canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image1 stood in the middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas 2 in attendance on it, while devas3 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

or emeralds, and agate. See Sacred Books of the East (Davids' Buddhist Suttas), vol. xi, p. 249.

1 No doubt that of Śâkyamuni himself.

2 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 parinirvâņa. The symbol of the state is an elephant fording a river. Popularly, its abbreviated form P'û-sâ is used in China for any idol or image; here the name has its proper signification.

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'all the thien,' or simply 'the thien' taken as plural. But in Chinese the character called thien (F) denotes heaven, or Heaven, and is interchanged with Ti and Shang Tî, meaning God. With the Buddhists it denotes the devas Tî or Brahmanic gods, or all the inhabitants of the six devalokas. The usage shows the antagonism between Buddhism and Brahmanism, and still more that between it and Confucianism.

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 1, of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed doors, and windows being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the (Ts'ung) range of mountains 2 are possessed, they contribute the greater portion (to this monastery), using but a small portion of them themselves 3.

1 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.

2 The Ts'ung, or 'Onion' range, called also the Belurtagh mountains, including the Karakorum, and forming together the connecting links between the more northern Teen-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.

3 This seems to be the meaning here. My first impression of it was that the author meant to say that the contributions which they received were spent by the monks mainly on the buildings, and only to a small extent for themselves; and I still hesitate between that view and the one in the version.

There occurs here the binomial phrase kung-yang (), which is one of the most common throughout the narrative, and is used not only of support in the way of substantial contributions given to monks, monasteries, and Buddhism, but generally of all Buddhistic worship, if I may use that term in the connexion. Let me here quote two or three sentences from Davids' Manual (pp. 168-170):—' The members of the order are secured from want. There is no place in the Buddhist scheme for churches; the offering of flowers before the sacred tree or image of the Buddha takes the place of worship. Buddhism does not acknowledge the efficacy of prayers; and in the warm countries where Buddhists live, the occasional reading of the law, or preaching of the word, in public, can take place best in the open air, by moonlight, under a simple roof of trees or palms. There are five principal kinds of meditation, which in Buddhism takes the place of prayer.'

CHAPTER IV.

THROUGH THE TS'UNG OR 'ONION' MOUNTAINS TO K'EEH-CH'Â ;— 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 Law1, 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, 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 Ts'ung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy5, where they

1 This Tartar is called a, ‘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 Ch'ang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present Cabulistan. The name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes, supposed to be the same as the present Cabul river, which falls into the Indus, from the west, at Attock, after passing Peshâwur. 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. 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

2

halted and kept their retreat 1. When this was over, they went on among the hills for twenty-five days, and got to K'eeh-ch'â, there rejoining Hwuy-king and his two companions.

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. 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 it, 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.

Tsze-hoh, and among the 'Onion' mountains. Watters hazards the conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present maps.

1

1 This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the pilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, 'quiet rest,' without any mention of the season, indicating their approach to India, E. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they left Ch'ang-gan. Are we now with them in 402?

2 This is the Corean reading (1), much preferable to the IE of the

Chinese editions.

3 See p. 18, note 2. Watters approves of Klaproth's determination of K'eeh

ch'â 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.

4 Who had preceded them from Khoten, p. 18.

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.'

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 himself1, 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 2.

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 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, 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 Ts'in, but here also 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.

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1 The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, including myself, have been puzzled by it.

2 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 Mahâvansa.

3 Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of K'eeh-ch'â had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers.

The text here has, not alone. I often found in monasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as their preceptors. Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of Shen

shen.