it, and have the appearance of the suburban wall of a city.

Here was the old city of king Bimbisâra1; 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 2; that the Nirgrantha3 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; and that at the north-east corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jîvaka built a vihâra in the garden of Âmbapâlî, 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.

CHAPTER XXIX.

GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FA-HIEN PASSES

A NIGHT ON IT. HIS REFLECTIONS.

ENTERING the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the southeast, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount Gridhra

1 See note 5, p. 81.

2 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.

"One of the six Tîrthyas (Tîrthakas=' erroneous teachers;' M. B., pp. 290292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on Buddha's life referred to by Fâ-hien), or Brahmanical 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.

The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant disappointed them, and did homage to Sâkyamuni. See Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247.

See note 3, p. 72. 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.

kuta1. 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 Piśuna2, 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 Sûrângama (Sûtra). I, Fâ-hien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only see the

1 See note 4, p. 80. 2 See note 4, p. 74.

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.

And, as described by Hsüan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits high, and thirty paces round.

* See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's 'Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist

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 Śûrângama Sûtra, remained there over the night, and then returned towards the New City 1.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE ŚRATAPARŅA 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 garden2, 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 vihara two or three le there was the Śmaśânam, which name means in Chinese 'the field of graves into which the dead are thrown 3.'

Tripitaka,' Sûtra Piṭaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory of Fâ-hien.

1 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.

Karanda Venuvana; 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.

The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no sympathy

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 cave1, 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 Śrataparṇa2, the place where, after the nirvâņa3 of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the Sûtras. When they brought the Sûtras forth, three lofty seats 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. 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

with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own Buddhistic method of cremation.

1 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.

2 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 () 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.

3 So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvâņa.

* 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.

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?

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 body1 is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and vanity2, and which cannot be looked on as pure3. 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. Further it occurred to him :'Yes, he did; but I now only wish to kill three poisonous thieves 5.' Immediately with the knife he cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he attained the state of a Śrotâpanna; when he had gone half through, he attained to be an Anâgâmin; and when he had cut right through, he was an Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvâņa3; (and died).

The life of this body' would, I think, fairly express the idea of the bhikshu.

2 See the account of Buddha's preaching in chapter xviii.

8 The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught.

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.

* Beal says:- Evil desire; hatred; ignorance.'

• See note 2, p. 57.

7 The Anâgâmin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship, the third class of Aryas (note 2, page 57), 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 nirvana. E. H., pp. 8, 9.

8 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.'