Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms

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(7) See chap. xvi, note 22. It is perhaps with reference to the famous
Bodhisattva that the Brahman here is said to be "also" named Manjusri.

(8) ? Cashmere cloth.

(9) See chap. xxiii, note 3.

(10) We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction,
and that we knew what value in money Asoka set on the whole world. It
is to be observed that he gave it to the monks, and did not receive it
from them. Their right was from him, and he bought it back. He was the
only "Power" that was.

(11) We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small
place; an outpost for the defence of Pataliputtra.



CHAPTER XXVIII

RAJAGRIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT.

(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas,
and came to a small solitary rocky hill,(1) at the head or end of
which(2) was an apartment of stone, facing the south,--the place where
Buddha sat, when Sakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician,
Pancha-(sikha),(3) to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute.
Sakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the
questions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.(4) The prints
of his tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery.

A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of
Nala,(5) where Sariputtra(6) was born, and to which also he returned,
and attained here his pari-nirvana. Over the spot (where his body was
burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence.

Another yojana to the west brought them to New Rajagriha,(7)--the new
city which was built by king Ajatasatru. There were two monasteries in
it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajatasatru, having
obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a
tope, high, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south
gate, and proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to
a circular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and
have the appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old
city of king Bimbisara; from east to west about five or six le, and
from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Sariputtra and
Maudgalyayana first saw Upasena;(8) that the Nirgrantha(9) made a pit
of fire and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with
him); that king Ajatasatru made a black elephant intoxicated with
liquor, wishing him to injure Buddha;(10) and that at the north-east
corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jivaka built a vihara
in the garden of Ambapali,(11) 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.

NOTES

(1) Called by Hsuan-chwang Indra-sila-guha, or "The cavern of Indra."
It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the
bank of the Panchana river, about thirty-six miles from Gaya. The
hill terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more
northern and higher of these which Fa-hien had in mind. It bears an
oblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially
of a vihara.

(2) This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its
"headland," where it ended at the river.

(3) See the account of this visit of Sakra in M. B., pp. 288-290.
It is from Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the
musician, which appears in Fa-hien as only Pancha, or "Five." His harp
or lute, we are told, was "twelve miles long."

(4) Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen,
which are still to be found in one of the Sutras ("the Dik-Sanga,
in the Sakra-prasna Sutra"). Whether it was Sakra who wrote
his questions, or Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the
punctuation. It seems better to make Sakra the writer.

(5) Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand
monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for
five years of Hsuan-chwang.

(6) See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement
that Nala was his birthplace.

(7) The city of "Royal Palaces;" "the residence of the Magadha kings
from Bimbisara to Asoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot
of the Gridhrakuta mountains. Here the first synod assembled within
a year after Sakyamuni's death. Its ruins are still extant at the
village of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behar, and form an object of
pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100)." It is called New Rajagriha
to distinguish it from Kusagarapura, a few miles from it, the old
residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisara, while
Fa-hien ascribes it to Ajatasatru. I suppose the son finished what the
father had begun.

(8) One of the five first followers of Sakyamuni. He is also called
Asvajit; in Pali Assaji; but Asvajit 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.

(9) One of the six Tirthyas (Tirthakas="erroneous teachers;" M. B.,
pp. 290-292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on
Buddha's life referred to by Fa-hien), or Brahmanical opponents of
Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jnati clan, and is therefore
called Nirgranthajnati. 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.

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

(11) See chap. xxv, note 3. Jivaka was Ambapali's son by king
Bimbisara, 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.



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
south-east, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount
Gridhra-kuta.(1) 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 Ananda was
sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) 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 Ananda'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 Fa-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 Surangama (Sutra).(5) I,
Fa-hien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only
see the 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 Surangama Sutra, remained there over the night, and then returned
towards the New City.(6)

NOTES

(1) See chap. xxviii, note 1.

(2) See chap. xxv, note 9. Pisuna is a name given to Mara, 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 Fa-hien implies
that he threw the rock with his own arm.

(4) And, as described by Hsuan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits
high, and thirty paces round.

(5) See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's "Catalogue of the Chinese Translation
of the Buddhist Tripitaka," Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the
former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory
of Fa-hien.

(6) 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 Fa-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 Fa-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.



CHAPTER XXX

THE SRATAPARNA 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 Karanda Bamboo garden,(1) where
the (old) vihara 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 Smasanam, which
name means in Chinese "the field of graves into which the dead are
thrown."(2)

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
cave,(3) 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 Srataparna,(4) the
place where, after the nirvana(5) of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the
Sutras. When they brought the Sutras forth, three lofty seats(6) had
been prepared and grandly ornamented. Sariputtra occupied the one on
the left, and Maudgalyayana that on the right. Of the number of five
hundred one was wanting. Mahakasyapa was president (on the middle
seat). Amanda was then outside the door, and could not get in.(7)
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
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 body(8) is impermanent, a thing of bitterness and
vanity,(9) and which cannot be looked on as pure.(10) 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."(11) Further it occurred to him:--"Yes, he did; but I now
only wish to kill three poisonous thieves."(12) Immediately with
the knife he cut his throat. With the first gash into the flesh he
attained the state of a Srotapanna;(13) when he had gone half through,
he attained to be an Anagamin;(14) and when he had cut right through,
he was an Arhat, and attained to pari-nirvana;(15) (and died).

