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Title: 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
Author: Faxian
Language: English
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KINGDOMS ***
[Illustration: VI. THE DEVAS CELEBRATING THE ATTAINMENT OF THE
BUDDHASHIP.]
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, M.A., LL.D.
Professor of the Chinese Language and Literature
Oxford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1886
[_All rights reserved_]
CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE xi
INTRODUCTION.
Life of Fâ-hien; genuineness and integrity of the text of his
narrative; number of the adherents of Buddhism. 1
CHAPTER I.
From Chʽang-gan to the Sandy Desert. 9
CHAPTER II.
On to Shen-shen and thence to Khoten. 12
CHAPTER III.
Khoten. Processions of images. The king’s New monastery. 16
CHAPTER IV.
Through the Tsʽung or ‘Onion’ mountains to Kʽeeh-chʽâ; probably
Skardo, or some city more to the East in Ladak. 21
CHAPTER V.
Great quinquennial assembly of monks. Relics of Buddha.
Productions of the country. 22
CHAPTER VI.
On towards North India. Darada. Image of Maitreya Bodhisattva. 24
CHAPTER VII.
Crossing of the Indus. When Buddhism first crossed that river
for the East. 26
CHAPTER VIII.
Woo-chang, or Udyâna. Monasteries and their ways. Traces of
Buddha. 28
CHAPTER IX.
Soo-ho-to. Legend of Buddha. 30
CHAPTER X.
Gandhâra. Legends of Buddha. 31
CHAPTER XI.
Taksahśilâ. Legends. The four great topes. 32
CHAPTER XII.
Purushapura, or Peshâwar. Prophecy about king Kanishka and
his tope. Buddha’s alms-bowl. Death of Hwuy-ying. 33
CHAPTER XIII.
Nagâra. Festival of Buddha’s skull-bone. Other relics, and his
shadow. 36
CHAPTER XIV.
Death of Hwuy-king in the Little Snowy mountains. Lo-e. Poh-nâ.
Crossing the Indus to the East. 40
CHAPTER XV.
Bhida. Sympathy of monks with the pilgrims. 41
CHAPTER XVI.
On to Mathurâ, or Muttra. Condition and customs of Central
India; of the monks, vihâras, and monasteries. 42
CHAPTER XVII.
Saṅkâśya. Buddha’s ascent to and descent from the Trayastriṃśas
heaven, and other legends 47
CHAPTER XVIII.
Kanyâkubja, or Canouge. Buddha’s preaching. 53
CHAPTER XIX.
Shâ-che. Legend of Buddha’s Danta-kâshṭha. 54
CHAPTER XX.
Kośala and Śrâvastî. The Jetavana vihâra and other memorials and
legends of Buddha. Sympathy of the monks with the pilgrims. 55
CHAPTER XXI.
The three predecessors of Śâkyamuni in the buddhaship. 63
CHAPTER XXII.
Kapilavastu. Its desolation. Legends of Buddha’s birth, and other
incidents in connexion with it. 64
CHAPTER XXIII.
Râma, and its tope. 68
CHAPTER XXIV.
Where Buddha finally renounced the world, and where he died. 70
CHAPTER XXV.
Vaiśâlî The tope called ‘Weapons laid down.’ The Council of
Vaiśâlî. 72
CHAPTER XXVI.
Remarkable death of Ânanda. 75
CHAPTER XXVII.
Pâṭaliputtra, or Patna, in Magadha. King Aśoka’s spirit-built
palace and halls. The Buddhist Brahmân, Rȧdhasȧmi.
Dispensaries and hospitals. 77
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Râjagṛiha, New and Old. Legends and incidents connected with it. 80
CHAPTER XXIX.
Gṛidhra-kûṭa hill, and legends. Fâ-hien passes a night on it. His
reflections. 82
CHAPTER XXX.
The Śrataparṇa cave, or cave of the First Council. Legends.
Suicide of a Bhikshu. 84
CHAPTER XXXI.
Gayâ. Śâkyamuni’s attaining to the Buddhaship; and other legends. 87
CHAPTER XXXII.
Legend of king Aśoka in a former birth, and his naraka. 90
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Mount Gurupada, where Kâśyapa Buddha’s entire skeleton is. 92
CHAPTER XXXIV.
On the way back to Patna. Vârâṇasî, or Benâres. Śâkyamuni’s
first doings after becoming Buddha. 93
CHAPTER XXXV.
Dakshiṇa, and the pigeon monastery. 96
CHAPTER XXXVI.
In Patna. Fâ-hien’s labours in transcription of manuscripts, and
Indian studies for three years. 98
CHAPTER XXXVII.
To Champâ and Tâmaliptî. Stay and labours there for three
years. Takes ship to Singhala, or Ceylon. 100
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. 101
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Cremation of an Arhat. Sermon of a devotee. 107
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. 111
CHINESE TEXT: 高僧法顯傳
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, &c.
Sketch-map of Fâ-hien’s travels _To face Introduction, page 1_
I.
Dream of Buddha’s mother of his incarnation _To face p. 65_
II.
Buddha just born, with the nâgas supplying water
to wash him _To face p. 67_
III.
Buddha tossing the white elephant over the wall _To face p. 66_
IV.
Buddha in solitude and enduring austerities _To face p. 87_
V.
Buddhaship attained _To face p, 88_
VI.
The devas celebrating the attainment of the
Buddhaship _To face the Title_
VII.
Buddha’s dying instructions _To face p. 70_
VIII.
Buddha’s death _To follow VII_
IX.
Division of Buddha’s relics _To follow VIII_
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 (page 4), 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
Landresse’ (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 ‘Fâ-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 (〇) 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 Sakyamuni’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 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 太子), 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-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.
[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 archæologists. Most of the places from
Chʽang-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
Kʽieh-chʽa 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 Tʽo-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.
Takshaśilâ, 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 Nanking to Chʽang-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,[1] and he was a native of Wu-yang
in Pʽing-Yang,[2] 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 Śrâmaṇera,
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 Śrâmaṇeras 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 novitiate 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-piṭaka. 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 Râjagṛiha.
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 Śramaṇa
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[3] (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 Śâkyamuni, ‘the Śâkya, 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 ‘Śramaṇa, 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 Śramaṇa 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 Tâo-yüen, 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 topnotes, instead of footnotes
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 Kʽien-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, Nepál
1, and Ceylon 1; total, 222 millions.’
ii. In his article on M. J. Barthélemy Saint Hilaire’s ‘Le Bouddha et
sa Religion,’ republished in his ‘Chips from a German Workshop,’
vol. i. (1868), Professor Max Müller (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, Brahmânists 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-ssé 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 12½, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about
½.
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) 414½ millions of Chinese from his
total of 500, and there remain only 85½ 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-tâo, 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, Tâoists,
and Buddhists? Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China. The common
name for it is Jû Chiâo, ‘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 Kʽang-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 Tâoism were both included. If, as stated in the note
quoted from Professor Müller, the emperor countenances both the Tâoist
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 Tâoism.
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 Tâoists; 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 Tâoists. 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, Brahmânism, and Mohammedanism, and followed, some
distance off, by Tâoism. 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.
NOTES
[1] 龔
[2] 平陽, 武陽
[3] 荆州
THE TRAVELS OF FÂ-HIEN or RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS
CHAPTER I.
FROM CHʽANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT.
Fâ-hien had been living in Chʽang-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 Hwuy-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 Chʽang-gan, they passed through Lung,[5] and came
to the kingdom of Kʽeen-kwei,[6] where they stopped for the summer
retreat.[7] When that was over, they went forward to the kingdom
of Now-tʽan,[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 dânapati.[10]
Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Săng-shâo, Pâo-yun, and
Săng-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 Tʽun-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 Pâo-yun and his associates.
Le Hâo,[15] the prefect of Tʽun-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] Chʽang-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
Nanking, and Chʽang-gan was the capital of the principal of the
three Tsʽin 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 Hwăng-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the
greater portion of the reign of Yâo Hing of the After Tsʽin, a
powerful prince. He adopted Hwăng-che for the style of his reign
in 399, and the cyclical name of that year was Kăng-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-hâe 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-hâe, as 二,
the second year, instead of 一, 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 Śramaṇas.
[4] The Buddhist tripiṭaka 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 sûtra, vinaya, and
abhidharma; in Chinese, king (經), leŭh (律), and lun (論), 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-sŭh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of
Shen-se.
[6] Kʽeen-kwei was the second king of ‘the Western Tsʽin.’ His family
was of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe,
with the surname of Kʽeih-fuh. The first king was Kwo-jin, and
received his appointment from the sovereign of the chief Tsʽin
kingdom in 385. He was succeeded in 388 by his brother, the
Kʽeen-kwei of the text, who was very prosperous in 398, and took the
title of king of Tsʽin. Fâ-hien would find him at his capital,
somewhere in the present department of Lan-chow, Kan-sŭh.
[7] Under varshâs or vashâvasâna (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 (五
凉). The name Leang remains in the department of Leang-chow in the
northern part of Kan-sŭh. The ‘southern Leang’ arose in 397 under a
Tŭh-făh Wû-kû, who was succeeded in 399 by a brother, Le-luh-koo; and
he again by his brother, the Now-tʽan 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-sŭh. 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] Dâna is the name for religious charity, the first of the six
pâramitâs, or means of attaining to nirvâṇa; and a dânapati is ‘one
who practises dâna and thereby crosses (越) 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 Pâo-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 Tripiṭaka, col. 417.
[12] This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Chʽang-gan.
We are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400.
[13] Tʽun-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-sŭh; 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 Hâo was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and
kindly in his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of
Tʽun-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 Ilchî, 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 hînayâna.[4] The
common people of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well
as the śramans,[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
hînayâna. They were very strict in their rules, so that śramans from
the territory of Tsʽin[9] were all unprepared for their regulations.
Fâ-hien, through the management of Foo Kung-sun, maître
d’hôtellerie,[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 Pâo-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 Kâo-chʽang,[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 Tʽun-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 Tsʽin or Chʽin,’ but intending thereby only the
kingdom or Tsʽin, having its capital, as described in the first note
on the last chapter, in Chʽang-gan.
[3] So I prefer to translate the character 僧 (săng) 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 Śramaṇas 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. Săng and
săng-keâ represent the Sanskrit saṅgha, which denotes (E. H., p 117),
first, an assembly of monks, or bhikshu saṅgha, 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 śramaṇa, which will
immediately claim our attention.
[4] Meaning the ‘small vehicle, or conveyance.’ There are in
Buddhism the triyâna, or ‘three different means of salvation, i.e. of
conveyance across the saṃsâra, or sea of transmigration, to the
shores of nirvâṇa. Afterwards the term was used to designate the
different phases of development through which the Buddhist dogma
passed, known as the mahâyâna, hînayâna, and madhyamayâna.’ ‘The
hînayâna 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] ‘Śraman’ may in English take the place of Śramaṇa (Pâli, Samana;
in Chinese, Shâ-măn), 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.
[6] The name for India is here the same as in the former chapter and
throughout the book,—Tʽeen-chuh (天竺), 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’ (天方), and the court
of China itself is called ‘the Celestial’ (天꜀朝).
[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 Tsʽin 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 行堂 in the
Chinese editions, instead of the 行當 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 行堂 which immediately follows the surname Foo 符, must
be taken as the name of his office, corresponding, as the 行 shows, to
that of le maître d’hôtellerie 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 Tʽun-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 Ilchî, is in an extensive plain on the Khoten river, in lat.
37° N., and lon. 80° 35′ E. After the Tungâni insurrection against
Chinese rule in 1862, the Mufti Hâji 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
mahâyâna.[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
mahâyâna 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, Tâo-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the
country of Kʽeeh-chʽâ;[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 mahâyâna 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 (Tsʽung) 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 Hsüan
and Chʽwang and others.
[2] Mahâyâna; See chap. ii note 4. 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 nirvâṇa, 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 塔 (tʽah; in Cantonese, tʽap), as used by Fâ-hien,
is, no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stûpa or Pâli thûpa;
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 Gayâ, 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,—Saṅghârâma,
‘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] Kʽeeh-chʽâ has not been clearly identified. Rémusat made it
Cashmere; Klaproth, Iskardu; Beal makes it Kartchou; and Eitel,
Khasʽa, ‘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 Śâkyamuni 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-nirvâṇa. The symbol
of the state is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its
abbreviated form Pʽû-sâ is used in China for any idol or image; here
the name has its proper signification.
[14] 諸天, ‘all the thien,’ or simply ‘the thien’ taken as plural.
But in Chinese the character called thien (天) denotes heaven, or
Heaven, and is interchanged with Tî and Shang Tî, meaning God. With
the Buddhists it denotes the devas or Brahmânic gods, or all the
inhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism
between Buddhism and Brahmânism, 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 Tsʽung, or ‘Onion’ range, called also the Belurtagh
mountains, including the Karakorum, and forming together the
connecting links between the more northern Tʽeen-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 供養, 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 TSʽUNG OR ‘ONION’ MOUNTAINS TO KʽEEH-CHʽÂ;—PROBABLY
SKARDO, OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK.
When the processions of images in the fourth month were over,
Săng-shâo, 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 mahâyâna. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days,
and then went south for four days, when they found themselves among
the Tsʽung-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
Kʽeeh-chʽâ,[8] there rejoining Hwuy-king[9] and his two companions.
NOTES
[1] This Tartar is called a 道人, ‘a man of the Tâo,’ 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 Chʽang-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 Peshâwar. The city
of Cabul, the capital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text;
but we do not know that Săng-shâo 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 vîryabala, ‘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 Chʽang-gan. Are we now with them in 402?
[7] This is the Corean reading (山), much preferable to the (止) of the
Chinese editions.
[8] See chap. iii, note 8. Watters approves of Klaproth’s
determination of Kʽeeh-chʽâ 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, chap. iii paragraph 3.
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 pañcha
parishad, that is, in Chinese, the great quinquennial assembly.[1]
When this is to be held, the king requests the presence of the Śramans
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 Śramans 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 spittoon 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
hînayâna. To the east of these hills the dress of the common people
is of coarse materials, as in our country of Tsʽin, but here also[6]
there were among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of
serge or haircloth. The rules observed by the Śramans 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 Aśoka 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 Aśoka’s grant of all the Jambudvîpa
to the monks in chapter xxvii. There are several other instances of
similar gifts in the Mahâvaṉśa.
[4] Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of
Kʽeeh-chʽâ had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers.
[5] The text here has 僧徒, not 僧 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 (安); but the pomegranate
was called at first Gan Shih-lâu, as having been introduced into
China from Gan-seih by Chang kʽeen, 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 Tʽo-leih,[1] where also there were many monks, all
students of the hînayâna.
In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,[2] who by his
supernatural power[3] took a clever artificer up to the Tushita[4]
heaven, to see the height, complexion, and appearance of Maitreya
Bodhisattva,[5] 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.[6]
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
Ârya, 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 nirvâṇa.
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] Ṛiddhi-sâkshâtkriyâ, ‘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 Śâkyamuni’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 Śâkyamuni 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 今故 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 (Pʽei-wan Yun-foo), under 故, an
example of it is given from Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that 今
故 is equivalent to 古今, ‘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 Kʽeen[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 Śramans 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 nirvâṇa[7] of
Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king Pʽing 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 Śâkya, 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 (chap. ii note 6) 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 Kʽeen, referred
to in the next note.
[4] Chang Kʽeen, 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 Kʽeen, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of
the first Han dynasty, appears in the Journal of the Anthropological
Institute, referred to already (chap. ii note 1).
[5] Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang Kʽeen. Being sent in A.D.
88 by his patron Pan Châo 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 Châo 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 Śâkyamuni’s becoming Buddha on attaining to
nirvâṇa, or more probably to his pari-nirvâṇa and death.
[8] As king Pʽing’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 (note 3, p. 23), 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 Saṅgha; 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 UDYÂNA. 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 Saṅghârâmas;[2] and
of these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the
hînayâna. When stranger bhikshus[3] 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.[4]
The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one
side of it smooth.
Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tâo-ching went on ahead towards (the place
of) Buddha’s shadow in the country of Nagâra;[5] but Fâ-hien and the
others remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.[6]
That over, they descended south, and arrived in the country of
Soo-ho-to.[7]
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] See chap. iii note 6.
[3] Bhikshu is the name for a monk as ‘living by alms,’ a mendicant.
All bhikshus call themselves Śramans. Sometimes the two names are used
together by our author.
[4] Nâga 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 nâgas 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 nâgas need to be converted
in order to obtain a higher phase of being. The use of the character
too (度), as here, in the sense of ‘to convert,’ is entirely
Buddhistic. The six pâramitâs are the six virtues which carry
men across (度) the great sea of life and death, as the sphere of
transmigration to nirvâṇa. With regard to the particular conversion
here, Eitel (p. 11) says the Nâga’s name was Apatâla, the guardian
deity of the Subhavastu river, and that he was converted by Śâkyamuni
shortly before the death of the latter.
[5] In Chinese Na-kʽeeh, an ancient kingdom and city on the southern
bank of the Cabul river, about thirty miles west of Jellalabad.
[6] We would seem now to be in 403.
[7] 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 Śakra,[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 佛法, ‘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 _τὸ
εὐαγγέλιον Χριστοῦ_. The Fâ 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
Priyadarśi or Aśoka’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 法
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] Śakra is a common name for the Brahmânic 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,
Tʽeen Tî, ‘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 Śâkyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He
appears several times in Fâ-hien’s narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46.
[3] The Chinese character is 昔, ‘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 Jâtaka
story.’
[4] It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters
化作 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 (成道).
[6] This seems to be the contribution of 校 (or 挍), to the force of
the binomial 校師, which is continually occurring.
CHAPTER X.
GANDHÂRA. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA.
The travellers, going downwards from this towards the east, in
five days came to the country of Gandhâra,[1] the place where
Dharma-vivardhana,[2] the son of Aśoka,[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 hînayâna.
NOTES
[1] Eitel says ‘an ancient kingdom, corresponding to the region about
Dheri and Banjour.’ But see chap. xi, note 1.
[2] Dharma-vivardhana is the name in Sanskrit, represented by the Fâ
Yî (法益) of the text.
[3] Aśoka 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 ‘Aśoka’s
coronation can be fixed with absolute certainty within a year or two
either way of 267 B.C.’
[4] This also is a Jâtaka story; but Eitel thinks it may be a myth,
constructed from the story of the blinding of Dharma-vivardhana.
CHAPTER XI.
TAKSHAŚILÂ. LEGENDS. THE FOUR GREAT TOPES.
Seven days’ journey from this to the east brought the travellers to
the kingdom of Takshaśilâ,[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 ‘Méthode pour déchiffrer 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 Takshaśilâ of
Fâ-hien was on the other, or western side of the Indus; and between
the river and Gandhâra. 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 Jâtaka 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 Brahmân in the village of Daliddi; and from the
merit of the act, he was next born in a devaloka.
