characters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea. He +wisely adopted the Corean text, published in accordance with a royal +rescript in 1726, so far as I can make out; but the different readings +of the other texts are all given in top-notes, instead of foot-notes +as with us, this being one of the points in which customs in the east +and west go by contraries. Very occasionally, the editor indicates by +a single character, equivalent to "right" or "wrong," which reading in +his opinion is to be preferred. In the notes to the present +republication of the Corean text, S stands for Sung, M for Ming, and J +for Japanese; R for right, and W for wrong. I have taken the trouble +to give all the various readings (amounting to more than 300), partly +as a curiosity and to make my text complete, and partly to show how, +in the transcription of writings in whatever language, such variations +are sure to occur, + + "maculae, quas aut incuria fudit, + Aut humana parum cavit nature," + +while on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the +document. + +The editors of the Catalogue Raisonne intimate their doubts of the +good taste and reliability of all Fa-hien's statements. It offends +them that he should call central India the "Middle Kingdom," and +China, which to them was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but "a +Border land;"--it offends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist +writer, whereas the reader will see in the expressions only an +instance of what Fa-hien calls his "simple straightforwardness." + +As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the +Buddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the +Khoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;--as if +they could have been so 170 years before Mohammed was born, and 222 +years before the year of the Hegira! And this is criticism in China. +The Catalogue was ordered by the K'ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between +three and four hundred of the "Great Scholars" of the empire were +engaged on it in various departments, and thus egregiously ignorant +did they show themselves of all beyond the limits of their own +country, and even of the literature of that country itself. + +Much of what Fa-hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and +legends is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the +truth as to what he saw and heard. + +3. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some +estimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become +current, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above +what is correct. + +i. In a note on the first page of his work on the Bhilsa Topes (1854), +General Cunningham says: "The Christians number about 270 millions; +the Buddhists about 222 millions, who are distributed as follows:-- +China 170 millions, Japan 25, Anam 14, Siam 3, Ava 8, Nepal 1, and +Ceylon 1; total, 222 millions." + +ii. In his article on M. J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire's "Le Bouddha et +sa Religion," republished in his "Chips from a German Workshop," vol. +i. (1868), Professor Max Muller (p. 215) says, "The young prince +became the founder of a religion which, after more than two thousand +years, is still professed by 455 millions of human beings," and he +appends the following note: "Though truth is not settled by +majorities, it would be interesting to know which religion counts at +the present moment the largest numbers of believers. Berghaus, in his +'Physical Atlas,' gives the following division of the human race +according to religion:--'Buddhists 31.2 per cent, Christians 30.7, +Mohammedans 15.7, Brahmanists 13.4, Heathens 8.7, and Jews 0.3.' As +Berghaus does not distinguish the Buddhists in China from the +followers of Confucius and Laotse, the first place on the scale really +belongs to Christianity. It is difficult to say to what religion a man +belongs, as the same person may profess two or three. The emperor +himself, after sacrificing according to the ritual of Confucius, +visits a Tao-sse temple, and afterwards bows before an image of Fo in +a Buddhist chapel. ('Melanges Asiatiques de St. Petersbourg,' vol. ii. +p. 374.)" + +iii. Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids +(intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers +are no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his "Manual of +Buddhism." The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500 +millions:--30 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, +Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of whom +nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to the +eighteen provinces of China proper. According to him, Christians +amount to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, +Mohammedans to about 12 1/2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about +1/2. + +In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense +numbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese +with which it is credited. Subtract Cunningham's 170 millions of +Chinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of +Buddhists. Subtract Davids' (say) 414 1/2 millions of Chinese from his +total of 500, and there remain only 85 1/2 millions for Buddhism. Of +the numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole +populations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of +Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the +immense multitudes said to be in China. I do not know what total +population Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal +he allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;--perhaps he halved his +estimate of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the +highest estimates that have been given of the people. + +But we have no certain information of the population of China. At an +interview with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in Paris, +in 1878, I begged him to write out for me the amount, with the +authority for it, and he assured me that it could not be done. I have +read probably almost everything that has been published on the +subject, and endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive at a +satisfactory conclusion;--without reaching a result which I can +venture to lay before the public. My impression has been that 400 +millions is hardly an exaggeration. + +But supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, +how shall we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, +and Buddhists? Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common name +for it is Ju Chiao, "the Doctrines held by the Learned Class," +entrance into the circle of which is, with a few insignificant +exceptions, open to all the people. The mass of them and the masses +under their influence are preponderatingly Confucian; and in the +observance of ancestral worship, the most remarkable feature of the +religion proper of China from the earliest times, of which Confucius +was not the author but the prophet, an overwhelming majority are +regular and assiduous. + +Among "the strange principles" which the emperor of the K'ang-hsi +period, in one of his famous Sixteen Precepts, exhorted his people to +"discountenance and put away, in order to exalt the correct doctrine," +Buddhism and Taoism were both included. If, as stated in the note +quoted from Professor Muller, the emperor countenances both the Taoist +worship and the Buddhist, he does so for reasons of state;--to please +especially his Buddhist subjects in Thibet and Mongolia, and not to +offend the many whose superstitious fancies incline to Taoism. + +When I went out and in as a missionary among the Chinese people for +about thirty years, it sometimes occurred to me that only the inmates +of their monasteries and the recluses of both systems should be +enumerated as Buddhists and Taoists; but I was in the end constrained +to widen that judgment, and to admit a considerable following of both +among the people, who have neither received the tonsure nor assumed +the yellow top. Dr. Eitel, in concluding his discussion of this point +in his "Lecture on Buddhism, an Event in History," says: "It is not +too much to say that most Chinese are theoretically Confucianists, but +emotionally Buddhists or Taoists. But fairness requires us to add +that, though the mass of the people are more or less influenced by +Buddhist doctrines, yet the people, as a whole, have no respect for +the Buddhist church, and habitually sneer at Buddhist priests." For +the "most" in the former of these two sentences I would substitute +"nearly all;" and between my friend's "but" and "emotionally" I would +introduce "many are," and would not care to contest his conclusion +farther. It does seem to me preposterous to credit Buddhism with the +whole of the vast population of China, the great majority of whom are +Confucianists. My own opinion is, that its adherents are not so many +as those even of Mohammedanism, and that instead of being the most +numerous of the religions (so called) of the world, it is only +entitled to occupy the fifth place, ranking below Christianity, +Confucianism, Brahmanism, and Mohammedanism, and followed, some +distance off, by Taoism. To make a table of per-centages of mankind, +and assign to each system its proportion, is to seem to be wise where +we are deplorably ignorant; and, moreover, if our means of information +were much better than they are, our figures would merely show the +outward adherence. A fractional per-centage might tell more for one +system than a very large integral one for another. + + + + + +THE + +TRAVELS OF FA-HIEN + +or + +RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM CH'ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT + +Fa-hien had been living in Ch'ang-gan.[1] Deploring the mutilated and +imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the +second year of the period Hwang-che, being the Ke-hae year of the +cycle,[2] he entered into an engagement with Kwuy-king, Tao-ching, +Hwuy-ying, and Hwuy-wei,[3] that they should go to India and seek for +the Disciplinary Rules.[4] + +After starting from Ch'ang-gan, they passed through Lung,[5] and came +to the kingdom of K'een-kwei,[6] where they stopped for the summer +retreat.[7] When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom of +Now-t'an,[8] crossed the mountain of Yang-low, and reached the +emporium of Chang-yih.[9] There they found the country so much +disturbed that travelling on the roads was impossible for them. Its +king, however, was very attentive to them, kept them (in his capital), +and acted the part of their danapati.[10] + +Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Sang-shao, Pao-yun, and Sang- +king;[11] and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the same +journey with themselves, they passed the summer retreat (of that +year)[12] together, resuming after it their travelling, and going on +to T'un-hwang,[13] (the chief town) in the frontier territory of +defence extending for about 80 le from east to west, and about 40 from +north to south. Their company, increased as it had been, halted there +for some days more than a month, after which Fa-hien and his four +friends started first in the suite of an envoy,[14] having separated +(for a time) from Pao-yun and his associates. + +Le Hao,[15] the prefect of T'un-hwang, had supplied them with the +means of crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many +evil demons and hot winds. (Travellers) who encounter them perish all +to a man. There is not a bird to be seen in the air above, nor an +animal on the ground below. Though you look all round most earnestly +to find where you can cross, you know not where to make your choice, +the only mark and indication being the dry bones of the dead (left +upon the sand).[16] + +NOTES + +[1] Ch'ang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its +city) in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital of +the first empire of Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 24), as it subsequently was +that of Suy (A.D. 589-618). The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards +the close of which Fa-hien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, +and Ch'ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three Ts'in +kingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a semi- +independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the title +of emperor. + +[2] The period Hwang-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the +greater portion of the reign of Yao Hing of the After Ts'in, a +powerful prince. He adopted Hwang-che for the style of his reign in +399, and the cyclical name of that year was Kang-tsze. It is not +possible at this distance of time to explain, if it could be +explained, how Fa-hien came to say that Ke-hae was the second year of +the period. It seems most reasonable to suppose that he set out on his +pilgrimage in A.D. 399, the cycle name of which was Ke-hae, as {.}, +the second year, instead of {.}, the first, might easily creep into +the text. In the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks" it is said that our author +started in the third year of the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, +which was A.D. 399. + +[3] These, like Fa-hien itself, are all what we might call "clerical" +names, appellations given to the parties as monks or sramanas. + +[4] The Buddhist tripitaka or canon consists of three collections, +containing, according to Eitel (p. 150), "doctrinal aphorisms (or +statements, purporting to be from Buddha himself); works on +discipline; and works on metaphysics:"--called sutra, vinaya, and +abhidharma; in Chinese, king {.}, leuh {.}, and lun {.}, or texts, +laws or rules, and discussions. Dr. Rhys Davids objects to the +designation of "metaphysics" as used of the abhidharma works, saying +that "they bear much more the relation to 'dharma' which 'by-law' +bears to 'law' than that which 'metaphysics' bears to 'physics'" +(Hibbert Lectures, p. 49). However this be, it was about the vinaya +works that Fa-hien was chiefly concerned. He wanted a good code of the +rules for the government of "the Order" in all its internal and +external relations. + +[5] Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part of +Kan-suh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of +Shen-se. + +[6] K'een-kwei was the second king of "the Western Ts'in." His family +was of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe, +with the surname of K'eih-fuh. The first king was Kwo-kin, and +received his appointment from the sovereign of the chief Ts'in kingdom +in 385. He was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the K'een-kwei of the +text, who was very prosperous in 398, and took the title of king of +Ts'in. Fa-hien would find him at his capital, somewhere in the present +department of Lan-chow, Kan-suh. + +[7] Under varshas or vashavasana (Pali, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass), +Eitel (p. 163) says:--"One of the most ancient institutions of +Buddhist discipline, requiring all ecclesiastics to spend the rainy +season in a monastery in devotional exercises. Chinese Buddhists +naturally substituted the hot season for the rainy (from the 16th day +of the 5th to the 15th of the 9th Chinese month)." + +[8] During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five +(usurping) Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire ({.} +{.}). The name Leang remains in the department of Leang-chow in the +northern part of Kan-suh. The "southern Leang" arose in 397 under a +Tuh-fah Wu-ku, who was succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and +he again by his brother, the Now-t'an of the text, in 402, who was not +yet king therefore when Fa-hien and his friends reached his capital. +How he is represented as being so may be accounted for in various +ways, of which it is not necessary to write. + +[9] Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department, +Kan-suh. It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far +from the Great Wall. Its king at this time was, probably, Twan-yeh of +"the northern Leang." + +[10] Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six +paramitas, or means of attaining to nirvana; and a danapati is +"one who practises dana and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery." +It is given as "a title of honour to all who support the cause of +Buddhism by acts of charity, especially to founders and patrons of +monasteries;"--see Eitel, p. 29. + +[11] Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most +distinguished was Pao-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on +his return from India, of which only one seems to be now existing. He +died in 449. See Nanjio's Catalogue of the Tripitaka, col. 417. + +[12] This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Ch'ang-gan. We +are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400. + +[13] T'un-hwang (lat. 39d 40s N.; lon. 94d 50s E.) is still the name +of one of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the +most western of the prefectures of Kan-suh; beyond the termination of +the Great Wall. + +[14] Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The +text will not admit of any other translation. + +[15] Le Hao was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and +kindly in his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of +T'un-hwang by the king of "the northern Leang," in 400; and there he +sustained himself, becoming by and by "duke of western Leang," till he +died in 417. + +[16] "The river of sand;" the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having +various other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now +before them,--to cross this desert. The name of "river" in the Chinese +misleads the reader, and he thinks of crossing it as of crossing a +stream; but they had to traverse it from east to west. In his +"Vocabulary of Proper Names," p. 23, Dr. Porter Smith says:--"It +extends from the eastern frontier of Mongolia, south-westward to the +further frontier of Turkestan, to within six miles of Ilchi, the chief +town of Khoten. It thus comprises some twenty-three degrees of +longitude in length, and from three to ten degrees of latitude in +breadth, being about 2,100 miles in its greatest length. In some +places it is arable. Some idea may be formed of the terror with which +this 'Sea of Sand,' with its vast billows of shifting sands, is +regarded, from the legend that in one of the storms 360 cities were +all buried within the space of twenty-four hours." So also Gilmour's +"Among the Mongols," chap. 5. + + + +CHAPTER II + +ON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN + +After travelling for seventeen days, a distance we may calculate of +about 1500 le, (the pilgrims) reached the kingdom of Shen-shen,[1] a +country rugged and hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes of +the common people are coarse, and like those worn in our land of +Han,[2] some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth of hair;-- +this was the only difference seen among them. The king professed (our) +Law, and there might be in the country more than four thousand +monks,[3] who were all students of the hinayana.[4] The common people +of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the +sramans,[5] all practise the rules of India,[6] only that the latter +do so more exactly, and the former more loosely. So (the travellers) +found it in all the kingdoms through which they went on their way from +this to the west, only that each had its own peculiar barbarous +speech.[7] (The monks), however, who had (given up the worldly life) +and quitted their families, were all students of Indian books and the +Indian language. Here they stayed for about a month, and then +proceeded on their journey, fifteen days walking to the north-west +bringing them to the country of Woo-e.[8] In this also there were more +than four thousand monks, all students of the hinayana. They were very +strict in their rules, so that sramans from the territory of Ts'in[9] +were all unprepared for their regulations. Fa-hien, through the +management of Foo Kung-sun, /maitre d'hotellerie/,[10] was able to +remain (with his company in the monastery where they were received) +for more than two months, and here they were rejoined by Pao-yun and +his friends.[11] (At the end of that time) the people of Woo-e +neglected the duties of propriety and righteousness, and treated the +strangers in so niggardly a manner that Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, and Hwuy- +wei went back towards Kao-ch'ang,[12] hoping to obtain there the means +of continuing their journey. Fa-hien and the rest, however, through +the liberality of Foo Kung-sun, managed to go straight forward in a +south-west direction. They found the country uninhabited as they went +along. The difficulties which they encountered in crossing the streams +and on their route, and the sufferings which they endured, were +unparalleled in human experience, but in the course of a month and +five days they succeeded in reaching Yu-teen.[13] + +NOTES + +[1] An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the +Books of the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of +China, about B.C. 80. The greater portion of that is now accessible to +the English reader in a translation by Mr. Wylie in the "Journal of +the Anthropological Institute," August, 1880. Mr. Wylie says:-- +"Although we may not be able to identify Shen-shen with certainty, yet +we have sufficient indications to give an appropriate idea of its +position, as being south of and not far from lake Lob." He then goes +into an exhibition of those indications, which I need not transcribe. +It is sufficient for us to know that the capital city was not far from +Lob or Lop Nor, into which in lon. 38d E. the Tarim flows. Fa-hien +estimated its distance to be 1500 le from T'un-hwang. He and his +companions must have gone more than twenty-five miles a day to +accomplish the journey in seventeen days. + +[2] This is the name which Fa-hien always uses when he would speak of +China, his native country, as a whole, calling it from the great +dynasty which had ruled it, first and last, for between four and five +centuries. Occasionally, as we shall immediately see, he speaks of +"the territory of Ts'in or Ch'in," but intending thereby only the +kingdom or Ts'in, having its capital, as described in the first note +on the last chapter, in Ch'ang-gan. + +[3] So I prefer to translate the character {.} (sang) rather than by +"priests." Even in Christianity, beyond the priestly privilege which +belongs to all believers, I object to the ministers of any +denomination or church calling themselves or being called "priests;" +and much more is the name inapplicable to the sramanas or bhikshus of +Buddhism which acknowledges no God in the universe, no soul in man, +and has no services of sacrifice or prayer in its worship. The only +difficulty in the use of "monks" is caused by the members of the sect +in Japan which, since the middle of the fifteenth century, has +abolished the prohibition against marrying on the part of its +ministers, and other prohibitions in diet and dress. Sang and sang-kea +represent the Sanskrit sangha, constituted by at least four members, +and empowered to hear confession, to grant absolution, to admit +persons to holy orders, &c.; secondly, the third constituent of the +Buddhistic Trinity, a deification of the /communio sanctorum/, or the +Buddhist order. The name is used by our author of the monks +collectively or individually as belonging to the class, and may be +considered as synonymous with the name sramana, which will immediately +claim our attention. + +[4] Meaning the "small vehicle, or conveyance." There are in Buddhism +the triyana, or "three different means of salvation, i.e. of +conveyance across the samsara, or sea of transmigration, to the shores +of nirvana. Afterwards the term was used to designate the different +phases of development through which the Buddhist dogma passed, known +as the mahayana, hinayana, and madhyamayana." "The hinayana is the +simplest vehicle of salvation, corresponding to the first of the three +degrees of saintship. Characteristics of it are the preponderance of +active moral asceticism, and the absence of speculative mysticism and +quietism." E. H., pp. 151-2, 45, and 117. + +[5] The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and +throughout the book,--T'een-chuh ({.} {.}), the chuh being pronounced, +probably, in Fa-hien's time as tuk. How the earliest name for India, +Shin-tuk or duk=Scinde, came to be changed into Thien-tuk, it would +take too much space to explain. I believe it was done by the +Buddhists, wishing to give a good auspicious name to the fatherland of +their Law, and calling it "the Heavenly Tuk," just as the Mohammedans +call Arabia "the Heavenly region" ({.} {.}), and the court of China +itself is called "the Celestial" ({.} {.}). + +[6] Sraman may in English take the place of Sramana (Pali, Samana; in +Chinese, Sha-man), the name for Buddhist monks, as those who have +separated themselves from (left) their families, and quieted their +hearts from all intrusion of desire and lust. "It is employed, first, +as a general name for ascetics of all demoninations, and, secondly, as +a general designation of Buddhistic monks." E. H., pp. 130, 131. + +[7] Tartar or Mongolian. + +[8] Woo-e has not been identified. Watters ("China Review," viii. 115) +says:--"We cannot be far wrong if we place it in Kharaschar, or +between that and Kutscha." It must have been a country of considerable +size to have so many monks in it. + +[9] This means in one sense China, but Fa-hien, in his use of the +name, was only thinking of the three Ts'in states of which I have +spoken in a previous note; perhaps only of that from the capital of +which he had himself set out. + +[10] This sentence altogether is difficult to construe, and Mr. +Watters, in the "China Review," was the first to disentangle more than +one knot in it. I am obliged to adopt the reading of {.} {.} in the +Chinese editions, instead of the {.} {.} in the Corean text. It seems +clear that only one person is spoken of as assisting the travellers, +and his name, as appears a few sentences farther on, was Foo Kung-sun. +The {.} {.} which immediately follows the surname Foo {.}, must be +taken as the name of his office, corresponding, as the {.} shows, to +that of /le maitre d'hotellerie/ in a Roman Catholic abbey. I was once +indebted myself to the kind help of such an officer at a monastery in +Canton province. The Buddhistic name for him is uddesika=overseer. The +Kung-sun that follows his surname indicates that he was descended from +some feudal lord in the old times of the Chow dynasty. We know indeed +of no ruling house which had the surname of Foo, but its adoption by +the grandson of a ruler can be satisfactorily accounted for; and his +posterity continued to call themselves Kung-sun, duke or lord's +grandson, and so retain the memory of the rank of their ancestor. + +[11] Whom they had left behind them at T'un-hwang. + +[12] The country of the Ouighurs, the district around the modern +Turfan or Tangut. + +[13] Yu-teen is better known as Khoten. Dr. P. Smith gives (p. 11) the +following description of it:--"A large district on the south-west of +the desert of Gobi, embracing all the country south of Oksu and +Yarkand, along the northern base of the Kwun-lun mountains, for more +than 300 miles from east to west. The town of the same name, now +called Ilchi, is in an extensive plain on the Khoten river, in lat. +37d N., and lon. 80d 35s E. After the Tungani insurrection against +Chinese rule in 1862, the Mufti Haji Habeeboolla was made governor of +Khoten, and held the office till he was murdered by Yakoob Beg, who +became for a time the conqueror of all Chinese Turkestan. Khoten +produces fine linen and cotton stuffs, jade ornaments, copper, grain, +and fruits." The name in Sanskrit is Kustana. (E. H., p. 60). + + + +CHAPTER III + +KHOTEN. PROCESSIONS OF IMAGES. THE KING'S NEW MONASTERY. + +Yu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom, with a numerous and +flourishing population. The inhabitants all profess our Law, and join +together in its religious music for their enjoyment.[1] The monks +amount to several myriads, most of whom are students of the +mahayana.[2] They all receive their food from the common store.[3] +Throughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like +(separate) stars, and each family has a small tope[4] reared in front +of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or +rather more.[5] They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from +all quarters,[5] the use of which is given to travelling monks who may +arrive, and who are provided with whatever else they require. + +The lord of the country lodged Fa-hien and the others comfortably, and +supplied their wants, in a monastery[6] called Gomati,[6] of the +mahayana school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who +are called to their meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the +refectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they +take their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence. +No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any +of these pure men[7] require food, they are not allowed to call out +(to the attendants) for it, but only make signs with their hands. + +Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the +country of K'eeh-ch'a;[8] but Fa-hien and the others, wishing to see +the procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are +in this country four[9] great monasteries, not counting the smaller +ones. Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and +water the streets inside the city, making a grand display in the lanes +and byways. Over the city gate they pitch a large tent, grandly +adorned in all possible ways, in which the king and queen, with their +ladies brilliantly arrayed,[10] take up their residence (for the +time). + +The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held +in great reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the +procession. At a distance of three or four le from the city, they made +a four-wheeled image car, more than thirty cubits high, which looked +like the great hall (of a monastery) moving along. The seven precious +substances[11] were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers +and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image[12] stood in the +middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas[13] in attendance upon it, +while devas[14] were made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved +in gold and silver, and hanging in the air. When (the car) was a +hundred paces from the gate, the king put off his crown of state, +changed his dress for a fresh suit, and with bare feet, carrying in +his hands flowers and incense, and with two rows of attending +followers, went out at the gate to meet the image; and, with his head +and face (bowed to the ground), he did homage at its feet, and then +scattered the flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was +entering the gate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in the +gallery above scattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which +floated about and fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way +everything was done to promote the dignity of the occasion. The +carriages of the monasteries were all different, and each one had its +own day for the procession. (The ceremony) began on the first day of +the fourth month, and ended on the fourteenth, after which the king +and queen returned to the palace. + +Seven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the +King's New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and +extended over three reigns. It may be 250 cubits in height, rich in +elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, +and finished throughout with a combination of all the precious +substances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of Buddha,[15] +of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed +doors, and windows being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, +the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, +beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest +value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of +the (Ts'ung) range of mountains[16] are possessed, they contribute the +greater portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them +themselves.[17] + +NOTES + +[1] This fondness for music among the Khoteners is mentioned by Hsuan +and Ch'wang and others. + +[2] Mahayana. It is a later form of the Buddhist doctrine, the second +phase of its development corresponding to the state of a Bodhisattva, +who, being able to transport himself and all mankind to nirvana, may +be compared to a huge vehicle. See Davids on the "Key-note of the +'Great Vehicle,'" Hibbert Lectures, p. 254. + +[3] Fa-hien supplies sufficient information of how the common store or +funds of the monasteries were provided, farther on in chapters xvi and +xxxix, as well as in other passages. As the point is important, I will +give here, from Davids' fifth Hibbert Lecture (p. 178), some of the +words of the dying Buddha, taken from "The Book of the Great Decease," +as illustrating the statement in this text:--"So long as the brethren +shall persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought among the +saints, both in public and private; so long as they shall divide +without partiality, and share in common with the upright and holy, all +such things as they receive in accordance with the just provisions of +the order, down even to the mere contents of a begging bowl; . . . so +long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper." + +[4] The Chinese {.