how to manage such difficulties and wish to proceed should bring with them money and various articles, and give them to the king. He will then send men to escort them. These will (at different stages) pass them over to others, who will show them the shortest routes. Fâ-hien, however, was after all unable to go there; but having received the (above) accounts from men of the country, he has narrated them.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

IN PATNA. FÂ-HIEN'S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS.

FROM Vârâṇasî (the travellers) went back east to Pâțaliputtra. Fâhien's original object had been to search for (copies of) the Vinaya. In the various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found one master transmitting orally (the rules) to another, but no written copies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and come on to Central India. Here, in the mahâyâna monastery 1, he found a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahâsânghika 2 rules,-those which were observed in the first Great Council, while Buddha was still in the world. The original copy was handed down in the Jetavana vihâra. As to the other eighteen schools 3, each one has the views and decisions of its own masters.

1 Mentioned before in chapter xxvii.

• Mahâsânghikâḥ simply means the Great Assembly,' that is, of monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Śâkyamuni held? It does not appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the time. The document found by Fâ-hien would be a record of those rules; or rather a copy of that record. We must suppose that the original record had disappeared from the Jetavana vihâra, or Fâ-hien would probably have spoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had been allowed to do so.

The eighteen pû (). Four times in this chapter the character called pû occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only have the meaning, often belonging to it, of 'copy.' The second instance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies, all different from the original, and from one another, in minor matters? We are compelled to translate—the eighteen schools,'

4

Those agree (with this) in the general meaning, but they have small and trivial differences, as when one opens and another shuts1. This copy (of the rules), however, is the most complete, with the fullest explanations 2. He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand gâthas3, being the sarvâstivâdâḥ rules,-those which are observed by the communities of monks in the land of Ts'in; which also have all been handed down orally from master to master without being committed to writing. In the community here, moreover, he got the Samyuktâbhidharma-hṛidaya-(śâstra), containing about six or seven thousand gâthas; he also got a Sûtra of 2500 gâthas; one chapter of the Parinirvâṇa-vaipulya Sûtra, of about 5000 gâthas; and the Mahâsânghikâḥ Abhidharma.

In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fâ-hien stayed here for three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and writing out the Vinaya rules. When Tão-ching arrived in the Central Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Śramaņas, and the dignified demeanour in their societies which he remarked under all occurring circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and imperfect condition the rules were among the monkish communities in the land of Ts'in, and made the following aspiration:-'From this time forth till I come to the

an expression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids' Manual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted.

This is equivalent to the binding' and 'loosing,' 'opening' and 'shutting,' which found their way into the New Testament, and the Christian Church, from the schools of the Jewish Rabbins.

It was afterwards translated by Fâ-hien into Chinese. See Nanjio's Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 and 1150, columns 247 and 253.

A gâthâ is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of a few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do not know that its length is strictly defined.

''A branch,' says Eitel, 'of the great vaibhâshika school, asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the authority of Râhula.'

B See Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his account

of Fâ-hien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-piṭaka Sutra.

• Probably Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with it.

state of Buddha, let me not be born in a frontier land'.' He remained accordingly (in India), and did not return (to the land of Han). Fâ-hien, however, whose original purpose had been to secure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into the land of Han, returned there alone.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

TO CHAMPÂ AND TÂMALIPTÎ. STAY AND LABOURS THERE FOR THREE YEARS. TAKES SHIP TO SINGHALA, OR CEYLON. FOLLOWING the course of the Ganges, and descending eastwards for eighteen yojanas, he found on the southern bank the great kingdom of Champâ2, with topes reared at the places where Buddha walked in meditation by his vihâra, and where he and the three Buddhas, his predecessors, sat. There were monks residing at them all. Continuing his journey east for nearly fifty yojanas, he came to the country of Tâmaliptî 3, (the capital of which is) a seaport. In the country there are twenty-two monasteries, at all of which there are monks residing. The Law of Buddha is also flourishing in it. Here Fâ-hien stayed two years, writing out his Sûtras, and drawing pictures of images.

After this he embarked in a large merchant-vessel, and went floating over the sea to the south-west. It was the beginning of winter, and the wind was favourable; and, after fourteen days, sailing day and night, they came to the country of Singhala 5. The people said that it was distant (from Tâmaliptî) about 700 yojanas.