CHAPTER XII.
PURUSHAPURA, OR PESHÂWAR. PROPHECY ABOUT KING KANISHKA AND HIS TOPE.
BUDDHA’S ALMS-BOWL. DEATH OF HWUY-YING.
Going southwards from Gandhâra, (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 Ânanda,[2] ‘After my
pari-nirvâṇa,[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, Śakra,
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 Jambudvîpa.[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 Yüeh-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 wagon 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]
Pâo-yun and Săng-king here merely made their offerings to the
alms-bowl, and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and
Tâo-ching had gone on before the rest to Nagâra,[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 Tâo-ching remained to
look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the
others, and (then) he with Pâo-yun and Săng-king took their way
back to the land of Tsʽin. 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 Peshâwar, lat. 34° 8′ N., lon. 71° 30′ E.
[2] A first cousin of Śâkyamuni, and born at the moment when he
attained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha’s teaching, Ânanda 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 Śâkyamuni and Ânanda 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 Mahâ-pari-nirvâṇa
sûtra, without being moved almost to tears. Ânanda 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 nirvâṇa, Śâkyamuni 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-nirvâṇa, 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-nirvâṇa 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 Yüeh-she, immediately mentioned, or Tukhâra. Converted by
the sudden appearance of a saint, he became a zealous Buddhist, and
patronised the system as liberally as Aśoka 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] Jambudvîpa 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 Tukhâra,
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 ‘upâsakas;’ 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 白.
[9] I do not wonder that Rémusat should give for this—‘et s’en
retournent après.’ But Fâ-hien’s use of 爾 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
Mahâbrahma, 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 Nagâra, 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 常. The phraseology is wholly Buddhistic.
CHAPTER XIII.
NAGÂRA. 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 Nagâra, 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 Vaiśyas[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 Nagâra, the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased
with money five stalks of flowers, as an offering to the Dîpâṅkara
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
Gośîrsha 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
Saṅghâli,[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 Peshâwar, 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 pyramidal 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.’
Hsüan-chwang says it was twelve inches round.
[5] In Williams’ Dictionary, under 頂, 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 Vaiśyas, 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 nirvâṇa. 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
Śâkyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he
would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jâtaka Tales, p. 23.
[10] The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gośîrsha 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
杖.
[11] Or Saṅghaṭi, 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 ṛishi Kalâ Devala saw them on the body of the infant Śâkya
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 chap. iii, note 4.
[15] In Singhalese, Pasê Buddhas; called also Nidâna Buddhas,
and Pratyeka Jinas, and explained by ‘individually intelligent,’
‘completely intelligent,’ ‘intelligent as regards the nidânas.’
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 Nidâna Buddha, as having mastered the
twelve nidânas (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 nirvâṇa). 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 saṃsâra 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. POHNÂ.
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 mahâyâna
and hînayâna. 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-nâ,[7] where there are also more
than three thousand monks, all students of the hînayâna. 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 Tâo-ching and Hwuy-king.
[2] Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass.
[3] All the texts have Hwuy-king. See chap. xii, note 13.
[4] A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from
the lips of Fâ-hien. The Chinese character 命, 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 Rohî, 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-tʽoo,[1] where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks)
studied both the mahâyâna and hînayâna. When they saw their
fellow-disciples from Tsʽin 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 MATHURÂ OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF
THE MONKS, VIHÂRAS, 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-tʽâou-lo.[1] They still followed the course of the Pʽoo-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 hoar-frost 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 Chaṇḍâlas.[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 Chaṇḍâlas are
fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh meat.
After Buddha attained to pari-nirvâṇa,[6] the kings of the various
countries and the heads of the Vaiśyas[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 Śâriputtra,[11]
to Mahâ-maudgalyâyana,[12] and to Ânanda[13], and also topes (in
honour) of the Abhidharma[14], the Vinaya[14], and the Sûtras.[14] A
month after the (annual season of) rest, the families which are looking
out for blessing stimulate one another[15] 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;[16] after which offerings are presented at the tope
of Śâriputtra, with all kinds of flowers and incense. All through the
night lamps are kept burning, and skilful musicians are employed to
perform.[17]
When Śâriputtra was a great Brahmân, he went to Buddha, and begged
(to be permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The
great Mugalan and the great Kaśyapa[18] also did the same. The
bhikshuṇîs[19] for the most part make their offerings at the tope
of Ânanda, because it was he who requested the World-honoured one
to allow females to quit their families (and become nuns). The
Śrâmaṇeras[20] mostly make their offerings to Râhula.[21] The
professors of the Abhidharma[22] make their offerings to it; those of
the Vinaya[22] to it. Every year there is one such offering, and each
class has its own day for it. Students of the mahâyâna present offerings
to the Prajñâ-pâramitâ,[23] to Mañjuśrî,[24] and to Kwan-she-yin.[25]
When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute (from the
harvests),[26] the Heads of the Vaiśyas and all the Brahmâns 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 nirvâṇa of Buddha,[27]
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 Kṛishṇa, whose emblem is the peacock.
[2] This must be the Jumna, or Yamunâ. Why it is called, as here, the
Pʽoo-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 Chaṇḍâlas 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;’ 貝齒, 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 chap. xii, note 3<, Buddha’s pari-nirvâṇa is equivalent to
Buddha’s death.
[7] See chap. 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 vikâla, 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] Śâriputtra (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 智慧, ‘knowledge and wisdom.’ He is also
called Buddha’s ‘right-hand attendant.’ His name is derived from that
of his mother Śârikâ, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nâlanda.
In Spence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa
(Upa-tishya), derived from his father. Several Śâstras are ascribed to
him, and indeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their
founder. He died before Śâkyamuni; 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 Śâkyamuni, 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 Śâkyamuni, and is to reappear
as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65.
[13] See chapter 12, note 2.
[14] The different parts of the tripiṭaka. See chapter 1, note 4.
[15] A passage rather difficult to construe. The ‘families’ would be
those more devout than their neighbours.
[16] 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.
[17] This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions.
[18] There was a Kâśyapa Buddha, anterior to Śâkyamuni. But this
Mahâkaśyapa was a Brahmân of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha,
and became one of his disciples. He took the lead after Śâkyamuni’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.
[19] The bhikshuṇîs 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.
[20] The Śrâmaṇeras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to
observe the Shikshâpada, or ten commandments. Fâ-hien was himself one
of them from his childhood. Having heard the Trîsharaṇa, 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.
[21] The eldest son of Śâkyamuni by Yaśodharâ. Converted to Buddhism,
he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha’s death
became the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhâshika).
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.
[22] See note 14.
[23] There are six (sometimes increased to ten) pâramitâs, ‘means of
passing to nirvâṇa:—Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil
contemplation; wisdom (prajñâ); made up to ten by use of the proper
means; science; pious vows; and force of purpose. But it is only
prajñâ which carries men across the saṃsâra to the shores of nirvâṇa.’
Eitel, p. 90.
[24] 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 mahâyâna school; but Hsüan-chwang connects his
worship with the yogachara or tantra-magic school. The mahâyâna school
regard him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom. His most common titles
are Mahâmati, “Great wisdom,” and Kumâra-râja, “King of teaching, with
a thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls.”
[25] Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a
mystery as Mañjuśrî. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of
the Sanskrit name Avalokiteśvara, ‘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, Avalokiteśvara 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 Pʽoo-tʽoo,
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
Avalokiteśvara. 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?’
[26] Compare what is said in chap. v.
[27] This nirvâṇa of Buddha must be—not his death, but his attaining
to Buddhaship.
CHAPTER XVII.
SAṄKÂŚYA. BUDDHA’S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIṂŚAS
HEAVEN, AND OTHER LEGENDS.
From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found
themselves in a kingdom called Saṅkâśya,[1] at the place where Buddha
came down, after ascending to the Trayastriṃśas 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 Jambudvîpa;’ 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 bhikshuṇî 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 Trayastriṃśas
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
Brahmâ-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.
Śakra, Ruler of Devas,[10] 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[11]
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 Aśoka, wishing to know where
their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the
yellow springs[12] 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,[13] with a lion on the top of
it.[14] Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,[15] there is
an image of Buddha, inside and out[16] shining and transparent,
and pure as it were of lapis lazuli. Some teachers of another
doctrine[17] once disputed with the Śramaṇas 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 Śramaṇas, 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 bhikshuṇî 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,[18] topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas[19] that
preceded Śâkyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,[20]
and where images of their persons were made. At all these places topes
were made, and are still existing. At the place where Śakra, Ruler of
the Devas, and the king of the Brahmâ-loka followed Buddha down (from
the Trayastriṃśas 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 mahâyâna and some of the hînayâna. Where they live, there is a
white-eared dragon, which acts the part of dânapati[21] 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,[22] 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.’[23] 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,[24] 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).[25]
There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which
there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha[26] used to take his food. The
nirvâṇa ground (where he was burned[27] 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 north-west of Canouge, lat. 27° 3′ N., lon. 79° 50′ E.
[2] The heaven of Indra or Śâkya, 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 Brahmânic 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 Mahârâjas, concerning the progress of good and
evil in the world,’ &c. &c.
[3] Buddha’s mother, Mâyâ and Mahâ-mâyâ, 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 Trayastriṃśas;
but was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account
of Buddha’s visit to the Trayastriṃśas (M. B., pp. 298–302), which he
calls Tawutisâ, and speaks of his mother (Mâtru) 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 Śâkyamuni, being the son of his
uncle Amṛitodana. 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 abhijñâs 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 bhikshuṇî. The Sanskrit word,
however, is explained by ‘blue lotus flowers;’ and Hsüan-chwang calls
her the nun ‘Lotus-flower colour (蓮花色);’—the same as Hardy’s
Upulwan and Uppalawarnâ.
[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 Brahmâ, the first person of the Brahmânical Trimurti,
adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed
by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi.
[10] See chap. ix, note 2.
[11] See chap. iii, note 14.
[12] A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is
found.
[13] The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance
from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated.
[14] A note of Mr. Beal says on this:—‘General Cunningham, who
visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of
Aśoka, 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
Śrâvastî, Fâ-hien says an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsüan-chwang
calls it an elephant (P. 19, Arch. Survey).’
[15] That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have
been square.
[16] Equivalent to ‘all through.’
[17] 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 Brahmâns or of some other false doctrine, as
Fâ-hien deemed it. The Chinese term means ‘outside’ or ‘foreign;’—in
Pâli, añña-titthiyâ, = ‘those belonging to another school.’
[18] See chap. xiii para 6.
[19] These three predecessors of Śâkyamuni were the three Buddhas
of the present or Mahâ-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
Kaśyapa family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so
many persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pâli, Konâgamana),
‘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) Kâśyapa (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.
[20] That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chaṅkramaṇa
(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.
[21] See chap. i, note 10.
[22] The character in my Corean copy is 虵, which must be a mistake
for the 蛇 of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be
‘a small medusa.’
[23] The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the
Chinese editions, which means ‘Fire Limit.’ Buddha, it is said, 本
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 本 and 昔
throughout his narrative is quite marked. 本 always refers to the
doings of Śâkyamuni; 昔, ‘formerly,’ is often used of him and others
in the sense of ‘in a former age or birth.’
[24] 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.’
[25] 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.
[26] See chap. xiii note. 15.
[27] This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all
burned. Hardy’s E. M., pp. 322–324.
CHAPTER XVIII.
KANYÂKUBJA, 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 Kanyâkubja,[2] lying along the Ganges.[3] There are two
monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hînayâna.
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 Â-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 Brahmâ-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the ṛishi
Mahâ-vṛiksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51.
[3] Gaṅgâ, 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.
SHÂ-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA’S DANTA-KÂSHṬHA.
Going on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to
the great kingdom of Shâ-che.[1] As you go out of the city of Shâ-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 Brahmâns 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] Shâ-che should probably be Shâ-khe, making Cunningham’s
identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely.
The change of 祗 into 祇 is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsî
dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same.
[2] This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kâshṭha, 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 (楊, 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 Brahmâns,’ or ‘heretics
and Brahmâns?’ I think the Brahmâns were also ‘the unbelievers’ and
‘heretics,’ having 外道, views and ways outside of, and opposed to,
Buddha’s.
CHAPTER XX.
KOŚALA AND ŚRÂVASTÎ. THE JETAVANA VIHÂRA 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 Śrâvastî[1] in the kingdom of Kośala,[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 Mahâ-prajâpatî;[4] of the
well and walls of (the house of) the (Vaiśya) head Sudatta;[5]
and where the Aṅgulimâlya[6] became an Arhat, and his body was
(afterwards) burned on his attaining to pari-nirvâṇa. At all these
places topes were subsequently erected, which are still existing in
the city. The Brahmâns, 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 (Vaiśya) 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 Trayastriṃśas heaven, and preached the
Law for the benefit of his mother,[8] (after he had been absent for)
ninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to
be carved in Gośîrsha 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-nirvâṇa,
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 Tâo-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 Vaiśakha[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
(Vaiśya) 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 Chañchamana,[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, Śakra, 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 devâlaya[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 devâlaya of a contrary system; but when
the sun was in the east, the shadow of that devâlaya was diverted to
the north, and never fell on the vihâra of Buddha. The mal-believers
regularly employed men to watch their devâlaya, 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 Brahmâns were
indignant, and said, ‘Those Śramaṇas 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 Brahmâns 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 Brahmâns
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 Śâkyamuni Buddha.[23]
Four le south-east from the city of Śrâvastî, a tope has been
erected at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king
Virûdhaha,[24] when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,[24] and
took his stand before him at the side of the road.[25]
NOTES
[1] In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kośala. It is
placed by Cunningham (archæological Survey) on the south bank of
the Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodyâ or Oude. There are
still the ruins of a great town, the name being Sâhet Mâhat. It was in
this town, or in its neighbourhood, that Śâkyamuni 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-naḍi, meaning ‘leader of the victorious army.’
He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Śâkyamuni.
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.’ Prajâpatî was
aunt and nurse of Śâkyamuni, 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
Anâtha-piṇḍika (or Piṇḍada), a wealthy householder, or Vaiśya head,
of Śrâvastî, 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 Śrâvastî.
[6] The Aṅgulimâlya were a sect or set of Śivaitic 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
Tâo,’ or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his
conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in
Pâli is Aṅgulimâla. 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 Śrâvastî,
erected in a park which Anâtha-piṇḍika bought of prince Jeta, the son
of Prasenajit. Śâkyamuni 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] Ârya, 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 duḥkha:
(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 mârga. According to their attainment of these truths,
the Âryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four
classes,—Śrotâpannas, Sakṛidâgâmins, Anâgâmins, and Arhats. E. H., p.
14.
[11] This is the first time that Fâ-hien employs the name Ho-shang
(和尙), 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 Upadhyâya, ‘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
殞社 (? munshee [? Bronze]); in Kustana and Kashgar they say 鶻社
(hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese
synonyms, 和闍 (ho-shay) and 和尙 (ho-shang).’ The Indian term
was originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the
Vedas, the Vedâṅgas. 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 法師, monks
engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction
from 律師, disciplinists, and 禪師, 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 Â_k_ariya and
Upa_ggh_âya; 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 依 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 Tʽâi in Shan-lung similarly frequented.
[13] The wife of Anâtha-piṇḍika in note 5, 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. Hsüan-chwang does not give the name of this
murderer; see in Julien’s ‘Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang,’ p.
125,—‘a heretical Brahmân 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 Brahmâcharins. 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 Chañcha; 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 Avîchi
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 Avîchi), though not without hope of final
redemption. E. H. p. 21.
[17] Devadatta was brother of Ânanda, and a near relative therefore
of Śâkyamuni. 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 Devarâja, in a universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39.
[18] ‘A devâlaya (天寺 or 天祠), a place in which a deva is
worshipped,—a general name for all Brahmânical temples’ (Eitel, p.
30). We read in the Khang-hsî dictionary under 寺, that when Kaśyapa
Mataṅga 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’ (白馬寺), and
in consequence the name of Sze (寺) came to be given to all Buddhistic
temples. Fâ-hien, however, applies this term only to Brahmânical
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 (入道); ‘getting it,’ by becoming Arhats (得道); and
‘completing it,’ by becoming Buddha (成道).
[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 Kośala, 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 皆知今世耳. 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] See note 17; and chapter xvii, note 19.
[24] Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidûrya.
He was king of Kośala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the
destroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Śâkya family. His hostility
to the Śâkyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as
certain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien’s ‘Méthode,’
p. 89, may be read Chiâ-e, is the same as Kiâ-e (迦夷), one of the
phonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel.
[25] This would be the interview in the ‘Life of the Buddha’ in
Trübner’s Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virûdhaha 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 Śrâvastî; 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 ŚÂKYAMUNI IN THE BUDDHASHIP.
Fifty le to the west of the city bring (the traveller) to a town named
Too-wei,[1] the birthplace of Kâśyapa Buddha.[1] At the place where he
and his father met,[2] and at that where he attained to pari-nirvâṇa,
topes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him,
the Kâśyapa Tathâgata,[3] a great tope was also erected.
Going on south-east from the city of Śrâvastî for twelve yojanas,
(the travellers) came to a town named Na-pei-keâ,[4] the birthplace of
Krakuchanda Buddha.[5] At the place where he and his father met, and
at that where he attained to pari-nirvâṇa, topes were erected. Going
north from here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been
the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha.[5] At the place where he and his
father met, and where he attained to pari-nirvâṇa, topes were erected.
NOTES
[1] Identified, as Beal says, by Cunningham with Tadwa, a village nine
miles to the west of Sâhara-mahat. The birthplace of Kâśyapa Buddha is
generally thought to have been Benâres. 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 Śâkyamuni and his father
(real or supposed) Śuddhodana.
[3] This is the highest epithet given to every supreme Buddha; in
Chinese 如來, 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 Kâśyapa
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 Jambudvîpa, assembling together, erected a dagoba over
his relics one yojana in height!’
[4] Na-pei-keâ or Nabhiga is not mentioned elsewhere. Eitel says this
Buddha was born at the city of Gân-ho (如和城) and Hardy gives
his birthplace as Mekhala. It may be possible, by means of Sanskrit,
to reconcile these statements.
[5] See chap. xvii note 19.
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 Śuddhodana[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 ṛishi) Â-e[7] inspected the marks[8] (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;[9] 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;[10] where, after he had
attained to Wisdom,[11] Buddha returned and saw the king, his
father;[12] where five hundred Śâkyas quitted their families and did
reverence to Upâli[13] 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;[14] where Buddha sat under a
nyagrodha tree, which is still standing,[15] with his face to the east,
and (his aunt) Mahâ-prajâpatî presented him with a Saṅghâli;[16] and
(where) king Vaidûrya slew the seed of Śâkya, and they all in dying
became Śrotâpannas.[17] A tope was erected at this last place, which is
still existing.
[Illustration: I. DREAM OF BUDDHA’S MOTHER OF HIS REINCARNATION.]
