city of Kanyakubja1, lying along the Ganges. 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-le3, containing places where Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of which topes have been built.

CHAPTER XIX.

SHA-CHE. LEGEND OF BUDDHA'S DANTA-KASHṬHA.

GOING on from this to the south-east for three yojanas, they came to the great kingdom of Shâ-che. 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, stuck it in the ground, when it

note.

1 Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a previous The Sanskrit name means 'the city of humpbacked maidens;' with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi Mahâ-vṛiksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51.

2 Gangâ, explained by 'Blessed water,' and 'Come from heaven to earth.' This village (the Chinese editions read 'forest') has hardly been clearly identified.

• Shâ-che should probably be Shâ-khe, making Cunningham's identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. The change of into is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsî dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same.

This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kâshtha, 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

forthwith grew up seven cubits, (at which height it remained) neither increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans with their contrary doctrines1 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.

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 in the kingdom of Kosala 3, 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 ruled, and the place of the old vihâra of Mahâ-prajâpatî; of the well and walls of

Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at least Fâ-hien used, Yang (, the general name for the willow) instead of it.

1 Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that we should read all the unbelievers and Brahmans,' or 'heretics and Brahmans?' I think the Brahmans were also 'the unbelievers' and 'heretics,' having, views and ways outside of, and opposed to, Buddha's.

1 In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. 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.

› There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh.

In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, 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 idolatry, because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy's M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al.

B

Explained by 'Path of Love,' and 'Lord of Life.' Prajâpatî was aunt and

(the house of) the (Vaisya) head Sudatta1; and where the Angulimâlya 2 became an Arhat, and his body was (afterwards) burned on his attaining to pari-nirvâņa. At all these places topes were subsequently erected, which are still existing in the city. The Brahmans, with their contrary doctrine, became full of hatred and envy in their hearts, and wished to destroy them, but there came from the heavens such a storm of crashing thunder and flashing lightning that they were not able in the end to effect their purpose.

As you go out from the city by the south gate, and 1,200 paces from it, the (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 3.

When Buddha went up to the Trayastrimśas heaven, and preached the Law for the benefit of his mother1, (after he had been absent for) 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.

1 Sudatta, meaning almsgiver,' was the original name of Anâtha-pindika (or Pinḍada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya 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.

2 The Angulimâlya 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 Angulimâla. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his autobiographical poem in the 'Songs of the Theras.'

Eitel (p. 37) says:-'A noted vihâra in the suburbs of Śrâvastî, erected in a park which Anâtha-pindika 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.'

See chapter xvii.

ninety days, Prasenajit, longing to see him, caused an image of him to be carved in Gośîrsha Chandana wood1, 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, 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

1 See chapter xiii.

2

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 Aryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four classes, -Śrotâpannas, Sakṛidâgâmins, Anâgâmins, and Ârhats. E. H., p. 14.

i

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 monks1, 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 2. Buddha

This is the first time that Fâ-hien employs the name Ho-shang (), which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks without distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of the Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, 'explained,' says Eitel (p. 155), by 'a self-taught teacher,' or by 'he who knows what is sinful and what is not sinful,' with the note, 'In India the vernacular of this term is (munshee [? Bonze]); in Kustana and Kashgar they say (hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese synonyms, (ho-shay) and (ho-shang).' The Indian term was originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the Vedas, the Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made to signify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the Lamas. In China it has been used first as a synonym for, monks engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction from, disciplinists, and, contemplative philosophers (meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks. In the text there seems to be implied some distinction between the 'teachers' and the 'ho-shang;' -probably, the Pâli Âkariya and Upagghâya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 178, 179.

added, 'as depending on it,' in order to bring out the full in the text. If I recollect aright, the help of the police