} (t'ah; in Cantonese, t'ap), as used by Fa-hien, +is, no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or Pali thupa; and +it is well in translating to use for the structures described by him +the name of topes,--made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian +antiquarians. In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one +built under the superintendence of Buddha himself, "as a model for all +topes in future." They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes, +and were solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with a +series of rings, varying in number. But their form, I suppose, was +often varied; just as we have in China pagodas of different shapes. +There are several topes now in the Indian Institute at Oxford, brought +from Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much smaller than "the +smallest" of those of Khoten. They were intended chiefly to contain +the relics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what relics +could there be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi? + +[5] The meaning here is much disputed. The author does not mean to say +that the monk's apartments were made "square," but that the +monasteries were made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms. + +[6] The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,--Sangharama, +"gardens of the assembly," originally denoting only "the surrounding +park, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the premises" (E. H., +p. 118). Gomati, the name of this monastery, means "rich in cows." + +[7] A denomination for the monks as vimala, "undefiled" or "pure." +Giles makes it "the menials that attend on the monks," but I have not +met with it in that application. + +[8] K'eeh-ch'a has not been clearly identified. Remusat made it +Cashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel, +Khas'a, "an ancient tribe on the Paropamisus, the Kasioi of Ptolemy." +I think it was Ladak, or some well-known place in it. Hwuy-tah, unless +that name be an alias, appears here for the first time. + +[9] Instead of "four," the Chinese copies of the text have "fourteen;" +but the Corean reading is, probably, more correct. + +[10] There may have been, as Giles says, "maids of honour;" but the +character does not say so. + +[11] The Sapta-ratna, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, +rubies, diamonds or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East +(Davids' Buddhist Suttas), vol. xi., p. 249. + +[12] No doubt that of Sakyamuni himself. + +[13] A Bodhisattva is one whose essence has become intelligence; a +Being who will in some future birth as a man (not necessarily or +usually the next) attain to Buddhahood. The name does not include +those Buddhas who have not yet attained to pari-nirvana. The symbol +of the state is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its +abbreviated form P'u-sa is used in China for any idol or image; here +the name has its proper signification. + +[14] {.} {.}, "all the thien," or simply "the thien" taken as plural. +But in Chinese the character called thien {.} denotes heaven, or +Heaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Ti, meaning God. With +the Buddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmanic gods, or all the +inhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism +between Buddhism and Brahmanism, and still more that between it and +Confucianism. + +[15] Giles and Williams call this "the oratory of Buddha." But +"oratory" gives the idea of a small apartment, whereas the name here +leads the mind to think of a large "hall." I once accompanied the +monks of a large monastery from their refectory to the Hall of Buddha, +which was a lofty and spacious apartment splendidly fitted up. + +[16] The Ts'ung, or "Onion" range, called also the Belurtagh +mountains, including the Karakorum, and forming together the +connecting links between the more northern T'een-shan and the Kwun-lun +mountains on the north of Thibet. It would be difficult to name the +six countries which Fa-hien had in mind. + +[17] This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it was +that the author meant to say that the contributions which they +received were spent by the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to +a small extent for themselves; and I still hesitate between that view +and the one in the version. + +There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang {.} {.}, which is one +of the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not only of +support in the way of substantial contributions given to monks, +monasteries, and Buddhism, but generally of all Buddhistic worship, if +I may use that term in the connexion. Let me here quote two or three +sentences from Davids' Manual (pp. 168-170):--"The members of the +order are secured from want. There is no place in the Buddhist scheme +for churches; the offering of flowers before the sacred tree or image +of the Buddha takes the place of worship. Buddhism does not +acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the warm countries where +Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the law, or preaching of the +word, in public, can take place best in the open air, by moonlight, +under a simple roof of trees or palms. There are five principal kinds +of meditation, which in Buddhism takes the place of prayer." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THROUGH THE TS'UNG OR "ONION" MOUNTAINS TO K'EEH-CH'A;--PROBABLY +SKARDO, OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK + +When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, Sang- +shao, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest follower +of the Law,[1] and proceeded towards Kophene.[2] Fa-hien and the +others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them +twenty-five days to reach.[3] Its king was a strenuous follower of our +Law,[4] and had (around him) more than a thousand monks, mostly +students of the mahayana. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days, +and then went south for four days, when they found themselves among +the Ts'ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,[5] +where they halted and kept their retreat.[6] When this was over, they +went on among the hills[7] for twenty-five days, and got to K'eeh- +ch'a,[8] there rejoining Hwuy-king[9] and his two companions. + +NOTES + +[1] This Tartar is called a {.} {.}, "a man of the Tao," or faith of +Buddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man who +is not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose faith is +always making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be used of +followers of other systems of faith besides Buddhism. + +[2] See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of the +first Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200 le +from Ch'ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan. +The name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be +the same as the present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from +the west, at Attock, after passing Peshawar. The city of Cabul, the +capital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text; but we do not +know that Sang-shao and his guide got so far west. The text only says +that they set out from Khoten "towards it." + +[3] Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand, +which, however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters ("China Review," +p. 135) rather approves the suggestion of "Tashkurgan in Sirikul" for +it. As it took Fa-hien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have been +at least 150 miles from Khoten. + +[4] The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting the +possession of viryabala, "the power of energy; persevering exertion-- +one of the five moral powers" (E. H., p. 170). + +[5] Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was directly +south from Tsze-hoh, and among the "Onion" mountains. Watters hazards +the conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps. + +[6] This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the +pilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, "quiet rest," +without any mention of the season, indicating their approach to India, +E. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they left +Ch'ang-gan. Are we now with them in 402? + +[7] This is the Corean reading {.}, much preferable to the {.} of the +Chinese editions. + +[8] Watters approves of Klaproth's determination of K'eeh-ch'a to be +Iskardu or Skardo. There are difficulties in connexion with the view, +but it has the advantage, to my mind very great, of bringing the +pilgrims across the Indus. The passage might be accomplished with ease +at this point of the river's course, and therefore is not particularly +mentioned. + +[9] Who had preceded them from Khoten. + + + +CHAPTER V + +GREAT QUINQUENNIAL ASSEMBLY OF MONKS. RELICS OF BUDDHA. +PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. + +It happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha +parishad, that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.[1] +When this is to be held, the king requests the presence of the Sramans +from all quarters (of his kingdom). They come (as if) in clouds; and +when they are all assembled, their place of session is grandly +decorated. Silken streamers and canopies are hung out in, and water- +lilies in gold and silver are made and fixed up behind the places +where (the chief of them) are to sit. When clean mats have been +spread, and they are all seated, the king and his ministers present +their offerings according to rule and law. (The assembly takes place), +in the first, second, or third month, for the most part in the spring. + +After the king has held the assembly, he further exhorts the ministers +to make other and special offerings. The doing of this extends over +one, two, three, five, or even seven days; and when all is finished, +he takes his own riding-horse, saddles, bridles, and waits on him +himself,[2] while he makes the noblest and most important minister of +the kingdom mount him. Then, taking fine white woollen cloth, all +sorts of precious things, and articles which the Sramans require, he +distributes them among them, uttering vows at the same time along with +all his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place, he +again redeems (whatever he wishes) from the monks.[3] + +The country, being among the hills and cold, does not produce the +other cereals, and only the wheat gets ripe. After the monks have +received their annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show +the hoar-frost, and on this account the king always begs the monks to +make the wheat ripen[4] before they receive their portion. There is in +the country a spitoon which belonged to Buddha, made of stone, and in +colour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth of Buddha, for which +the people have reared a tope, connected with which there are more +than a thousand monks and their disciples,[5] all students of the +hinayana. To the east of these hills the dress of the common people is +of coarse materials, as in our country of Ts'in, but here also[6] +there were among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of +serge or haircloth. The rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable, +and too numerous to be mentioned in detail. The country is in the +midst of the Onion range. As you go forward from these mountains, the +plants, trees, and fruits are all different from those of the land of +Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate,[7] and sugar-cane. + +NOTES + +[1] See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as "an ecclesiastical +conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of +sins and inculcation of morality." + +[2] The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, +including myself, have been puzzled by it. + +[3] See what we are told of king Asoka's grant of all the Jambudvipa +to the monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of +similar gifts in the Mahavansa. + +[4] Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of +K'eeh-ch'a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers. + +[5] The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone. I often found in +monasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as +their preceptors. + +[6] Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of +Shen-shen. + +[7] Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary +name for "pomegranate" is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate was +called at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China +from Gan-seih by Chang-k'een, who is referred to in chapter vii. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ON TOWARDS NORTH INDIA. DARADA. IMAGE OF MAITREYA BODHISATTVA. + +From this (the travellers) went westwards towards North India, and +after being on the way for a month, they succeeded in getting across +and through the range of the Onion mountains. The snow rests on them +both winter and summer. There are also among them venomous dragons, +which, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause showers of +snow and storms of sand and gravel. Not one in ten thousand of those +who encounter these dangers escapes with his life. The people of the +country call the range by the name of "The Snow mountains." When (the +travellers) had got through them, they were in North India, and +immediately on entering its borders, found themselves in a small +kingdom called T'o-leih,[1] where also there were many monks, all +students of the hinayana. + +In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,[2] who by his +supernatural power[3] took a clever artificer up to the Tushita +heaven, to see the height, complexion, and appearance of Maitreya +Bodhisattva,[4] and then return and make an image of him in wood. +First and last, this was done three times, and then the image was +completed, eighty cubits in height, and eight cubits at the base from +knee to knee of the crossed legs. On fast-days it emits an effulgent +light. The kings of the (surrounding) countries vie with one another +in presenting offerings to it. Here it is,--to be seen now as of +old.[5] + +NOTES + +[1] Eitel and others identify this with Darada, the country of the +ancient Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30d 11s N., lon. 73d 54s +E. See E. H. p. 30. I am myself in more than doubt on the point. +Cunningham ("Ancient Geography of India," p. 82) says "Darel is a +valley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by +Dardus or Dards, from whom it received its name." But as I read our +narrative, Fa-hien is here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only +crosses to the western bank as described in the next chapter. + +[2] Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya, +the disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or +eightfold excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to +be reborn again. Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural +powers, and is not to be succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact +of the saint having already attained nirvana. Popularly, the Chinese +designate by this name the wider circle of Buddha's disciples, as well +as the smaller ones of 500 and 18. No temple in Canton is better worth +a visit than that of the 500 Lo-han. + +[3] Riddhi-sakshatkriya, "the power of supernatural footsteps,"="a +body flexible at pleasure," or unlimited power over the body. E. H., +p. 104. + +[4] Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn +before finally appearing on earth as Buddha. Life lasts in Tushita +4000 years, but twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on +earth. E. H., p. 152. + +[5] Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, "the +Invincible," was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of +Sakyamuni's retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary +(historical) disciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents. It +was in the Tushita heaven that Sakyamuni met him and appointed him as +his successor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years. +Maitreya is therefore the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing +at present in Tushita, and, according to the account of him in Eitel +(H., p. 70), "already controlling the propagation of the Buddhistic +faith." The name means "gentleness" or "kindness;" and this will be +the character of his dispensation. + +[6] The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding +sentence, and so frequently occurring throughout the narrative, has +occasioned no little dispute among previous translators. In the +imperial thesaurus of phraseology (P'ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an +example of it is given from Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} +{.} is equivalent to {.} {.}, "anciently and now." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE +RIVER FOR THE EAST + +The travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot +of the mountains, and) following the course of their range. The way +was difficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly +precipitous, which rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 +cubits from the base. When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes +become unsteady; and if he wished to go forward in the same direction, +there was no place on which he could place his foot; and beneath where +the waters of the river called the Indus.[1] In former times men had +chiselled paths along the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face +of them, to the number altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there +was a suspension bridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its +banks being there eighty paces apart.[2] The (place and arrangements) +are to be found in the Records of the Nine Interpreters,[3] but +neither Chang K'een[4] nor Kan Ying[5] had reached the spot. + +The monks[6] asked Fa-hien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha +first went to the east. He replied, "When I asked the people of those +countries about it, they all said that it had been handed down by +their fathers from of old that, after the setting up of the image of +Maitreya Bodhisattva, there were Sramans of India who crossed this +river, carrying with them Sutras and Books of Discipline. Now the +image was set up rather more than 300 years after the nirvana[7] of +Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king P'ing of the Chow +dynasty.[8] According to this account we may say that the diffusion of +our great doctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) this +image. If it had not been through that Maitreya,[9] the great +spiritual master[10] (who is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who +could have caused the 'Three Precious Ones'[11] to be proclaimed so +far, and the people of those border lands to know our Law? We know of +a truth that the opening of (the way for such) a mysterious +propagation is not the work of man; and so the dream of the emperor +Ming of Han[12] had its proper cause." + +NOTES + +[1] The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in +China for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a +name approaching that in sound. + +[2] Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) +the following description of the course of the Indus in these parts, +in striking accordance with our author's account:--"From Skardo to +Rongdo, and from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100 +miles, the Indus sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in the +mountains, which for wild sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo +means the country of defiles. . . . Between these points the Indus +raves from side to side of the gloomy chasm, foaming and chafing with +ungovernable fury. Yet even in these inaccessible places has daring +and ingenious man triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning abyss is +spanned by frail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are +connected by ladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething +cauldron below." + +[3] The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese +copies,--one which Remusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured +should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he +was acquainted. The "Nine Interpreters" would be a general name for +the official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in +their attempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The +phrase occurs in the memoir of Chang K'een, referred to in the next +note. + +[4] Chang K'een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), +is celebrated as the first Chinese who "pierced the void," and +penetrated to "the regions of the west," corresponding very much to +the present Turkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse +was established between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of +that quarter;--see Mayers' Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 5. The memoir +of Chang K'een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the first +Han dynasty, appears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, +referred to already. + +[5] Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K'een. Being sent in A.D. +88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only +got as far as the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended, +however, the knowledge of his countrymen with regard to the western +regions;--see the memoir of Pan Chao in the Books of the second Han, +and Mayers' Manual, pp. 167, 168. + +[6] Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing +the Indus. + +[7] This may refer to Sakyamuni's becoming Buddha on attaining to +nirvana, or more probably to his pari-nirvana and death. + +[8] As king P'ing's reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would +place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent +inquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few +years, after that of Confucius, so that the two great "Masters" of the +east were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I +think he is, in fixing the date of Buddha's death within a few years +of 412 B.C. (see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard's still +lower date, then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of +Confucius. + +[9] This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already +controlling the propagation of the faith. + +[10] The Chinese characters for this simply mean "the great scholar or +officer;" but see Eitel's Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha. + +[11] "The precious Buddha," "the precious Law," and "the precious +Monkhood;" Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to +Buddhism. + +[12] Fa-hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into +China in this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + WOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA. + +After crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the +kingdom of Woo-chang,[1] which is indeed (a part) of North India. The +people all use the language of Central India, "Central India" being +what we should call the "Middle Kingdom." The food and clothes of the +common people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of +Buddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where +the monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and of +these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the +hinayana. When stranger bhikshus[2] arrive at one of them, their wants +are supplied for three days, after which they are told to find a +resting-place for themselves. + +There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at +once to this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, which +is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder (on the +subject). It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the +present day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried +his clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon.[3] +The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one +side of it smooth. + +Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place +of) Buddha's shadow in the country of Nagara;[4] but Fa-hien and the +others remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.[5] That +over, they descended south, and arrived in the country of +Soo-ho-to.[6] + +NOTES + +[1] Udyana, meaning "the Park;" just north of the Punjab, the country +along the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests, +flowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153). + +[2] Bhikshu is the name for a monk as "living by alms," a mendicant. +All bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are used +together by our author. + +[3] Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often +meaning a snake, especially the boa. "Chinese Buddhists," says Eitel, +p. 79, "when speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them +as enemies of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, +lakes, or oceans, they describe them as piously inclined." The dragon, +however, is in China the symbol of the Sovereign and Sage, a use of it +unknown in Buddhism, according to which all nagas need to be converted +in order to obtain a higher phase of being. The use of the character +too {.}, as here, in the sense of "to convert," is entirely +Buddhistic. The six paramitas are the six virtues which carry men +across {.} the great sea of life and death, as the sphere of +transmigration to nirvana. With regard to the particular conversion +here, Eitel (p. 11) says the Naga's name was Apatala, the guardian +deity of the Subhavastu river, and that he was converted by Sakyamuni +shortly before the death of the latter. + +[4] In Chinese Na-k'eeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern +bank of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad. + +[5] We would seem now to be in 403. + +[6] Soo-ho-to has not been clearly identified. Beal says that later +Buddhist writers include it in Udyana. It must have been between the +Indus and the Swat. I suppose it was what we now call Swastene. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA. + +In that country also Buddhism[1] is flourishing. There is in it the +place where Sakra,[2] Ruler of Devas, in a former age,[3] tried the +Bodhisattva, by producing[4] a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the +Bodhisattva) cut off a piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed +the dove. After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom,[5] and in +travelling about with his disciples (arrived at this spot), he +informed them that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with +a piece of his own flesh. In this way the people of the country became +aware of the fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with +layers[6] of gold and silver plates. + +NOTES + +[1] Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters {.} {.}, "the Law +of Buddha," and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent +occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate +rendering of them any more than Christianity would be of {to +euaggelion Xristou}. The Fa or Law is the equivalent of dharma +comprehending all in the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,--as +Dr. Davids says (Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), "its ethics and philosophy, +and its system of self-culture;" with the theory of karma, it seems to +me, especially underlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham's +"Bhilsa Topes," p. 102) that dharma is the keystone of all king +Priyadarsi or Asoka's edicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the +attainment of one object, "the advancement of dharma, or of the Law of +Buddha." His native Chinese afforded no better character than {.} or +Law, by which our author could express concisely his idea of the +Buddhistic system, as "a law of life," a directory or system of Rules, +by which men could attain to the consummation of their being. + +[2] Sakra is a common name for the Brahmanic Indra, adopted by +Buddhism into the circle of its own great adherents;--it has been +said, "because of his popularity." He is generally styled, as here, +T'een Ti, "God or Ruler of Devas." He is now the representative of the +secular power, the valiant protector of the Buddhist body, but is +looked upon as inferior to Sakyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He +appears several times in Fa-hien's narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46. + +[3] The Chinese character is {.}, "formerly," and is often, as in the +first sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At +other times it means, as here, "in a former age," some pre-existent +state in the time of a former birth. The incident related is "a Jataka +story." + +[4] It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters {.} +{.} by "changed himself to." Such is often their meaning in the +sequel, but their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial +test of the meaning which I have given them here. + +[5] That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course {.} {.}. + +[6] This seems to be the contribution of {.} (or {.}), to the force of +the binomial {.} {.}, which is continually occurring. + + + +CHAPTER X + +GANDHARA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. + +The travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in five +days came to the country of Gandhara,[1] the place where Dharma- +vivardhana,[2] the son of Asoka,[3] ruled. When Buddha was a +Bodhisattva, he gave his eyes also for another man here;[4] and at the +spot they have also reared a large tope, adorned with layers of gold +and silver plates. The people of the country were mostly students of +the hinayana. + +NOTES + +[1] Eitel says "an ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about +Dheri and Banjour." But see note 5. + +[2] Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fa +Yi {.} {.} of the text. + +[3] Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;--the Constantine of +the Buddhist society, and famous for the number of viharas and topes +which he erected. He was the grandson of Chandragupta (i.q. +Sandracottus), a rude adventurer, who at one time was a refugee in the +camp of Alexander the Great; and within about twenty years afterwards +drove the Greeks out of India, having defeated Seleucus, the Greek +ruler of the Indus provinces. He had by that time made himself king of +Magadha. His grandson was converted to Buddhism by the bold and +patient demeanour of an Arhat whom he had ordered to be buried alive, +and became a most zealous supporter of the new faith. Dr. Rhys Davids +(Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, p. xlvi) says that "Asoka's +coronation can be fixed with absolute certainty within a year or two +either way of 267 B.C." + +[4] This also is a Jataka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth, +constructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TAKSHASILA. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES. + +Seven days' journey from this to the east brought the travellers to +the kingdom of Takshasila,[1] which means "the severed head" in the +language of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away +his head to a man;[2] and from this circumstance the kingdom got its +name. + +Going on further for two days to the east, they came to the place +where the Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving +tigress.[2] In these two places also large topes have been built, both +adorned with layers of all the precious substances. The kings, +ministers, and peoples of the kingdoms around vie with one another in +making offerings at them. The trains of those who come to scatter +flowers and light lamps at them never cease. The nations of those +quarters all those (and the other two mentioned before) "the four +great topes." + +NOTES + +[1] See Julien's "Methode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les Nomes +Sanscrits," p. 206. Eitel says, "The Taxila of the Greeks, the region +near Hoosun Abdaul in lat. 35d 48s N., lon. 72d 44s E. But this +identification, I am satisfied, is wrong. Cunningham, indeed, takes +credit ("Ancient Geography of India," pp. 108, 109) for determining +this to be the site of Arrian's Taxila,--in the upper Punjab, still +existing in the ruins of Shahdheri, between the Indus and Hydaspes +(the modern Jhelum). So far he may be correct; but the Takshasila of +Fa-hien was on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between +the river and Gandhara. It took him, indeed, seven days travelling +eastwards to reach it; but we do not know what stoppages he may have +made on the way. We must be wary in reckoning distances from his +specifications of days. + +[2] Two Jataka stories. See the account of the latter in Spence +Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism," pp. 91, 92. It took place when Buddha +had been born as a Brahman in the village of Daliddi; and from the +merit of the act, he was next born in a devaloka. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +PURUSHAPURA, OR PESHAWUR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND +HIS TOPE. BUDDHA'S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING. + +Going southwards from Gandhara, (the travellers) in four days arrived +at the kingdom of Purushapura.[1] Formerly, when Buddha was travelling +in this country with his disciples, he said to Ananda,[2] "After my +pari-nirvana,[3] there will be a king named Kanishka,[4] who shall on +this spot build a tope." This Kanishka was afterwards born into the +world; and (once), when he had gone forth to look about him, Sakra, +Ruler of Devas, wishing to excite the idea in his mind, assumed the +appearance of a little herd-boy, and was making a tope right in the +way (of the king), who asked what sort of thing he was making. The boy +said, "I am making a tope for Buddha." The king said, "Very good;" and +immediately, right over the boy's tope, he (proceeded to) rear +another, which was more than four hundred cubits high, and adorned +with layers of all the precious substances. Of all the topes and +temples which (the travellers) saw in their journeyings, there was not +one comparable to this in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur. There +is a current saying that this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa.[5] +When the king's tope was completed, the little tope (of the boy) came +out from its side on the south, rather more than three cubits in +height. + +Buddha's alms-bowl is in this country. Formerly, a king of Yueh-she[6] +raised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the +bowl away. Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were +sincere believers in the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the +bowl, they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale. When +they had done so to the Three Precious Ones, he made a large elephant +be grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon it. But the elephant +knelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. Again he +caused a four-wheeled waggon to be prepared in which the bowl was put +to be conveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and +dragged it with their united strength; but neither were they able to +go forward. The king knew that the time for an association between +himself and the bowl had not yet arrived,[7] and was sad and deeply +ashamed of himself. Forthwith he built a tope at the place and a +monastery, and left a guard to watch (the bowl), making all sorts of +contributions. + +There may be there more than seven hundred monks. When it is near +midday, they bring out the bowl, and, along with the common people,[8] +make their various offerings to it, after which they take their midday +meal. In the evening, at the time of incense, they bring the bowl out +again.[9] It may contain rather more than two pecks, and is of various +colours, black predominating, with the seams that show its fourfold +composition distinctly marked.[10] Its thickness is about the fifth of +an inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor people throw +into it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some very +rich people, wishing to make offering of many flowers, might not stop +till they had thrown in hundreds, thousands, and myriads of bushels, +and yet would not be able to fill it.[11] + +Pao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the alms- +bowl, and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao- +ching had gone on before the rest to Negara,[12] to make their +offerings at (the places of) Buddha's shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone +of his skull. (There) Hwuy-king fell ill, and Tao-ching remained to +look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the +others, and (then) he with Pao-yun and Sang-king took their way back +to the land of Ts'in. Hwuy-king[13] came to his end[14] in the +monastery of Buddha's alms-bowl, and on this Fa-hien went forward +alone towards the place of the flat-bone of Buddha's skull. + +NOTES + +[1] The modern Peshawur, lat. 34d 8s N., lon. 71d 30s E. + +[2] A first cousin of Sakyamuni, and born at the moment when he +attained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha's teaching, Ananda became an +Arhat, and is famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he played +an important part at the first council for the formation of the +Buddhist canon. The friendship between Sakyamuni and Ananda was very +close and tender; and it is impossible to read much of what the dying +Buddha said to him and of him, as related in the Maha-pari-nirvana +Sutra, without being moved almost to tears. Ananda is to reappear on +earth as Buddha in another Kalpa. See E. H., p. 9, and the Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xi. + +[3] On his attaining to nirvana, Sakyamuni became the Buddha, and had +no longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and +could rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect +purity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he +attained to pari-nirvana, and had done with all the life of sense and +society, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether he +absolutely and entirely /ceased/ to be, in any sense of the word +/being/, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not +and could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use +of language is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of +immortality, his pari-nirvana was his death. + +[4] Kanishka appeared, and began to reign, early in our first century, +about A.D. 10. He was the last of three brothers, whose original seat +was in Yueh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhara. Converted by the +sudden appearance of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and +patronised the system as liberally as Asoka had done. The finest topes +in the north-west of India are ascribed to him; he was certainly a +great man and a magnificent sovereign. + +[5] Jambudvipa is one of the four great continents of the universe, +representing the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so +called because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree. It +is south of mount Meru, and divided among four fabulous kings (E. H., +p. 36). It is often used, as here perhaps, merely as the Buddhist name +for India. + +[6] This king was perhaps Kanishka himself, Fa-hien mixing up, in an +inartistic way, different legends about him. Eitel suggests that a +relic of the old name of the country may still exist in that of the +Jats or Juts of the present day. A more common name for it is Tukhara, +and he observes that the people were the Indo-Scythians of the Greeks, +and the Tartars of Chinese writers, who, driven on by the Huns (180 +B.C.), conquered Transoxiana, destroyed the Bactrian kingdom (126 +B.C.), and finally conquered the Punjab, Cashmere, and great part of +India, their greatest king being Kanishak (E. H., p. 152). + +[7] Watters, clearly understanding the thought of the author in this +sentence, renders--"his destiny did not extend to a connexion with the +bowl;" but the term "destiny" suggests a controlling or directing +power without. The king thought that his virtue in the past was not +yet sufficient to give him possession of the bowl. + +[8] The text is simply "those in white clothes." This may mean "the +laity," or the "upasakas;" but it is better to take the characters in +their common Chinese acceptation, as meaning "commoners," "men who +have no rank." See in Williams' Dictionary under {.}. + +[9] I do not wonder that Remusat should give for this--"et s'en +retournent apres." But Fa-hien's use of {.} in the sense of "in the +same way" is uniform throughout the narrative. + +[10] Hardy's M. B., p. 183, says:--"The alms-bowl, given by +Mahabrahma, having vanished (about the time that Gotama became +Buddha), each of the four guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of +emerald, but he did not accept them. They then brought four bowls made +of stone, of the colour of the mung fruit; and when each entreated +that his own bowl might be accepted, Buddha caused them to appear as +if formed into a single bowl, appearing at the upper rim as if placed +one within the other." See the account more correctly given in the +"Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 110. + +[11] Compare the narrative in Luke's Gospel, xxi. 1-4. + +[12] See chapter viii. + +[13] This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying. King was at this time ill in +Nagara, and indeed afterwards he dies in crossing the Little Snowy +Mountains; but all the texts make him die twice. The confounding of +the two names has been pointed out by Chinese critics. + +[14] "Came to his end;" i.e., according to the text, "proved the +impermanence and uncertainty," namely, of human life. See Williams' +Dictionary under {.}. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +NAGARA. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA'S SKULL-BONE. OTHER RELICS, +AND HIS SHADOW. + +Going west for sixteen yojanas,[1] he came to the city He-lo[2] in the +borders of the country of Nagara, where there is the flat-bone of +Buddha's skull, deposited in a vihara[3] adorned all over with gold- +leaf and the seven sacred substances. The king of the country, +revering and honouring the bone, and anxious lest it should be stolen +away, has selected eight individuals, representing the great families +in the kingdom, and committing to each a seal, with which he should +seal (its shrine) and guard (the relic). At early dawn these eight men +come, and after each has inspected his seal, they open the door. This +done, they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the bone, +which they place outside the vihara, on a lofty platform, where it is +supported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances, and +covered with a bell of /lapis lazuli/, both adorned with rows of +pearls. Its colour is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect +circle twelve inches round,[4] curving upwards to the centre. Every +day, after it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vihara ascend +a high gallery, where they beat great drums, blow conchs, and clash +their copper cymbals. When the king hears them, he goes to the vihara, +and makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When he has done this, +he (and his attendants) in order, one after another, (raise the bone), +place it (for a moment) on the top of their heads,[5] and then depart, +going out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east. +The king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship, +and afterwards gives audience on the business of his government. The +chiefs of the Vaisyas[6] also make their offerings before they attend +to their family affairs. Every day it is so, and there is no +remissness in the observance of the custom. When all the offerings are +over, they replace the bone in the vihara, where there is a vimoksha +tope,[7] of the seven precious substances, and rather more than five +cubits high, sometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front +of the door of the vihara, there are parties who every morning sell +flowers and incense,[8] and those who wish to make offerings buy some +of all kinds. The kings of various countries are also constantly +sending messengers with offerings. The vihara stands in a square of +thirty paces, and though heaven should shake and earth be rent, this +place would not move. + +Going on, north from this, for a yojana, (Fa-hien) arrived at the +capital of Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased with +money five stalks of flowers, as an offering to the Dipankara +Buddha.[9] In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha's +tooth, where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of +his skull. + +A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of a +valley, where there is Buddha's pewter staff;[10] and a vihara also +has been built at which offerings aremade. The staff is made of +Gosirsha Chandana, and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long. It +is contained in a wooden tube, and though a hundred or a thousand men +ere to (try to) lift it, they could not move it. + +Entering the mouth of the valley, and going west, he found Buddha's +Sanghali,[11] where also there is reared a vihara, and offerings are +made. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought, for +the people to collect in crowds, bring out the robe, pay worship to +it, and make offerings, on which there is immediately a great rain +from the sky. + +South of the city, half a yojana, there is a rock-cavern, in a great +hill fronting the south-west; and here it was that Buddha left his +shadow. Looking at it from a distance of more than ten paces, you seem +to see Buddha's real form, with his complexion of gold, and his +characteristic marks[12] in their nicety clearly and brightly +displayed. The nearer you approach, however, the fainter it becomes, +as if it were only in your fancy. When the kings from the regions all +around have sent skilful artists to take a copy, none of them have +been able to do so. Among the people of the country there is a saying +current that "the thousand Buddhas[13] must all leave their shadows +here." + +Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when Buddha +was at the spot, he shaved his hair and clipt his nails, and +proceeded, along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty +cubits high, to be a model for all future topes; and it is still +existing. By the side of it there is a monastery, with more than seven +hundred monks in it. At this place there are as many as a thousand +topes[14] of Arhans and Pratyeka Buddhas.[15] + +NOTES + +[1] Now in India, Fa-hien used the Indian measure of distance; but it +is not possible to determine exactly what its length then was. The +estimates of it are very different, and vary from four and a half or +five miles to seven, and sometimes more. See the subject exhaustively +treated in Davids' "Ceylon Coins and Measures," pp. 15-17. + +[2] The present Hilda, west of Peshawur, and five miles south of +Jellalabad. + +[3] "The vihara," says Hardy, "is the residence of a recluse or +priest;" and so Davids:--'the clean little hut where the mendicant +lives." Our author, however, does not use the Indian name here, but +the Chinese characters which express its meaning--tsing shay, "a +pure dwelling." He uses the term occasionally, and evidently, in this +sense; more frequently it occurs in his narrative in connexion with +the Buddhist relic worship; and at first I translated it by "shrine" +and "shrine-house;" but I came to the conclusion, at last, to employ +always the Indian name. The first time I saw a shrine-house was, I +think, in a monastery near Foo-chow;--a small pyramidical structure, +about ten feet high, glittering as if with the precious substances, +but all, it seemed to me, of tinsel. It was in a large apartment of +the building, having many images in it. The monks said it was the most +precious thing in their possession, and that if they opened it, as I +begged them to do, there would be a convulsion that would destroy the +whole establishment. See E. H., p. 166. The name of the province of +Behar was given to it in consequence of its many viharas. + +[4] According to the characters, "square, round, four inches." Hsuan- +chwang says it was twelve inches round. + +[5] In Williams' Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, are +employed in the phrase for "to degrade an officer," that is, "to +remove the token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;" but to +place a thing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage. + +[6] The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described +here as "resident scholars." + +[7] See Eitel's Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained +as "the act of self-liberation," and "the dwelling or state of +liberty." There are eight acts of liberating one's self from all +subjective and objective trammels, and as many states of liberty +(vimukti) resulting therefrom. They are eight degrees of self- +inanition, and apparently eight stages on the way to nirvana. The tope +in the text would be emblematic in some way of the general idea of the +mental progress conducting to the Buddhistic consummation of +existence. + +[8] This incense would be in long "sticks," small and large, such as +are sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples. + +[9] "The illuminating Buddha," the twenty-fourth predecessor of +Sakyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he +would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23. + +[10] The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gosirsha Chandana, or +"sandal-wood from the Cow's-head mountain," a species of copper-brown +sandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of (the +fabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles +in shape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a "pewter +staff" from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters, +"China Review," viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams' Dictionary, under +{.}. + +[11] Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk's +attire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round +the waist (E. H., p. 118). + +[12] These were the "marks and beauties" on the person of a supreme +Buddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya +prince to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet +come out, being visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149). + +[13] Probably="all Buddhas." + +[14] The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size +of topes in chapter iii, note 4. + +[15] In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, and +Pratyeka Jinas, and explained by "individually intelligent," +"completely intelligent," "intelligent as regards the nidanas." +This, says Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is "a degree of saintship unknown to +primitive Buddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to +Buddhaship 'individually,' that is, without a teacher, and without +being able to save others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha +is compared with the rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the +wilderness. He is also called Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the +twelve nidanas (the twelve links in the everlasting chain of cause +and effect in the whole range of existence, the understanding of which +solves the riddle of life, revealing the inanity of all forms of +existence, and preparing the mind for nirvana). He is also compared +to a horse, which, crossing a river, almost buries its body under the +water, without, however, touching the bottom of the river. Thus in +crossing samsara he 'suppresses the errors of life and thought, and +the effects of habit and passion, without attaining to absolute +perfection.'" Whether these Buddhas were unknown, as Eitel says, to +primitive Buddhism, may be doubted. See Davids' Hibbert Lectures, p. +146. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA. +CROSSING THE INDUS TO THE EAST. + +Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fa-hien and the +two others,[1] proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy +mountains.[2] On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and +summer. On the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they +suddenly encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become +unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth +came from his mouth, and he said to Fa-hien, "I cannot live any +longer. Do you immediately go away, that we do not all die here;" and +with these words he died.[3] Fa-hien stroked the corpse, and cried out +piteously, "Our original plan has failed;--it is fate.[4] What can we +do?" He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to +the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,[5] where +there were nearly three thousand monks, students of both the mahayana +and hinayana. Here they stayed for the summer retreat,[6] and when +that was over, they went on to the south, and ten days' journey +brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na,[7] where there are also more +than three thousand monks, all students of the hinayana. Proceeding +from this place for three days, they again crossed the Indus, where +the country on each side was low and level.[8] + +NOTES + +[1] These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king. + +[2] Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass. + +[3] All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13. + +[4] A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from +the lips of Fa-hien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed, may +be rendered rightly by "fate" or "destiny;" but the fate is not +unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes +the ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment +overcame his Buddhism. + +[5] Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it +can be here intended. + +[6] We are now therefore in 404. + +[7] No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the Lieutenant- +Governorship of the Punjab, between 32d 10s and 33d 15s N. lat., and +70d 26s and 72d E. lon. See Hunter's Gazetteer of India, i, p. 393. + +[8] They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed, +twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and +second, as described in chapter vii. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + +After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe- +t'oo,[1] where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied +both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples +from Ts'in passing along, they were moved with great pity and +sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: "How is it that these men +from a border-land should have learned to become monks,[2] and come +for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search of the +Law of Buddha?" They supplied them with what they needed, and treated +them in accordance with the rules of the Law. + +NOTES + +[1] Bhida. Eitel says, "The present Punjab;" i.e. it was a portion of +that. + +[2] "To come forth from their families;" that is, to become celibates, +and adopt the tonsure. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; +OF THE MONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES. + +From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of +very many monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted +by myriads. After passing all these places, they came to a country +named Ma-t'aou-lo.[1] They still followed the course of the P'oo-na[2] +river, on the banks of which, left and right, there were twenty +monasteries, which might contain three thousand monks; and (here) the +Law of Buddha was still more flourishing. Everywhere, from the Sandy +Desert, in all the countries of India, the kings had been firm +believers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community +of monks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their +relatives and ministers, supply them with food with their own hands. +That done, (the king) has a carpet spread for himself on the ground, +and sits down in front of the chairman;--they dare not presume to sit +on couches in front of the community. The laws and ways, according to +which the kings presented their offerings when Buddha was in the +world, have been handed down to the present day. + +All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.[3] In it the cold and +heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The +people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their +households, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those +who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the grain from +it. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay. +The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments. +Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the +circumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at +wicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king's +body-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole +country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink +intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is +that of the Chandalas.[4] That is the name for those who are (held to +be) wicked men, and live apart from others. When they enter the gate +of a city or a market-place, they strike a piece of wood to make +themselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come +into contact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and +fowls, and do not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no +butchers' shops and no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and +selling commodities they use cowries.[5] Only the Chandalas are +fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh meat. + +After Buddha attained to pari-nirvana,[6] the kings of the various +countries and the heads of the Vaisyas[7] built viharas for the +priests, and endowed them with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards, +along with the resident populations and their cattle, the grants being +engraved on plates of metal,[8] so that afterwards they were handed +down from king to king, without any daring to annul them, and they +remain even to the present time. + +The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious +virtue, and to recite their Sutras and sit wrapt in meditation. When +stranger monks arrive (at any monastery), the old residents meet and +receive them, carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl, give them +water to wash their feet, oil with which to anoint them, and the +liquid food permitted out of the regular hours.[9] When (the stranger) +has enjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of years +that he has been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment +with its appurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything +is done for him which the rules prescribe.[10] + +Where a community of monks resides, they erect topes to +Sariputtra,[11] to Maha-maudgalyayana,[12] and to Ananda,[13] and also +topes (in honour) of the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sutras. A +month after the (annual season of) rest, the families which are +looking out for blessing stimulate one another[14] to make offerings +to the monks, and send round to them the liquid food which may be +taken out of the ordinary hours. All the monks come together in a +great assembly, and preach the Law;[15] after which offerings are +presented at the tope of Sariputtra, with all kinds of flowers and +incense. All through the night lamps are kept burning, and skilful +musicians are employed to perform.[16] + +When Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged (to +be permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The great +Mugalan and the great Kasyapa[17] also did the same. The +bhikshunis[18] for the most part make their offerings at the tope of +Ananda, because it was he who requested the World-honoured one to +allow females to quit their families (and become nuns). The +Sramaneras[19] mostly make their offerings to Rahula.[20] The +professors of the Abhidharma make their offerings to it; those of the +Vinaya to it. Every year there is one such offering, and each class +has its own day for it. Students of the mahayana present offerings to +the Prajna-paramita,[21] to Manjusri,[22] and to Kwan-she-yin.[23] +When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute (from the +harvests),[24] the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the Brahmans bring +clothes and other such articles as the monks require for use, and +distribute among them. The monks, having received them, also proceed +to give portions to one another. From the nirvana of Buddha,[25] the +forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred +communities, have been handed down from one generation to another +without interruption. + +From the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern +India, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty +thousand le, all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams +(among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers. + +NOTES + +[1] Muttra, "the peacock city;" lat. 27d 30s N., lon. 77d 43s E. +(Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock. + +[2] This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the +P'oo-na has yet to be explained. + +[3] In Pali, Majjhima-desa, "the Middle Country." See Davids' +"Buddhist Birth Stories," page 61, note. + +[4] Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, "The name Chandalas is explained by +'butchers,' 'wicked men,' and those who carry 'the awful flag,' to +warn off their betters;--the lowest and most despised caste of India, +members of which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the +ranks of the priesthood." + +[5] "Cowries;" {.} {.}, not "shells and ivory," as one might suppose; +but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the +marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling "the teeth of fishes." + +[6] See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha's pari-nirvana is equivalent to +Buddha's death. + +[7] See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different +here, but with the same meaning. + +[8] See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as +related in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fa-hien's time, and long before +and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of +metal. + +[9] "No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon," and +total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids' +Manual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is called +vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive +unseasonable refreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev. +viii. 282), of honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil. + +[10] The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again +in chapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev. +viii. 282, 3. The rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, p. 272 and foll., and p. 279 and foll. + +[11] Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of +Buddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that +he obtained the title of {.} {.}, "knowledge and wisdom." He is also +called Buddha's "right-hand attendant." His name is derived from that +of his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. In +Spence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa (Upa- +tishya), derived from his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to him, +and indeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their +founder. He died before Sakyamuni; but is to reappear as a future +Buddha. Eitel, pp. 123, 124. + +[12] Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more +pronounceable. He also was one of the principal disciples, called +Buddha's "left-hand attendant." He was distinguished for his power of +vision, and his magical powers. The name in the text is derived from +the former attribute, and it was by the latter that he took up an +artist to Tushita to get a view of Sakyamuni, and so make a statue of +him. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went to hell, and +released his mother. He also died before Sakyamuni, and is to reappear +as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65. + +[13] See chapter xii, note 2. + +[14] A passage rather difficult to construe. The "families" would be +those more devout than their neighbours. + +[15] One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I +once heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall of +the temple, and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One +priest took the pulpit after another; and the hearers nodded their +heads occasionally, and indicated their sympathy now and then by an +audible "h'm," which reminded me of Carlyle's description of meetings +of "The Ironsides" of Cromwell. + +[16] This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions. + +[17] There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sakyamuni. But this Maha- +kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and +became one of his disciples. He took the lead after Sakyamuni's death, +convoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of Arya- +sthavira is derived. As the first compiler of the Canon, he is +considered the fountain of Chinese orthodoxy, and counted as the first +patriarch. He also is to be reborn as Buddha. Eitel, p. 64. + +[18] The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same +rules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint. +See Hardy's E. M., chap. 17. See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. +xx, p. 321. + +[19] The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to +observe the Shikshapada, or ten commandments. Fa-hien was himself one +of them from his childhood. Having heard the Trisharana, or threefold +formula of Refuge,--"I take refuge in Buddha; the Law; the Church,-- +the novice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that forbid --(1) +destroying life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; (5) +intoxicating drinks; (6) eating after midday; (7) dancing, singing, +music, and stage-plays; (8) garlands, scents, unguents, and ornaments; +(9) high or broad couches; (10) receiving gold or silver." Davids' +Manual, p. 160; Hardy's E. M., pp. 23, 24. + +[20] The eldest son of Sakyamuni by Yasodhara. Converted to Buddhism, +he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha's death +became the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika). +He is now revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be +reborn as the eldest son of every future Buddha. Eitel, p. 101. His +mother also is to be reborn as Buddha. + +[21] There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, "means of +passing to nirvana:--Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil +contemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper +means; science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only +prajna which carries men across the samsara to the shores of nirvana." +Eitel, p. 90. + +[22] According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), "A famous Bodhisattva, now +specially worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless +jumble of history and fable. Fa-hien found him here worshipped by +followers of the mahayana school; but Hsuan-chwang connects his +worship with the yogachara or tantra-magic school. The mahayana school +regard him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His most common titles +are Mahamati, "Great wisdom," and Kumara-raja, "King of teaching, with +a thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls." + +[23] Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a +mystery as Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the +Sanskrit name Avalokitesvra, "On-looking Sovereign," or even "On- +looking Self-Existent," and means "Regarding or Looking on the sounds +of the world,"="Hearer of Prayer." Originally, and still in Thibet, +Avalokitesvara had only male attributes, but in China and Japan +(Kwannon), this deity (such popularly she is) is represented as a +woman, "Kwan-yin, the greatly gentle, with a thousand arms and a +thousand eyes;" and has her principal seat in the island of P'oo-t'oo, +on the China coast, which is a regular place of pilgrimage. To the +worshippers of whom Fa-hien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be +Avalokitesvara. How he was converted into the "goddess of mercy," and +her worship took the place which it now has in China, is a difficult +inquiry, which would take much time and space, and not be brought +after all, so far as I see, to a satisfactory conclusion. See Eitel's +Handbook, pp. 18-20, and his Three Lectures on Buddhism (third +edition), pp. 124-131. I was talking on the subject once with an +intelligent Chinese gentleman, when he remarked, "Have you not much +the same thing in Europe in the worship of Mary?" + +[24] Compare what is said in chap. v. + +[25] This nirvana of Buddha must be--not his death, but his attaining +to Buddhaship. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SANKASYA. BUDDHA'S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS +HEAVEN, AND OTHER LEGENDS. + +From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found +themselves in a kingdom called Sankasya,[1] at the place where Buddha +came down, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,[2] and there +preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.[3] +Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power,[4] +without letting his disciples know; but seven days before the +completion (of the three months) he laid aside his invisibility,[4] +and Anuruddha,[5] with his heavenly eyes,[5] saw the World-honoured +one, and immediately said to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, "Do +you go and salute the World-honoured one." Mugalan forthwith went, and +with head and face did homage at (Buddha's) feet. They then saluted +and questioned each other, and when this was over, Buddha said to +Mugalan, "Seven days after this I will go down to Jambudvipa;" and +thereupon Mugalan returned. At this time the great kings of eight +countries with their ministers and people, not having seen Buddha for +a long time, were all thirstily looking up for him, and had collected +in clouds in this kingdom to wait for the World-honoured one. + +Then the bhikshuni Utpala[6] thought in her heart, "To-day the kings, +with their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming) +Buddha. I am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to +see him?"[7] Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her +into the appearance of a holy Chakravartti[8] king, and she was the +foremost of all in doing reverence to him. + +As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas +heaven, when he was coming down, there were made to appear three +flights of precious steps. Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps +of which were composed of the seven precious substances. The king of +Brahma-loka[9] also made a flight of silver steps appear on the right +side, (where he was seen) attending with a white chowry in his hand. +Sakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple gold on the +left side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of +the seven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas +followed Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three +flights all disappeared in the ground, excepting seven steps, which +continued to be visible. Afterwards king Asoka, wishing to know where +their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the +yellow springs[10] without reaching the bottom of the steps, and from +this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, and +built a vihara over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits +in height, right over the middle flight. Behind the vihara he erected +a stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,[11] with a lion on the top of +it.[12] Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,[13] there is +an image of Buddha, inside and out[14] shining and transparent, and +pure as it were of /lapis lazuli/. Some teachers of another +doctrine[15] once disputed with the Sramanas about (the right to) this +as a place of residence, and the latter were having the worst of the +argument, when they took an oath on both sides on the condition that, +if the place did indeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be some +marvellous attestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the +lion on the top gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which +their opponents were frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew. + +Through Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven, +his body emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man. +He went immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he +did so, a bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the +place where the bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to +Buddha, a tope has now been built. + +At the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair and +nails, topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas[16] that +preceded Sakyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,[17] +and where images of their persons were made. At all these places topes +were made, and are still existing. At the place where Sakra, Ruler of +the Devas, and the king of the Brahma-loka followed Buddha down (from +the Trayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a tope. + +At this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive +their food from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of +the mahayana and some of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a +white-eared dragon, which acts the part of danapati to the community +of these monks, causing abundant harvests in the country, and the +enriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence of any +calamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In +gratitude for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with +a carpet for it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, +which they present for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three +of their number to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer +retreat is ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears +as a small snake,[18] with white spots at the side of its ears. As +soon as the monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel with cream, +into which they put the creature, and then carry it round from the one +who has the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, +when it appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round, +immediately it disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once. +The country is very productive, and the people are prosperous, and +happy beyond comparison. When people of other countries come to it, +they are exceedingly attentive to them all, and supply them with what +they need. + +Fifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called +"The Great Heap."[19] Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who +was converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a +vihara. When it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on +his hands,[20] some drops fell on the ground. They are still on the +spot, and however they may be brushed away and removed, they continue +to be visible, and cannot be made to disappear. + +At this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit +constantly keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour +of man being required. A king of corrupt views once said, "Since you +are able to do this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside +there till the dirt and filth has increased and accumulated, and (see) +whether you can cleanse it away or not." The spirit thereupon raised a +great wind, which blew (the filth away), and made the place pure. + +At this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep +counting a whole day without being able to know (their exact number). +If he be firmly bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of +each tope. When this is done, proceeding to count the number of men, +whether they be many or few, he will not get to know (the number).[21] + +There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which +there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The +nirvana ground (where he was burned[22] after death) is as large as +a carriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there +is none. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass, +but the impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the +present day. + +NOTES + +[1] The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five +miles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27d 3s N., lon. 79d 50s E. + +[2] The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning "the heaven of thirty-three +classes," a name which has been explained both historically and +mythologically. "The description of it," says Eitel, p. 148, "tallies +in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated +between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities +of devas, eight one each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra's +capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a +thousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra, +with his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly +reports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and +evil in the world," &c. &c. + +[3] Buddha's mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the /mater immaculata/ of the +Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, "Reborn in +Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted." The Tushita +heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but +was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of +Buddha's visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he +calls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now +become a deva by the changing of her sex. + +[4] Compare the account of the Arhat's conveyance of the artist to the +Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more +comprehensive. + +[5] Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sakyamuni, being the son of his +uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of +Buddha's last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or +"heavenly eye," the first of the six abhijnas or "supernatural +talents," the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or +by intuition, all beings in all worlds. "He could see," says Hardy, M. +B., p. 232, "all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard +seed held in the hand." + +[6] Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as +in the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word, +however, is explained by "blue lotus flowers;" and Hsuan-chwang calls +her the nun "Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});"--the same as Hardy's +Upulwan and Uppalawarna. + +[7] Perhaps we should read here "to see Buddha," and then ascribe the +transformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which +view we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing +to indicate that the stop should be made before or after "Buddha." And +the one view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the +other. + +[8] "A holy king who turns the wheel;" that is, the military conqueror +and monarch of the whole or part of a universe. "The symbol," says +Eitel (p. 142) "of such a king is the chakra or wheel, for when he +ascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating by its +material (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of +his reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls +his wheel among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of a +Buddha, who meekly turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every +universe by his teaching." + +[9] This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti, +adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed +by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi. + +[10] A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is +found. + +[11] The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance +from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated. + +[12] A note of Mr. Beal says on this:--"General Cunningham, who +visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of +Asoka, with a well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was +minus trunk and tail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by +Fa-hien, who mistook the top of it for a lion. It is possible such a +mistake may have been made, as in the account of one of the pillars at +Sravasti, Fa-hien says an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsuan-chwang +calls it an elephant (P. 19, Arch. Survey)." + +[13] That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have +been square. + +[14] Equivalent to "all through." + +[15] Has always been translated "heretical teachers;" but I eschew the +terms /heresy/ and /heretical/. The parties would not be Buddhists of +any creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, as +Fa-hien deemed it. The Chinese term means "outside" or "foreign;"--in +Pali, anna-titthiya,="those belonging to another school." + +[16] These three predecessors of Sakyamuni were the three Buddhas of +the present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, and +Maitreya is to be the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda +(Pali, Kakusanda), "he who readily solves all doubts;" a scion of the +Kasyapa family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so +many persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pali, Konagamana), +"body radiant with the colour of pure gold;" of the same family. Human +life reached in his time 30,000 years, and so many persons were +converted by him. (3) Kasyapa (Pali, Kassapa), "swallower of light." +Human life reached in his time 20,000 years, and so many persons were +converted by him. See Eitel, under the several names; Hardy's M. B., +pp. 95-97; and Davids' "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 51. + +[17] That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana +(Pali, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery, +made sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic +meditation. The "sitting" would be not because of weariness or for +rest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144. + +[18] The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake +for the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be +"a small medusa." + +[19] The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the +Chinese editions, which means "Fire Limit." Buddha, it is said, {.} +converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first +by "in one of his incarnations;" and in his revised version he has +"himself." The difference between Fa-hien's usage of {.} and {.} +throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the +doings of Sakyamuni; {.}, "formerly," is often used of him and others +in the sense of "in a former age or birth." + +[20] See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:--"As a token of the giving over of the +garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this +time it became one of the principal residences of the sage." + +[21] This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended +to convey the idea that there was something mysterious about the +number of the topes. + +[22] This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all +burned. Hardy's E. M., pp. 322-324. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA'S PREACHING. + +Fa-hien stayed at the Dragon vihara till after the summer retreat,[1] +and then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived +at the city of Kanyakubja,[2] lying along the Ganges.[3] There are two +monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana. +At a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the +northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law +to his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of +discourse were such as "The bitterness and vanity (of life) as +impermanent and uncertain," and that "The body is as a bubble or foam +on the water." At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists. + +Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the +travellers) arrived at a village named A-le,[4] containing places +where Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at +all of which topes have been built. + +NOTES + +[1] We are now, probably, in 405. + +[2] Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a +previous note. The Sanskrit name means "the city of humpbacked +maidens;" with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of +king Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi +Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51. + +[3] Ganga, explained by "Blessed water," and "Come from heaven to +earth." + +[4] This village (the Chinese editions read "forest") has hardly been +clearly identified. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA'S DANTA-KASHTHA. + +Going on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to +the great kingdom of Sha-che.[1] As you go out of the city of Sha-che +by the southern gate, on the east of the road (is the place) where +Buddha, after he had chewed his willow branch,[2] stuck it in the +ground, when it forthwith grew up seven cubits, (at which height it +remained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans with their +contrary doctrines[3] became angry and jealous. Sometimes they cut the +tree down, sometimes they plucked it up, and cast it to a distance, +but it grew again on the same spot as at first. Here also is the place +where the four Buddhas walked and sat, and at which a tope was built +that is still existing. + +NOTES + +[1] Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham's +identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. +The change of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi +dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same. + +[2] This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or "dental +wood," mostly a bit of the /ficus Indicus/ or banyan tree, which the +monk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of +health generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at +least Fa-hien used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) +instead of it. + +[3] Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that +we should read "all the unbelievers and Brahmans," or "heretics and +Brahmans?" I think the Brahmans were also "the unbelievers" and +"heretics," having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and opposed to, +Buddha's. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +KOSALA AND SRAVASTI. THE JETAVANA VIHARA AND OTHER MEMORIALS AND +LEGENDS OF BUDDHA. SYMPATHY OF THE MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS. + +Going on from this to the south, for eight yojanas, (the travellers) +came to the city of Sravasti[1] in the kingdom of Kosala,[2] in which +the inhabitants were few and far between, amounting in all (only) to a +few more than two hundred families; the city where king Prasenajit[3] +ruled, and the place of the old vihara of Maha-prajapti;[4] of the +well and walls of (the house of) the (Vaisya) head Sudatta;[5] and +where the Angulimalya[6] became an Arhat, and his body was +(afterwards) burned on his attaining to pari-nirvana. At all these +places topes were subsequently erected, which are still existing in +the city. The Brahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of +hatred and envy in their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there +came from the heavens such a storm of crashing thunder and flashing +lightning that they were not able in the end to effect their purpose. + +As you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from +it, the (Vaisya) head Sudatta built a vihara, facing the south; and +when the door was open, on each side of it there was a stone pillar, +with the figure of a wheel on the top of that on the left, and the +figure of an ox on the top of that on the right. On the left and right +of the building the ponds of water clear and pure, the thickets of +trees always luxuriant, and the numerous flowers of various hues, +constituted a lovely scene, the whole forming what is called the +Jetavana vihara.[7] + +When Buddha went up to the Trayastrimsas heaven,[8] and preached the +Law for the benefit of his mother, (after he had been absent for) +ninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to +be carved in Gosirsha Chandana wood,[9] and put in the place where he +usually sat. When Buddha on his return entered the vihara, Buddha said +to it, "Return to your seat. After I have attained to pari-nirvana, +you will serve as a pattern to the four classes of my disciples,"[10] +and on this the image returned to its seat. This was the very first of +all the images (of Buddha), and that which men subsequently copied. +Buddha then removed, and dwelt in a small vihara on the south side (of +the other), a different place from that containing the image, and +twenty paces distant from it. + +The Jetavana vihara was originally of seven storeys. The kings and +people of the countries around vied with one another in their +offerings, hanging up about it silken streamers and canopies, +scattering flowers, burning incense, and lighting lamps, so as to make +the night as bright as the day. This they did day after day without +ceasing. (It happened that) a rat, carrying in its mouth the wick of a +lamp, set one of the streamers or canopies on fire, which caught the +vihara, and the seven storeys were all consumed. The kings, with their +officers and people, were all very sad and distressed, supposing that +the sandal-wood image had been burned; but lo! after four or five +days, when the door of a small vihara on the east was opened, there +was immediately seen the original image. They were all greatly +rejoiced, and co-operated in restoring the vihara. When they had +succeeded in completing two storeys, they removed the image back to +its former place. + +When Fa-hien and Tao-ching first arrived at the Jetavana monastery, +and thought how the World-honoured one had formerly resided there for +twenty-five years, painful reflections arose in their minds. Born in a +border-land, along with their like-minded friends, they had travelled +through so many kingdoms; some of those friends had returned (to their +own land), and some had (died), proving the impermanence and +uncertainty of life; and to-day they saw the place where Buddha had +lived now unoccupied by him. They were melancholy through their pain +of heart, and the crowd of monks came out, and asked them from what +kingdom they were come. "We are come," they replied, "from the land of +Han." "Strange," said the monks with a sigh, "that men of a border +country should be able to come here in search of our Law!" Then they +said to one another, "During all the time that we, preceptors and +monks,[11] have succeeded to one another, we have never seen men of +Han, followers of our system, arrive here." + +Four le to the north-west of the vihara there is a grove called "The +Getting of Eyes." Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who +lived here in order that they might be near the vihara.[12] Buddha +preached his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full +of joy, they stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and +faces on the ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to +grow, and they grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one +dared to cut them down, so that they came to form a grove. It was in +this way that it got its name, and most of the Jetavana monks, after +they had taken their midday meal, went to the grove, and sat there in +meditation. + +Six or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha[13] +built another vihara, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and +which is still existing. + +To each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vihara there +were two gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. +The park (containing the whole) was the space of ground which the +(Vaisya) head Sudatta purchased by covering it with gold coins. The +vihara was exactly in the centre. Here Buddha lived for a longer time +than at any other place, preaching his Law and converting men. At the +places where he walked and sat they also (subsequently) reared topes, +each having its particular name; and here was the place where +Sundari[14] murdered a person and then falsely charged Buddha (with +the crime). Outside the east gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of +seventy paces to the north, on the west of the road, Buddha held a +discussion with the (advocates of the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous +doctrine, when the king and his great officers, the householders, and +people were all assembled in crowds to hear it. Then a woman belonging +to one of the erroneous systems, by name Chanchamana,[15] prompted by +the envious hatred in her heart, and having put on (extra) clothes in +front of her person, so as to give her the appearance of being with +child, falsely accused Buddha before all the assembly of having acted +unlawfully (towards her). On this, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed +himself and some devas into white mice, which bit through the strings +about her waist; and when this was done, the (extra) clothes which she +wore dropt down on the ground. The earth at the same time was rent, +and she went (down) alive into hell.[16] (This) also is the place +where Devadatta,[17] trying with empoisoned claws to injure Buddha, +went down alive into hell. Men subsequently set up marks to +distinguish where both these events took place. + +Further, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a +vihara rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image of +Buddha in a sitting posture. On the east of the road there was a +devalaya[18] of (one of) the contrary systems, called "The Shadow +Covered," right opposite the vihara on the place of discussion, with +(only) the road between them, and also rather more than sixty cubits +high. The reason why it was called "The Shadow Covered" was this:-- +When the sun was in the west, the shadow of the vihara of the World- +honoured one fell on the devalaya of a contrary system; but when the +sun was in the east, the shadow of that devalaya was diverted to the +north, and never fell on the vihara of Buddha. The mal-believers +regularly employed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and water +(all about it), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present +offerings; but in the morning the lamps were found to have been +suddenly removed, and in the vihara of Buddha. The Brahmans were +indignant, and said, "Those Sramanas take out lamps and use them for +their own service of Buddha, but we will not stop our service for +you!"[19] On that night the Brahmans themselves kept watch, when they +saw the deva spirits which they served take the lamps and go three +times round the vihara of Buddha and present offerings. After this +ministration to Buddha they suddenly disappeared. The Brahmans +thereupon knowing how great was the spiritual power of Buddha, +forthwith left their families, and became monks.[20] It has been +handed down, that, near the time when these things occurred, around +the Jetavana vihara there were ninety-eight monasteries, in all of +which there were monks residing, excepting only in one place which was +vacant. In this Middle Kingdom[21] there are ninety-six[21] sorts of +views, erroneous and different from our system, all of which recognise +this world and the future world[22] (and the connexion between them). +Each had its multitude of followers, and they all beg their food: only +they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also, moreover, seek (to +acquire) the blessing (of good deeds) on unfrequented ways, setting up +on the road-side houses of charity, where rooms, couches, beds, and +food and drink are supplied to travellers, and also to monks, coming +and going as guests, the only difference being in the time (for which +those parties remain). + +There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. +They regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not +to Sakyamuni Buddha. + +Four le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been erected +at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king +Virudhaha,[23] when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,[23] and +took his stand before him at the side of the road.[24] + +NOTES + +[1] In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is +placed by Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of the +Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are +still the ruins of a great town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in +this town, or in its neighbourhood, that Sakyamuni spent many years of +his life after he became Buddha. + +[2] There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a +northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh. + +[3] In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning "leader of the victorious army." +He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Sakyamuni. +Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory, +because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy's +M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al. + +[4] Explained by "Path of Love," and "Lord of Life." Prajapati was +aunt and nurse of Sakyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood, +and the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to +become a Buddha. + +[5] Sudatta, meaning "almsgiver," was the original name of Anatha- +pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head, of +Sravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old +house, only the well and walls remained at the time of Fa-hien's visit +to Sravasti. + +[6] The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made +assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had +joined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha, +he became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he "got the +Tao," or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his +conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in +Pali is Angulimala. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his +autobiographical poem in the "Songs of the Theras." + +[7] Eitel (p. 37) says:--"A noted vihara in the suburbs of Sravasti, +erected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son +of Prasenajit. Sakyamuni made this place his favourite residence for +many years. Most of the Sutras (authentic and supposititious) date +from this spot." + +[8] See chapter xvii. + +[9] See chapter xiii. + +[10] Arya, meaning "honourable," "venerable," is a title given only to +those who have mastered the four spiritual truths:--(1) that "misery" +is a necessary condition of all sentient existence; this is duhkha: +(2) that the "accumulation" of misery is caused by the passions; this +is samudaya: (3) that the "extinction" of passion is possible; this is +nirodha: and (4) that the "path" leads to the extinction of passion; +which is marga. According to their attainment of these truths, the +Aryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four classes,-- +Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p. 14. + +[11] This is the first time that Fa-hien employs the name Ho-shang {.} +{.}, which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks +without distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of the +Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, "explained," says Eitel (p. 155) by "a +self-taught teacher," or by "he who knows what is sinful and what is +not sinful," with the note, "In India the vernacular of this term is +{.} {.} (? munshee [? Bronze]); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.} +{.} (hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese +synonyms, {.} {.} (ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang)." The Indian term +was originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the +Vedas, the Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made +to signify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the +Lamas. In China it has been used first as a synonym for {.} {.}, monks +engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction from +{.} {.}, disciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative philosophers +(meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of +monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. In +the text there seems to be implied some distinction between the +"teachers" and the "ho-shang;"--probably, the Pali Akariya and +Upagghaya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. +178, 179. + +[12] It might be added, "as depending on it," in order to bring out +the full meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the +help of the police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early +years, to keep the approaches to the Cathedral free from the number of +beggars, who squatted down there during service, hoping that the +hearers would come out with softened hearts, and disposed to be +charitable. I found the popular tutelary temples in Peking and other +places, and the path up Mount T'ai in Shan-lung similarly frequented. + +[13] The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became "mother superior" of +many nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised +it does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha. + +[14] See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this +murderer; see in Julien's "Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang," p. 125,-- +"a heretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated Buddha." See also +the fuller account in Beal's "Records of Western Countries," pp. 7, 8, +where the murder is committed by several Brahmacharins. In this +passage Beal makes Sundari to be the name of the murdered person (a +harlot). But the text cannot be so construed. + +[15] Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the +story about her, M. B., pp. 275-277. + +[16] "Earth's prison," or "one of Earth's prisons." It was the Avichi +naraka to which she went, the last of the eight hot prisons, where the +culprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted succession (such +being the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final +redemption. E. H. p. 21. + +[17] Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore of +Sakyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had +become so in an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued +in every successive birth, through which they reappeared in the world. +See the accounts of him, and of his various devices against Buddha, +and his own destruction at the last, in M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330; +and still better, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya +Texts, pp. 233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in the +text, see "The Life of the Buddha," p. 107. When he was engulphed, and +the flames were around him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, and we +are told that he is expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name +of Devaraja, in a universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39. + +[18] "A devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is +worshipped,--a general name for all Brahmanical temples" (Eitel, p. +30). We read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa +Matanga came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or Sutras, he +was lodged in the Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there +was built for him "The Court of the White-horse" ({.