[Illustration: II. BUDDHA JUST BORN, WITH THE NÂGAS SUPPLYING WATER
TO WASH HIM.]
[Illustration: III. BUDDHA TOSSING THE ELEPHANT OVER THE WALL.]
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.[18]
Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbinî,[19] 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.[20] 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,[21] 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;[22] 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 Trayastriṃśas 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[23] and lions, and should not
travel incautiously.
NOTES
[1] Kapilavastu, ‘the city of beautiful virtue,’ was the birthplace
of Śâkyamuni, 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 Benâres.’
[2] The father, or supposed father, of Śâkyamuni. He is here called
‘the king white and pure’ (白淨王). A more common appellation
is ‘the king of pure rice’ (淨飯王); but the character 飯, or
‘rice,’ must be a mistake for 梵, ‘Brahmân,’ and the appellation =
‘Pure Brahmân king.’
[3] The ‘eldest son,’ or ‘prince’ was Śâkyamuni, and his mother had
no other son. For ‘his mother,’ see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a
daughter of Añjana or Anuśâkya, king of the neighbouring country of
Koli, and Yaśodharâ, an aunt of Śuddhodana. 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 Mahâ-mâyâ
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
(Siddhârtha, the first name given to Śâkyamuni; see Eitel, under
Sarvârthasiddha) 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 Kalâ Devala, and had
been a minister of Śuddhodana’s father.
[8] See chap. xiii, note 12.
[9] In ‘The Life of Buddha’ we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaiśâlî
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 Ânanda, but a half-brother of Siddhârtha), 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 撲捔象處, 射箭, 云云. Buddha,
that is Siddhârtha, was at this time only ten years old.
[10] The young Śâkyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed
them all. He was then seventeen.
[11] See chap. xx, note 20.
[12] 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.
[13] They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upâli was
only a Śûdra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did
Buddhism assert its superiority to the conditions of rank and caste.
Upâli 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.
[14] I have not met with the particulars of this preaching.
[15] 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 Gayâ to
Anurâdhapura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B.C, and is
still growing there, the oldest historical tree in the world.
[16] See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this
presentation. See the long account of Prajâpatî in M. B., pp. 306–315.
[17] See chap. xx, note 10. The Śrotâpannas are the first class of
saints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to
nirvâṇa after having been reborn seven times consecutively as men or
devas. The Chinese editions state there were ‘1000’ of the Śâkya seed.
The general account is that they were 500, all maidens, who refused
to take their place in king Vaidûrya’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 Śrotâpanna. ‘The Life
of the Buddha,’ p. 121.
[18] 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.
[19] ‘The place of Liberation;’ see chap. xiii, note 7.
[20] 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.
[21] 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).’
[22] 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.’
[23] 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.
RÂMA, AND ITS TOPE.
East from Buddha’s birthplace, and at a distance of five yojanas,
there is a kingdom called Râma.[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 Râma 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 Aśoka 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 Śrâmaṇera.[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 Śrâmaṇera head of the establishment.
NOTES
[1] Râma or Râmagrâma, between Kapilavastu and Kuśanagara.
[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 Aśoka’s wish to build 84,000 topes, one
over each atom of Śâkyamuni’s skeleton.
[4] Fâ-hien, it appears to me, intended his readers to understand that
the nâga-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 Śrâmaṇera, or in Chinese Shâmei. See chap. xvi, note 20.
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 Chaṇḍaka, 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
Kuśanagara,[3] on the north of which, between two trees,[4] on the
bank of the Nairañjanâ[5] river, is the place where the World-honoured
one, with his head to the north, attained to pari-nirvâṇa (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 Vajrapâṇi laid aside his golden club,[8] and where
the eight kings divided the relics (of the burnt body)[9]:—at all
these places were built topes and monasteries, all of which are now
existing.
[Illustration: VII. BUDDHA’S DYING INSTRUCTIONS.]
[Illustration: VIII. BUDDHA’S DEATH.]
[Illustration: IX. DIVISION OF BUDDHA’S RELICS.]
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-nirvâṇa, 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 Śâkyamuni finally left his palace
and family to fulfil the course to which he felt that he was called.
Chaṇḍaka, in Pâli Channa, was the prince’s charioteer, and in sympathy
with him. So also was the white horse Kanthaka (Kanthakanam Aśvarâja),
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
Trayastriṃśas 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 炭, not 灰.
Rémusat has ‘la tour des charbons.’ It was over the place of Buddha’s
cremation.
[3] In Pâli Kusinârâ. It got its name from the Kuśa 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 Benâres, and 80
miles due east of Kapilavastu.’
[4] The Śâla tree, the Shorea robusta, which yields the famous teak
wood.
[5] Confounded, according to Eitel, even by Hsüan-chwang, with the
Hiraṇyavatî, which flows past the city on the south.
[6] A Brahmân of Benâres, said to have been 120 years old, who came to
learn from Buddha the very night he died. Ânanda 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 Brahmân was converted and attained at once to
Arhatship. Eitel says that he attained to nirvâṇa a few moments before
Śâkyamuni; 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 Kusinârâ) 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 Vajrapâṇi 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 Śakra. 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 Kuśanagara were called mallas, ‘strong or mighty heroes;’ so also
were those of Pâvâ and Vaiśâlî; 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. Vajrapâṇi 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 Kuśanagara, Pâvâ, Vaiśâlî, and other kingdoms. Kings, princes,
brahmâns,—each wanted the whole relic; but they agreed to an
eightfold division at the suggestion of the brahmân Droṇa.
[10] These ‘strong heroes’ were the chiefs of Vaiśâlî, 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 Vaiśâlî, 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 Hajipûr. See Beal’s Revised
Version, p. lii.
CHAPTER XXV.
VAIŚÂLÎ. THE TOPE CALLED ‘WEAPONS LAID DOWN.’ THE COUNCIL OF VAIŚÂLÎ.
East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom
of Vaiśâlî. 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 Ânanda.[2] Inside the city the woman Âmbapâlî[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 Âmbapâlî presented to Buddha, in which he
might reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirvâṇa,
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 Ânanda, ‘In three months
from this I will attain to pavi-nirvâṇa;’ and king Mâra[9] had so
fascinated and stupefied Ânanda, 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-nirvâṇa
of Buddha, some Bhikshus of Vaiśâlî 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] Âmbapâlî, Âmrapâlî, or Âmradarikâ, ‘the guardian of the Âmra
(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 Kâśyapa Buddha, Śâkyamuni’s predecessor, she had been
born a devi, and finally appeared in earth under an Âmra tree in
Vaiśâlî. There again she fell into her old ways, and had a son by
king Bimbisâra; but she was won over by Buddha to virtue and chastity,
renounced the world, and attained to the state of an Ârhat. See the
earliest account of Âmbapâlî’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 où je reviendrai bien longtemps après 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 15.
[7] Thus Śâkyamuni 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 Mâra 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 Vaśavartin on the top of the Kâmadhâtu. 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 Ânanda had asked him thrice,
he would have postponed his death.
[10] Or the Vinaya-piṭaka. 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 Râjagṛiha,
shortly after Buddha’s death, under the presidency of Kâśyapa;—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 Yaśas, or Yaśada, or Yedśaputtra, who had been a disciple of Ânanda,
and must therefore have been a very old man.
CHAPTER XXVI.
REMARKABLE DEATH OF ÂNANDA.
Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers
to the confluence of the five rivers.[1] When Ânanda was going from
Magadha[2] to Vaiśâlî, wishing his pari-nirvâṇa to take place (there),
the devas informed king Ajâtaśatru[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 Vaiśâlî
had heard that Ânanda 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 Ânanda considered that, if he went forward, king Ajâtaśatru
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 Samâdhi,[4] and his pari-nirvâṇa 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 Behâr, 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 Bimbisâra, 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 Śâkyamuni, 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 Samâdhi,
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.’ ‘Samâdhi,’ 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
nirvâṇa, 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) Samâdhi,’ 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 Ânanda are hidden beneath the
darkness of the phraseology, which it is impossible for us to
ascertain. By or in Samâdhi 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 Ânanda’s death in
Nien-chʽang’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 Nâga king; a
third is given to Ajâtaśatru; and the fourth to the Lichchhavis. What
it all really means I cannot tell.
CHAPTER XXVII.
PÂṬALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING AŚOKA’S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE
AND HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RÂDHA-SÂMI. DISPENSARIES AND
HOSPITALS.
Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the
travellers) came to the town of Pâṭaliputtra,[1] in the kingdom of
Magadha, the city where king Aśoka[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 Aśoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and
resided on Gṛidhra-kûṭa[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 Brahmân,[4] named
Râdha-sâmi,[5] a professor of the mahâyâna, 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 Brahmân 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 Aśoka, there has been made a mahâyâna
monastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hînayâna 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 Brahmân
teacher, whose name also is Mañjuśrî,[7] whom the Shamans of greatest
virtue in the kingdom, and the mahâyâna 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
Brahmâns 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 Vaiśya
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 Aśoka 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, ‘Aśoka 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 Aśoka 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. Aśoka transferred his court from Râjagṛiha
to Pâṭaliputtra, 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 Mâra, according to Buddhist
tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the
meditation of Ânanda; or, more probably, because it was a resort of
vultures. It was near Râjagṛiha, the earlier capital of Aśoka, 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 Brahmân by caste, but a Buddhist in faith.
[5] So, by the help of Julien’s ‘Méthode,’ I transliterate the
Chinese characters 羅太私迷. Beal gives Râdhasvâmi, his Chinese text
having a 婆 between 私 and 迷. I suppose the name was Râdhasvâmi or
Râdhasâmi.
[6] 庠序, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in
the Lî Kî 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 Śrâmaṇeras.
[7] See chap. xvi, note 25. It is perhaps with reference to the famous
Bodhisattva that the Brahmân here is said to be ‘also’ named Mañjuśrî.
[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 Aśoka 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 Pâṭaliputtra.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RÂJAGṚIHA, 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 Śakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician,
Pañcha-(śikha),[3] to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute.
Śakra 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
Nâla,[5] where Śâriputtra[6] was born, and to which also he returned,
and attained here his pari-nirvâṇa. 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 Râjagṛiha,[7]—the new
city which was built by king Ajâtaśatru. There were two monasteries in
it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajâtaśatru, 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 Bimbisâra;[8] from east to west about five or six le, and
from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Śâriputtra and
Maudgalyâyana first saw Upasena;[9] that the Nirgrantha[10] made a pit
of fire and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with
him); that king Ajâtaśatru made a black elephant intoxicated with
liquor, wishing him to injure Buddha;[11] and that at the north-east
corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jîvaka built a vihâra
in the garden of Âmbapâlî,[12] 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 Hsüan-chwang Indra-síla-guhâ, or ‘The cavern of Indra.’
It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the
bank of the Pañchâna river, about thirty-six miles from Gayâ. 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 Śakra 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 Pañcha, 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-Saṅga,
in the Śakra-praśna Sûtra’). Whether it was Śakra who wrote
his questions, or Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the
punctuation. It seems better to make Śakra the writer.
[5] Or Nâlanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand
monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for
five years of Hsüan-chwang.
[6] See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement
that Nâla was his birthplace.
[7] The city of ‘Royal Palaces;’ ‘the residence of the Magadha kings
from Bimbisâra to Aśoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot
of the Gṛidhrakûṭa mountains. Here the first synod assembled within
a year after Śâkyamuni’s death. Its ruins are still extant at the
village of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behâr, and form an object of
pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100).’ It is called New Râjagṛiha
to distinguish it from Kuśâgârapura, a few miles from it, the old
residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisâra, while
Fâ-hien ascribes it to Ajâtaśatru. I suppose the son finished what the
father had begun.
[8] See note 7.
[9] One of the five first followers of Śâkyamuni. He is also called
Aśvajit; in Pâli Assaji; but Aśvajit 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.
[10] One of the six Tîrthyas (Tîrthakas = ‘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 Brahmânical opponents of
Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jñâti clan, and is therefore
called Nirgranthajñâti. 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.
[11] The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant
disappointed them, and did homage to Śâkyamuni. See Sacred Books of
the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247.
[12] See chap. xxv, note 3. Jîvaka was Âmbapâlî’s son by king
Bimbisâra, 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.
GṚIDHRA-KÛṬA 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
Gṛidhra-kûṭa.[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 Ânanda was
sitting in meditation, when the deva Mâra Piśuna,[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 Ânanda’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 Śûrâṅgama (Sûtra).[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 Śûrâṅgama Sûtra, 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. Piśuna is a name given to Mâra, 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 Hsüan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits
high, and thirty paces round.
[5] See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio’s ‘Catalogue of the Chinese Translation
of the Buddhist tripiṭaka,’ Sûtra Piṭaka, 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 ŚRATAPARṆA 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 Karaṇḍa 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 Śmaśânam, 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 Śrataparṇa,[4] the
place where, after the nirvâṇa[5] of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the
Sûtras. When they brought the Sûtras forth, three lofty seats[6] had
been prepared and grandly ornamented. Śâriputtra occupied the one on
the left, and Maudgalyâyana that on the right. Of the number of five
hundred one was wanting. Mahâkaśyapa was president (on the middle
seat). Ânanda 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 Śrotâpanna;[13] when he had gone half through,
he attained to be an Anâgâmin;[14] and when he had cut right through,
he was an Ârhat, and attained to pari-nirvâṇa;[15] (and died).
NOTES
[1] Karaṇḍa Veṇuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisâra,
who also built a vihâra in it. See the account of the transaction in
M. B., p. 194. The place was called Karaṇḍa, 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 Karaṇḍa is a bird of a 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
Śrataparṇa 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 Ajâtaśatru. 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 (經) 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-nirvâṇa.
[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 Anâgâmin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship,
the third class of Âryas (chap. xx, note 10), 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 nirvâṇa. 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.’
[Illustration: IV. BUDDHA IN SOLITUDE AND ENDURING AUSTERITIES.]
CHAPTER XXXI.
GAYÂ. ŚÂKYAMUNI’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 Gayâ;[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 Grâmika 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 kuśa grass at the foot of it,
and sat down with his face to the east. Then king Mâra 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 Brahmâ-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 Kaśyapa
and their thousand disciples;[12]—at all these places topes were
reared.
[Illustration: V. BUDDHASHIP ATTAINED.]
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 nirvâṇa. 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-nirvâṇa.
NOTES
[1] Gayâ, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat.
24° 47′ N., lon. 85° 1′ E). It was here that Śâkyamuni 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 Grâmika from a note in Beal’s
revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty
caused by the 彌家 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 kuśa grass, mentioned in a previous note.
[6] See the account of this contest with Mâra in M. B., pp. 171–179,
and ‘Buddhist Birth Stories,’ pp. 96–101.
[7] See chap. xiii, note 7.
[8] Called also Mahâ, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: ‘A nâga
king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Śâkyamuni 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 nâga 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 Nidâna Kathâ, in ‘Buddhist Birth Stories,’ p.
109.
[9] This was Brahmâ himself, though ‘king’ is omitted. What he
requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his
Law. Nidâna Kathâ, p. 111.
[10] See chap. xii, note 10.
[11] The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and
the Nidâna Kathâ, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden wagons with
them.
[12] These must not be confounded with Mahâkaśyapa of chap. xvi, note
17. They were three brothers, Uruvilvâ, Gayâ, and Nadî-Kâśyapa, up
to this time holders of ‘erroneous’ views, having 500, 300, and
200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of
Śâkyamuni; and are—each of them—to become Buddha by-and-by. See the
Nidâna Kathâ, 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 AŚOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA.
When king Aśoka, in a former birth,[1] was a little boy and played on
the road, he met Kâśyapa 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 Jambudvîpa. (Once)
when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvîpa,
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 昔 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 Kaśyapa
Buddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese ‘Śâkya 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 (地獄),’ 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 Âryan god of the
dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south;
but Brahmânism 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 Jambudvîpa, outside the Chakravâlas (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 KAŚYAPA 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 Mahâkaśyapa 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 Kâśyapa (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 Kâśyapa; 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 Gayâ, and was the residence
of Mahâkaśyapa, who is said to be still living inside this mountain.’
So Eitel says, p. 58; but this chapter does not say that Kâśyapa 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 Kâśyapa 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 Śâkyamuni, who also is
called Mahâkaśyapa. This will appear also on a comparison of Eitel’s
articles on ‘Mahâkaśyapa’ and ‘Kâśyapa 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. VÂRÂṆASÎ, OR BENÂRES. ŚÂKYAMUNI’S FIRST
DOINGS AFTER BECOMING BUDDHA.
Fâ-hien[1] returned (from here) towards Pâṭaliputtra,[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 Vârâṇasî[3] in the kingdom of
Kâśî. Rather more than ten le to the north-east of the city, he found
the vihâra in the park of ‘The ṛishi’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 Śuddhodana, 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 nirvâṇa; and hence this place was named ‘The Park of the
ṛishi’s Deer-wild.’[7] After the World-honoured one had attained to
perfect Wisdom, men build the vihâra in it.
Buddha wished to convert Kauṇḍinya[8] and his four companions; but
they, (being aware of his intention), said to one another, ‘This
Śramaṇa 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
Kauṇḍinya 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 Elâpattra[11]
asked him, ‘When shall I get free from this nâga 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 Kauśâmbî.[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 hînayâna.
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 Gṛidhra-kûṭa. I think that Tâo-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 Benâres, lat. 25° 23′
N., lon. 83° 5′ E.
[4] ‘The ṛishi,’ 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.’ Ṛishis are divided into various classes;
and ṛishi-ism is spoken of as a seventh part of transrotation, and
ṛishis are referred to as the seventh class of sentient beings.
Tâoism, 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 Śâkyamuni, who gave
him the name of Ajñâta, meaning automat; and hence he often appears as
Ajñâta Kauṇḍinya. He and his four friends had followed Śâkyamuni
into the Uruvilvâ 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 nirvâṇa had come without observation. These friends knew it not;
and they were offended by what they considered Śâkyamuni’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 ‘Śâkya Buddha,’ =
‘The Buddha of the Śâkya tribe,’ and ‘Śâkyamuni,’ = ‘The Śâkya 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 Śâkya family, as Oldenberg
acknowledges. He says that ‘the Śâkyas, 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 Nagâra, the village which has been identified with
Kapilavastu.’ Dr. Eitel says that ‘Gautama was the sacerdotal name
of the Śâkya family, which counted the ancient ṛishi Gautama among
its ancestors.’ When we proceed, however, to endeavour to trace the
connexion of that Brahmânical ṛishi with the Śâkya 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 Śâkya, 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 nâga 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 Vaiśya elder, or head, who presented a
garden and vihâra to Buddha. Hardy (M. B., p. 356) quotes a statement
from a Singhalese authority that Śâkyamuni 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 Âḷavaka, as related in the
Uragavagga, Âḷavakasutta, pp. 29–31 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. x,
part ii).
