further reflected: "Although this is so, I now only desire to slay three baneful thieves,―lust, hate, and ignorance." He then took the knife and cut his throat. At the beginning of the cut he became a Saint; when half through, an Anâgâmin; and when quite through, a Lo-han (three degrees of Buddhist saintship); and then he passed away.

From this point travelling four yôjanas to the west, the pilgrims arrived at the city of Gayâ, also a complete waste within its walls. Twenty li further to the south, they reached the place where Buddha, as Bôdhisatva, formerly passed six years in self-mortification. It is in a woody district.

Again three li to the west, they were at the spot where Buddha once entered the water to bathe, and where a dêva pressed down the branch of a tree for him to grasp and get out of the pool.

Two li to the north is the place where a laysister presented to Buddha congee made with milk.

Two li to the north of this, Buddha, sitting on a rock under a great tree, with his face to the east, ate the congee. The tree and the rock are both still there, the latter being about six feet in length and breadth by over two feet in height. In Central India the climate is so equable that trees will live several thousand, and even so long as ten thousand years.

Half a yôjana to the north-east of this, the pilgrims arrived at the cave in which Buddha as a Bôdhisatva sat down cross-legged with his face to the west, and reflected as follows: "If I am to become a Buddha, there should be some divine manifestation in token thereof." At once the silhouette of a Buddha appeared upon the rock; it was over three feet in height and is plainly visible at the present day. Then heaven. and earth quaked mightily, and the dêvas in the empyrean made the following announcement: "This is not the place where past and future Buddhas have attained or are to attain Buddhaship. The proper spot is less than half a yôjana to the south-west of this, beneath the Bô (palm) tree, where all past and future Buddhas have attained or will attain to Buddhaship." When the dêvas had uttered these words, they proceeded to lead the way with singing, in order to conduct the Bôdhisatva thither. He then got up and followed; and when thirty paces from the tree, a dêva gave him the grass of happy omen (kusa). Having accepted this, he went on fifteen paces further, and then five hundred green birds came and flew three times round him, and departed. The Bôdhisatva went on to the Bô tree; and there, laying down the grass of happy omen, he took his seat with his face to the east. Then Mâra, king of the devils, sent three beautiful girls, who approached him from the north to tempt him, while Mâra himself came from the

south for the same purpose. But the Bôdhisatva pressed the ground with his toes, whereupon the infernal army retreated in confusion, and the three girls were changed into old women.

At the above-mentioned place where Buddha suffered self-mortification for six years, as well as at these other spots, men of later ages have raised pagodas and set up images, all of which are still in existence. Pagodas have also been raised at the following places: where Buddha, then a Bôdhisatva, after having attained Buddhaship, contemplated the Bô tree for seven days, experiencing the joy of liberation from earthly trammels; where Buddha paced east and west beneath the Bô tree for seven days; where the dêvas caused to appear a chamber built from the seven preciosities and there made offerings to Buddha for seven days; where the blind dragon, Muchilinda, coiled round Buddha for seven days to shelter him; where Buddha sat facing the east on a square rock under a fig-tree when Brahma came and begged him to expound the Faith; where the four heavenly kings offered to Buddha their alms-bowls; where the five hundred traders gave him boiled grain and honey; and where he converted the brothers Kâsyapa with their disciples to the number of one thousand souls.

Where Buddha attained to Buddhaship, there are three monasteries, each with resident priests, who receive offerings in abundance from the

populace, without the least stint. The strictness with which, while Buddha was still in the world, the holy brotherhood observed their vows and disciplinary regulations, and the gravity of their deportment when sitting, rising, or entering an assembly, persist down to the present day.

Ever since Buddha entered into Nirvâna, the sites of four great pagodas have been handed down by unbroken tradition; namely, (1) on the spot where Buddha was born, (2) where he became a Lo-han, (3) where he preached the Faith, and (4) where he passed away.

Formerly, when king Asôka was a boy and was playing in the road, he met Shâkyamuni Buddha who was out begging for food. The boy, for fun, took up a handful of mud and gave it to him as alms. Buddha received it and put it back on the ground where he paced in meditation; and as a reward for this, the boy was made an iron-wheel king and ruled over the inhabited world.

On assuming this dignity, he made a tour of inspection through his domain, and saw between the two ranges of mountains which surround it like iron walls, a hell for punishing sinners, and at once asked his suite, saying, "What is the meaning of this?" "It is where the devil-king, Yama, punishes sinners," was the reply. King Asôka reflected and said, "If even a king of devils can make a hell for punishing sinners, why should not I, who am a ruler of men, make

a hell for the punishment of sinners?" Then he asked of his suite, "Who is able to make for me such a hell and to superintend the punishment of sinners?" "Only a very bad man," they replied, "could do this." The king accordingly sent officers in all directions to search for a bad man; and they discovered alongside of a stream a tall, burly man, of black colour, with yellow hair and green eyes. He used his feet to hook up fishes, and his mouth to whistle to birds and beasts; and when these came to him, he promptly shot and killed them, not a single one escaping. Having got this man, they took him to the king, who secretly instructed him as follows: "You make a square with high walls, and plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits, with good pools for bathing, the whole so beautifully ornamented as to cause people to long to gaze upon it. Make a strong entrancegate; and when any one passes in, seize him at once, and administer punishment according to his deserts. Do not let him get out; and if you catch me going in, punish me in the same way, and do not let me go. I now appoint you director of this hell."

It chanced that a religious mendicant, on his appointed round in quest of food, passed through the gate; and the gaolers, on seeing him, straightway desired to subject him to punishment. The mendicant was terrified and pleaded, "Give me a few moments that I may eat my midday meal."