} {.} {.}), and in +consequence the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic +temples. Fa-hien, however, applies this term only to Brahmanical +temples. + +[19] Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in the +circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in I +Samuel v. about the Ark and Dagon, that "twice-battered god of +Palestine." + +[20] "Entered the doctrine or path." Three stages in the Buddhistic +life are indicated by Fa-hien:--"entering it," as here, by becoming +monks ({.} {.}); "getting it," by becoming Arhats ({.} {.}); and +"completing it," by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}). + +[21] It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central +India as a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it +where he then was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two +sects, but there may have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys +Davids' "Buddhism," pp. 98, 99. + +[22] This mention of "the future world" is an important difference +between the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has +been a stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. Remusat +says in a note that "the heretics limited themselves to speak of the +duties of man in his actual life without connecting it by the notion +that the metempsychosis with the anterior periods of existence through +which he had passed." But this is just the opposite of what Fa-hien's +meaning was, according to our Corean text. The notion of "the +metempsychosis" was just that in which all the ninety-six erroneous +systems agreed among themselves and with Buddhism. If he had wished to +say what the French sinologue thinks he does say, moreover, he would +probably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, however, that +the connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world (including +the present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or +transmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate +existence of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of "the wheel," +I would call its doctrine that of "The Transrotation of Births." See +Rhys Davids' third Hibbert Lecture. + +[23] Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya. He +was king of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the +destroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility +to the Sakyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as +certain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien's "Methode," +p. 89, may be read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the +phonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel. + +[24] This would be the interview in the "Life of the Buddha" in +Trubner's Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found +Buddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he +told the king that the thought of the danger of "his relatives and +kindred made it shady." The king was moved to sympathy for the time, +and went back to Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only +postponed for a short space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be +inevitable in the connexion of cause and effect. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE THREE PREDECESSORS OF SAKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP. + +Fifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named +Too-wei,[1] the birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha.[1] At the place where he +and his father met,[2] and at that where he attained to pari-nirvana, +topes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, +the Kasyapa Tathagata,[3] a great tope was also erected. + +Going on south-east from the city of Sravasti for twelve yojanas, (the +travellers) came to a town named Na-pei-kea,[4] the birthplace of +Krakuchanda Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at +that where he attained to pari-nirvana, topes were erected. Going +north from here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been +the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the place where he and his +father met, and where he attained to pari-nirvana, topes were erected. + +NOTES + +[1] Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine +miles to the west of Sahara-mahat. The birthplace of Kasyapa Buddha is +generally thought to have been Benares. According to a calculation of +Remusat, from his birth to A.D. 1832 there were 1,992,859 years! + +[2] It seems to be necessary to have a meeting between every Buddha +and his father. One at least is ascribed to Sakyamuni and his father +(real or supposed) Suddhodana. + +[3] This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in +Chinese {.} {.}, meaning, as Eitel, p. 147 says, "/Sic profectus +sum/." It is equivalent to "Rightful Buddha, the true successor in the +Supreme Buddha Line." Hardy concludes his account of the Kasyapa +Buddha (M. B., p. 97) with the following sentence:--"After his body +was burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, +presenting the appearance of a perfect skeleton; and the whole of the +inhabitants of Jambudvipa, assembling together, erected a dagoba over +his relics one yojana in height!" + +[4] Na-pei-kea or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this +Buddha was born at the city of Gan-ho ({.} {.} {.}) and Hardy gives +his birthplace as Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit, +to reconcile these statements. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +KAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA'S BIRTH, +AND OTHER INCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT. + +Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of +Kapilavastu;[1] but in it there was neither king nor people. All was +mound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a +score or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood +the old palace of king Suddhodana[2] there have been made images of +the prince (his eldest son) and his mother;[3] and at the places where +that son appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his +mother's womb,[4] and where he turned his carriage round on seeing the +sick man after he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate,[5] +topes have been erected. The places (were also pointed out)[6] where +(the rishi) A-e[7] inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of +the heir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with +Nanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one +side, he tossed it away;[8] where he shot an arrow to the south-east, +and it went a distance of thirty le, then entering the ground and +making a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into a +well from which travellers might drink;[9] where, after he had +attained to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father;[10] +where five hundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence to +Upali[11] while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where +Buddha preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and +others kept the four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his +father, could not enter;[12] where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, +which is still standing,[13] with his face to the east, and (his aunt) +Maja-prajapati presented him with a Sanghali;[14] and (where) king +Vaidurya slew the seed of Sakya, and they all in dying became +Srotapannas.[15] A tope was erected at this last place, which is still +existing. + +Several le north-east from the city was the king's field, where the +heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.[16] + +Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,[17] where the +queen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on +the northern bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her +hand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, +gave birth to the heir-apparent.[18] When he fell to the ground, he +(immediately) walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and +washed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately +formed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where (the +queen) bathed,[19] the monks (even) now constantly take the water, and +drink it. + +There are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history +of) all Buddhas:--first, the place where they attained to perfect +Wisdom (and became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the +wheel of the Law;[20] third, the place where they preached the Law, +discoursed of righteousness, and discomfited (the advocates of) +erroneous doctrines; and fourth, the place where they came down, after +going up to the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for the benefit +of their mothers. Other places in connexion with them became +remarkable, according to the manifestations which were made at them at +particular times. + +The country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The +inhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be on +their guard against white elephants[21] and lions, and should not +travel incautiously. + +NOTES + +[1] Kapilavastu, "the city of beautiful virtue," was the birthplace of +Sakyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last +chapter, during his lifetime. It was situated a short distance north- +west of the present Goruckpoor, lat. 26d 46s N., lon. 83d 19s E. +Davids says (Manual, p. 25), "It was on the banks of the river Rohini, +the modern Kohana, about 100 miles north-west of the city of Benares." + +[2] The father, or supposed father, of Sakyamuni. He is here called +"the king white and pure" ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation is +"the king of pure rice" ({.} {.} {.});" but the character {.}, or +"rice," must be a mistake for {.}, "Brahman," and the appellation= +"Pure Brahman king." + +[3] The "eldest son," or "prince" was Sakyamuni, and his mother had no +other son. For "his mother," see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a +daughter of Anjana or Anusakya, king of the neighbouring country of +Koli, and Yasodhara, an aunt of Suddhodana. There appear to have been +various intermarriages between the royal houses of Kapila and Koli. + +[4] In "The Life of the Buddha," p. 15, we read that "Buddha was now +in the Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time +for his last rebirth in the course of which he would become Buddha), +he made the necessary examinations; and having decided that Maha-maya +was the right mother, in the midnight watch he entered her womb under +the appearance of an elephant." See M. B., pp. 140-143, and, still +better, Rhys Davids' "Birth Stories," pp. 58-63. + +[5] In Hardy's M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, "As the prince +(Siddhartha, the first name given to Sakyamuni; see Eitel, under +Sarvarthasiddha) was one day passing along, he saw a deva under the +appearance of a leper, full of sores, with a body like a water-vessel, +and legs like the pestle for pounding rice; and when he learned from +his charioteer what it was that he saw, be became agitated, and +returned at once to the palace." See also Rhys Davids' "Buddhism," p. +29. + +[6] This is an addition of my own, instead of "There are also topes +erected at the following spots," of former translators. Fa-hien does +not say that there were memorial topes at all these places. + +[7] Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in Pali Kala Devala, and had +been a minister of Suddhodana's father. + +[8] In "The Life of Buddha" we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali +had sent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was +near Kapilavastu, Devadatta, out of envy, killed it with a blow of his +fist. Nanda (not Ananda, but a half-brother of Siddhartha), coming +that way, saw the carcase lying on the road, and pulled it on one +side; but the Bodhisattva, seeing it there, took it by the tail, and +tossed it over seven fences and ditches, when the force of its fall +made a great ditch. I suspect that the characters in the column have +been disarranged, and that we should read {.} {.} {.} {.}, {.} {.}, +{.} {.}. Buddha, that is Siddhartha, was at this time only ten years +old. + +[9] The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them +all. He was then seventeen. + +[10] This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, and +as he was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and +said, "Father, though I love thee, yet a fear possesses me, and I may +not stay;"--The Life of the Buddha, p. 25. Most probably it was that +related in M. B., pp. 199-204. See "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 120- +127. + +[11] They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was +only a Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did +Buddhism assert its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste. +Upali was distinguished by his knowledge of the rules of discipline, +and praised on that account by Buddha. He was one of the three leaders +of the first synod, and the principal compiler of the original Vinaya +books. + +[12] I have not met with the particulars of this preaching. + +[13] Meaning, as explained in Chinese, "a tree without knots;" the +/ficus Indica/. See Rhys Davids' note, Manual, p. 39, where he says +that a branch of one of these trees was taken from Buddha Gaya to +Anuradhapura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is +still growing there, the oldest historical tree in the world. + +[14] See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this +presentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315. + +[15] See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of +saints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to +nirvana after having been reborn seven times consecutively as men or +devas. The Chinese editions state there were "1000" of the Sakya seed. +The general account is that they were 500, all maidens, who refused to +take their place in king Vaidurya's harem, and were in consequence +taken to a pond, and had their hands and feet cut off. There Buddha +came to them, had their wounds dressed, and preached to them the Law. +They died in the faith, and were reborn in the region of the four +Great Kings. Thence they came back and visited Buddha at Jetavana in +the night, and there they obtained the reward of Srotapanna. "The Life +of the Buddha," p. 121. + +[16] See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of it +reminds me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an +institution in China from the earliest times. But there we have no +magic and no extravagance. + +[17] "The place of Liberation;" see chap. xiii, note 7. + +[18] See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; "The Life +of the Buddha," pp. 15, 16; and "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 66. + +[19] There is difficulty in construing the text of this last +statement. Mr. Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his +first translation. In his revised version he gives for it, I cannot +say happily, "As well as at the pool, the water of which came down +from above for washing (the child)." + +[20] See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids' Manual, p. 45. The +latter says, that "to turn the wheel of the Law" means "to set rolling +the royal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth and +righteousness;" but he admits that this is more grandiloquent than the +phraseology was in the ears of Buddhists. I prefer the words quoted +from Eitel in the note referred to. "They turned" is probably +equivalent to "They began to turn." + +[21] Fa-hien does not say that he himself saw any of these white +elephants, nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour. +We shall find by-and-by, in a note further on, that, to make them +appear more terrible, they are spoken of as "black." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +RAMA, AND ITS TOPE. + +East from Buddha's birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas, +there is a kingdom called Rama.[1] The king of this country, having +obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha's body,[2] returned with +it and built over it a tope, named the Rama tope. By the side of it +there was a pool, and in the pool a dragon, which constantly kept +watch over (the tope), and presented offerings to it day and night. +When king Asoka came forth into the world, he wished to destroy the +eight topes (over the relics), and to build (instead of them) 84,000 +topes.[3] After he had thrown down the seven (others), he wished next +to destroy this tope. But then the dragon showed itself, took the king +into its palace;[4] and when he had seen all the things provided for +offerings, it said to him, "If you are able with your offerings to +exceed these, you can destroy the tope, and take it all away. I will +not contend with you." The king, however, knew that such appliances +for offerings were not to be had anywhere in the world, and thereupon +returned (without carrying out his purpose). + +(Afterwards), the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, +and there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep (about the tope); but a +herd of elephants came regularly, which brought water with their +trunks to water the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, +which they presented at the tope. (Once) there came from one of the +kingdoms a devotee[5] to worship at the tope. When he encountered the +elephants he was greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the +trees; but when he saw them go through with the offerings in the most +proper manner, the thought filled him with great sadness--that there +should be no monastery here, (the inmates of which) might serve the +tope, but the elephants have to do the watering and sweeping. +Forthwith he gave up the great prohibitions (by which he was +bound),[6] and resumed the status of a Sramanera.[7] With his own +hands he cleared away the grass and trees, put the place in good +order, and made it pure and clean. By the power of his exhortations, +he prevailed on the king of the country to form a residence for monks; +and when that was done, he became head of the monastery. At the +present day there are monks residing in it. This event is of recent +occurrence; but in all the succession from that time till now, there +has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment. + +NOTES + +[1] Rama or Ramagrama, between Kapilavastu and Kusanagara. + +[2] See the account of the eightfold division of the relics of +Buddha's body in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist +Suttas, pp. 133-136. + +[3] The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000 +atoms, and hence the legend of Asoka's wish to build 84,000 topes, one +over each atom of Sakyamuni's skeleton. + +[4] Fa-hien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that +the naga-guardian had a palace of his own, inside or underneath the +pool or tank. + +[5] It stands out on the narrative as a whole that we have not here +"some pilgrims," but one devotee. + +[6] What the "great prohibitions" which the devotee now gave up were +we cannot tell. Being what he was, a monk of more than ordinary +ascetical habits, he may have undertaken peculiar and difficult vows. + +[7] The Sramanera, or in Chinese Shamei. See chap. xvi, note 19. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WHERE BUDDHA FINALLY RENOUNCED THE WORLD, AND WHERE HE DIED. + +East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir- +apparent sent back Chandaka, with his white horse;[1] and there also a +tope was erected. + +Four yojanas to the east from this, (the travellers) came to the +Charcoal tope,[2] where there is also a monastery. + +Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of +Kusanagara,[3] on the north of which, between two trees,[4] on the +bank of the Nairanjana[5] river, is the place where the World-honoured +one, with his head to the north, attained to pari-nirvana (and died). +There also are the places where Subhadra,[6] the last (of his +converts), attained to Wisdom (and became an Arhat); where in his +coffin of gold they made offerings to the World-honoured one for seven +days,[7] where the Vajrapani laid aside his golden club,[8] and where +the eight kings[9] divided the relics (of the burnt body):--at all +these places were built topes and monasteries, all of which are now +existing. + +In the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only +the families belonging to the (different) societies of monks. + +Going from this to the south-east for twelve yojanas, they came to the +place where the Lichchhavis[10] wished to follow Buddha to (the place +of) his pari-nirvana, and where, when he would not listen to them and +they kept cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a +large and deep ditch which they could not cross over, and gave them +his alms-bowl, as a pledge of his regard, (thus) sending them back to +their families. There a stone pillar was erected with an account of +this event engraved upon it. + +NOTES + +[1] This was on the night when Sakyamuni finally left his palace and +family to fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called. +Chandaka, in Pali Channa, was the prince's charioteer, and in sympathy +with him. So also was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Asvaraja), +which neighed his delight till the devas heard him. See M. B., pp. +158-161, and Davids' Manual, pp. 32, 33. According to "Buddhist Birth +Stories," p. 87, the noble horse never returned to the city, but died +of grief at being left by his master, to be reborn immediately in the +Trayastrimsas heaven as the deva Kanthaka! + +[2] Beal and Giles call this the "Ashes" tope. I also would have +preferred to call it so; but the Chinese character is {.}, not {.}. +Remusat has "la tour des charbons." It was over the place of Buddha's +cremation. + +[3] In Pali Kusinara. It got its name from the Kusa grass (the /poa +cynosuroides/); and its ruins are still extant, near Kusiah, 180 N.W. +from Patna; "about," says Davids, "120 miles N.N.E. of Benares, and 80 +miles due east of Kapilavastu." + +[4] The Sala tree, the /Shorea robusta/, which yields the famous teak +wood. + +[5] Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsuan-chwang, with the +Hiranyavati, which flows past the city on the south. + +[6] A Brahman of Benares, said to have been 120 years old, who came to +learn from Buddha the very night he died. Ananda would have repulsed +him; but Buddha ordered him to be introduced; and then putting aside +the ingenious but unimportant question which he propounded, preached +to him the Law. The Brahman was converted and attained at once to +Arhatship. Eitel says that he attained to nirvana a few moments before +Sakyamuni; but see the full account of him and his conversion in +"Buddhist Suttas," p. 103-110. + +[7] Thus treating the dead Buddha as if he had been a Chakravartti +king. Hardy's M. B., p. 347, says:--"For the place of cremation, the +princes (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was +decorated with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in +a golden sarcophagus." See the account of a cremation which Fa-hien +witnessed in Ceylon, chap. xxxix. + +[8] The name Vajrapani is explained as "he who holds in his hand the +diamond club (or pestle=sceptre)," which is one of the many names of +Indra or Sakra. He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would +seem to be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither +in Hardy nor Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any +manifestation of himself made by Indra on this occasion. The princes +of Kusanagara were called mallas, "strong or mighty heroes;" so also +were those of Pava and Vaisali; and a question arises whether the +language may not refer to some story which Fa-hien had heard,-- +something which they did on this great occasion. Vajrapani is also +explained as meaning "the diamond mighty hero;" but the epithet of +"diamond" is not so applicable to them as to Indra. The clause may +hereafter obtain more elucidation. + +[9] Of Kusanagara, Pava, Vaisali, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes, +brahmans,--each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an +eightfold division at the suggestion of the brahman Drona. + +[10] These "strong heroes" were the chiefs of Vaisali, a kingdom and +city, with an oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early, +and were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second +synod was held at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins +of the city still exist at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I +suppose, as Besarh, twenty miles north of Hajipur. See Beal's Revised +Version, p. lii. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +VAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED "WEAPONS LAID DOWN." +THE COUNCIL OF VAISALI. + +East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom +of Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it +the double-galleried vihara[1] where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over +half the body of Ananda.[2] Inside the city the woman Ambapali[3] +built a vihara in honour of Buddha, which is now standing as it was at +first. Three le south of the city, on the west of the road, (is the) +garden (which) the same Ambapali presented to Buddha, in which he +might reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirvana, as +he was quitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, and, +beholding the city on his right, said to them, "Here I have taken my +last walk."[4] Men subsequently built a tope at this spot. + +Three le north-west of the city there is a tope called, "Bows and +weapons laid down." The reason why it got that name was this:--The +inferior wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges, +brought forth from her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife, +jealous of the other, said, "You have brought forth a thing of evil +omen," and immediately it was put into a box of wood and thrown into +the river. Farther down the stream another king was walking and +looking about, when he saw the wooden box (floating) in the water. (He +had it brought to him), opened it, and found a thousand little boys, +upright and complete, and each one different from the others. He took +them and had them brought up. They grew tall and large, and very +daring, and strong, crushing all opposition in every expedition which +they undertook. By and by they attacked the kingdom of their real +father, who became in consequence greatly distressed and sad. His +inferior wife asked what it was that made him so, and he replied, +"That king has a thousand sons, daring and strong beyond compare, and +he wishes with them to attack my kingdom; this is what makes me sad." +The wife said, "You need not be sad and sorrowful. Only make a high +gallery on the wall of the city on the east; and when the thieves +come, I shall be able to make them retire." The king did as she said; +and when the enemies came, she said to them from the tower, "You are +my sons; why are you acting so unnaturally and rebelliously?" They +replied, "If you do not believe me," she said, "look, all of you, +towards me, and open your mouths." She then pressed her breasts with +her two hands, and each sent forth 500 jets of milk, which fell into +the mouths of the thousand sons. The thieves (thus) knew that she was +their mother, and laid down their bows and weapons.[5] The two kings, +the fathers, thereupon fell into reflection, and both got to be +Pratyeka Buddhas.[6] The tope of the two Pratyeka Buddhas is still +existing. + +In a subsequent age, when the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), he said to is disciples, "This is +the place where I in a former age laid down my bow and weapons."[7] It +was thus that subsequently men got to know (the fact), and raised the +tope on this spot, which in this way received its name. The thousand +little boys were the thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa.[8] + +It was by the side of the "Weapons-laid-down" tope that Buddha, having +given up the idea of living longer, said to Ananda, "In three months +from this I will attain to pavi-nirvana;" and king Mara[9] had so +fascinated and stupefied Ananda, that he was not able to ask Buddha to +remain longer in this world. + +Three or four le east from this place there is a tope (commemorating +the following occurrence):--A hundred years after the pari-nirvana +of Buddha, some Bhikshus of Vaisali went wrong in the matter of the +disciplinary rules in ten particulars, and appealed for their +justification to what they said were the words of Buddha. Hereupon the +Arhats and Bhikshus observant of the rules, to the number in all of +700 monks, examined afresh and collated the collection of disciplinary +books.[10] Subsequently men built at this place the tope (in +question), which is still existing. + +NOTES + +[1] It is difficult to tell what was the peculiar form of this vihara +from which it gets its name; something about the construction of its +door, or cupboards, or galleries. + +[2] See the explanation of this in the next chapter. + +[3] Ambapali, Amrapali, or Amradarika, "the guardian of the Amra +(probably the mango) tree," is famous in Buddhist annals. See the +account of her in M. B., pp. 456-8. She was a courtesan. She had been +in many narakas or hells, was 100,000 times a female beggar, and +10,000 times a prostitute; but maintaining perfect continence during +the period of Kasyapa Buddha, Sakyamuni's predecessor, she had been +born a devi, and finally appeared in earth under an Amra tree in +Vaisali. There again she fell into her old ways, and had a son by king +Bimbisara; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and chastity, +renounced the world, and attained to the state of an Arhat. See the +earliest account of Ambapali's presentation of the garden in "Buddhist +Suttas," pp. 30-33, and the note there from Bishop Bigandet on pp. 33, +34. + +[4] Beal gives, "In this place I have performed the last religious act +of my earthly career;" Giles, "This is the last place I shall visit;" +Remusat, "C'est un lieu ou je reviendrai bien longtemps apres ceci." +Perhaps the "walk" to which Buddha referred had been for meditation. + +[5] See the account of this legend in the note in M. B., pp. 235, 236, +different, but not less absurd. The first part of Fa-hien's narrative +will have sent the thoughts of some of my readers to the exposure of +the infant Moses, as related in Exodus. [Certainly did.--JB.] + +[6] See chap. xiii, note 14. + +[7] Thus Sakyamuni had been one of the thousand little boys who +floated in the box in the Ganges. How long back the former age was we +cannot tell. I suppose the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka +Buddhas had been built like the one commemorating the laying down of +weapons after Buddha had told his disciples of the strange events in +the past. + +[8] Bhadra-kalpa, "the Kalpa of worthies or sages." "This," says +Eitel, p. 22, "is a designation for a Kalpa of stability, so called +because 1000 Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our present period is +a Bhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is to last +236 million years, but over 151 millions have already elapsed." + +[9] "The king of demons." The name Mara is explained by "the +murderer," "the destroyer of virtue," and similar appellations. "He +is," says Eitel, "the personification of lust, the god of love, sin, +and death, the arch-enemy of goodness, residing in the heaven +Paranirmita Vasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes +different forms, especially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the +saints, or sends his daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta +or the Nirgranthas to do his work. He is often represented with 100 +arms, and riding on an elephant." The oldest form of the legend in +this paragraph is in "Buddhist Suttas," Sacred Books of the East, vol. +xi, pp. 41-55, where Buddha says that, if Ananda had asked him thrice, +he would have postponed his death. + +[10] Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important +one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the +Buddhist Church. See, on the formation of the Buddhist Canon, Hardy's +E. M., chap. xviii, and the last chapter of Davids' Manual, on the +History of the Order. The first Council was that held at Rajagriha, +shortly after Buddha's death, under the presidency of Kasyapa;--say +about B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here;--say about B.C. +300. In Davids' Manual (p. 216) we find the ten points of discipline, +in which the heretics (I can use that term here) claimed at least +indulgence. Two meetings were held to consider and discuss them. At +the former the orthodox party barely succeeded in carrying their +condemnation of the laxer monks; and a second and larger meeting, of +which Fa-hien speaks, was held in consequence, and a more emphatic +condemnation passed. At the same time all the books and subjects of +discipline seem to have undergone a careful revision. + +The Corean text is clearer than the Chinese as to those who composed +the Council,--the Arhats and orthodox monks. The leader among them was +a Yasas, or Yasada, or Yedsaputtra, who had been a disciple of Ananda, +and must therefore have been a very old man. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +REMARKABLE DEATH OF ANANDA. + +Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to +the confluence of the five rivers.[1] When Ananda was going from +Magadha[2] to Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirvana to take place (there), +the devas informed king Ajatasatru[3] of it, and the king immediately +pursued him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and +had reached the river. (On the other hand), the Lichchhavis of Vaisali +had heard that Amanda was coming (to their city), and they on their +part came to meet him. (In this way), they all arrived together at the +river, and Ananda considered that, if he went forward, king Ajatasatru +would be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would +resent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt +his body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,[4] and his pari-nirvana was +attained. He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half of +it on each bank; so that each of the two kings got one half as a +(sacred) relic, and took it back (to his own capital), and there +raised a tope over it. + +NOTES + +[1] This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be +far from Patna. + +[2] Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy +land, covered with viharas; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed +in a previous note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern +portion of which corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha. + +[3] In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M. B., +pp. 321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the +first royal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at +least wrought his death; and was at first opposed to Sakyamuni, and a +favourer of Devadatta. When converted, he became famous for his +liberality in almsgiving. + +[4] Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi, +which is one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy +defines it as meaning "perfect tranquillity;" Turnour, as "meditative +abstraction;" Burnouf, as "self-control;" and Edkins, as "ecstatic +reverie." "Samadhi," says Eitel, "signifies the highest pitch of +abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to all +influences from within or without; a state of torpor of both the +material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial +nirvana, consistently culminating in total destruction of life." He +then quotes apparently the language of the text, "He consumed his body +by Agni (the fire of) Samadhi," and says it is "a common expression +for the effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic self-annihilation." All +this is simply "a darkening of counsel by words without knowledge." +Some facts concerning the death of Ananda are hidden beneath the +darkness of the phraseology, which it is impossible for us to +ascertain. By or in Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of +the river, and then he divides the relic of the burnt body into two +parts (for so evidently Fa-hien intended his narration to be taken), +and leaves one half on each bank. The account of Ananda's death in +Nien-ch'ang's "History of Buddha and the Patriarchs" is much more +extravagant. Crowds of men and devas are brought together to witness +it. The body is divided into four parts. One is conveyed to the +Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace of a certain Naga king; a +third is given to Ajatasatru; and the fourth to the Lichchhavis. What +it all really means I cannot tell. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +PATALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING ASOKA'S SPIRIT-BUILT +PALACE AND HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RADHA-SAMI. +DISPENSARIES AND HOSPITALS. + +Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the +travellers) came to the town of Pataliputtra,[1] in the kingdom of +Magadha, the city where king Asoka[2] ruled. The royal palace and +halls in the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all +made by spirits which he employed, and which piled up the stones, +reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and +inlaid sculpture-work,--in a way which no human hands of this world +could accomplish. + +King Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and +resided on Gridhra-kuta[3] hill, finding his delight in solitude and +quiet. The king, who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him +(to come and live) in his family, where he could supply all his wants. +The other, however, through his delight in the stillness of the +mountain, was unwilling to accept the invitation, on which the king +said to him, "Only accept my invitation, and I will make a hill for +you inside the city." Accordingly, he provided the materials of a +feast, called to him the spirits, and announced to them, "To-morrow +you will all receive my invitation; but as there are no mats for you +to sit on, let each one bring (his own seat)." Next day the spirits +came, each one bringing with him a great rock, (like) a wall, four or +five paces square, (for a seat). When their sitting was over, the king +made them form a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and +also at the foot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make +an apartment, which might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty +cubits wide, and more than ten cubits high. + +In this city there had resided a great Brahman,[4] named Radha- +sami,[5] a professor of the mahayana, of clear discernment and much +wisdom, who understood everything, living by himself in spotless +purity. The king of the country honoured and reverenced him, and +served him as his teacher. If he went to inquire for and greet him, +the king did not presume to sit down alongside of him; and if, in his +love and reverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he let it go, +the Brahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. He might be +more than fifty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. By +means of this one man, the Law of Buddha was widely made known, and +the followers of other doctrines did not find it in their power to +persecute the body of monks in any way. + +By the side of the tope of Asoka, there has been made a mahayana +monastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hinayana one; the +two together containing six or seven hundred monks. The rules of +demeanour and the scholastic arrangements[6] in them are worthy of +observation. + +Shamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students, +inquirers wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort +to these monasteries. There also resides in this monastery a Brahman +teacher, whose name also is Manjusri,[7] whom the Shamans of greatest +virtue in the kingdom, and the mahayana Bhikshus honour and look up +to. + +The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the +Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with +one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. Every +year on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession +of images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure +of four storeys by means of bamboos tied together. This is supported +by a king-post, with poles and lances slanting from it, and is rather +more than twenty cubits high, having the shape of a tope. White and +silk-like cloth of hair[8] is wrapped all round it, which is then +painted in various colours. They make figures of devas, with gold, +silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended and having silken streamers +and canopies hung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a +Buddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on +him. There may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one +different from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity +within the borders all come together; they have singers and skilful +musicians; they pay their devotion with flowers and incense. The +Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so in +order, and remain two nights in it. All through the night they keep +lamps burning, have skilful music, and present offerings. This is the +practice in all the other kingdoms as well. The Heads of the Vaisya +families in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity +and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, +widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who +are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of +help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and +medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and +when they are better, they go away of themselves. + +When king Asoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make eighty- +four thousand,[9] the first which he made was the great tope, more +than three le to the south of this city. In front of this there is a +footprint of Buddha, where a vihara has been built. The door of it +faces the north, and on the south of it there is a stone pillar, +fourteen or fifteen cubits in circumference, and more than thirty +cubits high, on which there is an inscription, saying, "Asoka gave the +jambudvipa to the general body of all the monks, and then redeemed it +from them with money. This he did three times."[10] North from the +tope 300 or 400 paces, king Asoka built the city of Ne-le.[11] In it +there is a stone pillar, which also is more than thirty feet high, +with a lion on the top of it. On the pillar there is an inscription +recording the things which led to the building of Ne-le, with the +number of the year, the day, and the month. + +NOTES + +[1] The modern Patna, lat. 25d 28s N., lon. 85d 15s E. The Sanskrit +name means "The city of flowers." It is the Indian Florence. + +[2] See chap. x, note 3. Asoka transferred his court from Rajagriha to +Pataliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he +convoked the third Great Synod,--according, at least, to southern +Buddhism. It must have been held a few years before B.C. 250; Eitel +says in 246. + +[3] "The Vulture-hill;" so called because Mara, according to Buddhist +tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the +meditation of Ananda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of +vultures. It was near Rajagriha, the earlier capital of Asoka, so that +Fa-hien connects a legend of it with his account of Patna. It abounded +in caverns, and was famous as a resort of ascetics. + +[4] A Brahman by cast, but a Buddhist in faith. + +[5] So, by the help of Julien's "Methode," I transliterate the Chinese +characters {.} {.} {.} {.}. Beal gives Radhasvami, his Chinese text +having a {.} between {.} and {.}. I suppose the name was Radhasvami or +Radhasami. + +[6] {.} {.}, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in the +Li Ki and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those +monasteries in India as there were in China? Fa-hien himself grew up +with other boys in a monastery, and no doubt had to "go to school." +And the next sentence shows us there might be schools for more +advanced students as well as for the Sramaneras. + +[7] See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous +Bodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be "also" named Manjusri. + +[8] ? Cashmere cloth. + +[9] See chap. xxiii, note 3. + +[10] We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction, +and that we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It +is to be observed that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it +from them. Their right was from him, and he bought it back. He was the +only "Power" that was. + +[11] We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small +place; an outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +RAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT. + +(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas, +and came to a small solitary rocky hill,[1] at the head or end of +which[2] was an apartment of stone, facing the south,--the place where +Buddha sat, when Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician, +Pancha-(sikha),[3] to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute. +Sakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the +questions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.[4] The prints +of his tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery. + +A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of +Nala,[5] where Sariputtra[6] was born, and to which also he returned, +and attained here his pari-nirvana. Over the spot (where his body was +burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence. + +Another yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,[7]--the new +city which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in +it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having +obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a +tope, high, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south +gate, and proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to +a circular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and +have the appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old +city of king Bimbisara; from east to west about five or six le, and +from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and +Maudgalyayana first saw Upasena;[8] that the Nirgrantha[9] made a pit +of fire and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with +him); that king Ajatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with +liquor, wishing him to injure Buddha;[10] and that at the north-east +corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jivaka built a vihara +in the garden of Ambapali,[11] and invited Buddha with his 1250 +disciples to it, that he might there make his offerings to support +them. (These places) are still there as of old, but inside the city +all is emptiness and desolation; no man dwells in it. + +NOTES + +[1] Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or "The cavern of Indra." +It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the +bank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The hill +terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more +northern and higher of these which Fa-hien had in mind. It bears an +oblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially +of a vihara. + +[2] This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its +"headland," where it ended at the river. + +[3] See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290. It +is from Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the +musician, which appears in Fa-hien as only Pancha, or "Five." His harp +or lute, we are told, was "twelve miles long." + +[4] Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen, +which are still to be found in one of the Sutras ("the Dik-Sanga, in +the Sakra-prasna Sutra"). Whether it was Sakra who wrote his +questions, or Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the +punctuation. It seems better to make Sakra the writer. + +[5] Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand +monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for +five years of Hsuan-chwang. + +[6] See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement +that Nala was his birthplace. + +[7] The city of "Royal Palaces;" "the residence of the Magadha kings +from Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot +of the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within a +year after Sakyamuni's death. Its ruins are still extant at the +village of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of +pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100)." It is called New Rajagriha +to distinguish it from Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old +residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisara, while +Fa-hien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose the son finished what the +father had begun. + +[8] One of the five first followers of Sakyamuni. He is also called +Asvajit; in Pali Assaji; but Asvajit seems to be a military title= +"Master or trainer of horses." The two more famous disciples met him, +not to lead him, but to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 144-147. + +[9] One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas="erroneous teachers;" M. B., +pp. 290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on +Buddha's life referred to by Fa-hien), or Brahmanical opponents of +Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore +called Nirgranthajnati. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the +use of clothes, and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting. +He had a body of followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel, +pp. 84, 85), and were the forerunners of the Jains. + +[10] The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant +disappointed them, and did homage to Sakyamuni. See Sacred Books of +the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247. + +[11] See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali's son by king +Bimbisara, and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the +account of him in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya +Texts, pp. 171-194. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FA-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. +HIS REFLECTIONS. + +Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the south- +east, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount +Gridhra-kuta.[1] Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern +in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. +Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was +sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,[2] having assumed +the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, +and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, +supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and +stroked Ananda's shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away. +The footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha's) hand are still +there, and hence comes the name of "The Hill of the Vulture Cavern." + +In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas +sat. There are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and +meditated, amounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in +front of his rocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west (in +meditation), and Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the +north of the mountain, threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha's toes,[3] +the rock is still there.[4] + +The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only +the foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is +beautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the +five hills. In the New City Fa-hien bought incense-(sticks), flowers, +oil and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident (at the place), +to carry them (to the peak). When he himself got to it, he made his +offerings with the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when the +darkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his +tears and said, "Here Buddha delivered the Surangama (Sutra).[5] I, +Fa-hien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only +see the footprints which he has left, and the place where he lived, +and nothing more." With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted +the Surangama Sutra, remained there over the night, and then returned +towards the New City.[6] + +NOTES + +[1] See chap. xxviii, note 1. + +[2] See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, and +signifies "sinful lust." + +[3] See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta's attempt was "by the +help of a machine;" but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the +East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what Fa-hien implies +that he threw the rock with his own arm. + +[4] And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits +high, and thirty paces round. + +[5] See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's "Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of +the Buddhist Tripitaka," Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the +former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory +of Fa-hien. + +[6] In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal +says, "There is a full account of this perilous visit of Fa-hien, and +how he was attacked by tigers, in the 'History of the High Priests.'" +But "the high priests" merely means distinguished monks, "eminent +monks," as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders the adjectival character. Nor +was Fa-hien "attacked by tigers" on the peak. No "tigers" appear in +the Memoir. "Two black lions" indeed crouched before him for a time +this night, "licking their lips and waving their tails;" but their +appearance was to "try," and not to attack him; and when they saw him +resolute, they "drooped their heads, put down their tails, and +prostrated themselves before him." This of course is not an historical +account, but a legendary tribute to his bold perseverance. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SRATAPARNA CAVE, OR CAVE OF THE FIRST COUNCIL. LEGENDS. +SUICIDE OF A BHIKSHU. + +Out from the old city, after walking over 300 paces, on the west of +the road, (the travellers) found the Karanda Bamboo garden,[1] where +the (old) vihara is still in existence, with a company of monks, who +keep (the ground about it) swept and watered. + +North of the vihara two or three le there was the Smasanam, which name +means in Chinese "the field of graves into which the dead are +thrown."[2] + +As they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for 300 +paces, they found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala +cave,[3] in which Buddha regularly sat in meditation after taking his +(midday) meal. + +Going on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the +hill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna,[4] the +place where, after the nirvana[5] of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the +Sutras. When they brought the Sutras forth, three lofty seats[6] had +been prepared and grandly ornamented. Sariputtra occupied the one on +the left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. Of the number of five +hundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on the middle +seat). Amanda was then outside the door, and could not get in.[7] At +the place there was (subsequently) raised a tope, which is still +existing. + +Along (the sides of) the hill, there are also a very great many cells +among the rocks, where the various Arhans sat and meditated. As you +leave the old city on the north, and go down east for three le, there +is the rock dwelling of Devadatta, and at a distance of fifty paces +from it there is a large, square, black rock. Formerly there was a +bhikshu, who, as he walked backwards and forwards upon it, thought +with himself:--"This body[8] is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and +vanity,[9] and which cannot be looked on as pure.[10] I am weary of +this body, and troubled by it as an evil." With this he grasped a +knife, and was about to kill himself. But he thought again:--"The +World-honoured one laid down a prohibition against one's killing +himself."[11] Further it occurred to him:--"Yes, he did; but I now +only wish to kill three poisonous thieves."[12] Immediately with the +knife he cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he +attained the state of a Srotapanna;[13] when he had gone half through, +he attained to be an Anagamin;[14] and when he had cut right through, +he was an Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvana;[15] (and died). + +NOTES + +[1] Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara, +who also built a vihara in it. See the account of the transaction in +M. B., p. 194. The place was called Karanda, from a creature so named, +which awoke the king just as a snake was about to bite him, and thus +saved his life. In Hardy the creature appears as a squirrel, but Eitel +says that the Karanda is a bird of sweet voice, resembling a magpie, +but herding in flocks; the /cuculus melanoleucus/. See "Buddhist Birth +Stories," p. 118. + +[2] The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no +sympathy with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own +Buddhistic method of cremation. + +[3] The Chinese characters used for the name of this cavern serve also +to name the pippala (peepul) tree, the /ficus religiosa/. They make us +think that there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but Fa-hien +would hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance. + +[4] A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the +Srataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to +have been convoked by the older members to settle the rules and +doctrines of the order. The cave was prepared for the occasion by king +Ajatasatru. From the expression about the "bringing forth of the +King," it would seem that the Sutras or some of them had been already +committed to writing. May not the meaning of King {.} here be extended +to the Vinaya rules, as well as the Sutras, and mean "the standards" +of the system generally? See Davids' Manual, chapter ix, and Sacred +Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, pp. 370-385. + +[5] So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvana. + +[6] Instead of "high" seats, the Chinese texts have "vacant." The +character for "prepared" denotes "spread;"--they were carpeted; +perhaps, both cushioned and carpeted, being rugs spread on the ground, +raised higher than the other places for seats. + +[7] Did they not contrive to let him in, with some cachinnation, even +in so august an assembly, that so important a member should have been +shut out? + +[8] "The life of this body" would, I think, fairly express the idea of +the bhikshu. + +[9] See the account of Buddha's preaching in chapter xviii. + +[10] The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught. + +[11] See E. M., p. 152:--"Buddha made a law forbidding the monks to +commit suicide. He prohibited any one from discoursing on the miseries +of life in such a manner as to cause desperation." See also M. B., pp. +464, 465. + +[12] Beal says:--"Evil desire; hatred; ignorance." + +[13] See chap. xx, note 10. + +[14] The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship, +the third class of Aryas, who are no more liable to be reborn as men, +but are to be born once more as devas, when they will forthwith become +Arhats, and attain to nirvana. E. H., pp. 8, 9. + +[15] Our author expresses no opinion of his own on the act of this +bhikshu. Must it not have been a good act, when it was attended, in +the very act of performance, by such blessed consequences? But if +Buddhism had not something better to show than what appears here, it +would not attract the interest which it now does. The bhikshu was +evidently rather out of his mind; and the verdict of a coroner's +inquest of this nineteenth century would have pronounced that he +killed himself "in a fit of insanity." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + GAYA. SAKYAMUNI'S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS. + +From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the +pilgrims) came to the city of Gaya;[1] but inside the city all was +emptiness and desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty le, +they arrived at the place where the Bodhisattva for six years +practised with himself painful austerities. All around was forest. + +Three le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had +gone into the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree, +by means of which he succeeded in getting out of the pool.[2] + +Two le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented +to Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;[3] and two le north from this +(again) was the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and +facing the east, he ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there +at the present day. The rock may be six cubits in breadth and length, +and rather more than two cubits in height. In Central India the cold +and heat are so equally tempered that trees will live in it for +several thousand and even for ten thousand years. + +Half a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in +the rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged +with his face to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, "If I +am to attain to perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be a +supernatural attestation of it." On the wall of the rock there +appeared immediately the shadow of a Buddha, rather more than three +feet in length, which is still bright at the present day. At this +moment heaven and earth were greatly moved, and devas in the air spoke +plainly, "This is not the place where any Buddha of the past, or he +that is to come, has attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. Less +than half a yojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the +patra[4] tree, where all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come +must attain, to perfect Wisdom." When they had spoken these words, +they immediately led the way forwards to the place, singing as they +did so. As they thus went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked +(after them). At a distance of thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave +him the grass of lucky omen,[5] which he received and went on. After +(he had proceeded) fifteen paces, 500 green birds came flying towards +him, went round him thrice, and disappeared. The Bodhisattva went +forward to the patra tree, placed the kusa grass at the foot of it, +and sat down with his face to the east. Then king Mara sent three +beautiful young ladies, who came from the north, to tempt him, while +he himself came from the south to do the same. The Bodhisattva put his +toes down on the ground, and the demon soldiers retired and dispersed, +and the three young ladies were changed into old (grand-)mothers.[6] + +At the place mentioned above of the six years' painful austerities, +and at all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set +up images, which all exist at the present day. + +Where Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days +contemplated the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;[7] where, +under the patra tree, he walked backwards and forwards from west to +east for seven days; where the devas made a hall appear, composed of +the seven precious substances, and presented offerings to him for +seven days; where the blind dragon Muchilinda[8] encircled him for +seven days; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a square rock, +with his face to the east, and Brahma-deva[9] came and made his +request to him; where the four deva kings brought to him their alms- +bowls;[10] where the 500 merchants[11] presented to him the roasted +flour and honey; and where he converted the brothers Kasyapa and their +thousand disciples;[12]--at all these places topes were reared. + +At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three +monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of +their people around supply the societies of these monks with an +abundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or +stint.[13] The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them. The +laws regulating their demeanour in sitting, rising, and entering when +the others are assembled, are those which have been practised by all +the saints since Buddha was in the world down to the present day. The +places of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed down +without break, since Buddha attained to nirvana. Those four great +topes are those at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained +to Wisdom; where he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he +attained to pari-nirvana. + +NOTES + +[1] Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat. +24d 47s N., lon. 85d 1s E). It was here that Sakyamuni lived for seven +years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The +place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41. + +[2] This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being +drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the +incident I have met with,--in "The Life of the Buddha," p. 31. And he +was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the +narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of +time. + +[3] An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in +Hardy's M. B., pp. 166-168; "The Life of the Buddha," p. 30; and the +"Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering +girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal's +revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty +caused by the {.} {.