CHAPTER XXXV.
DAKSHIṆA, AND THE PIGEON MONASTERY.
South from this 200 yojanas, there is a country named Dakshiṇa,[1]
where there is a monastery (dedicated to) the bygone Kaśyapa 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
Śramaṇas of the Law of Buddha, Brâhmaṇas, 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 Dakshiṇa 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 Vârâṇasî (the travellers) went back east to Pâṭaliputtra.
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 mahâyâna monastery,[1] he found
a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahâsâṅghika[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
gâthas,[6] being the sarvâstivâdâḥ[7] rules,—those which are observed
by the communities of monks in the land of Tsʽin; 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
Saṃyuktâbhi-dharma-hṛidaya-(śâstra),[8] containing about six or seven
thousand gâthas; he also got a Sûtra of 2500 gâthas; one chapter of
the Parinir-vâṇa-vaipulya Sûtra,[9] of about 5000 gâthas; and the
Mahâsâṅ-ghikâḥ 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 Tâo-ching arrived in the Central
Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Śramaṇas, 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 Tsʽin, 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] Mahâsâṅghikâḥ simply means ‘the Great Assembly,’ that is, of
monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Śâkyamuni 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 pû (部). Four times in this chapter the character
called pû 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 tripiṭaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119
and 1150, columns 247 and 253.
[6] A gâthâ 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 vaibhâshika school,
asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the
authority of Râhula.’
[8] See Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his
account of Fâ-hien, who, he says, translated the Saṃyukta-piṭaka
Sûtra.
[9] Probably Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with
it.
[10] This then would be the consummation of the Śramaṇa’s being,—to
get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tâo-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 CHAMPÂ AND TÂMALIPTÎ. 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 Champâ,[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 Tâmaliptî,[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 Tâmaliptî) 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 (經) is used here for any portions of the Tripiṭaka
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 maṇi pearl or bead. Maṇi 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 maṇis.
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 nâgas, 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
nâgas, 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 Brahmânical 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 maṇis. 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 Vaiśya elders and Sabæan[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 Asaṅkhyeya-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-nirvâṇa (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 byways, 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
Sudâna,[14] there as Sâma;[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 Śramaṇa 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 人民, for which ‘inhabitants’
or ‘people’ is elsewhere sufficient, here by ‘human inhabitants.’
According to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by
Râkshasas 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’ (鬼神) were of a gentler
type. His dragons or nâgas have come before us again and again.
[2] That Śâkyamuni 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 Aśoka’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,
Samastakûta, and Samanila. ‘There is an indentation on the top of it,’
a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3¾ inches long, and about 2½ 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 Waṭṭa Gâmiṇi, in whose reign, about 160
years after the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death
of Śâkyamuni, the Tripiṭaka 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 Aśoka’s son, Mahinda, went as the apostle of Buddhism to
Ceylon. By-and-by he sent for his sister Sanghamittâ, 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 Gayâ, under which Śâkyamuni 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 Gayâ, 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 Sanghamittâ.
[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 sâ; and vâ, bo or bhâ. ‘Sabæan’ 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.
Asaṅkhyeya 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 Mahâ-kalpa consists of four
Asaṅkhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15.
[10] See chapter ix.
[11] See chapter xi.
[12] He had been born in the Śâkya 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] Sudâna or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth
which preceded his appearance as Śâkyamuni or Gotama, when he became
the Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jâtaka,
of which Hardy, M. B., pp. 116–124, gives a long account; see also
‘Buddhist Birth Stories,’ the Nidâna Kathâ, p. 158. In it, as Sudâna,
he fulfilled ‘the Perfections,’ his distinguishing attribute being
entire self-renunciation and almsgiving, so that in the Nidâna Kathâ
is made to say (‘Buddhist Birth Stories,’ p. 58):—
‘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 Mahâ-mâyâ, and be born as Śâkyamuni.
[15] I take the name Sâma from Beal’s revised version. He says in a
note that the Sâma Jâtaka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented
in the Sâñchi sculptures. But what the Sâma Jâtaka was I do not yet
know. But adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text
should be translated ‘the change into Sâma.’ 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 Méthode does not give the phonetic value in
Sanskrit of 睒.
[16] In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in
which Śâkyamuni had appeared in his Jâtaka 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 stûpas 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 Mahâ-vihâra,
where 3000 monks reside. There had been among them a Śramaṇa, 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 Ârhat.
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 Ârhat. The king accordingly,
when he died, buried him after the fashion of an Ârhat, 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 haircloth, 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 Sûtra from the pulpit, say:—‘Buddha’s alms-bowl was at first in
Vaiśâlî, and now it is in Gandhâra.[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 Tukhâra;[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 Siṉhala; 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 Śâkyamuni 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
Jambudvîpa, where it will be received by the king of the sea nâgas,
and taken into his nâga 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
Śâkya 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 Sûtra,
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 Lî Kî, Book XIX. Fâ-hien’s
此間, ‘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 耳 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 Mahâ-nâna (A.D. 410–432). In the time
of his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368–410), the piṭakas were first
translated into Singhalese. Under Mahâ-nâna, Buddhaghosha wrote his
commentaries. Both were great builders of vihâras. See the Mahâvaṉśa,
pp. 247, foll.
[6] See chapter xii. Fâ-hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel
says was ‘the ancient capital of Gandhâra.’
[7] Western Tukhâra (西肢) is the same probably as the Tukhâra
(肢) 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 Vîna; but Vîna or Vînataka, and Ana for Sudarśana 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-piṭaka of the Mahîśâsakâḥ (school);[1] the
Dîrghâgama and Samyuktâgama[2] (Sûtras); and also the
Saṃyukta-sañchaya-piṭaka;[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-dvîpa, where various forms of error
and Brahmânism 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 Brahmâns deliberated
together and said, ‘It is having this Śramaṇa 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 Śramaṇa, 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 Lâo,[8] on
the borders of the prefecture of Chʽang-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 Chʽang-kwang, a part of Tsʽing-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
Chʽang-kwang city.
The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When
he heard that a Śramaṇa 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 Tsʽing-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 Chʽang-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 Chʽang-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 Tsʽing-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 Śramaṇa about A.D. 425. Mahîśâsakâḥ 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 Sarvâstivâdâḥ.
[2] Nanjio’s 545 and 504. The Âgamas are Sûtras of the hînayâna,
divided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or
Dîrghâgamas (long Âgamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the
third class contains the Samyuktâgamas (mixed Âgamas).
[3] Meaning ‘Miscellaneous Collections;’ a sort of fourth Piṭaka. 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 Kuṇḍikâ, 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 25.
[6] At his novitiate Fâ-hien had sought the refuge of the ‘three
Precious Ones’ (the three Refuges [三歸] 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 大風, tâ-fung, ‘the great wind,’ = the typhoon.
[8] They had got to the south of the Shan-tung promontory, and the
foot of mount Lâo, which still rises under the same name on the
extreme south of the peninsula, east from Keâo 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 Lâe-chow. The
name Phing-too dates from the Han dynasty, but under the dynasty
of the After Chʽe (後齊), (A.D. 479–501), it was changed into
Chʽang-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 (歷代沿革表),
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 Śramaṇa, 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 Chʽang-gan, but Nanking, 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 三尊 is printed in
all the revisions for 世尊 ‘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 Tsʽing-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 (矣), 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.
INDEX.
Â-e (Asita, ṛishi), page 65.
Â-le, 54.
Abhayagiri monastery, 102, 105, 106, 107. Hall of Buddha in, and
statue of jade, 102, 103.
Abhidharma, 10 et al.
Ajâtaśatru (king), 76, 81, 82, 85.
Alms-bowl of Buddha, 34, 35, 109, 110.
Âmbapâlî, 72.
Anâgâmin, 57, 86.
Ânanda, 33, 44, 45, 72, 74, 83; death of, in Samâdhi, 75–77.
Aṅgulimâlya, 56.
Anna (mount), 109.
Anuruddha, 48.
Arhan, the, or Arhat (in Chinese Lo-han), 24, 40, 57, 71, 75, 86.
Cremation of an Arhat, 107, 108.
Ârya, 57.
Asaṅkhyeya-kalpa, 105.
Aśoka, 31, 50; his spirit-built palace, and halls, 77; his brother,
77; his great tope and inscription, 80; his vihâra and pillar. 50,
51； his city and pillar of Ne-le, 80; wished to build 84,000 topes,
69; legend of his naraka, 90–92.
Bhikshu, 13, 29, 75, 83, 86, 91, 92, 113. Suicide of, 86. Bhikshuṇî,
45.
Bimbisâra (king), 81, 82.
Bo tree, the, in Ceylon, 103, 104. In Gayâ, 88. Both are called in
mistake by Fâ-hien the patra tree.
Bodhisattva, 19. Legends of Buddha, when Bodhisattva, 30, 31, 32,
38, 73, 74, 75. Maitreya Bodhisattva, 25.
Books of Discipline, the. See Vinaya.
Brahmâ (king), the first person of the Brahmânical Trimurti, 49, 89.
Brahmâns, 47, 55, 60, 61. The Brahmân Râdha-sâmi, 78.
Buddha, incarnation of the, 65； incidents of his early life, 65, 66；
where he renounced the world, 70； where he died, 70; where he endured
austerities, 87； legends of that time, 87, 88. His attainment of the
Buddhaship, 89； first labours afterwards, 89. In Ceylon, 101; his
wonderful stride and footprint, 102. Buddha’s preaching, 54, 66.
Buddhism, Fâ-hien’s name for, 30.
Buddhists, different estimates of the number of, 5–8.
Central India, or the Middle Kingdom, 28. Condition and customs of,
42, 43.
Chakravartti king, 49, 90.
Champâ, 100. Topes and monasteries in, 100.
Chañchamana, 60.
Chaṇḍaka, 70.
Chaṇḍâlas, 43.
Chʽang-gan, 9, 10, 115.
Chang Kʽeen, 27.
Chang-yih, 11.
Charcoal tope, the, 70.
Che-yen (pilgrim), 11, 15.
China, or the land of Han, 13, 24, 58, 100, 109, 113.
Council in Śrataparṇa cavern, 85; of Vaiśâlî, 75.
Dakshiṇa, 96–98.
Dâna and dânapati, 11, 52.
Danta-kâshṭha, legend of Buddha’s, 54, 55.
Desert of Gobi, 12.
Deva, or Brahmânic god, 19, 50, 79.
Devadatta, 60, 86； followers of, 62.
Devâlaya, ‘The Shadow Covered,’ 60, 61.
Devaloka, 25.
Dharma, the Law, one of the constituents of Buddhism, 28 et al.
Dharma-gupta, 106, 107.
Dîpâṅkara Buddha, 38.
Discourse or sermon of a devotee in Ceylon, 110.
Dragons or nâgas, 29, 67, 101; the dragon of the Râma tope, 69; the
white-eared dragon, 52; Elâpattra, 96.
E-he (period), 116.
Endowments of the monkish communities, and offerings to them, 22,
23, 43, 44, 108, 109.
Fâ-hien. His surname, and notices of his early life, 1, 2; lived to
the age of eighty-eight, 2, 3. Genuineness of his narrative, 3, 4.
Different recensions of it, and especially the Corean text appended
to this volume, 4. Stages of his travels:—Chʽang-gan, 10; Lung, 10;
kingdom of Kʽeen-kwei, 10; that of Now-tʽan, 10; Chang-yih, 11；
Tʽun-hwang, 11； desert of Gobi, 12； Shen-shen, 12； Woo-e, r4；
Yu-teen, 16; Tsze-hoh, 21; Yu-hwuy, 21; Kʽeeh-chʽâ, 22; Tʽo-leih, 24；
crosses the Indus, 26； Woo-chang, or Udyâna, 28； Soo-ho-to, or
Swastene, 29； Gandhâra, 31； Takshaśilâ, 32； Purushapura, or Peshâwar,
33； He-lo, or Hidda, in Nagâra, 36； Nagâra, 38–40; Little Snowy
mountains, 40; Lo-e, 41； Poh-nâ, 41; recrosses the Indus, 41;
Pe-tʽoo, or Bhida, 41； Mathurâ, or Muttra, 42; Sarikâśya, 47;
Kanyâkubja, or Canouge, 53; Â-le, 54; Shâ-che, 54； Śrâvastî in
Kośala, 55； Too-wei, 63； Na-pei-keâ, 64; Kapilavastu, 64; Râma, 68;
Kuśanagara, 70； Vaiśâlî, 72； confluence of the five rivers, 75;
Pâṭaliputtra, or Patna, 77; Râjagṛiha, 80; Nâla, 81； New Râjagṛiha,
81; Gṛidhra-kûṭa hill, 83； Śrataparṇa cave, 85; Gayâ, 87; mount
Gurupada, 92; Vârâṇasî, or Benâres, 93； Kâśî, 94； Kauśâmbî, 96;
Patna, 98; Champâ, 100; Tâmaliptî, 100; Singhala, or Ceylon, 101；
Java, 113; Shan-tung, in China, 114； the Capital, 115.
First image made of Buddha, 57.
Foo Kung-sun, 15.
Four great topes in North India, 32; in Central India, 90.
Four places of regular occurrence in the history of all Buddhas, 68.
Four spiritual truths, and four classes of disciples, 57.
Gandhâra, 31, 33, 109.
Ganges, 54, 93, 100.
Gayâ, 87–90.
Gomati monastery, 17.
Gośîrsha Chandana wood, 39, 57.
Gṛidhra-kûta hill, 80, 82. Legends connected with, 83. Fâ-hien
spends a night on, 83.
Grove of the Getting of Eyes, 58, 59.
Gurupada (mount), 92.
Habits of the Khoteners, 16, r7.
Hall of Buddha, 20, 102.
Han, the land of. See China.
He-lo, 36.
Hînayâna, 14, 15, 23, 41, et al.
Ho-shang, name of, 58.
Hwăng-che (period), 9.
Hwuy-keen (pilgrim), 11, 15.
Hwuy-king (pilgrim), 9, 18, 22, 29, 36. Death of, 40, 41.
Hwuy-tah (pilgrim), 18, 29, 36.
Hwuy-wei (pilgrim), 10, 15.
Hwuy-ying (pilgrim), 10. Death of, 36.
India, 10, 14. (North), 24, 28, 29. (Central), 28, 42. (South), 47.
Indus, the, 26. Crossing it, 26; recrossing it, 41.
Jambudvîpa, 34, 48, 80.
Jâtaka stories, 30, 31, 32, 73, 74, et al.
Jetavana vihâra, 56； burning of the, 57. Sympathy of the monks at,
with the pilgrims, 58. Park of the, 59.
Jîvaka, 82.
Kanishka (king), 33； and his tope, 34.
Kanyâkubja, or Canouge, 53, 54.
Kan Ying, 27.
Kâo-chʽang, 15.
Kapilavastu, 64–68.
Karaṇḍa Bamboo garden (Karaṇḍa Veṇuvana), 84.
Kâśî, 94.
Kaśyapa brothers and their disciples, 89.
Kaśyapa Buddha’s entire skeleton, 93.
Kauḍḥinya and his companions, 94, 95.
Kauśâmbî, 96.
Keah-yin (year), 116.
Kʽeeh-chʽâ, 18, 22.
Kʽeen-kwei, 10.
Ke-hâe (year), 9.
Kharachar, 109.
Khoten, 16–20, 109.
King Prasenajit, 55.
King’s New monastery, 19.
Kophene, 21.
Kośala, 55.
Kwang-chow, 114.
Kwan-she-yin, 46, 112, 113.
Le E (prefect), 115.
Le Hâo, 12.
Legends of Buddha in North India, 29, 30, 39; as Bodhisattva, 31. Of
his danta-kâshṭha, 54, 55.
Legends of Takshaśilâ, 32.
Legends of topes and monastery, 53, 73.
Lichchhavis, 71, 72, 76.
Little Snowy mountains, 40.
Lo-e, 41.
Lumbinî (garden), 67. Birth of Buddha in, 67.
Lung, 10.
Madhyamayâna, 14.
Mahâkaśyapa, 45, 85.
Mahâ-maudgalyâyana (Mugalan), 44, 48, 82.
Mahâ-prajâpatî, 55, 66.
Mahâyâna, 14, 16, 21, 41, et al.
Maitreya Bodhisattva, 25; statue of, 25, 28, 109.
Mañjuśrî, 46, 79 (a Brahmân).
Mâra, king, 74； Piśuna, 83； 88.
Mathurâ, or Muttra, 42.
Merchants (five hundred), 89.
Monasteries, or Saṅghârâmas, 17, 28, et al.
Monastery (Gomati), 17.
Monastery of the Great Heap, 52.
Monastery (Pigeon), 96–98.
Monkish customs, 44–47.
Monkish food out of the ordinary hours, 44.
Monks (4000 in Shen-shen), 13； (4000 in Woo-e), 15； (several myriads
in Khoten), 15. Influence of the, 42. Quinquennial assembly of, 22, 23.
Mother of Buddha (Mahâ-mâyâ), 48, 56, 65.
Muchilinda (dragon), 89.
Nagâra, 29, 36.
Nâla, 81.
Nanda, 65.
Naraka, 90.
Ne-le city and pillar, 80.
New Râjagṛiha, 81.
Ninety-six sorts of erroneous views, 62.
Nirgrantha, the, 82.
Nirvâṇa, 14, 27, 33, et al.
Now-tʽan, 10.
Onion mountains, 20, 21, 23, 24.
Pâo-yun (pilgrim), 11, 15, 36.
Pâramitâs, the, 46； Prajñâ-pâramitâ, 46.
Pari-nirvâna, 33, 57, 73.
Park of ‘The ṛishi’s Deer-wild,’ 94.
Pâṭaliputtra, or Patna, 77; monasteries of, 78, 79; hospitals and
dispensaries of, 79, 97–99. Manuscripts copied there, 98–99； the
Mahâsâṅghika rules, Sarvâstivâdâḥ rules,
Saṃyuktâbhidharmahṛidaya-(śâstra), Sûtra of 2500 gâthas, the
Parinirvâṇa-vaipulya Sûtra, Mahâsâṅ-ghikâḥ Abhidharma, 99.
Pe-tʽoo, or Bhida, 41.
Pʽing (king of Chow dynasty), 27.
Plain (Central and South India), 47.
Poh-nâ, 41.
Poonah, or Jumna river, 42.
Prasenajit. See King
Pratyeka Buddhas, 40, 53, 74.
Procession of images at Khoten, 16–19; at Patna, 79; in Ceylon, 106,
107.
Purushapura, or Peshâwar, 33.
Quinquennial assembly of monks, 22.
Râhula, 46.
Râjagṛiha (new and old) legends and incidents, 80–86.
Râma and its tope, 68, 69.
Relics of Buddha:—spittoon, 23； alms-bowl, 23, 34, 35, 89, 109;
tooth, 23, 105, 107； skull-bone, 36, 37； pewter staff, 39; Saṅghâli,
or Saṅghâṭi, 39; hair and nails, 39 et al.; shadow, 39, 88.
