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the patra tree, he walked backwards and forwards from west to east for seven days; where the devas made a hall appear, composed of the seven precious substances, and presented offerings to him for seven days; where the blind dragon Muchilinda1 encircled him for seven days; where he sat under the nyagrodha tree, on a square rock, with his face to the east, and Brahma-deva 2 came and made his request to him; where the four deva kings brought to him their alms-bowls 3; where the 500 merchants presented to him the roasted flour and honey; and where he converted the brothers Kasyapa and their thousand disciples 5;—at all these places topes were reared.

At the place where Buddha attained to perfect Wisdom, there are three monasteries, in all of which there are monks residing. The families of their people around supply the societies of these monks with an abundant sufficiency of what they require, so that there is no lack or stint®. The disciplinary rules are strictly observed by them. The laws regulating their demeanour in sitting, rising, and entering when the others are assembled, are those which have been practised by all the saints since

1

Called also Mahâ, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: 'A nâga king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Śâkyamuni once sat for seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him.' The account (p. 35) in 'The Life of the Buddha' is :-'Buddha went to where lived the nâga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in thought.' So also the Nidâna Kathâ, in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 109.

2 This was Brahmâ himself, though 'king' is omitted. What he requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his Law. Nidâna Kathâ, p. 111. 3 See note 4, p. 35.

The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the Nidâna Kathâ, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them.

5

These must not be confounded with Mahâkaśyapa of note 5, p. 45. They were three brothers, Uruvilvâ, Gayâ, and Nadî-Kasyapa, up to this time holders. of 'erroneous' views, having 500, 300, and 200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of Sâkyamuni; and are-each of them-to become Buddha by-and-by. See the Nidâna Kathâ, pp. 114, 115.

This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to the travellers.

n

Buddha was in the world down to the present day. The places of the four great topes have been fixed, and handed down without break, since Buddha attained to nirvâna. Those four great topes are those at the places where Buddha was born; where he attained to Wisdom; where he (began to) move the wheel of his Law; and where he attained to pari-nirvâṇa.

CHAPTER XXXII.

LEGEND OF KING AŚOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS

NARAKA.

WHEN king Aśoka, in a former birth1, was a little boy and playing on the road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, and the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The Buddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was walking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of becoming a king of the iron wheel2, to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvîpa, he saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka3 for the punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what sort of a thing it was, they replied, 'It belongs to Yama, king of

1 Here is an instance of used, as was pointed out in note 3, page 30, for a former age; and not merely a former time. Perhaps 'a former birth' is the best translation. The Corean reading of Kasyapa Buddha is certainly preferable to the Chinese Śâkya Buddha.'

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2 See note 3, P. 49.

3 I prefer to retain the Sanskrit term here, instead of translating the Chinese text by 'Earth's prison (R),' or 'a prison in the earth;' the name which has been adopted generally by Christian missionaries in China for gehenna and hell.

Eitel (p. 173) says:-Yama was originally the Aryan god of the dead, living in a heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but Brahmanism transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been retained by Buddhism.' The Yama of the text is the 'regent of the narakas, residing south of Jambudvîpa, outside the Chakravâlas (the double circuit of mountains above), in a palace built of brass and iron. He has a sister who controls all the female culprits, as

demons, for punishing wicked people.' The king thought within himself :— '(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men?' He forthwith asked his ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the punishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man of extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent officers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the side of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took him to the king, who secretly charged him, 'You must make a square enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits; make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and punish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I should enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me go. I now appoint you master of that naraka.'

Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his food, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka saw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his midday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence, the painful suffering and inanity of this body, and how it is but as a bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of

he exclusively deals with the male sex. Three times, however, in every twentyfour hours, a demon pours boiling copper into Yama's mouth, and squeezes it down his throat, causing him unspeakable pain.' Such, however, is the wonderful 'transrotation of births,' that when Yama's sins have been expiated, he is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name of 'The Universal King.'

boiling water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, however, in the bhikshu's countenance. The fire was extinguished, and the water became cold. In the middle (of the caldron) there rose up a lotus flower, with the bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went and reported to the king that there was a marvellous occurrence in the naraka, and wished him to go and see it; but the king said, I formerly made such an agreement that now I dare not go (to the place).' The lictors said, 'This is not a small matter. Your majesty ought to go quickly. Let your former agreement be altered.' The king thereupon followed them, and entered (the naraka), when the bhikshu preached the Law to him, and he believed, and was made free1. Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and repented of all the evil which he had formerly done. From this time he believed in and honoured the Three Precious Ones, and constantly went to a patra tree, repenting under it, with self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the eight rules of abstinence2. The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under (such and such) a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not there, and then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and saw what had been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to the ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a considerable time he revived. He then built all round (the stump) with bricks, and poured a hundred pitchers of cows' milk on the roots; and as he lay with his four limbs spread out on the ground, he took this oath, 'If the tree do not live, I will never rise from this.' When he had uttered this oath, the tree immediately began to grow from the roots, and it has continued to grow till now, when it is nearly 100 cubits in height.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

MOUNT GURUPADA, WHERE KAŚYAPA BUDDHA'S ENTIRE SKELETON IS. (THE travellers), going on from this three le to the south, came to a mountain named Gurupada3, inside which Mahâkaśyapa even

1 Or, 'was loosed;' from the bonds, I suppose, of his various illusions.

2 I have not met with this particular numerical category.

Fowl's-foot hill,' 'with three peaks, resembling the foot of a chicken. It lies

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