1 This then would be the consummation of the Śramana's being,-to get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tâo-ching thought that he could attain to this consummation by a succession of births; and was likely to attain to it sooner by living only in India. If all this was not in his mind, he yet felt that each of his successive lives would be happier, if lived in India.

? Probably the modern Champanagur, three miles west of Baglipoor, lat. 25° 14′ N., lon. 56° 55′ E.

Then the principal emporium for the trade with Ceylon and China; the modern Tam-look, lat. 22° 17′ N., lon. 88° 2′ E.; near the mouth of the Hoogly.

Perhaps Ching() is used here for any portions of the Tripitaka which

he had obtained.

The Kingdom of the Lion,' Ceylon. Singhala was the name of a

The kingdom is on a large island, extending from east to west fifty yojanas, and from north to south thirty. Left and right from it there are as many as 100 small islands, distant from one another ten, twenty, or even 200 le; but all subject to the large island. Most of them produce pearls and precious stones of various kinds; there is one which produces the pure and brilliant pearl1,-an island which would form a square of about ten le. The king employs men to watch and protect it, and requires three out of every ten such pearls, which the collectors find.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

AT CEYLON. RISE OF THE KINGDOM. FEATS OF BUDDHA. TOPES AND MONASTERIES. STATUE OF BUDDHA IN JADE. BO TREE. FESTIVAL OF BUDDHA'S TOOTH.

THE Country originally had no human inhabitants2, but was occupied only by spirits and nâgas, with which merchants of various countries. carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the things away. Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a

merchant adventurer from India, to whom the founding of the kingdom was ascribed. His father was named Singha, 'the Lion,' which became the name of the country; Singhala, or Singha-Kingdom, 'the Country of the Lion.'

1 Called the mani pearl or bead. Mani is explained as meaning 'free from stain,''bright and growing purer.' It is a symbol of Buddha and of his Law. The most valuable rosaries are made of manis.

It is desirable to translate, for which 'inhabitants' or 'people' is elsewhere sufficient, here by 'human inhabitants.' According to other accounts Singhala was originally occupied by Râkshasas or Rakshas, 'demons who devour men,' and 'beings to be feared,' monstrous cannibals or anthropophagi, the terror of the shipwrecked mariner. Our author's 'spirits' (7) were of a gentler type. His dragons or nâgas have come before us again and again.

great nation. The (climate) is temperate and attractive, without any difference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant. Cultivation proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed seasons for it.

When Buddha came to this country 1, wishing to transform the wicked nâgas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of the royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain 2, the two being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the city the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precious substances. By the side of the tope he further built a monastery, called the Abhayagiri 3, where there are (now) five thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid work of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless pearl. Several years had now elapsed since Fâ-hien left the land of Han; the

1 That Śâkyamuni ever visited Ceylon is to me more than doubtful. Hardy, in M. B., pp. 207-213, has brought together the legends of three visits,—in the first, fifth, and eighth years of his Buddhaship. It is plain, however, from Fâ-hien's narrative, that in the beginning of our fifth century, Buddhism prevailed throughout the island. Davids in the last chapter of his 'Buddhism' ascribes its introduction to one of Aśoka's missions, after the Council of Patna, under his son Mahinda, when Tissa, 'the delight of the gods,' was king (B. C. 250-230).

2 This would be what is known as Adam's peak,' having, according to Hardy (pp. 211, 212, notes), the three names of Selesumano, Samastakuta, and Samanila. There is an indentation on the top of it,' a superficial hollow, 5 feet 3 inches long, and about 2 feet wide. The Hindus regard it as the footprint of Śiva; the Mohammedans, as that of Adam; and the Buddhists, as in the text,as having been made by Buddha.

3

9 Meaning The Fearless Hill.'

There is still the Abhayagiri tope, the highest in Ceylon, according to Davids, 250 feet in height, and built about B. C. 90, by Waṭṭa Gâmiņi, in whose reign, about 160 years after the Council of Patna, and 330 years after the death of Śâkyamuni, the Tripitaka was first reduced to writing in Ceylon;- Buddhism,' p. 234.