Retreat (the summer), 10, 11, 22, 29, 113, 117, et al.
Śakra, 30, 34, 49, 50, 60, 80, 81.
Sâma, 106.
Samâdhi, 76.
Saṅghâli. See Relics.
Săng-king (pilgrim), 11, 36.
Săng-shâo (pilgrim), 11, 21.
Saṅkâśya, 47.
Śâriputtra, 44, 81, 82.
Shâ-che, 54.
Shadow of Buddha. See Relics.
Shay-e, 63.
Shen-shen, 12.
Shikshâpada, or ten commandments, 46.
Singhala, or Ceylon, 100–111. Manuscripts obtained in, 111.
Śmaśânam, 84.
Snow mountains, 24.
Soo-ho-to (Swastene), 29, 30.
Śramaṇa (Śraman, Shâ-măn), 14 et al.
Śrâmaṇera, 45, 69, 70.
Śrataparṇa cave, or cave of the First Council, 84, 85.
Śrâvastî, 55, 56. Topes and legends of, 56–61.
Śrotâpannas, 67, 86.
Subhadra, 71.
Sudâna, 106.
Sudatta, 56.
Śuddhodana, 64.
Sympathy of Indian monks with pilgrims, 41.
Takshaśilâ, 32.
Tamâliptî, 100.
Tâo-ching (pilgrim), 9, 18, 29, 36, 99.
Tathâgata, 63.
Three Buddhas anterior to Śâkyamuni, 63, 64.
Tʽo-leih, or Darada, 24.
Topes, 17, 40, 53, et al. Buddha himself assisted in building a
model tope, 39. 40.
Trayastriṃśas heaven, legend of Buddha’s ascent to and descent from,
48, 49.
Treasuries of the monasteries in Ceylon, 103; rule regarding, 104.
Tripiṭaka, 10.
Trîsharaṇa, 46.
Tsʽin, 15, 23.
Tsʽing-chow, 115.
Tsze-hoh, 21.
Tʽun-hwang, 11, 12.
Tushita heaven, 25.
Upâli, 66.
Upasena, 82.
Utpala bhikshuṇî, 49.
Vaiśakha (mother), 59.
Vaiśâlî, 72.
Vaiśyas, chiefs of, 38, 47.
Vanity of life and of the body, 54, 91.
Vârâṇasî, or Benâres, 94.
Vihâra, 36, 37, et al. King’s grant of a new vihâra to monks in
Ceylon, 108.
Vimoksha tope, 38.
Vinaya, or Books of Discipline, 9, 10, 98, et al.
Virûdhaha (Vaidûrya), king, 63, 67.
When the law of Buddha first went to the East, 27, 28.
Woo-chang, or Udyâna, 28, 29.
Woo-e, 14.
Yang-chow, 115.
Yang-low, 10.
Yu-hwuy, 21.
Yu-teen, or Khoten, 16.
高麗囯大藏都監雕造
紗門法顯自記遊天竺事
日本安永己亥紗門玄韻重鐫
西曆一千八百八十五年
英國牛津大學校印書局刊著
高[1]僧[1]法顯傳
東晋沙門釋[2]法顯自記遊天竺事
[1] S, M omit.
[2] S, M omit.
一章
法顯昔在長安，慨律藏殘缺，於是遂以弘始二年，歲在己亥，與慧景，道整，慧應，慧嵬等，
同契至天竺，尋求戒律。初發跡長安，度隴，至乾歸國，夏坐。夏坐訖，前[1]至褥[2]檀國，
度養樓山，至張掖鎮，張掖大亂，道路不通，張掖王慇懃，遂畱爲꜄作檀越。於是與智嚴，慧簡，
僧紹，寶雲，僧景等相遇，欣於同志，便共夏坐。夏坐訖，復꜄進到燉煌，有塞東西可八十里，
南北四十里，共停一月餘日，法顯等五人隨使先發，復꜄與寶雲等別，燉煌太守李浩供給度
沙河，沙河中，多有惡鬼熱風，遇則皆死，無一全者，上無飛鳥，下無走獸，遍望極目，欲求
度處，則莫知所擬，唯以死人枯骨爲標幟耳。
[1] After 前, S, M insert 行.
[2] S, M 耨.
二章
行十七日，計可千五百里，得至鄯[1]鄯[1]國，其地崎嶇薄瘠，俗人衣服粗，與漢地同，但以
氈褐爲異。其國王奉法，可有四千餘僧，悉小乘學，諸國俗人，及沙門，盡行天竺法，但有精
麤[2]。從此西行，所經諸國，類皆如是，唯國國胡語不同，然出家人，皆習天竺書，天竺語。
住此一月日，復꜄西北行十五日，到烏[3]夷國[4]，僧亦有四千餘人，皆小乘學，法則齊整，
秦土沙門至彼，都不豫其僧例也[5]。法顯得符行當[6]公孫經理，住二月餘日，於是還與
寶雲等共合[7]，烏夷國人不修禮儀，遇客甚薄，智嚴，慧簡，慧嵬，遂返向高昌，欲求行資，
法顯等蒙符公孫供給，遂得直進西南行，路中無居民，涉行艱難，所經之苦，人理莫比，在道
一月五日，得到于闐。
[1] M 善.
[2] S 麄.
[3] S, M 𠌵.
[4] After 國, S, M repeat 𠌵夷國.
[5] S, M omit.
[6] S, M 堂.
[7] S, M 爲.
三章
其國豊樂，人民殷盛，盡皆奉法，以法樂相娛，衆僧乃數萬人，多大乘學，皆有衆食。彼國
人民星居，家家門前，皆起小塔，最小者可高二丈許，作四方僧房，供給客僧，及餘所須。
國主安頓[1]供[2]給[2]法顯等於僧伽藍，僧伽藍名瞿摩帝，是大乘寺，三千僧
共犍槌[3]食，入食堂時，威儀齊肅，次第而坐，一切꜄寂然，器鉢無聲，淨人益食，
不得相喚，但以手指麾。慧景，道整，慧達，先發向竭叉國，法顯等欲觀行像。停三月日。
其國中有[4]四大僧伽藍，不數小者，從四月一日，城裏便掃灑道路，莊嚴巷陌，其城門上
張大幃幕，事事嚴飾[5]，王及夫人婇[6]女，皆住其中。瞿摩帝僧是大乘學，王所敬重，
最先行像，離城三四里，作四輪像車，高三丈餘，狀如行殿，七寶莊校，懸繒幡蓋，像立車中，
二菩薩侍，作諸天侍從꜄，皆以[7]金銀彫瑩，懸於虛空，像去門百步，王脫天冠，易著
新衣，徒跣持華香，翼從出城迎像，頭面禮足，散花[8]燒香，像入城時，門樓上夫人
婇[6]女，遙散衆花[8]，紛紛而下。如是莊嚴供具，車車各異，一僧伽藍則一日行像，
自[9]月一日爲始，至十四日行像乃訖。行像訖，王及夫人，乃還宮耳。其城西七八里，
有僧伽藍，名王新寺，作來八十年，經三王方成，可高二十五丈，彫文刻鏤，金銀覆꜄上，
衆寶合成，塔後作佛堂，莊嚴妙好，梁柱，戶扇꜄，牕[10]牖，皆以金薄，別作僧房，
亦嚴麗整飾，非言可盡，嶺東六國諸王所有上價寶物，多作供養，人用者少。
[1] S, M 堵.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M 椎.
[4] S, M 十.
[5] S, M [C1].
[6] S, M 采.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] S, M 華.
[9] S, M 四.
[10] S 窻; M 窓.
四章
旣過四月行像，僧韶一人，隨胡道人向𦋺賓。法顯等進向子合國，在道二十五日，便到其國，
國王精進，有千餘僧。多大乘學。住此十五日꜂已，於是南行四日，入葱嶺山，到於麾國安居。
安居꜂已山[1]行二十五日，到竭叉國，與慧景等合。
[1] S, M 止.
五章
値其國王作般遮越師，般遮越師，漢言五年大會也，會時，請四方沙門，皆來，雲集[1]꜂已，
莊嚴衆僧坐處，懸繒幡[2]蓋，作金銀蓮華，著僧[3]座後，鋪凈坐具，王及羣臣，如法供養，
或一月二月，或三月，多在春時，王作會꜂已，復꜄勸諸羣臣，設供供養，或一日，二日，三日，
五日，乃[4]至[4]七[4]日[4]，供養都畢，王以所乘馬，鞍勒自副，使國中貴重臣騎之，
幷諸白[5]㲲[5]，種種珍寶，沙門所須之物，共諸羣臣發願布施衆[6]僧[6]，布施僧[7]
꜂已，還從僧贖。其地山寒，不生餘穀，唯熟麦[8]耳。衆僧受歲꜂已，其晨輒霜，故其王每請[9]
衆僧令麥熟，然後受歲。其國中有佛唾壺，以石作之[10]，色似佛鉢，又有佛一齒，其[11]
國中[12]人，爲꜄佛齒起塔，有千餘僧徒[13]，盡小乘學。自山以東，俗人被服粗[14]，
類[14]與[14]秦土同[15]，亦以氈褐爲異，沙門法用轉[16]勝，不可具記。其國當
葱嶺之中，自葱嶺꜂已前，草木果實皆異，唯竹及安石榴[17]甘蔗三物，與漢地同耳。
[1] J repeats.
[2] S, M 旛.
[3] S, M 繒.
[4] S, M omit.
[5] S, p.y. 自㲲.
[6] S, M omit.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] S, M 麥.
[9] S, M 讚.
[10] S, M omit.
[11] S, M omit.
[12] S, M omit.
[13] S, M omit.
[14] S, M omit.
[15] S, M omit.
[16] S, M repeat.
[17] S, M 留。
六章
從此西行，向北天竺，在道一月，得度葱嶺，葱嶺山[1]冬夏有[2]雪，又有毒龍，若失其意，
則吐毒風，雨꜄雪，飛沙，礫石，遇此難者，萬無一全，彼土人[3]卽名爲雪山[4]也。度嶺꜂已,
到北天竺，始入其境，有一小國，名陀歷，亦有衆僧，皆小乘學。其國昔有羅漢，以神足力，
將一巧匠꜂上兠率[5]天，觀彌勒菩薩長短，色貌，還下刻木作像，前後三꜂上觀，然後乃成像，
長八丈，足趺八尺，齋日常有光明，諸國王競興供養，今故現在。
[1] S, M omit.
[2] J 日.
[3] S, M repeat.
[4] After 山, S, M insert 人.
[5] S, M 術.
七章
於此順嶺，西南行十五日，其道艱岨，崖岸嶮絕，其山唯石壁立千仞，臨之目眩，欲進則投足
無所，下有水，名新頭河，昔人有鑿石通路，施傍梯者，凡度七百，度梯꜂已，躡懸絚過河，
河兩岸相去，減八十步，九譯[1]所記，漢之張騫，甘英，皆不至此[2]。衆僧問法顯佛法東過，
其始可知𫆀，顯云，訪問彼土人，皆云，古老相傳，自立彌勒菩薩像後，便有天竺沙門，
賫經律過此河者，像立在佛泥洹後三百許年許[3]於周氏平王時，由茲而言，大教宣流，
始自此像，非꜀夫彌勒大士繼軌釋迦，孰能令三寶宣通，邊人識法，固知冥運之開，本非人事，
則漢明帝[4]之夢有由而然矣。
[1] S, M 驛.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] Probably for 計, a cutter’s mistake.
[4] S, M omit.
八章
度河便到烏長國，其[1]烏長[2]國是正北天竺也，盡作中天竺語，中天竺所謂中國，俗人
衣服飮食，亦與中國同，佛法甚盛，名衆僧止[3]住[3]處爲僧伽藍，凡有五百僧伽藍，
皆小乘學，若有客比丘到，悉供養三日，三日過꜂已，乃令自求所安。常傳言，佛至北天竺，
卽到此國也[4]，佛遺足跡於此[5]，或長或短，在人心念，至今猶爾，及曬衣石，度惡龍處，
悉[6]亦[6]現在，石高丈四尺[7]，濶二丈許，一邊平。慧景，慧[8]達[8]，道[9]整[9]
三人，先發向佛影那竭國，法顯等住此國，夏坐。坐訖，南下到宿呵多國。
[1] S, M omit.
[2] S, M 萇.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M 已.
[5] After 此, S, M insert 跡.
[6] S, M invert.
[7] S, M omit.
[8][9] S, M invert.
九章
其國佛法亦盛。昔天帝釋試菩薩，化作鷹鴿，割肉貿鴿處，佛旣[1]成道，與諸弟子遊行，語云，
此本是吾割肉貿鴿處，國人由是得知，於此處起塔，金銀校飾。
[1] S, M 卽.
十章
從此東下五日，行到犍𨹔[1]衛國，是阿育王子，法益，所治處，佛爲菩薩時，亦於此國以眼
施人，其處亦起大塔，金銀校餝。此國人，多小乘學。
[1] S, M 陀.
十一章
自此東行七日，有國名竺剎尸羅，竺剎尸羅，漢言截頭也，佛爲菩薩時，於此處以頭施人，
故因以爲名，復꜄東行二日，至投身餧餓虎處，此二處亦起大塔，皆衆寶校飾。諸國王，臣民，
競興供養，散華然燈，相繼不絕，通上二塔，彼方人亦名爲四大塔也。
十二章
從犍𨹔衛國，南行四日，到弗樓沙國，佛昔將諸弟子，遊行此國，語꜄阿難云，吾般泥洹後，
當有國王，名𦋺膩伽，於此處起塔。後𦋺[1]膩伽王出世，出行遊觀時，天帝釋欲開發其意，
化作牧牛小兒，當道起塔，王問言[2]，汝作何等，答言作佛塔，王言大善，於是王卽於小兒
塔上起塔，高四十餘丈，衆寶校飾，凡所經見塔廟，壯麗威嚴，都無此比，傳云，閻浮提塔，
唯此塔[3]爲上，王作塔成꜂已，小塔卽自傍出大塔南，高三尺許。佛鉢卽在此國，昔月氏王，
大興兵衆，來伐此國，欲取佛鉢，旣伏此國꜂已，月氏王等[4]，篤信佛法，欲持鉢去，故大[5]
興供養，供養三寶畢，乃校飾大象，置鉢其上，象便伏地，不能得前，更作四輪車載鉢，八象
共牽，復꜄不能進，王知與鉢緣未至，深自愧歎，卽於此處起塔及僧伽藍，幷畱鎮守，種種供養。
可有七百[6]餘僧，日將欲[7]中，衆僧則出鉢，與白衣等，種種供養，然後中食，至暮燒香時，
復꜄爾，可容二斗許，雜色而黑多，四際分明，厚可二分，甚[8]光澤，貧人以少華投中，便滿，
有大富者，欲以多華[9]供養，正復百千萬斛，終不能滿。寶雲，僧景，止[10]供養佛鉢，
便還。慧景，慧達，道整，先向那竭國，供養佛影，佛齒，及頂骨，慧景病，道整住看，慧達一人，
還於弗樓沙國相見，而慧達，寶雲，僧景，遂還秦土。慧景[11]在佛鉢寺無常，由是法顯獨進向
佛頂骨所。
[1] S, M omit.
[2] S, M 曰.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M omit.
[5] S, M omit.
[6] S, M 日.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] S, M omit and insert 瑩徹.
[9] After 華, S, M insert 而.
[10] S, M 只.
[11] After 景, S, M insert 應.
十三章
西行十六由延，至那竭國界，𫑻[1]羅城，城[2]中有佛頂骨精舍，盡以金薄七寶校飾，
國王敬重頂骨，慮人抄奪，乃取國中豪姓八人，人持一印，印封守護，清晨八人俱到，各視
其印，然後開戶，開戶꜂已，以香汁洗手，出佛頂骨，置精舍外，高座上，以七寶圓碪碪下，瑠璃
鍾覆꜄上，皆珠璣校飾，骨黃白色，方圓四寸，其上隆起，每日出後，精舍人，則登高樓，擊大鼓，
吹蠡[3]，敲銅鉢[4]，王聞꜂已，則詣精舍，以華香供養，供養꜂已，次第頂戴而去，從東門入，
西門出，王朝朝如是供養禮拜，然後聽國政，居士長者亦先供養，乃修家事，日日如是，初無
懈[5]倦。供養都訖，乃還頂骨於精舍中，有七寶解脫塔，或開或閉，高五尺許，以盛之。精舍
門前，朝朝恒有賣華香人，凡欲供養者，種種買焉，諸國王亦恒遣使供養。精舍處方三[6]十步，
雖復꜄天震地裂，此處不動。從此北行一由延，到那竭國城，是菩薩本以銀錢貿五莖華，供養
定光佛處。城中亦有佛齒塔，供養如頂骨法。城東北一由延，到一谷口，有佛錫杖，亦起精舍
供養，杖以牛頭栴檀作，長丈六七許，以木筒盛之，正復꜄百千人舉，不能移。入谷口[7]西行，
有佛僧伽梨，亦[8]起[9]精舍供養，彼國土俗[10]，亢旱時，國人相率出衣，禮拜供養，天卽
大雨。那竭城南半由延，有石室博山西南向，佛留影此中，去十餘步觀之，如佛眞形，金色相好，
光明炳著，轉近轉微，髣髴如，有諸方國王，遣工畫師摹寫，莫能及。彼國人傳云，千佛盡當於
此留影。影西四[11]百步許，佛在時，剃髮剪爪，佛自與諸弟子，共造塔，高七八丈，以爲將來
塔法，今猶在，邊有寺，寺中有七百餘僧。此處有諸羅漢，辟支佛塔，乃千數。
[1] S, M 醯.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M 螺.
[4] S, M 鈸.
[5] The Corean text has the 心 beneath.
[6] S, M 四.
[7] After 口, S, M insert 四日.
[8] S, M omit.
[9] S, M omit.
[10] S, M omit.
[11] S, M omit.
十四章
住此冬三月，法顯等三人，南度小雪山，雪山冬夏積雪，山北陰中，遇[1]寒風暴起，人皆噤戰，
慧景一人，不堪復꜄進，口出白沫，語꜄法顯云，我亦不復꜄活，便可時去，勿得俱死，於是遂終，
法顯撫之，悲꜀號，本圖不果，命也奈何。復꜄自力前，得過嶺南，到羅夷國，近有三千僧，兼
大小乘學。住此夏坐，坐訖，南下行十日，到跋那國，亦有三千許僧，皆小乘學。從此東行三日，
復꜄渡新頭河，兩岸皆平地。
[1] S, J 週.
