Four or five le east from the vihâra there was reared a great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty cubits square, and the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, aloe, and other kinds of fragrant wood.

On the four sides (of the pile) they made steps by which to ascend it. With clean white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body) round and round1. They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes 2.

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 3, 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. Fâhien had not arrived in time (to see the distinguished Shaman) alive, and only saw his burial.

At that time the king, who was a sincere believer in the Law of Buddha and wished to build a new vihâra for the monks, first convoked a great

1 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.

2 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

in this (country),' which I have expressed by 'our,' shows that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the 'dragons' and 'fishes.' The at the end is merely the concluding particle.

* The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence our author writes of it as such.

4

This king must have been Mahâ-nâna (A. D. 410-432). In the time of his

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 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 Vaisâlî, and now it is in Gandhâra1. 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 Tukhâra2; after so many hundred years, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to Kharachar3; after so many hundred years, to the land of Han; after so many hundred years, it will come to Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will return to Central India. After that, it will ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees it, he will say with a sigh, "The alms-bowl of 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, which will return to the top of mount Anna1, whence they came. After Maitreya has become

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 Mahâvanśa, pp. 247, foll.

1 See chapter xii. Fâ-hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel says was 'the ancient capital of Gandhâra.'

* Western Tukhâra (P) is the same probably as the Tukhâra (1) of chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to carry off the bowl from Purushapura.

s North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. H.,

p. 56).

4

See note 3, p. 35. Instead of 'Anna' the Chinese recensions have Vîna ;

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 past1."

(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.'

but Vîna or Vînataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of one or other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount Meru, the fabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl.

1 That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such conversion in the present.

CHAPTER XL.

AFTER TWO YEARS TAKES SHIP FOR CHINA. DISASTROUS PASSAGE TO JAVA; AND THENCE TO CHINA; ARRIVES AT SHAN-TUNG ; AND GOES TO NANKING. CONCLUSION OR L'ENVOI BY ANOTHER WRITER.

FA-HIEN abode in this country two years; and, in addition (to his acquisitions in Patna), succeeded in getting a copy of the Vinayapiṭaka of the Mahîśâsakâḥ (school)1; the Dîrgh âgama and Samyuktâgama2 (Sûtras); and also the Samyukta-sañchayapiṭaka-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 smaller 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

1 No. 1122 in Nanjio's Catalogue, translated into Chinese by Buddhajîva and a Chinese Śramaņa 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 Agamas 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 Pitaka. See Nanjio's fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is known either in Sanskrit or Pâli literature.

them into the water. Fâ-hien also took his pitcher and washingbasin, 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-yin2, and commit his life to (the protection of) the church of the land of Han 3, (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 restingplace!'

3

In this way the tempest 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

1 We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kunḍikâ, which is explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as='washing basin,' but two things evidently are intended.

2 See note 5, p. 46.

At his novitiate Fâ-hien had sought the refuge of the 'three Precious Ones' (the three Refuges [] of last chapter), of which the congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts turn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart were not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so.

In the text, tâ-fung, 'the great wind,' the typhoon.