} of Fa-hien. + +[4] Called "the tree of leaves," and "the tree of reflection;" a palm +tree, the /borassus flabellifera/, described as a tree which never +loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p. +92. + +[5] The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note. + +[6] See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179, +and "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 96-101. + +[7] See chap. xiii, note 7. + +[8] Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: "A naga +king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sakyamuni once sat for +seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him." The +account (p. 35) in "The Life of the Buddha" is:--"Buddha went to where +lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from +the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread +out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in +thought." So also the Nidana Katha, in "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. +109. + +[9] This was Brahma himself, though "king" is omitted. What he +requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his +Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111. + +[10] See chap. xii, note 10. + +[11] The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and +the Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with +them. + +[12] These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note +17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to +this time holders of "erroneous" views, having 500, 300, and 200 +disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of +Sakyamuni; and are--each of them--to become Buddha by-and-by. See the +Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115. + +[13] This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some +understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population +to the travellers. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA. + +When king Asoka, in a former birth,[1] was a little boy and played on +the road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, +and the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The +Buddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was +walking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of +becoming a king of the iron wheel,[2] to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) +when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa, +he saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka[3] for the +punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what +sort of a thing it was, they replied, "It belongs to Yama,[4] king of +demons, for punishing wicked people." The king thought within himself: +--"(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which to deal +with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, make a +naraka in which to deal with wicked men?" He forthwith asked his +ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the +punishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man +of extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent +officers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the +side of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow +hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he +called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and +killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took +him to the king, who secretly charged him, "You must make a square +enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and +fruits; make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing +in every way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make +its gates strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize +him and punish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I +should enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me +go. I now appoint you master of that naraka." + +Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his +food, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka +saw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, +frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his +midday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they +thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the +bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence, +the painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it is but as +a bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. +Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a +caldron of boiling water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, +however, in the bhikshu's countenance. The fire was extinguished, and +the water became cold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a +lotus flower, with the bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went +and reported to the king that there was a marvellous occurrence in the +naraka, and wished him to go and see it; but the king said, "I +formerly made such an agreement that now I dare not go (to the +place)." The lictors said, "This is not a small matter. Your majesty +ought to go quickly. Let your former agreement be altered." The king +thereupon followed them, and entered (the naraka), when the bhikshu +preached the Law to him, and he believed, and was made free.[5] +Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and repented of all the evil which +he had formerly done. From this time he believed in and honoured the +Three Precious Ones, and constantly went to a patra tree, repenting +under it, with self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the eight +rules of abstinence.[6] + +The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the +ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and +such) a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not +there, and then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and +saw what had been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to the +ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a +considerable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) with +bricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows' milk on the roots; and +as he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this +oath, "If the tree do not live, I will never rise from this." When he +had uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the +roots, and it has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100 +cubits in height. + +NOTES + +[1] Here is an instance of {.} used, as was pointed out in chap. ix, +note 3, for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps "a +former birth" is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa +Buddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese "Sakya Buddha." + +[2] See chap. xvii, note 8. + +[3] I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating +the Chinese text by "Earth's prison {.} {.}," or "a prison in the +earth;" the name for which has been adopted generally by Christian +missionaries in China for gehenna and hell. + +[4] Eitel (p. 173) says:--"Yama was originally the Aryan god of the +dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but +Brahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been +retained by Buddhism." The Yama of the text is the "regent of the +narakas, residing south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the +double circuit of mountains above), in a palace built of brass and +iron. He has a sister who controls all the female culprits, as he +exclusively deals with the male sex. Three times, however, in every +twenty-four hours, a demon pours boiling copper into Yama's mouth, and +squeezes it down his throat, causing him unspeakable pain." Such, +however, is the wonderful "transrotation of births," that when Yama's +sins have been expiated, he is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name +of "The Universal King." + +[5] Or, "was loosed;" from the bonds, I suppose, of his various +illusions. + +[6] I have not met with this particular numerical category. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +MOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KASYAPA BUDDHA'S ENTIRE SKELETON IS. + +(The travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a +mountain named Gurupada,[1] inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He +made a cleft, and went down into it, though the place where he entered +would not (now) admit a man. Having gone down very far, there was a +hole on one side, and there the complete body of Kasyapa (still) +abides. Outside the hole (at which he entered) is the earth with which +he had washed his hands.[2] If the people living thereabouts have a +sore on their heads, they plaster on it some of the earth from this, +and feel immediately easier.[3] On this mountain, now as of old, there +are Arhats abiding. Devotees of our Law from the various countries in +that quarter go year by year to the mountain, and present offerings to +Kasyapa; and to those whose hearts are strong in faith there come +Arhats at night, and talk with them, discussing and explaining their +doubts, and disappearing suddenly afterwards. + +On this hill hazels grow luxuriously; and there are many lions, +tigers, and wolves, so that people should not travel incautiously. + +NOTES + +[1] "Fowl's-foot hill," "with three peaks, resembling the foot of a +chicken. It lies seven miles south-east of Gaya, and was the residence +of Mahakasyapa, who is said to be still living inside this mountain." +So Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that Kasyapa is in +the mountain alive, but that his body entire is in a recess or hole in +it. Hardy (M. B., p. 97) says that after Kasyapa Buddha's body was +burnt, the bones still remained in their usual position, presenting +the appearance of a perfect skeleton. It is of him that the chapter +speaks, and not of the famous disciple of Sakyamuni, who also is +called Mahakasyapa. This will appear also on a comparison of Eitel's +articles on "Mahakasyapa" and "Kasyapa Buddha." + +[2] Was it a custom to wash the hands with "earth," as is often done +with sand? + +[3] This I conceive to be the meaning here. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +ON THE WAY BACK TO PATNA. VARANASI, OR BENARES. SAKYAMUNI'S +FIRST DOINGS AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA. + +Fa-hien[1] returned (from here) towards Pataliputtra,[2] keeping along +the course of the Ganges and descending in the direction of the west. +After going ten yojanas he found a vihara, named "The Wilderness,"--a +place where Buddha had dwelt, and where there are monks now. + +Pursuing the same course, and going still to the west, he arrived, +after twelve yojanas, at the city of Varanasi[3] in the kingdom of +Kasi. Rather more than ten le to the north-east of the city, he found +the vihara in the park of "The rishi's Deer-wild."[4] In this park +there formerly resided a Pratyeka Buddha,[5] with whom the deer were +regularly in the habit of stopping for the night. When the World- +honoured one was about to attain to perfect Wisdom, the devas sang in +the sky, "The son of king Suddhodana, having quitted his family and +studied the Path (of Wisdom),[6] will now in seven days become +Buddha." The Pratyeka Buddha heard their words, and immediately +attained to nirvana; and hence this place was named "The Park of the +rishi's Deer-wild."[7] After the World-honoured one had attained to +perfect Wisdom, men build the vihara in it. + +Buddha wished to convert Kaundinya[8] and his four companions; but +they, (being aware of his intention), said to one another, "This +Sramana Gotama[9] for six years continued in the practice of painful +austerities, eating daily (only) a single hemp-seed, and one grain of +rice, without attaining to the Path (of Wisdom); how much less will he +do so now that he has entered (again) among men, and is giving the +reins to (the indulgence of) his body, his speech, and his thoughts! +What has he to do with the Path (of Wisdom)? To-day, when he comes to +us, let us be on our guard not to speak with him." At the places where +the five men all rose up, and respectfully saluted (Buddha), when he +came to them; where, sixty paces north from this, he sat with his face +to the east, and first turned the wheel of the Law, converting +Kaundinya and the four others; where, twenty paces further to the +north, he delivered his prophecy concerning Maitreya;[10] and where, +at a distance of fifty paces to the south, the dragon Elapattra[11] +asked him, "When shall I get free from this naga body?"--at all these +places topes were reared, and are still existing. In (the park) there +are two monasteries, in both of which there are monks residing. + +When you go north-west from the vihara of the Deer-wild park for +thirteen yojanas, there is a kingdom named Kausambi.[12] Its vihara is +named Ghochiravana[13]--a place where Buddha formerly resided. Now, as +of old, there is a company of monks there, most of whom are students +of the hinayana. + +East from (this), when you have travelled eight yojanas, is the place +where Buddha converted[14] the evil demon. There, and where he walked +(in meditation) and sat at the place which was his regular abode, +there have been topes erected. There is also a monastery, which may +contain more than a hundred monks. + +NOTES + +[1] Fa-hien is here mentioned singly, as in the account of his visit +to the cave on Gridhra-kuta. I think that Tao-ching may have remained +at Patna after their first visit to it. + +[2] See chap. xxvii, note 1. + +[3] "The city surrounded by rivers;" the modern Benares, lat. 25d 23s +N., lon. 83d 5s E. + +[4] "The rishi," says Eitel, "is a man whose bodily frame has +undergone a certain transformation by dint of meditation and ascetism, +so that he is, for an indefinite period, exempt from decrepitude, age, +and death. As this period is believed to extend far beyond the usual +duration of human life, such persons are called, and popularly +believed to be, immortals." Rishis are divided into various classes; +and rishi-ism is spoken of as a seventh part of transrotation, and +rishis are referred to as the seventh class of sentient beings. +Taoism, as well as Buddhism, has its Seen jin. + +[5] See chap. xiii, note 15. + +[6] See chap. xxii, note 2. + +[7] For another legend about this park, and the identification of "a +fine wood" still existing, see note in Beal's first version, p. 135. + +[8] A prince of Magadha and a maternal uncle of Sakyamuni, who gave +him the name of Ajnata, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as +Ajnata Kaundinya. He and his four friends had followed Sakyamuni into +the Uruvilva desert, sympathising with him in the austerities he +endured, and hoping that they would issue in his Buddhaship. They were +not aware that that issue had come; which may show us that all the +accounts in the thirty-first chapter are merely descriptions, by means +of external imagery, of what had taken place internally. The kingdom +of nirvana had come without observation. These friends knew it not; +and they were offended by what they considered Sakyamuni's failure, +and the course he was now pursuing. See the account of their +conversion in M. B., p. 186. + +[9] This is the only instance in Fa-hien's text where the Bodhisattva +or Buddha is called by the surname "Gotama." For the most part our +traveller uses Buddha as a proper name, though it properly means "The +Enlightened." He uses also the combinations "Sakya Buddha,"="The +Buddha of the Sakya tribe," and "Sakyamuni,"="The Sakya sage." This +last is the most common designation of the Buddha in China, and to my +mind best combines the characteristics of a descriptive and a proper +name. Among other Buddhistic peoples "Gotama" and "Gotama Buddha" are +the more frequent designations. It is not easy to account for the rise +of the surname Gotama in the Sakya family, as Oldenberg acknowledges. +He says that "the Sakyas, in accordance with the custom of Indian +noble families, had borrowed it from one of the ancient Vedic bard +families." Dr. Davids ("Buddhism," p. 27) says: "The family name was +certainly Gautama," adding in a note, "It is a curious fact that +Gautama is still the family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the +village which has been identified with Kapilavastu." Dr. Eitel says +that "Gautama was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, which +counted the ancient rishi Gautama among its ancestors." When we +proceed, however, to endeavour to trace the connexion of that +Brahmanical rishi with the Sakya house, by means of 1323, 1468, 1469, +and other historical works in Nanjio's Catalogue, we soon find that +Indian histories have no surer foundation than the shifting sand;--see +E. H., on the name Sakya, pp. 108, 109. We must be content for the +present simply to accept Gotama as one of the surnames of the Buddha +with whom we have to do. + +[10] See chap. vi, note 5. It is there said that the prediction of +Maitreya's succession to the Buddhaship was made to him in the Tushita +heaven. Was there a repetition of it here in the Deer-park, or was a +prediction now given concerning something else? + +[11] Nothing seems to be known of this naga but what we read here. + +[12] Identified by some with Kusia, near Kurrah (lat. 25d 41s N., lon. +81d 27s E.); by others with Kosam on the Jumna, thirty miles above +Allahabad. See E. H., p. 55. + +[13] Ghochira was the name of a Vaisya elder, or head, who presented a +garden and vihara to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement +from a Singhalese authority that Sakyamuni resided here during the +ninth year of his Buddhaship. + +[14] Dr. Davids thinks this may refer to the striking and beautiful +story of the conversion of the Yakkha Alavaka, as related in the +Uragavagga, Alavakasutta, pp. 29-31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x, +part ii). + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +DAKSHINA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY. + +South from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshina,[1] +where there is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kasyapa Buddha, +and which has been hewn out from a large hill of rock. It consists in +all of five storeys;--the lowest, having the form of an elephant, with +500 apartments in the rock; the second, having the form of a lion, +with 400 apartments; the third, having the form of a horse, with 300 +apartments; the fourth, having the form of an ox, with 200 apartments; +and the fifth, having the form of a pigeon, with 100 apartments. At +the very top there is a spring, the water of which, always in front of +the apartments in the rock, goes round among the rooms, now circling, +now curving, till in this way it arrives at the lowest storey, having +followed the shape of the structure, and flows out there at the door. +Everywhere in the apartments of the monks, the rock has been pierced +so as to form windows for the admission of light, so that they are all +bright, without any being left in darkness. At the four corners of the +(tiers of) apartments, the rock has been hewn so as to form steps for +ascending to the top (of each). The men of the present day, being of +small size, and going up step by step, manage to get to the top; but +in a former age, they did so at one step.[2] Because of this, the +monastery is called Paravata, that being the Indian name for a pigeon. +There are always Arhats residing in it. + +The country about is (a tract of) uncultivated hillocks,[3] without +inhabitants. At a very long distance from the hill there are villages, +where the people all have bad and erroneous views, and do not know the +Sramanas of the Law of Buddha, Brahmanas, or (devotees of) any of the +other and different schools. The people of that country are constantly +seeing men on the wing, who come and enter this monastery. On one +occasion, when devotees of various countries came to perform their +worship at it, the people of those villages said to them, "Why do you +not fly? The devotees whom we have seen hereabouts all fly;" and the +strangers answered, on the spur of the moment, "Our wings are not yet +fully formed." + +The kingdom of Dakshina is out of the way, and perilous to traverse. +There are difficulties in connexion with the roads; but those who know +how to manage such difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with +them money and various articles, and give them to the king. He will +then send men to escort them. These will (at different stages) pass +them over to others, who will show them the shortest routes. Fa-hien, +however, was after all unable to go there; but having received the +(above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated them. + +NOTES + +[1] Said to be the ancient name of the Deccan. As to the various +marvels in the chapter, it must be borne in mind that our author, as +he tells us at the end, only gives them from hearsay. See "Buddhist +Records of the Western World," vol. ii, pp. 214, 215, where the +description, however, is very different. + +[2] Compare the account of Buddha's great stride of fifteen yojanas in +Ceylon, as related in chapter xxxviii. + +[3] See the same phrase in the Books of the Later Han dynasty, the +twenty-fourth Book of Biographies, p. 9b. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +IN PATNA. FA-HIEN'S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND +INDIAN STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS. + +From Varanasi (the travellers) went back east to Pataliputtra. +Fa-hien's original object had been to search for (copies of) the +Vinaya. In the various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found +one master transmitting orally (the rules) to another, but no written +copies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and +come on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana monastery,[1] he found +a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika[2] rules,--those +which were observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha was still +in the world. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana +vihara. As to the other eighteen schools,[3] each one has the views +and decisions of its own masters. Those agree (with this) in the +general meaning, but they have small and trivial differences, as when +one opens and another shuts.[4] This copy (of the rules), however, is +the most complete, with the fullest explanations.[5] + +He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand +gathas,[6] being the sarvastivadah[7] rules,--those which are observed +by the communities of monks in the land of Ts'in; which also have all +been handed down orally from master to master without being committed +to writing. In the community here, moreover, we got the Samyuktabhi- +dharma-hridaya-(sastra),[8] containing about six or seven thousand +gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of the +Parinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,[9] of about 5000 gathas; and the Mahasan- +ghikah Abhidharma. + +In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fa-hien stayed here for +three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and +writing out the Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central +Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified +demeanour in their societies which he remarked under all occurring +circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and +imperfect condition the rules were among the monkish communities in +the land of Ts'in, and made the following aspiration:--"From this time +forth till I come to the state of Buddha, let me not be born in a +frontier land."[10] He remained accordingly (in India), and did not +return (to the land of Han). Fa-hien, however, whose original purpose +had been to secure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into +the land of Han, returned there alone. + +NOTES + +[1] Mentioned before in chapter xxvii. + +[2] Mahasanghikah simply means "the Great Assembly," that is, of +monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Sakyamuni held? It +does not appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the +time. The document found by Fa-hien would be a record of those rules; +or rather a copy of that record. We must suppose that the original +record had disappeared from the Jetavana vihara, or Fa-hien would +probably have spoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had +been allowed to do so. + +[3] The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character +called pu occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only +have the meaning, often belonging to it, of "copy." The second +instance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies, +all different from the original, and from one another, in minor +matters? We are compelled to translate--"the eighteen schools," an +expression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids' +Manual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted. + +[4] This is equivalent to the "binding" and "loosing," "opening" and +"shutting," which found their way into the New Testament, and the +Christian Church, from the schools of the Jewish Rabbins. + +[5] It was afterwards translated by Fa-hien into Chinese. See Nanjio's +Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 +and 1150, columns 247 and 253. + +[6] A gatha is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of +a few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do +not know that its length is strictly defined. + +[7] "A branch," says Eitel, "of the great vaibhashika school, +asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the +authority of Rahula." + +[8] See Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his +account of Fa-hien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka +Sutra. + +[9] Probably Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with +it. + +[10] This then would be the consummation of the Sramana's being,--to +get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tao-ching +thought that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of +births; and was likely to attain to it sooner by living only in India. +If all this was not in his mind, he yet felt that each of his +successive lives would be happier, if lived in India. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +TO CHAMPA AND TAMALIPTI. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. +TAKES SHIP TO SINGHALA, OR CEYLON. + +Following the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for +eighteen yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom of +Champa,[1] with topes reared at the places where Buddha walked in +meditation by his vihara, and where he and the three Buddhas, his +predecessors, sat. There were monks residing at them all. Continuing +his journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he came to the country of +Tamalipti,[2] (the capital of which is) a seaport. In the country +there are twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks +residing. The Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here Fa-hien +stayed two years, writing out his Sutras,[3] and drawing pictures of +images. + +After this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating +over the sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and +the wind was favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and +night, they came to the country of Singhala.[4] The people said that +it was distant (from Tamalipti) about 700 yojanas. + +The kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty +yojanas, and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it there +are as many as 100 small islands, distant from one another ten, +twenty, or even 200 le; but all subject to the large island. Most of +them produce pearls and precious stones of various kinds; there is one +which produces the pure and brilliant pearl,[5]--an island which would +form a square of about ten le. The king employs men to watch and +protect it, and requires three out of every ten such pearls, which the +collectors find. + +NOTES + +[1] Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor, +lat. 25d 14s N., lon. 56d 55s E. + +[2] Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China; +the modern Tam-look, lat. 22d 17s N., lon. 88d 2s E.; near the mouth +of the Hoogly. + +[3] Perhaps Ching {.} is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka +which he had obtained. + +[4] "The Kingdom of the Lion," Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a +merchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom +was ascribed. His father was named Singha, "the Lion," which became +the name of the country;--Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, "the Country of +the Lion." + +[5] Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning "free +from stain," "bright and growing purer." It is a symbol of Buddha and +of his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +AT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND +MONASTERIES. STATUE OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. +FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA'S TOOTH. + +The country originally had no human inhabitants,[1] but was occupied +only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries +carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits +did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious +commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the +merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the +things away. + +Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they +went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant +the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great +nation. The (climate) is temperate and attractive, without any +difference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant. +Cultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed +seasons for it. + +When Buddha came to this country,[2] wishing to transform the wicked +nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of +the royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain,[3] the two +being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the +city the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned +with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the +precious substances. By the side of the top he further built a +monastery, called the Abhayagiri,[4] where there are (now) five +thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved +and inlaid works of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious +substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more +than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those +substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words +cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless +pearl. Several years had now elapsed since Fa-hien left the land of +Han; the men with whom he had been in intercourse had all been of +regions strange to him; his eyes had not rested on an old and familiar +hill or river, plant or tree; his fellow-travellers, moreover, had +been separated from him, some by death, and others flowing off in +different directions; no face or shadow was now with him but his own, +and a constant sadness was in his heart. Suddenly (one day), when by +the side of this image of jade, he saw a merchant presenting as his +offering a fan of white silk;[5] and the tears of sorrow involuntarily +filled his eyes and fell down. + +A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip +of the patra tree,[6] which he planted by the side of the hall of +Buddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it +bent on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would +fall, propped it with a post eight or nine spans round. The tree began +to grow at the very heart of the prop, where it met (the trunk); (a +shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where it +entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about +four spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer +portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them. +Beneath the tree there has been built a vihara, in which there is an +image (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and +look up to without ever becoming wearied. In the city there has been +reared also the vihara of Buddha's tooth, on which, as well as on the +other, the seven precious substances have been employed. + +The king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity of +the faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also +great. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there has +been no famine or scarcity, no revolution or disorder. In the +treasuries of the monkish communities there are many precious stones, +and the priceless manis. One of the kings (once) entered one of those +treasuries, and when he looked all round and saw the priceless pearls, +his covetous greed was excited, and he wished to take them to himself +by force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and immediately +went and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, to +show his repentance of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he +informed the monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them to +make a regulation that from that day forth the king should not be +allowed to enter the treasury and see (what it contained), and that no +bhikshu should enter it till after he had been in orders for a period +of full forty years.[7] + +In the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean[8] merchants, +whose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are +kept in good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there +have been built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a +pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together +to hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom there may be +altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common +stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common +supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take +their great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as +much as the vessels will hold, all returning with them full. + +The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third +month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large +elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is +dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following +proclamation:--"The Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,[9] +manifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up +kingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes and gave them to +another;[10] he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom the life of +a dove;[10] he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;[11] he gave +his body to feed a starving tigress;[11] he grudged not his marrow and +his brains. In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for the +sake of all living. And so it was, that, having become Buddha, he +continued in the world for forty-five years, preaching his Law, +teaching and transforming, so that those who had no rest found rest, +and the unconverted were converted. When his connexion with the living +was completed,[12] he attained to pari-nirvana (and died). Since that +event, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,[13] and +all living beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold! ten days +after this, Buddha's tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the +Abhayagiri-vihara. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish +to amass merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good +condition, grandly adorn the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant +store of flowers and incense to be used as offerings to it." + +When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both +sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which +the Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:--here as +Sudana,[14] there as Sama;[15] now as the king of elephants;[16] and +then as a stag or a horse.[16] All these figures are brightly coloured +and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the +tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle +of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and +thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihara. There +monks and laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light +lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night without +ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is +returned to the vihara within the city. On fast-days the door of that +vihara is opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed +according to the rules. + +Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihara there is a hill, with a +vihara on it, called the Chaitya,[17] where there may be 2000 monks. +Among them there is a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,[18] +honoured and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more +than forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such +gentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop +together in the same room, without doing one another any harm. + +NOTES + +[1] It is desirable to translate {.} {.}, for which "inhabitants" or +"people" is elsewhere sufficient, here by "human inhabitants." +According to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by +Rakshasas or Rakshas, "demons who devour men," and "beings to be +feared," monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the terror of the +shipwrecked mariner. Our author's "spirits" {.} {.} were of a gentler +type. His dragons or nagas have come before us again and again. + +[2] That Sakyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful. +Hardy, in M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends of +three visits,--in the first, fifth, and eighth years of his +Buddhaship. It is plain, however, from Fa-hien's narrative, that in +the beginning of our fifth century, Buddhism prevailed throughout the +island. Davids in the last chapter of his "Buddhism" ascribes its +introduction to one of Asoka's missions, after the Council of Patna, +under his son Mahinda, when Tissa, "the delight of the gods," was king +(B.C. 250-230). + +[3] This would be what is known as "Adam's peak," having, according to +Hardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano, +Samastakuta, and Samanila. "There is an indentation on the top of it," +a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 3/4 inches long, and about 2 1/2 feet +wide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohameddans, +as that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,--as having been +made by Buddha. + +[4] Meaning "The Fearless Hill." There is still the Abhayagiri tope, +the highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and +built about B.C. 90, by Watta Gamini, in whose reign, about 160 years +after the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death of +Sakyamuni, the Tripitaka was first reduced to writing in Ceylon;-- +"Buddhism," p. 234. + +[5] We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a Chinese, as +indeed the Chinese texts say, and the fan such as Fa-hien had seen and +used in his native land. + +[6] This should be the pippala, or bodhidruma, generally spoken of, in +connexion with Buddha, as the Bo tree, under which he attained to the +Buddhaship. It is strange our author should have confounded them as he +seems to do. In what we are told of the tree here, we have, no doubt, +his account of the planting, growth, and preservation of the famous Bo +tree, which still exists in Ceylon. It has been stated in a previous +note that Asoka's son, Mahinda, went as the apostle of Buddhism to +Ceylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister Sanghamitta, who had entered +the order at the same time as himself, and whose help was needed, some +of the king's female relations having signified their wish to become +nuns. On leaving India, she took with her a branch of the sacred Bo +tree at Buddha Gaya, under which Sakyamuni had become Buddha. Of how +the tree has grown and still lives we have an account in Davids' +"Buddhism." He quotes the words of Sir Emerson Tennent, that it is +"the oldest historical tree in the world;" but this must be denied if +it be true, as Eitel says, that the tree at Buddha Gaya, from which +the slip that grew to be this tree was taken more than 2000 years ago, +is itself still living in its place. We must conclude that Fa-hien, +when in Ceylon, heard neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta. + +[7] Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made at +monasteries as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and +duration of their ministry. + +[8] The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in +Sanskrit sa; and va, bo or bha. "Sabaean" is Mr. Beal's reading of +them, probably correct. I suppose the merchants were Arabs, +forerunners of the so-called Moormen, who still form so important a +part of the mercantile community in Ceylon. + +[9] A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period +during which a physical universe is formed and destroyed. Asankhyeya +denotes the highest sum for which a conventional term exists;-- +according to Chinese calculations equal to one followed by seventeen +ciphers; according to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one followed +by ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four Asankhyeya- +kalpas. Eitel, p. 15. + +[10] See chapter ix. + +[11] See chapter xi. + +[12] He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the +character of all his past births required, and he had done it. + +[13] They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the +Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and +note on p. 89. + +[14] Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth +which preceded his appearance as Sakyamuni or Gotama, when he became +the Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka, of +which Hardy, M. B., pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also +"Buddhist Birth Stories," the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana, +he fulfilled "the Perfections," his distinguishing attribute being +entire self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha +is made to say ("Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 159):-- + + "This earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or grief, + Even she by my free-giving's mighty power was shaken seven times." + +Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to enter +in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sakyamuni. + +[15] I take the name Sama from Beal's revised version. He says in a +note that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented +in the Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet +know. But adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text +should be translated "the change into Sama." Remusat gives for them, +"la transformation en eclair;" Beal, in his first version, "his +appearance as a bright flash of light;" Giles, "as a flash of +lightning." Julien's Methode does not give the phonetic value in +Sanskrit of {.}. + +[16] In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in +which Sakyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M. +B., p. 100), it is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant; +ten times as a deer; and four times as a horse. + +[17] Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects of +religious worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and +including therefore Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics, +pictures, statues, &c. It is defined as "a fane," "a place for worship +and presenting offerings." Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is the +sacred hill of Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo tree;-- +Davids' Buddhism, pp. 230, 231. + +[18] Eitel says (p. 31): "A famous ascetic, the founder of a school, +which flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400." But Fa-hien gives no intimation +of Dharma-gupta's founding a school. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +CREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE. + +South of the city seven le there is a vihara, called the Maha-vihara, +where 3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana, of such +lofty virtue, and so holy and pure in his observance of the +disciplinary rules, that the people all surmised that he was an Arhat. +When he drew near his end, the king came to examine into the point; +and having assembled the monks according to rule, asked whether the +bhikshu had attained to the full degree of Wisdom.[1] They answered in +the affirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king accordingly, +when he died, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the regular +rules prescribed. Four of five le east from the vihara there was +reared a great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty +cubits square, and the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, +aloe, and other kinds of fragrant wood. + +On the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it. +With clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body) +round and round.[2] They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our +funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes.[3] + +At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes +from all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings of +flowers and incense. While they were following the car to the burial- +ground,[4] the king himself presented flowers and incense. When this +was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil of +sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the fire +was blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his upper +garment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a +distance into the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When the +cremation was over, they collected and preserved the bones, and +proceeded to erect a tope. Fa-hien had not arrived in time (to see the +distinguished Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial. + +At that time the king,[5] who was a sincere believer in the Law of +Buddha and wished to build a new vihara for the monks, first convoked +a great assembly. After giving the monks a meal of rice, and +presenting his offerings (on the occasion), he selected a pair of +first-rate oxen, the horns of which were grandly decorated with gold, +silver, and the precious substances. A golden plough had been +provided, and the king himself turned up a furrow on the four sides of +the ground within which the building was supposed to be. He then +endowed the community of the monks with the population, fields, and +houses, writing the grant on plates of metal, (to the effect) that +from that time onwards, from generation to generation, no one should +venture to annul or alter it. + +In this country Fa-hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a +Sutra from the pulpit, say:--"Buddha's alms-bowl was at first in +Vaisali, and now it is in Gandhara.[6] After so many hundred years' +(he gave, when Fa-hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he +has forgotten it), "it will go to Western Tukhara;[7] after so many +hundred years, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to +Kharachar;[8] after so many hundred years, to the land of Han; after +so many hundred years, it will come to Sinhala; and after so many +hundred years, it will return to Central India. After that, it will +ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees +it, he will say with a sigh, 'The alms-bowl of Sakyamuni Buddha is +come;' and with all the devas he will present to it flowers and +incense for seven days. When these have expired, it will return to +Jambudvipa, where it will be received by the king of the sea nagas, +and taken into his naga palace. When Maitreya shall be about to attain +to perfect Wisdom (and become Buddha), it will again separate into +four bowls,[9] which will return to the top of mount Anna,[9] whence +they came. After Maitreya has become Buddha, the four deva kings will +again think of the Buddha (with their bowls as they did in the case of +the previous Buddha). The thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, +indeed, will all use the same alms-bowl; and when the bowl has +disappeared, the Law of Buddha will go on gradually to be +extinguished. After that extinction has taken place, the life of man +will be shortened, till it is only a period of five years. During this +period of a five years' life, rice, butter, and oil will all vanish +away, and men will become exceedingly wicked. The grass and trees +which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs, with which +they will hurt, cut, and kill one another. Those among them on whom +there is blessing will withdraw from society among the hills; and when +the wicked have exterminated one another, they will again come forth, +and say among themselves, 'The men of former times enjoyed a very +great longevity; but through becoming exceedingly wicked, and doing +all lawless things, the length of our life has been shortened and +reduced even to five years. Let us now unite together in the practice +of what is good, cherishing a gentle and sympathising heart, and +carefully cultivating good faith and righteousness. When each one in +this way practises that faith and righteousness, life will go on to +double its length till it reaches 80,000 years. When Maitreya appears +in the world, and begins to turn the wheel of his Law, he will in the +first place save those among the disciples of the Law left by the +Sakya who have quitted their families, and those who have accepted the +three Refuges, undertaken the five Prohibitions and the eight +Abstinences, and given offerings to the three Precious Ones; secondly +and thirdly, he will save those between whom and conversion there is a +connexion transmitted from the past.'"[10] + +(Such was the discourse), and Fa-hien wished to write it down as a +portion of doctrine; but the man said, "This is taken from no Sutra, +it is only the utterance of my own mind." + +NOTES + +[1] Possibly, "and asked the bhikshu," &c. I prefer the other way of +construing, however. + +[2] It seems strange that this should have been understood as a +wrapping of the immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in the +text to necessitate such a version, but the contrary. Compare +"Buddhist Suttas," pp. 92, 93. + +[3] See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the +Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. Fa-hien's +{.} {.}, "in this (country)," which I have expressed by "our," shows +that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the +account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when +he had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This +disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the "dragons" and "fishes." +The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle. + +[4] The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence +our author writes of it as such. + +[5] This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410-432). In the time of +his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368-410), the pitakas were first +translated into Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his +commentaries. Both were great builders of viharas. See the Mahavansa, +pp. 247, foll. + +[6] See chapter xii. Fa-hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel +says was "the ancient capital of Gandhara." + +[7] Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara +({.}) of chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to +carry off the bowl from Purushapura. + +[8] North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. +H., p. 56). + +[9] See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of "Anna" the Chinese recensions +have Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of +one or other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount +Meru, the fabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl. + +[10] That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such +conversion in the present. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; +AND THENCE TO CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG; AND GOES TO NANKING. +CONCLUSION OR L'ENVOI BY ANOTHER WRITER. + +Fa-hien abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to his +acquisitions in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the Vinaya- +pitaka of the Mahisasakah (school);[1] the Dirghagama and +Samyuktagama[2] (Sutras); and also the Samyukta-sanchaya-pitaka;[3]-- +all being works unknown in the land of Han. Having obtained these +Sanskrit works, he took passage in a large merchantman, on board of +which there were more than 200 men, and to which was attached by a +rope a smaller vessel, as a provision against damage or injury to the +large one from the perils of the navigation. With a favourable wind, +they proceeded eastwards for three days, and then they encountered a +great wind. The vessel sprang a leak and the water came in. The +merchants wished to go to the small vessel; but the men on board it, +fearing that too many would come, cut the connecting rope. The +merchants were greatly alarmed, feeling their risk of instant death. +Afraid that the vessel would fill, they took their bulky goods and +threw them into the water. Fa-hien also took his pitcher[4] and +washing-basin, with some other articles, and cast them into the sea; +but fearing that the merchants would cast overboard his books and +images, he could only think with all his heart of Kwan-she-yin,[5] and +commit his life to (the protection of) the church of the land of +Han,[6] (saying in effect), "I have travelled far in search of our +Law. Let me, by your dread and supernatural (power), return from my +wanderings, and reach my resting-place!" + +In this way the tempest[7] continued day and night, till on the +thirteenth day the ship was carried to the side of an island, where, +on the ebbing of the tide, the place of the leak was discovered, and +it was stopped, on which the voyage was resumed. On the sea +(hereabouts) there are many pirates, to meet with whom is speedy +death. The great ocean spreads out, a boundless expanse. There is no +knowing east or west; only by observing the sun, moon, and stars was +it possible to go forward. If the weather were dark and rainy, (the +ship) went as she was carried by the wind, without any definite +course. In the darkness of the night, only the great waves were to be +seen, breaking on one another, and emitting a brightness like that of +fire, with huge turtles and other monsters of the deep (all about). +The merchants were full of terror, not knowing where they were going. +The sea was deep and bottomless, and there was no place where they +could drop anchor and stop. But when the sky became clear, they could +tell east and west, and (the ship) again went forward in the right +direction. If she had come on any hidden rock, there would have been +no way of escape. + +After proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they +arrived at a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error +and Brahmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth +speaking of. After staying there for five months, (Fa-hien) again +embarked in another large merchantman, which also had on board more +than 200 men. They carried provisions for fifty days, and commenced +the voyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month. + +Fa-hien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the +north-east, intending to fetch Kwang-chow. After more than a month, +when the night-drum had sounded the second watch, they encountered a +black wind and tempestuous rain, which threw the merchants and +passengers into consternation. Fa-hien again with all his heart +directed his thoughts to Kwan-she-yin and the monkish communities of +the land of Han; and, through their dread and mysterious protection, +was preserved to day-break. After day-break, the Brahmans deliberated +together and said, "It is having this Sramana on board which has +occasioned our misfortune and brought us this great and bitter +suffering. Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore. +We must not for the sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to +such imminent peril." A patron of Fa-hien, however, said to them, "If +you land the bhikshu, you must at the same time land me; and if you do +not, then you must kill me. If you land this Sramana, when I get to +the land of Han, I will go to the king, and inform against you. The +king also reveres and believes the Law of Buddha, and honours the +bhikshus." The merchants hereupon were perplexed, and did not dare +immediately to land (Fa-hien). + +At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the sailing- +masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than seventy +days passed (from their leaving Java), and the provisions and water +were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for +cooking, and carefully divided the (fresh) water, each man getting two +pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel +and said, "At the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached +Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;--must we not have +held a wrong course?" Immediately they directed the ship to the north- +west, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for twelve +days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao,[8] on the +borders of the prefecture of Ch'ang-kwang,[8] and immediately got good +water and vegetables. They had passed through many perils and +hardships, and had been in a state of anxious apprehension for many +days together; and now suddenly arriving at this shore, and seeing +those (well-known) vegetables, the lei and kwoh,[9] they knew indeed +that it was the land of Han. Not seeing, however, any inhabitants nor +any traces of them, they did not know whereabouts they were. Some said +that they had not yet got to Kwang-chow, and others that they had +passed it. Unable to come to a definite conclusion, (some of them) got +into a small boat and entered a creek, to look for some one of whom +they might ask what the place was. They found two hunters, whom they +brought back with them, and then called on Fa-hien to act as +interpreter and question them. Fa-hien first spoke assuringly to them, +and then slowly and distinctly asked them, "Who are you?" They +replied, "We are disciples of Buddha?" He then asked, "What are you +looking for among these hills?" They began to lie,[10] and said, +"To-morrow is the fifteenth day of the seventh month. We wanted to get +some peaches to present[11] to Buddha." He asked further, "What +country is this?" They replied, "This is the border of the prefecture +of Ch'ang-kwang, a part of Ts'ing-chow under the (ruling) House of +Tsin." When they heard this, the merchants were glad, immediately +asked for (a portion of) their money and goods, and sent men to +Ch'ang-kwang city. + +The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When he +heard that a Sramana had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing +with him books and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an +escort to meet (the traveller), and receive the books and images, and +took them back with him to the seat of his government. On this the +merchants went back in the direction of Yang-chow;[12] (but) when +(Fa-hien) arrived at Ts'ing-chow, (the prefect there)[13] begged him +(to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the summer +retreat was ended, Fa-hien, having been separated for a long time from +his (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Ch'ang-gan; but as the +business which he had in hand was important, he went south to the +Capital;[14] and at an interview with the masters (there) exhibited +the Sutras and the collection of the Vinaya (which he had procured). + +After Fa-hien set out from Ch'ang-gan, it took him six years to reach +Central India;[15] stoppages there extended over (other) six years; +and on his return it took him three years to reach Ts'ing-chow. The +countries through which he passed were a few under thirty. From the +sandy desert westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified +demeanour of the monkhood and of the transforming influence of the Law +was beyond the power of language fully to describe; and reflecting how +our masters had not heard any complete account of them, he therefore +(went on) without regarding his own poor life, or (the dangers to be +encountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring hardships and +difficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through the +dread power of the three Honoured Ones,[15] to receive help and +protection in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his +experiences, that worthy readers might share with him in what he had +heard and said.[15] + +It was in the year Keah-yin,[16] the twelfth year of the period E-he +of the (Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, in +the summer, at the close of the period of retreat, that I met the +devotee Fa-hien. On his arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter +study,[17] and there, in our meetings for conversation, I asked him +again and again about his travels. The man was modest and complaisant, +and answered readily according to the truth. I thereupon advised him +to enter into details where he had at first only given a summary, and +he proceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to the +end. He said himself, "When I look back on what I have gone through, +my heart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. +That I encountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without +thinking of or sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, and +thought of nothing but to do my best in my simplicity and +straightforwardness. Thus it was that I exposed my life where death +seemed inevitable, if I might accomplish but a ten-thousandth part of +what I hoped." These words affected me in turn, and I thought:--"This +man is one of those who have seldom been seen from ancient times to +the present. Since the Great Doctrine flowed on to the East there has +been no one to be compared with Hien in his forgetfulness of self and +search for the Law. Henceforth I know that the influence of sincerity +finds no obstacle, however great, which it does not overcome, and that +force of will does not fail to accomplish whatever service it +undertakes. Does not the accomplishing of such service arise from +forgetting (and disregarding) what is (generally) considered as +important, and attaching importance to what is (generally) forgotten? + +NOTES + +[1] No. 1122 in Nanjio's Catalogue, translated into Chinese by +Buddhajiva and a Chinese Sramana about A.D. 425. Mahisasakah means +"the school of the transformed earth," or "the sphere within which the +Law of Buddha is influential." The school is one of the subdivisions +of the Sarvastivadah. + +[2] Nanjio's 545 and 504. The Agamas are Sutras of the hinayana, +divided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or +Dirghagamas (long Agamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the +third class contains the Samyuktagamas (mixed Agamas). + +[3] Meaning "Miscellaneous Collections;" a sort of fourth Pitaka. See +Nanjio's fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese +miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is +known either in Sanskrit or Pali literature. + +[4] We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kundika, which +is explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as="washing +basin," but two things evidently are intended. + +[5] See chap. xvi, note 23. + +[6] At his novitiate Fa-hien had sought the refuge of the "three +Precious Ones" (the three Refuges {.} {.} of last chapter), of which +the congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts +turn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart +were not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so. + +[7] In the text {.} {.}, ta-fung, "the great wind,"=the typhoon. + +[8] They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the +foot of mount Lao, which still rises under the same name on the +extreme south of the peninsula, east from Keao Chow, and having the +district of Tsieh-mih on the east of it. All the country there is +included in the present Phing-too Chow of the department Lae-chow. The +name Phing-too dates from the Han dynasty, but under the dynasty of +the After Ch'e {.} {.}, (A.D. 479-501), it was changed into Ch'ang- +kwang. Fa-hien may have lived, and composed the narrative of his +travels, after the change of name was adopted. See the Topographical +Tables of the different Dynasties ({.} {.} {.} {.} {.}), published in +1815. + +[9] What these vegetables exactly were it is difficult to say; and +there are different readings of the characters for them. Williams' +Dictionary, under kwoh, brings the two names together in a phrase, but +the rendering of it is simply "a soup of simples." For two or three +columns here, however, the text appears to me confused and imperfect. + +[10] I suppose these men were really hunters; and, when brought before +Fa-hien, because he was a Sramana, they thought they would please him +by saying they were disciples of Buddha. But what had disciples of +Buddha to do with hunting and taking life? They were caught in their +own trap, and said they were looking for peaches. + +[11] The Chinese character here has occurred twice before, but in a +different meaning and connexion. Remusat, Beal, and Giles take it as +equivalent to "to sacrifice." But his followers do not "sacrifice" to +Buddha. That is a priestly term, and should not be employed of +anything done at Buddhistic services. + +[12] Probably the present department of Yang-chow in Keang-soo; but as +I have said in a previous note, the narrative does not go on so +clearly as it generally does. + +[13] Was, or could, this prefect be Le E? + +[14] Probably not Ch'ang-gan, but Nan-king, which was the capital of +the Eastern Tsin dynasty under another name. + +[15] The whole of this paragraph is probably Fa-hien's own conclusion +of his narrative. The second half of the second sentence, both in +sentiment and style in the Chinese text, seems to necessitate our +ascribing it to him, writing on the impulse of his own thoughts, in +the same indirect form which he adopted for his whole narrative. There +are, however, two peculiar phraseologies in it which might suggest the +work of another hand. For the name India, where the first [15] is +placed, a character is employed which is similarly applied nowhere +else; and again, "the three Honoured Ones," at which the second [15] +is placed, must be the same as "the three Precious Ones," which we +have met with so often; unless we suppose that {.} {.} is printed in +all the revisions for {.} {.}, "the World-honoured one," which has +often occurred. On the whole, while I accept this paragraph as +Fa-hien's own, I do it with some hesitation. That the following and +concluding paragraph is from another hand, there can be no doubt. And +it is as different as possible in style from the simple and +straightforward narrative of Fa-hien. + +[16] There is an error of date here, for which it is difficult to +account. The year Keah-yin was A.D. 414; but that was the tenth year +of the period E-he, and not the twelfth, the cyclical designation of +which was Ping-shin. According to the preceding paragraph, Fa-hien's +travels had occupied him fifteen years, so that counting from A.D. +399, the year Ke-hae, as that in which he set out, the year of his +getting to Ts'ing-chow would have been Kwei-chow, the ninth year of +the period E-he; and we might join on "This year Keah-yin" to that +paragraph, as the date at which the narrative was written out for the +bamboo-tablets and the silk, and then begins the Envoy, "In the +twelfth year of E-he." This would remove the error as it stands at +present, but unfortunately there is a particle at the end of the +second date ({.}), which seems to tie the twelfth year of E-he to +Keah-yin, as another designation of it. The "year-star" is the planet +Jupiter, the revolution of which, in twelve years, constitutes "a +great year." Whether it would be possible to fix exactly by +mathematical calculation in what year Jupiter was in the Chinese +zodiacal sign embracing part of both Virgo and Scorpio, and thereby +help to solve the difficulty of the passage, I do not know, and in the +meantime must leave that difficulty as I have found it. + +[17] We do not know who the writer of the Envoy was. "The winter study +or library" would be the name of the apartment in his monastery or +house, where he sat and talked with Fa-hien. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fa-Hien + diff --git a/old/rbddh10.zip b/old/rbddh10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cb2bb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rbddh10.zip |