十五章
過河有國名毘荼，佛法興盛，兼大小乘學，見秦道人往，乃大憐愍，作是言，如何邊地人能
知出家爲道，遠求佛法，悉供給所須，待之如法。
十六章
從此東南行，減八十由延，經歷諸寺甚多，僧衆萬數，過是諸處꜂已，到一國，國名摩頭羅，
又經蒱[1]那河，河邊左右，有二十僧伽藍，可有三千僧，佛法轉盛。凡沙河꜂已西，天竺諸國，
國王皆篤信佛法，供養衆僧時，則脫天冠，共諸宗親羣臣，手自行食，行食꜂已，鋪氈於地，
對上座前，坐於衆僧前，不敢坐牀，佛在世時，諸王供養法式，相傳至今。從是以南，名爲中國，
中國寒暑調和，無霜雪，人民殷樂，無戶籍官法，唯耕王地者，乃輸地利，欲去便去，欲住便住，
王治不用刑斬[2]有罪者，但罰其錢，隨事輕重，雖復꜄謀爲惡逆，不過截右手而꜂已，王之侍衛
左右，皆有供祿，舉國人民，悉不殺生，不飮酒，不食葱蒜，唯除旃荼[3]羅，旃荼羅名爲惡人，
與人別居，若入城市，則擊木[4]以自異，人則識而避之，不相搪[5]揬[6]。國中不養
䐗[7]鷄[7]，不賣生口，市無屠店[8]，及沽[9]酒者，貨易，則用貝齒，唯旃荼羅，漁[10]
獵師，賣肉耳。自佛般泥洹後，諸國王，長者居士，爲꜄衆僧起精舍，供給田宅，園圃，民戶，
牛犢，鐵劵書錄，後王王相傳，無敢廢者，至今不絕。衆僧住止房舍[11]，牀蓐飮食，衣服，
都無闕乏，處處皆爾。衆僧常以作功德爲業，及誦經坐禪，客僧往到，舊僧迎逆，代擔[12]
衣鉢，給洗足水，塗足油，與非時漿，須臾息꜂已，復꜄問其臘數，次第得房舍臥具，種種如法。
衆僧住處，作舍利弗塔，目連，阿難塔，幷阿毘曇，律，經，塔。安居後一月，諸希福之家，勸化
供養僧，行[13]非時漿，衆僧大會說法，說法꜂已，供養舍利弗塔，種種華[14]香[14]，通夜
然燈，使伎[15]樂[15]人[16]作，舍利弗，大[17]婆羅門時，詣佛求出家，大目連，大迦葉，
亦如是，諸比丘尼，多供養阿難塔，以阿難請世尊聽女人出家故。諸沙彌，多供養羅云。
阿毘曇師者，供養阿毘曇，律師者供養律，年年一供養，各自有日，摩訶衍人，則供養般
若波羅蜜，文殊師利，觀世音等。衆僧受歲竟，長者居士，婆羅門等，各將[18]種種衣物，
沙門所須以用[19]，布施衆[20]僧[20]，僧受[21]，亦自各各布施，佛泥洹꜂已來，
聖衆所行，威儀法則，相承不絶。自度[22]新頭河，至南天竺，迄于南海，四五萬里，
皆平坦，無大山川，正有河水耳[23]。
[1] S, M 捕.
[2] S, M 岡.
[3] S, M 茶. W.
[4] S 水.
[5] S 唐; S, p.y. 湯.
[6] S 突.
[7] S, M 猪雞.
[8] S, M 估.
[9] S 估; M 酤.
[10] S, M omit.
[11] After 舍, S, M insert 供養.
[12] S, M 檐. W.
[13] S, M 作.
[14] S, M invert.
[15] S, M omit.
[16] Before 人, S, M have 彼.
[17] S, M 本.
[18] S, M 持.
[19] S, M omit.
[20] S, M invert.
[21] S, M omit.
[22] S, M 渡.
[23] S, M omit.
十七章
從此東南行十八由延，有國名僧迦施，佛꜂上忉利天，三月爲꜄母說法，來[1]下處。佛꜂上忉利天，
以神通力，都不使諸弟子知，來滿七日，乃放神足，阿那律以天眼遙見世尊，卽語꜄尊者大目連，
汝可往問訊世尊，目連卽往，頭面禮足，共相問訊，問訊꜂已，佛語꜄目連。吾𨚫後七日，當下
閻浮提，目連旣還，于時八國大王，及諸臣民，不見佛久，咸皆渴仰，雲集此國，以待世尊，時
優鉢羅比丘尼，卽自心念，今日國王臣民，皆當[2]迎佛，我是女人，何由得先見，佛卽以神足化
作轉輪聖王，最前禮佛。佛從忉利天上來向下，下時，化作三道寶階，佛在中道，七寶階上行，
梵天王，亦化作白銀階，在右邊執白拂而侍，天帝釋化作紫金階，在左邊執七寶蓋而侍，諸天
無數從佛下，佛旣下，三階俱沒于[3]地，餘有七級而[4]現，後阿育王，欲知其根際，遣人
掘看，下至黃泉，根猶不盡，王益敬[5]信[5]，卽於階上起精舍，當中階作丈六立像，精舍
後立石柱，高三十肘，上作師子，柱內四邊，有佛像，內外暎[6]徹，淨若琉璃，有外道論師，
與沙門諍此住處，時沙門理屈，於是共立誓言，此處若是沙門住處者，今當有靈驗，作是言꜂已，
柱頭師子，乃大鳴吼見꜄驗[7]，於是外道慴[8]怖，心伏而退。佛以受天食三月，故身作天香，
不同世人，卽便浴身，後人於此處起浴室，浴室猶在。優鉢羅比丘尼初禮佛處，今亦起塔，佛在
世時，有剪[9]髮爪[10]，作塔，及過去三佛，幷釋迦文佛坐處，經行處，及作諸佛形像處，
盡有塔，今悉在。天帝釋，梵天王，從佛下處，亦起塔。此處僧及尼可有千人，皆同衆食，
雜大小乘學，住處有[11]一白耳龍，與此衆僧作檀越，令國內豊熟，雨澤以時，無諸災害，使衆僧
得安，衆僧感其惠，故爲꜄作龍舍，敷置坐處，又爲꜄龍設福食供養，衆僧日日衆中，別差三人，
到龍舍中食，每至夏坐訖，龍輒化形，作一小蛇，兩耳邊白，衆僧識之，銅盂盛酪，以龍置中，
從上座至下座行之，似若問訊，遍便化去，每[12]年一出，其國豊饒，人民熾盛，最樂無比，
諸國人來，無不經理供給所須。寺西[13]北五十由延，有一寺名大[14]墳[14]，大墳者，
惡鬼名也，佛本化是惡鬼，後人於此處起精舍布[15]施阿羅漢，以水灌手，水瀝滴地，其處故在，
正復꜄掃除，常現不滅。此處別有佛塔，善鬼神常掃灑，初不須人工，有邪見國王言，汝能如是者，
我當多將兵衆住此，益積糞穢，汝復꜄能除不，鬼神卽起大風，吹之令淨。此處有百枚小塔，人終
日꜂數之，不能得知，若至意欲知者，便一塔邊置一人，꜂已復꜄計꜂數人人，或多或少，其不可得知。
有一僧伽藍，可六七百僧，此中有辟支佛食處，泥[16]地大如車輪，餘處生草，此處獨不生，
及曬衣地處，亦不生草，衣[C2][17]著꜆地跡，今故現在。
[1] S, M 未. R.
[2] After 當, S, M insert 奉.
[3] S, M 於.
[4] S, M. omit.
[5] S, M invert.
[6] S, M 映.
[7] S, M 證.
[8] S, M 懼.
[9] S, M 翦.
[10] S, M 爪. W.
[11] S, M omit.
[12] S, M 年.
[13] S, M omit.
[14] S, M 火境.
[15] After 舍, S, M insert 以精舍.
[16] After 泥, S, M insert 洹.
[17] S, M 條.
十八章
法顯住龍精舍，夏坐，坐訖，東南行七由延，到𦋺饒[1]夷城，城接恒[2]水，有二僧伽藍，
盡小乘學。去城西六七里，恒[2]水北岸，佛爲꜄諸弟子說法處，傳云，說無常，苦，空[3]，
說身如泡沫等，此處起塔，猶在。度恒[2]水，南行三由延，到一村[4]。名阿梨，佛於此中
說法，經行，坐處，盡起塔。
[1] S, p.y. 鐃.
[2] So, all recensions and Julien. Probably should always be 洹.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M 林.
十九章
從此東南行十由延，到沙祗大國，出沙祗城，南門道東，佛本在此嚼楊枝꜂已[1]，刺土中，卽
生長七尺，不增不減，諸外道婆羅門嫉妬，或斫或拔遠棄之，其處續生如故。此中亦有四佛經行，
坐處，起塔，故在。
[1] S, M omit.
二十章
從此南行八由延，到拘薩羅國舍衛城，城內人民希曠，都有二百餘家，卽波斯匿王所治城也。
大愛道故精舍處，須達長者井壁，及鴦掘魔得道，般泥洹燒身處，後人起塔，皆在此城中，
諸外道婆羅門，生嫉妬心，欲毀壞之，天卽雷電霹靂，終不能得壞。出城南門，千二百步，道西，
長者須達起精舍，精舍東向，開門[1]戶，兩邊[2]有二石柱，左柱上作輪形，右柱上作牛形，
精[3]舍[3]左[3]右[3]，池流清淨，樹[4]林[5]尙茂，衆華異色，蔚然可觀，卽所謂祗洹
精舍也，佛꜂上忉利天，爲꜄母說法九十日，波斯匿王思見佛，卽刻牛頭栴檀作佛像，置佛坐處，
佛後還入精舍，像卽避出迎佛，佛言，還坐，吾般泥洹後，可爲四部衆作法式，像卽還坐，此像
最是衆像之始，後人所法者也，佛於是移住南邊小精舍，與像異處，相去二十步。祗洹精舍，
本有七層，諸國王人民，競興供養，懸繒幡[6]蓋，散華燒香，然[7]燈續明，日日不絕，鼠
含[8]燈炷，燒[9]幡[6]蓋，遂及精舍七꜀重都盡，諸國王人民，皆大悲惱，謂栴檀像꜂已燒，
却後四五日，開東小精舍戶，忽見本像，皆大歡喜，共治精舍，得作兩꜀重，還移像本處。法顯，
道整，初到祗洹精舍，念昔世尊住此二十五年，自傷生在邊地[10]，共諸同志遊歷諸國，
而或有還者，或有無常者，今日乃見佛空處，愴然心悲，彼衆僧出問法[11]顯等言，汝等從
何國來，答曰[12]，從漢地來，彼衆僧歎曰，奇哉，邊國[13]之人，乃能求法至此，自相
謂言，我等諸師和上[14]，相𣴎以[15]來，未見漢道人來到此也。精舍西北四里，有林[16]。
名曰得眼，本有五百盲人，依精舍住此，佛爲꜄說法，盡還得眼，盲人歡喜，刺[17]杖著꜆地，
頭面作禮，杖遂生長大，世人重之，無敢伐者，遂成爲林，是故以得眼爲名，祗洹衆僧，中食後，
多往彼林[16]中坐禪。祗洹精舍東北六七里，毘舍佉母作精舍，請佛及僧此處，故在。祗洹精舍
大院[18]，各[19]有二門，一門東向，一門北向，此園卽須達長者布金錢買地處[20]，
精舍當中央，佛住此處最久，說法，度人，經行，坐處，亦盡起塔，皆有名字，乃孫陀利殺身謗
佛處。出祗洹東門，北行七十步，道西，佛昔共九十六種外道論議，國王，大臣，居士，人民，
皆雲集而聽，時外道女，名旃遮[21]摩那起嫉妬[22]心，及[23]懷衣著꜆腹前，似若妊[24]身，
於衆會中謗佛以非法，於是天帝釋卽化作白鼠，嚙[25]其腰帶[26]，帶斷，所懷衣墮地，
地卽[27]裂，生入地獄，及調達毒爪[28]欲害佛，生入地獄處，後人皆幖[29]幟[29]之，
又於論議處起精[30]舍[30]，高六丈許，中[31]有坐佛像[32]，其道東有外道天寺，
名曰影覆꜄，與論議處精舍裌[33]道相對，亦高六丈許，所以名影覆꜄者，日在西時，世尊精舍影，
則暎外道天寺，日在東時，外道天寺影，則北暎，終不得暎佛精舍也，外道常遣人守其天寺，
掃灑，燒香，燃燈，供養，至明旦其燈輒移在佛精舍中，婆羅門恚言，諸沙門取我燈，自供養佛，
爲爾[34]不止。婆羅門於是夜自伺候，見其所事天神，將[35]燈繞佛精舍三匝[36]供[37]
養[37]，供養佛꜂已，忽然不見꜄。婆羅門乃知佛神大，卽捨家入道，傳云，近有此事。繞祗洹
精舍，有九十八僧伽藍，盡有僧住[38]，唯一處空。此中國有九十六種外道，皆知今世後[39]
世[40]，各有徒衆，亦皆乞食，但不持鉢，亦復꜄求福，於曠路側，立福德舍屋宇，牀臥，飮食，
供給行路人，及出家人，來去客，但所期異耳。調達亦有衆在，常[41]供養過去三佛，唯不供養
釋迦文佛。舍衛城東南四里，琉璃王欲伐舍夷國，世尊當道側立，立處起塔。
[1] J repeats.
[2] S, M 廂.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M omit.
[5] After 林, S, M insert 木.
[6] S, M 旛.
[7] S, M 燃.
[8] S, M 銜.
[9] After 燒, S, M insert 花.
[10] S, M 夷.
[11] S, M omit.
[12] S, M 云.
[13] S, M 地.
[14] M 尙.
[15] S, M ꜂已.
[16] S, M 榛.
[17] S, M The Corean text is vulgar form of this.
[18] S. 援; M 園.
[19] S, M 落.
[20] After 處, S, M insert 也.
[21] S, p.y, 柘.
[22] S, M 妒.
[23] Should probably be 乃.
[24] S, M 姙.
[25] S, M 齧.
[26] S, M omit.
[27] After 卽, S, M insert 劈.
[28] J 瓜.
[29] S, M 標識.
[30] S, M repeat.
[31] S, M 裏.
[32] S, M omit.
[33] S, M 來.
[34] Another form of this in text.
[35] S, M 持.
[36] S, M 帀.
[37] S, M omit.
[38] After 住, insert 處.
[39] S, M omit.
[40] S, M omit.
[41] S, M omit.
二十一章
城西五十里，到一邑，名都維，是迦葉佛本生處，父子相見處，般泥洹處，皆悉起塔，迦葉如來
全身全利亦起大塔。從舍衛城東南，行十二由延，到一邑，名那毘伽，是拘樓秦佛所生處，父子
相見處，般泥洹處，亦[1]皆[2]起塔。從此北行，減一由延，到一邑，是拘那舍牟尼佛所生處，
父子相見處，般泥洹處，亦皆起塔。
[1] After 亦, S, M insert 有僧伽藍.
[2] S, M omit.
二十二章
從此東行，減一由延，到迦維羅衛城，城中都無王民，甚[1]丘[2]荒，止[3]有衆僧民戶，
數十家而꜂已。白淨王故宮處，作太子母形像，及[4]太子乘白馬[5]，入母胎時，太子出城
東門見病人，廻車還處，皆起塔。阿夷相꜄太子處，與難𨹔等撲象，捅射處，箭東南去三十里
入地，令[6]泉水出，後世人治作井，令行人飮[7]，佛得道，還見父王處，五百釋子出家，
向優波離作禮，地六種震動處，佛爲꜄諸天說法，四天王等[8]守四門，父王不得入處，佛在
尼拘律樹下東向坐，大愛道布施佛僧伽梨處，此樹猶在。瑠[9]璃王煞[10]釋種[11]，
釋種[11]死[12]，盡得須陀洹，立塔，今亦在。城東北數里，有王田，太子坐[13]樹下，
觀耕者處。城東五十里，有王園，園名論民，夫人入池洗浴，出池北岸二十步，舉手攀樹枝，
東向生太子，太子墮地，行七步，二龍王浴太子身，浴處遂作井，及上洗浴池，今衆僧常取
飮之。凡諸佛有四處常定，一者，成道處，二者，輪[14]法輪處，三者，說法，論議伏外道處，
四者，꜂上忉利天，爲꜄母說法來下處，餘者[15]則隨時示現焉。迦維羅衛國大空荒，人民希踈，
道路怖畏白象，師子，不可妄行。
[1] After 甚, S, M insert 如.
[2] S, M 坵.
[3] S, M 只.
[4] S, M 乃. W.
[5] ? Mistake for 象.
[6] S 今.
[7] After 飮, S, M insert 之.
[8] S, M omit.
[9] S 琉.
[10] S, M 殺.
[11] After 種, S, M insert 子.
[12] S, M 先.
[13] S, M omit.
[14] Probably should be 轉.
[15] S, M omit.
二十三章
從佛生處，東行五由延，有國名藍莫，此國王得佛一分꜄舍利，還歸起塔，卽名藍莫塔，塔邊有池，
池中有龍，常守護此塔，晝夜供養，阿育王出世，欲破八塔，作八萬四千塔，破七塔꜂已，次欲
破此塔，龍便現身，持阿育王入其宮中，觀諸供養具，꜂已，語꜄王言，汝供養[1]若能勝是，
便可壞之持去，吾不與汝諍，阿育王知其供養具，非世之所[2]有，於是便還。此中荒蕪，無人
灑掃，常有羣象，以鼻取水灑地，取雜華香而供養塔，諸國有道人來，欲禮拜塔，遇象大怖，依樹
自翳，見象如法供養，道人大自悲感，此中无有僧伽藍，可供養此塔，乃令象灑掃，道人
卽捨大戒，還作沙彌，自挽草木，平治處所，使得淨潔，勸化國王作僧住處，已爲寺主[3]，
今現有僧住，此事在近，自爾相𣴎至今，恒[4]以沙彌爲寺主。
[1] S, M omit.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] So, but should be 洹.
二十四章
從此東行三由延，大[1]子遣車匿，白馬，還處，亦起塔。從此東行四由延，到炭塔，亦有僧伽藍。
復꜄東行十二由延，到拘夷那竭城，城北，雙樹間，希連禪[2]河邊，世尊於此北首而般泥洹，
及須跋最後得道處，以金棺供養世尊七日處，金剛力士放金杵處，八王分舍利處，諸處皆
起塔，有僧伽藍，今悉現在。其城中人民，亦希[3]曠，止有衆僧民戶。從此東南行十二由延，
到諸梨車欲逐[4]佛般泥洹處，而佛不聽，戀佛不肯去，佛化作大深塹[5]，不得度，佛與鉢作信，
遣還其家處[6]，立石柱，上有銘題。
[1] J 太. R.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] M 稀.
[4] S 遂.
[5] In text, with 水 at the side.
[6] S, M omit.
二十五章
自此東行十[1]由延，到毘舍離國。毘舍離城北大林，꜀重閣精舍，佛住處，及阿難半身塔。
其城裏本菴婆羅女家爲꜄佛起塔。今故現在。城南三里，道西，菴婆羅女以園施佛作佛住處。
佛將般泥洹，與諸弟子出毘舍離城，西門，廻身右轉顧看毘舍離城，告諸弟子，是吾最後所行處，
後人於此處起塔。城西北三里，有塔名放弓仗，以名此者，恒水流有一國王，王小夫人，生一肉胎，
大夫人妒之言，汝生不祥之徵，卽盛以木函，擲恒水中，下流有國王遊觀，見水上木函，開看，
見千小兒，端正殊特，王卽取養之，遂便長大，甚勇健，所往征伐，無不摧伏，次伐父王本國，
王大愁憂，小夫人問如[2]何故愁憂，王曰，彼國王有千子，勇健無比，欲求[3]伐吾國，
是以愁耳，小夫人言，王勿愁憂，但於城東作高樓，賊來時，置我樓上，則我能却之，王如其言，
至賊來[4]時，小夫人於樓上，語꜄賊言，汝是我子，何故作反逆事，賊曰，汝是何人云是我母，
小夫人曰，汝等若不信者，盡仰向張口，小夫人卽以兩手[5]搆兩乳，乳作[6]五百道，
俱[7]墮千子口中，賊知是其[8]母，卽放弓仗，二父王於是思惟，皆得辟支佛，二辟支
佛塔猶在。後，世尊成道，告諸弟子，是吾昔時放弓仗處，後人得知，於此處[9]立塔，
故以名焉。千小兒者，卽賢劫千佛是也。佛於放弓仗塔邊捨[10]壽[10]，佛[10]告阿難言，
我𨚫後三月，當般泥洹，魔王嬈固阿難，使不得請佛住世。從此東行三四里，有塔，佛般泥
洹後百年，有毘舍離比丘，錯行戒律十事，證言佛說如是爾，時諸羅漢及持[11]律比丘，
凡[12]有七百僧，更撿挍律藏，後人於此處起塔，今亦現[13]在。
[1] S, M 五.
[2] S, M 王.
[3] J 來.
[4] S, M 到.
[5] S, M 于. W.
[6] Before 作, S, M insert 各.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] S, M 我.
[9] S, M omit.
[10] S, M omit.
[11] After 持, S, M insert 戒.
[12] After 凡, S, M insert 夫者.
[13] S, M omit.
二十六章
從此東行四由延，到五河合口，阿難從摩竭國向毘舍離，欲般泥[1]洹[1]，諸天告阿闍世王，
阿[2]闍[2]世[2]王[2]卽自嚴駕，將士衆追到河上，毘舍離諸梨車聞阿難來，亦復꜄來迎，
俱到河上，阿難思惟，前，則阿闍世王致恨，還，則梨車復꜄怨，卽[3]於河中央入火光三昧，
燒身而般泥洹，分身作二分꜄，一分꜄在一岸邊，於是二王各得半身舍利，還歸起塔。
[1] S, M 湟槃.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M 則.
二十七章
度河，南下一由延，到摩竭提國，巴連弗邑，巴連弗邑是阿育王所治城。城[1]中王宮殿，
皆使鬼神作，累石起牆[2]闕，彫文刻鏤，非世所造，今故現在。阿育王弟，得羅漢道，
常住耆闍崛山，志樂閑靜，王敬心欲[3]請於家供養，以樂山靜不肯受請，王語꜄弟言，
但受我請，當爲꜄汝於城裏作山，乃具飮食，召諸鬼神而告之曰，明日悉受我請，無座席，
各自賫來，明日諸大鬼神，各賫[4]大石來，壁[5]方四五步，坐訖，卽使鬼神累作大石山，
又於山底，以五大方石，作一[6]石室，可長三丈，廣二丈，高一丈餘。有一[7]大乘婆羅門子，
名羅汰私[8]迷，住此城裏，爽悟多智，事無不達，以清淨自居，國王宗敬師事，若往問訊，
不敢竝坐，王設以愛敬心執手，執手꜂已，婆羅門輒自灌洗，年可五十餘，舉國瞻仰，賴此
一人，弘宣佛法，外道不能得加陵衆僧。於阿育王塔邊，造摩訶衍僧伽藍，甚嚴麗，亦有
小乘寺，都合六七百僧衆，威儀，庠序，可觀，四方高德沙門，及學問人，欲求義理，皆詣
此寺。婆羅門子師，亦名文殊師利，國內大德沙門，諸大乘比丘，皆宗仰焉，亦住此僧伽藍。
凡諸中國，唯此國城邑爲大，民人富盛，競行仁義，年年常以建卯月八日行像，作四輪車，
縛竹作五層有𣴎，攎[9]椻[9]戟，高二丈餘許，其狀如塔，以白㲲纏上，然後彩畫，作諸
天形像，以金銀瑠璃莊挍，其上懸繒幡蓋，四邊作龕，皆有坐佛，菩薩立侍，可有二十車，
車車莊嚴各異，當此日，境內道俗皆集，作倡伎樂，華香供養，婆羅門子來請佛，佛次第入城，
入城內再宿，通夜然燈，伎樂，供養，國國皆爾，其國長者居士，各於城內[10]，立福德醫藥舍，
凡國中貧窮，孤獨，殘跛，一切꜄病人，皆詣此舍，種種供給，醫師看病，隨宜飮食及湯藥，
皆令得安，差者自去。阿育王壞七塔，作八萬四千塔，最初所作大塔，在城南三里餘，此塔前
有佛[11]迹，起精舍，戶北向，塔[12]南有一石柱，圍丈四五，高三丈餘，上有銘題云，阿育王
以閻浮提，布施四方僧，還以錢贖，如是三反。塔北三四百步，阿育王，本於此作泥梨城，
泥[13]梨[13]城[13]中[14]，有石柱，亦高三丈餘，上有師子，柱上有銘，記作泥梨城因緣，
及年數日月。
[1] S, M omit.
[2] In text with 土 at the side.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M 持.
[5] S, M 辟.
[6] S, M omit.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] After 私, S, M insert 婆.
[9] M 攎椻; S 攎偃.
[10] S, M 中.
[11] After 佛, S, M insert 脚.
[12] S, M repeat.
[13] S, M omit.
[14] After 中, S, M insert 央.
二十八章
從此東南行九由延，至一心孤石山，山頭有石室，石室南向，佛坐其中，天帝釋將天樂般遮
彈琴樂佛處，帝釋以四十二事問佛，一一以指畫石，畫跡故在，此中亦有僧伽藍。從此西南行
一由延，到那羅聚落，是舍利弗本生村，舍利弗還於此[1]中般泥洹，卽此處起塔，今[2]現在。
從此西行一由延，到王舍新城，新城者，是阿闍世王所造，中有二僧伽藍，出城西門三百步，
阿闍世王得佛一分꜄舍利，起塔，高大嚴麗。出城南四里，南向入谷，至五山裏，五山周圍，
狀若城郭，卽是蓱沙王舊城，城東西可五六里，南北七八里，舍利弗，目連，初見頞鞞處，
尼犍子作火坑毒飯請佛處，阿闍世王酒飮꜄黑象，欲害佛處，城東北角曲中，耆舊於菴婆羅園中，
起精舍，請佛及千二百五十弟子供養處，今故在。其城中空荒，無人住。
[1] After 此, S, M has 村.
[2] After 今, S, M has 亦.
二十九章
入谷搏山，東南上十五里，到耆闍崛山，未至頭三里，有石窟南向，佛本於此坐禪。西北三十步，
復꜄有一石窟，阿難於中坐禪，天魔波旬化作雕鷲，住窟前，恐阿難，佛以神足力隔石，舒手
摩阿難肩，怖卽得止，鳥迹手孔今悉在，故曰雕鷲窟山。窟前有四佛坐處，又諸羅漢各各有
石窟坐禪處，動有數百，佛在石室前，東西經行，調達於山北嶮巇[1]間橫擲石，傷佛足指處，
石猶在。佛說法堂꜂已毀壞，止有塼壁基在，其山峰秀端嚴，是五山中最高。法顯於新城中，買香，
華，油燈，倩二舊比丘送，法顯到[2]耆闍崛山，華香供養，然燈續明，慨然悲傷，收淚而言，
佛昔於此[3]說首楞嚴，法顯生不値佛，但見遺跡處所而꜂已，卽於石窟前誦首楞嚴，停止一宿，
還向新城。
[1] S 㠊.
[2] S, M ꜂上.
[3] After 此, S, M insert 住.
三十章
出舊城北，行三百餘步，道西，迦蘭陀竹園精舍今現在，衆僧掃灑。精舍北二三里，有尸磨賒那，
尸磨賒那者，漢言棄死人墓田。搏南山西行，三百步，有一石室，名賓波羅窟，佛食後，常於此
坐禪，又西行五六里，山北陰中，有一石室，名車帝，佛泥洹後，五百阿羅漢結集經處，出經時，
鋪三高[1]座，莊嚴挍飾，舍利弗在左，目連在右，五百數中少一阿羅漢，大迦葉爲上座，時阿難
在門外，不得入，其處起塔，今亦在。搏山亦有諸羅漢坐禪石窟甚多。出舊城北東，下三里，有調達
石室。離此五十步，有大方黑石，昔有比丘，在上經行，思惟是身無常，苦空꜄，得不淨觀，猒患
是身，卽捉刀欲自煞，復꜄念，世尊制戒，不得自煞，又念，雖爾，我今但欲煞三毒賊，便以刀自刎，
始傷肉[2]，得須𨹔洹，旣半，得阿那含，斷꜂已，成阿羅漢，果般泥洹。
[1] S, M 空.
[2] S, M 再.
三十一章
從此西行四由延，到伽𫆀城，城內亦空荒。復꜄南行二十里，到菩薩本苦行六年，處處有林木。
從此西行三里，到佛入水洗浴，天案樹枝，得攀出池處，又[1]北行二里，得彌家女奉佛乳糜處。
從此北行二里，佛於一大樹下，石上東向，坐食糜，樹，石，今悉在，石可廣長六尺，高二尺許，
中國寒暑均調，樹木或數千歲，乃至萬歲。從此東北行半由延，到一石窟，菩薩入中西向，
結[C3]趺坐，心念，若我成道，當有神驗，石壁上，卽有佛影現，長三尺許，今猶明亮，時，
天地大動，諸天在空中白言，此非是[2]過去當來諸佛成道處，去此西南行，減半由延，到[3]貝
多樹下，是過去當來諸佛成道處，諸天說是語꜂已，卽便在前唱導，導引而去，菩薩起行，離樹
三十步，天授吉祥草，菩薩受之，復꜄行十五步，五百青雀飛來，繞菩薩三匝而去，菩薩前到
貝多樹下，敷吉祥草，東向而坐，時魔王遣三玉女，從北來試，魔王自從南來試，菩薩以足
指案地，魔兵退散。三女變成[4]老母[4]，自上苦行六年處，及此諸處，後人皆於中起塔，
立像，今皆在。佛成道꜂已，七日觀樹，受解脫樂處，佛於貝多樹下，東西經行七日處，諸天化
作七寶堂[5]，供養佛七日處，文鱗盲龍七日繞佛處，佛於尼拘律樹下，方石上東向坐，梵天
來請佛處，四天王奉鉢處，五百賈人[6]授麨蜜處，度迦葉兄弟師徒千人處，此諸處，亦盡[7]
起塔。佛得道處，有三僧伽藍，皆有僧住，衆僧民戶，供給繞[8]足，無所乏少，戒律嚴峻，
威儀，坐起，入衆之法，佛在世時，聖衆所行，以至于今，佛泥洹꜂已來，四大塔處，相𣴎不絕，
四大塔者，佛生處，得道處，轉法輪處，般泥洹處。
[1] M 人.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M omit.
[4] S, M omit.
[5] S, M 臺.
[6] S, M 客.
[7] S, M omit.
[8] S, M 饒. R.
三十二章
阿育王昔作小兒時，當道戲，遇迦[1]葉[1]佛行乞食，小兒歡喜，卽以一掬土施佛，佛持還泥經
行地，因此果報，作鐵輪王，王꜄閻浮提。乘鐵輪，案行閻浮提，見鐵圍兩山間地獄治罪人，
卽問羣臣，此是何等，答言，是鬼王閻羅王[2]治罪人，王自念言，鬼王尙能作地獄治罪人，
我是人主，何不作地獄治罪人𫆀，卽問臣等，誰能爲꜄我作地獄，主治罪人者，臣答言，唯有
極惡人能作耳，王卽遣臣，遍求惡人，見池[3]水邊有一人[4]，長壯，黑色，髮黃，目[5]青，
以脚鈎魚[6]，口呼[7]禽獸，禽獸來，便射殺無得脫者，得此人꜂已，將來與王，王密勅之，
汝作四方高牆，內植種種華果，作好浴池，莊嚴校飾，令人渴仰，牢作門戶，有人入者，輒捉，
種種治罪，莫使得出，設使我入，亦治罪莫放，今拜汝作地獄主。時[8]有比丘，次第乞食，
入其門，獄卒見之，便欲治罪，比丘惶怖求請，須臾聽我中食。俄頃，復꜄有人入，獄卒內꜆置
碓臼[9]，中擣之，赤沫出，比丘見꜂已，思惟此身無常，苦，空，如泡，如沫，卽得阿羅漢，
旣而獄卒捉內꜆鑊湯中，比丘心顏欣悅，火滅，湯冷，中生蓮華，比丘坐上，爾[10]時[10]，獄
卒卽往白王，獄中奇怪，願王往看，王言，我前有要，今不敢往，獄卒言，此非小事，王宜疾往，
更改先要，王卽隨入，比丘爲꜄王[11]說法，王得信解，卽壞地獄，悔前所作衆惡，由是信重
三寶，常至貝多樹下，悔過自責，受八戒[12]齋，王夫人問，王常遊何處，羣臣答言，恒[13]在
貝多樹下，夫人伺王不在時，遣人伐其樹倒，王來見之，述[14]悶躃地，諸臣以水灑面，良久
乃蘇，王卽以塼累四邊，以百甖牛乳，灌樹根身，四枝[15]布地，作是誓言，若樹不生，我
終不起，作[16]是[16]誓꜂已，樹便卽根꜂上而生，以至于今[17]，高減十丈。
[1] S, M 釋迦.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M 泄.
[4] M omits.
[5] S, M 眼.
[6] Before 魚, S, M insert 兼.
[7] S, M 哹.
[8] S, M omit.
[9] J 日.
[10] S, M omit.
[11] S, M omit.
[12] S, M omit.
[13] Should be 洹.
[14] J 迷.
[15] S, M omit.
[16] S, M omit.
[17] S, M repeat.
三十三章
從此南三里行，到一山名雞足，大迦葉今在此山中，擘[1]山下入，入處不容人，下入極遠有旁孔，
迦葉全身，在此中住，孔外有迦葉本洗手土，彼方人若頭痛者，以此土[2]塗之，卽差。此山中
卽日故有諸羅漢住，彼方諸國道人，年年往供養迦葉，心濃至者，夜卽有羅漢來，共言論釋其疑，
꜂已忽然不現。此山榛木茂盛，又多師子，虎，狼，不可妄行。
[1] S, M 劈.
[2] S, M 上. W.
三十四章
法顯還向巴連弗邑，順恒[1]水西下十由延，得一精舍，名曠野，佛所住處，今現有僧。復꜄順
恒[1]水西行十二由延，到迦尸國，波羅柰[2]城，城東北十里許，得仙人鹿野苑精舍，此苑本
有辟支佛住，常有野鹿栖宿，世尊將成道，諸天於空中唱言，白淨王子，出家學道，𨚫後七日，
當成佛，辟支佛聞꜂已，卽取泥洹，故名此處爲仙人鹿野苑，世尊成道꜂已，後人於此處起精舍。
佛欲度拘驎等五人，五人相謂言，此瞿曇沙門[3]，六年苦行，日食一麻，一米，尙不得道，况入
人間，恣身口意，何道之有，今日來者，愼勿與語，佛到，五人皆起作禮處，復꜄北行六十步，
佛於此東向坐，始轉法輪，度拘驎等五人處，其北二十步，佛爲꜄彌勒授[4]記處，其南五十步，
翳羅鉢龍問佛，我何時[5]得免此龍身，此處皆起塔，見在，中有二僧伽藍，悉有僧住。自鹿野苑
精舍，西北行十三由旬[6]，有國名拘睒彌，其精舍名瞿師羅園，佛昔住處，今故有衆僧，
多小乘學。從東行八由延，佛本於此度惡鬼處，亦常[7]在此住，經行，坐處，皆起塔，亦
有僧伽藍，可百餘僧。
[1] Should be 洹.
[2] Text has 手 on the left.
[3] After 門, S, M insert 本.
[4] S 受.
[5] After 時, S, M insert 當.
[6] S, M 延.
[7] S, M 嘗.
三十五章
從此南行二百由延，有國名達嚫，是過去迦葉佛僧伽藍，穿[1]大石山作之，凡有五꜀重，最下
꜀重作象形，有五百間石室，第二層作師子形，有四百間，第三層作馬形，有三百間，第四層作牛形，
有二百間，第五層作鴿形，有一[2]百間，最上有泉水，循石室前，繞房而流，周圍廻曲，如是
乃至下꜀重，順房流，從戶而出，諸僧[3]室中，處處穿石，作窻牖通明，室中朗然都無幽闇，其室
四角頭穿石作梯蹬上處，今人形小，緣梯上，正得至，昔人一脚躡處，因名此寺爲波羅越，
波羅越者，天竺名鴿也，其寺中，常有羅漢住。此土丘荒，無人民居，去山極遠，方有村，皆
是邪見不識佛法沙門，婆羅門，及諸異學。彼國人民，常見飛[4]人[4]來入此寺，于時諸國
道人，欲來禮此寺者，彼村人則言，汝何以不飛𫆀，我見此間道人皆飛，道人方便答言，翅未成耳。
達嚫國幽[5]嶮，道路艱難，難[6]而知處欲往者，要當賫錢貨，施彼國王，王然後遣人送，展轉
相付，示其逕路，法顯竟不得往，承彼土人言，故說之耳。
[1] So, S, M text has 身 instead of 牙.
[2] S, M omit.
[3] S, M 層.
[4] S, M invert.
[5] S, M omit.
[6] S, M omit.
三十六章
從彼波羅柰國東行，還到巴連弗邑，法顯本求戒律，而北天竺諸國，皆師師口傳，無本可寫，
是以遠步，乃至中天竺，於此摩訶衍僧伽藍，得一部律是摩訶僧祗衆律，佛在世時，最初大衆
所行也，於祗洹精舍傳其[1]本，自餘十八部，各有師資，大歸不異，然[2]小小不同，或
用開塞，但此最是廣說備悉者。復꜄得一部抄律，可七千偈，是薩婆多衆律，卽此秦地衆僧所
行者也，亦皆師師口相傳授，不書之於文字。復꜄於此衆中得雜阿毘曇心，可六千偈，又得
一部[3]經，二千五百偈，又得一卷方等般泥洹經，可五千偈，又得摩訶僧祗阿毘曇，故法顯
住此三年，學梵書，梵語，寫律。道整旣到中國，見沙門法則，衆僧威儀，觸事可觀，乃追歎秦
土邊地，衆僧戒律殘缺，誓言自今꜂已去至得佛，願不生邊地，故遂停不歸。法顯本心，欲令戒律
流通漢地，於是獨還。
[1] S 具.
[2] S, M 於.
[3] After 部, S, M insert 綖.
三十七章
順恒水東下十八由延，其南岸有瞻波大國，佛精舍經行處，及四佛坐處，悉起塔，現有僧住。
從此東行，近五十由延，到[1]摩梨帝國，卽是海口，其國有二十四僧伽藍，盡有僧住，佛法
亦興，法顯住此二年，寫經及畫像。於是載商人大舶，泛[2]海西南行，得冬初信風，晝夜十四日，
到師子國，彼國人云，相去可七百由延。其國本[3]在洲上，東西五十由延，南北三十由延，左右
小洲，乃有百數，其間相去，或十里，二十里，或二百里，皆統屬大洲，多出珍寶珠璣，有
出摩尼珠，地方可十里，王使人守護，若有採者十分꜄取三。
[1] After 到, S, M insert 多.
[2] S 汎.
[3] M 大.
三十八章
其國本無人民，正[1]有鬼神及龍居之，諸國商人共市易，市易時，鬼神不自現身，但出寶物，
題其價直，商人則依價，雇[2]直取物，因商人來往往，故諸國人聞其土樂，悉亦復꜄來，於是
遂成大國，其國和適，無冬夏之異，草木常茂，田種隨人，無有時節。佛至其國，欲化惡龍，以神
足力，一足躡王城北，一足躡山頂，兩跡相去十五由延，王[3]於[3]城北跡上，起大塔，
高四十丈，金銀莊校，衆寶合成，塔邊復꜄起一僧伽藍，名無畏山，有五千僧，起一佛殿，金銀刻鏤，
悉以衆寶，中有一青玉像，高二丈許。通身七寶焰光，威相嚴顯，非言所載，右掌中，有一無價寶珠，
法顯去漢地積年，所與交接，悉異域[4]人，山川草木，舉目無舊，又同行分披[5]，或流[6]或亡，
顧影唯己，心常懷悲，忽於此玉像邊，見商人以[7]一白絹扇，供養，不覺悽然，淚下滿目。其國
前王，遣使中國，取貝多樹子，於佛殿傍種之，高可二十丈，其樹東南傾，王恐倒，故以八九圍柱
拄樹，樹當拄處心生，遂穿柱而下，入地成根，大可四圍許，柱雖中裂，猶裹其[8]外，人亦
不꜂去，樹下起精舍，中有坐像，道俗敬仰無倦。城中又起佛齒精舍，皆七寶作，王淨修梵行，
城內人敬[9]信[9]之情亦篤，其國立治꜂已來，無有飢[10]荒喪亂。衆僧庫藏，多有珍寶，無價
摩尼，其王入僧庫遊觀，見摩尼珠，卽生貪心，欲奪取之，三日乃悟，卽詣僧中稽首，悔前罪心，
因[11]白僧言，願僧立制，自今꜂已後，勿聽王入[12]庫看，比丘滿四十臘，然後得入。其城中
多居士長者，薩薄商人，屋宇嚴麗，巷陌平整，四衢道頭皆作說法堂，月八日，十四日，十五日，
鋪[C4]高座，道俗四衆，皆集聽法。其國人云，都可[13]六萬僧，悉有衆食，王別於城內，
供養[14]五六千人，衆食須者，則持大[15]鉢往取，隨器所容，皆滿而還，佛齒常以三月中
出之，未出前[16]十日，王莊校大象，使一辯說人，著王衣服，騎象上，擊鼓[17]唱言，菩薩
從三阿僧祗劫作[18]行，不惜身命，以國城[19]妻子，及挑眼與人，割肉貿鴿，截頭布[C4]，
投身餓虎，不悋[20]髓腦，如是種種苦行爲꜄衆生，故成佛，在世四十五年，說法教化，令不安者
安，不度者度，衆生緣盡，乃般泥洹，泥洹꜂已來，一千四百九十七歲[21]，世間眼滅，衆生長悲，
𨚫後十日，佛齒當出，至[22]無畏山精舍，國內道俗欲殖福者，各各平治道路，嚴飾巷陌，辨衆
華香，供養之具，如是唱꜂已，王便[23]夾道兩邊，作菩薩五百身꜂已來，種種變現，或作須大拏，
或作睒變，或作象王，或作鹿，馬，如是形像，皆彩畫莊校，狀若生人，然後佛，齒乃出中道而行，
隨路供養，到無畏精舍，佛堂上，道俗雲集，燒香然燈，種種法事，晝夜不息，滿九十日，乃還城內
精舍，城內精舍至齋日，則開門戶禮敬如法。無畏精舍東四十里，有一山，山中有精舍，
名支[24]提，可有二千僧，僧中有一大德沙門，名達摩瞿諦，其國人民，皆共宗仰，住一石室中，
四十許年，常行慈心，能感蛇鼠，使同止一室，而不相害。
[1] S, M 止.
[2] S, M 直.
[3] S, M invert.
[4] S, M 城.
[5] M 析.
[6] S, M 留.
[7] After 以, S, M insert 晉地.
[8] Before 其, S has 畏; M 在.
[9] S, M invert.
[10] M 饑.
[11] S, M 告.
[12] After 入, S, M insert 其.
[13] After 可, M inserts 五.
[14] S, M omit.
[15] S, M 本. W.
[16] S, M omit.
[17] Text has 皮 on left.
[18] S, M 苦.
[19] S, M omit.
[20] An obsolete form in text.
[21] S, M 年.
[22] S, M 正. W.
[23] S, M 使.
[24] S, M 跋.
三十九章
城南七里，有一精舍，名摩訶毘訶羅，有三千僧住，有一高德沙門，戒行清潔，國人咸疑是羅漢，
臨終之時，王來省視，依法集僧而問比丘得道𫆀，其便以實答，言是羅漢，旣終，王卽按經律
以羅漢法葬之，於精舍東四五里，積好大薪，縱廣可三丈餘，高亦爾，近上著栴檀沉水，諸香木，
四邊作階꜂上，持淨好白㲲，周匝蒙積[1]作[2]大轝，狀[3]似此間轜[4]車，但無龍魚耳，
當闍緒[5]時，王及國人，四衆咸集，以華香供養，從轝至墓所，王自華香供養，供養訖，
轝著𧂐上，酥油遍灌，然後燒之，火然時，人人敬心，各脫上服，及羽儀傘蓋，遙擲火中以助闍維，
闍維꜂已，收斂[6]取骨，卽以起塔，法顯至不及其生存，唯見葬時。王篤信佛法，欲爲꜄衆僧
作新精舍，先設大會，飯食僧，供養꜂已，乃選好上牛一雙，金銀寶物，莊校角上，作好金犁，
王自耕[7]墾[8]規[8]郭[8]四邊，然後割給民戶，田宅，書以鐵券，自是꜂已後代代相𣴎，
無敢廢易。法顯在此國聞天竺道人，於高座上，誦經云，佛鉢本在毘舍離，今在犍楗𨹔衛，竟若干
百年[9]，(法顯聞誦時，有定歲數，但今忘耳)，當復꜄至西月氏國，若干百年當至于闐國住，
若干百年當至屈茨國，若干百年當復꜄來到漢地[10]，若干百年當復꜄至師子國，若干百年
當還中天竺[11]，꜂已，當꜂上兠術天上，彌勒菩薩見而嘆[12]曰，釋迦文佛鉢至，卽共諸天，
華香供養七日，七日꜂已，還閻浮提，海龍王將[13]入龍宮。至彌勒將成道時，鉢還分爲四，
復꜄本頞[14]那山上，彌勒成道꜂已，四天王當復꜄應念佛，如先佛法，賢劫千佛，共用一[15]鉢。
鉢去꜂已，佛法漸滅，佛法滅後，人壽轉短，乃至五歲。五[16]歲之時，粳米酥油，皆悉化滅，
人民極惡，捉草[17]木，則變成刀杖，共相傷割殺，其中有福者，逃[18]避入山，惡人
相煞盡꜂己，還復꜄來出，共相謂言，昔人壽極長，但爲惡甚，作諸非法，故我等壽命，遂爾短促，
乃至五[19]歲，我今共行諸善，起慈悲心，修行信[20]義。如是，各行信義，展轉壽倍，乃
至八萬歲。彌勒出世，初轉法輪時，先度釋迦遺法中[21]弟子出家人，及受三歸，五戒，
八[22]齋法，供養三寶者，第二，第三次，度有緣者。法顯爾時欲寫此經，其人云，此無經，
本我心[23]口誦耳。
[1] S, M 𧂐.
[2] Before 作, S, M insert 上.
[3] S, M 牀.
[4] S, M 輲.
[5] Probably a mistake for 維, as below.
[6] S, M 撿.
[7] After 耕, S, M insert 頃.
[8] S, M omit.
[9] The thirteen characters that follow within parenthetic marks are
in all the recensions in two parallel columns in smaller text.
They are equivalent to a marginal note with us, and S and M
insert a 之 after 誦.
[10] After 地, S, M insert 住.
[11] After 竺, S, M insert 到中天.
[12] S, M 歎.
[13] S, M 持.
[14] S, M 頻.
[15] S, M 此.
[16] S, M 十.
[17] S, M, omit.
[18] Text, with 外 inside.
[19] S, M 十.
[20] S, M 仁.
[21] S, M omit.
[22] S, M omit.
[23] S, M 止.
四十章
法顯住此國二年，更求得彌沙塞律藏本，得長阿含雜阿含，復꜄得一部雜藏，此悉漢土所無者。
得此梵本꜂已，卽載商人大船上，可有二百餘人，後係一小舶[1]，海行艱嶮，以備大舶[1]
毀壞，得好信風，東下三日，便値大風，舶[1]漏水入，商人欲趣小舶[1]，小舶[1]上人，恐人
來多，卽斫絙斷，商人大怖，命在須臾，恐舶[1]水滿[2]，卽取麤財貨，擲著水中，法顯亦
以君[3]墀[3]，及澡罐幷餘物，棄擲海中，但恐商人擲去經像，唯一心念觀世音，及歸命漢地
衆僧，我遠行求法，願威神歸流，得到所止，如是大風晝夜十三日，到一島邊，潮退之後，見船
漏處，卽補塞之，於是復꜄前。海中多有抄賊。遇輒無全，大海彌漫無邊，不識東西，唯望日月星宿
而進，若陰雨時，爲逐風去，亦無所[4]准，當夜闇時，但見大浪相搏，晃若[5]火色，黿鼈水性，
怪[6]異之屬，商人荒懅[7]，不知那向，海深無底，又無下石住處，至天晴꜂已，乃知東西，還復꜄望
正而進，若値伏石，則無活路，如是九十許[8]日[8]，乃到一國，名𫆀婆提，其國外道婆羅門
興盛，佛法不足言。停此國五月日，復꜄隨他商人，大舶上，亦二百許人，賫五十日粮[9]，以四月
十六日發，法顯於舶上安居，東北行趣廣州，一月餘日，夜鼓二時，遇黑風暴雨，商人賈客，皆
悉惶怖，法顯爾[10]時，亦一心念觀世音及漢地衆僧，蒙威神祐，得至天曉，曉꜂已，諸婆羅門議言，
坐載此沙門，使我不利，遭此大苦，當下比丘，置海島邊，不可爲꜄一人令我等危嶮[11]，法顯[12]
檀越言，汝若下此比丘，亦幷下我，不爾，便當殺我，如[13]其下此沙門，吾到漢地，當向國王
言汝也，漢地王亦敬信佛法，重比丘僧，諸商人躊躇，不敢便下，于時天多連陰，海師相望僻誤，
遂經七十餘日，粮食水漿欲盡，取海鹹水作食，分好水，人可得二升，遂便欲盡，商人議言，常行時，
政[14]可五十日，便到廣州[15]，今꜂已過期多日，將無僻𫆀，卽便西北行求岸，晝夜十二日，
到長廣郡界，牢山南岸，便得好水菜，但經涉險難，憂懼積日，忽得至此岸，見𦿺[16][C5][16]菜，
依然知是漢地，然不見人民及行跡，未知是何許，或言未至廣州，或言꜂已過，莫知所定，卽乘小舶，
入浦覓人，欲問其處，得兩獵人，卽將歸，令法顯譯語問之，法顯先安慰之，徐問汝是何人，答言，
我是佛弟子，又問汝入山何所求，其便詭[17]言，明當七月十五日，欲取桃[18]臘佛，又問
此是何國，答言，此青州長廣郡界，統屬晋[19]家，聞꜂已，商人歡喜，卽乞其財物，遣人
往長廣郡[20]，太守李嶷，敬信佛法，聞有沙門，持經像，乘舶泛海而至，卽將人從，
來[21]至海邊，迎接經像，歸至郡治，商人於是還向揚州，到[22]青州，請法顯一冬一夏。
夏坐訖，法顯[23]離諸師，久欲趣長安，但所營事重，遂便南下向都，就師出經律藏[24]，法顯
發長安，六年到中印[25]國，停經[26]六年，還經[27]三年，達青州，凡所遊履[28]，減
三十國，沙河꜂已西迄于天竺，衆僧威儀法化之美，不可詳說，竊惟諸師，未[29]得備聞，是
以不顧微命，淨海而還，艱難具更幸，蒙三尊威靈，危而得濟，故將[30]竹帛疏所經歷，欲令賢者
同其聞見。
[1] S, M 船; and elsewhere.
[2] S, M 漏.
[3] M 軍持.
[4] S, M omit.
[5] S, M 然.
[6] Text has a vulgar form.
[7] S, M 遽.
[8] S, M invert.
[9] S, M 糧.
[10] Contracted form in text.
[11] M 險.
[12] After 顯, S, M insert 本.
[13] S, M 汝.
[14] S, M 正.
[15] After 州, S, M insert 爾.
[16] Should be 藜藿.
[17] J 說.
[18] M 挑 W.
[19] S 劉.
[20] S, M omit.
[21] S, M omit.
[22] S 劉法; M 留法.
[23] After 顯, S, M insert 遠.
[24] S, M omit.
[25] S, M omit.
[26] S, M omit.
[27] S, M omit.
[28] S, M 歷.
[29] J 來.
[30] S, M omit.
是歲甲寅，晉義熙十二年矣[1]，歲在壽星，夏安居末，迎法顯道人，旣至，留共冬齋，因講集之際，
꜀重問遊歷，其人恭順，言輒依實，由是先所略者勸令詳載，顯復꜄具敘始末，自云，顧尋所經，
不覺心動汗流，所以乘危履險，不惜此形者，蓋是志有所存，專其愚直，故投命於[2]必，死[3]之地，
以達萬一之冀。於是感歎，斯人以爲古今罕有，自大教東流，未有忘身求法如顯之比，然後
知誠之所感，無窮否而不通，志之所將[4]，無功業而不成，成꜀夫功業者，豈不由忘꜀夫[5]所重，
重꜀夫所忘者哉。
法顯傳꜄終
[1] S, M omit.
[2] After 於, S, M insert 不.
[3] S, M 全.
[4] S, M 獎.
[5] S, M 失.
Transcribers Notes:
This is an UTF-8 update of the transcription done by John Bickers,
Dagny, and David Widger available at:
The original printed text scans can be found at:
https://archive.org/details/b29352216
Notes on the text:
1. In the printed book the English text occupies the left side of
the book and is read to the centre. The Chinese text occupies the
right side of the book and is read to the centre. Essentially this
was two books under the same binding. The Chinese text was
originally published by Oxford University Press in 1885. In this
transcription, the Chinese text is placed after the English text.
An entry has been added to the table of contents to indicate this
rearrangement: (CHINESE TEXT: 高僧法顯傳).
2. Letters surrounded by underscores ‘_’ are italicised.
3. Footnotes have been moved to the end of each chapter.
4. Spelling in the English text has been standardised to the most
common versions used in the text. If equal number of spelling
versions were present, the version most common at the time of
publication was used. Spellings contained in direct quotations
are left unchanged.
5. As much as possible, the Chinese transcription uses the same
character variants as used in the original printed text. If a
Unicode version of the character is not found, then a traditional
variant is used in its place. For example radical 184 uses 𩙿in
the printed text but most of the Unicode characters use 飠. The
same case applies to radical 113. The printed text uses 示 but
most Unicode characters use 礻.
6. Footnotes 5 and 6 in chapter 2 have been switched to match the
the corresponding text in the chapter.
7. “Nâgara” in chapter 8 changed to “Nagâra” to match the rest of the
text.
8. At the beginning of chapter 19 in the English text Legge says
3 yojanas of distance while the Chinese text says 10. This was
left unchanged.
9. The number of columns in the Chinese text portions are limited
to under 50 in order to approximately match the width of the
English text. Chinese characters are wider than Latin characters.
10. Chinese characters not found in Unicode are marked as [Cn] where
‘n’ is a number:
[C1] 𩙿 on left, 芳 on right.
Ideographic Description Sequence: ⿰𩙿芳
[C2] 條, but with 亻 replaced by 彳.
[C3] 𧾷on left, 加 on right.
Ideographic Description Sequence: ⿰𧾷加
[C4] 方 on left, 色 on right.
Ideographic Description Sequence: ⿰方色
[C5] 艹 on top, then 虍, and 隹 below.
Ideographic Description Sequence: ⿱艹⿸虍隹
Transcriber’s Note:: Chinese Tone Marks.
The printed text uses semi-circular tone marks next to some Chinese
characters with multiple or ambiguous pronunciations
(Unicode U+A700–U+A707). The open portion of the semi-circle faces
the character. These were originally used to indicate tones used in
Middle Chinese.
The mark may be placed in any of the four corners of the Chinese
character. In modern Mandarin Chinese the locations map to tones
as follows:
lower left: 1st or 2nd tone
upper left: 3rd tone (some cases 4th tone)
upper right: 4th tone
lower right: not applicable for modern Mandarin
Examples from the text:
重 zhòng (adj) heavy, important
꜀重 chóng (adv) repeatedly; (measure) layer, storey
語 yǔ (n) spoken language
語꜄ yù (v) to tell, inform
For more details on tone marks, look up articles on ‘Middle Chinese
tones’ or see：
Williams, S. Wells. 1874. _A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese
Language; arranged according to the Wu-fang Yuen yin, with the
pronunciation of the characters as heard in Peking, Canton, Amay and
Shanghai._ Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press.
Introduction SECT. IV.—_SHING_ OR TONES.
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