NOTES

(1) Karanda Venuvana; a park presented to Buddha by king Bimbisara,
who also built a vihara in it. See the account of the transaction in
M. B., p. 194. The place was called Karanda, 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 Karanda is a bird of sweet voice, resembling a magpie,
but herding in flocks; the _cuculus melanoleucus_. See "Buddhist Birth
Stories," p. 118.

(2) The language here is rather contemptuous, as if our author had no
sympathy with any other mode of disposing of the dead, but by his own
Buddhistic method of cremation.

(3) 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 Fa-hien
would hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance.

(4) A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the
Srataparna 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 Ajatasatru. From the expression about the "bringing forth of the
King," it would seem that the Sutras 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 Sutras, 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.

(5) So in the text, evidently for pari-nirvana.

(6) 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.

(7) 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?

(8) "The life of this body" would, I think, fairly express the idea of
the bhikshu.

(9) See the account of Buddha's preaching in chapter xviii.

(10) The sentiment of this clause is not easily caught.

(11) 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.

(12) Beal says:--"Evil desire; hatred; ignorance."

(13) See chap. xx, note 10.

(14) The Anagamin belong to the third degree of Buddhistic saintship,
the third class of Aryas, 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.

(15) 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."



CHAPTER XXXI

GAYA. SAKYAMUNI'S ATTAINING TO THE BUDDHASHIP; AND OTHER LEGENDS.

From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, (the
pilgrims) came to the city of Gaya;(1) but inside the city all was
emptiness and desolation. Going on again to the south for twenty
le, they arrived at the place where the Bodhisattva for six years
practised with himself painful austerities. All around was forest.

Three le west from here they came to the place where, when Buddha had
gone into the water to bathe, a deva bent down the branch of a tree,
by means of which he succeeded in getting out of the pool.(2)

Two le north from this was the place where the Gramika girls presented
to Buddha the rice-gruel made with milk;(3) and two le north from this
(again) was the place where, seated on a rock under a great tree, and
facing the east, he ate (the gruel). The tree and the rock are there
at the present day. The rock may be six cubits in breadth and length,
and rather more than two cubits in height. In Central India the
cold and heat are so equally tempered that trees will live in it for
several thousand and even for ten thousand years.

Half a yojana from this place to the north-east there was a cavern in
the rocks, into which the Bodhisattva entered, and sat cross-legged
with his face to the west. (As he did so), he said to himself, "If
I am to attain to perfect wisdom (and become Buddha), let there be
a supernatural attestation of it." On the wall of the rock there
appeared immediately the shadow of a Buddha, rather more than three
feet in length, which is still bright at the present day. At this
moment heaven and earth were greatly moved, and devas in the air spoke
plainly, "This is not the place where any Buddha of the past, or he
that is to come, has attained, or will attain, to perfect Wisdom. Less
than half a yojana from this to the south-west will bring you to the
patra(4) tree, where all past Buddhas have attained, and all to come
must attain, to perfect Wisdom." When they had spoken these words,
they immediately led the way forwards to the place, singing as they
did so. As they thus went away, the Bodhisattva arose and walked
(after them). At a distance of thirty paces from the tree, a deva gave
him the grass of lucky omen,(5) which he received and went on. After
(he had proceeded) fifteen paces, 500 green birds came flying towards
him, went round him thrice, and disappeared. The Bodhisattva went
forward to the patra tree, placed the kusa grass at the foot of it,
and sat down with his face to the east. Then king Mara sent three
beautiful young ladies, who came from the north, to tempt him, while
he himself came from the south to do the same. The Bodhisattva put his
toes down on the ground, and the demon soldiers retired and dispersed,
and the three young ladies were changed into old (grand-)mothers.(6)

At the place mentioned above of the six years' painful austerities,
and at all these other places, men subsequently reared topes and set
up images, which all exist at the present day.

Where Buddha, after attaining to perfect wisdom, for seven days
contemplated the tree, and experienced the joy of vimukti;(7) where,
under 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 Muchilinda(8) 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(9) came and made his
request to him; where the four deva kings brought to him their
alms-bowls;(10) where the 500 merchants(11) presented to him the
roasted flour and honey; and where he converted the brothers Kasyapa
and their thousand disciples;(12)--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.(13) 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 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 nirvana. 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-nirvana.

NOTES

(1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat.
24d 47s N., lon. 85d 1s E). It was here that Sakyamuni lived for seven
years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The
place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41.

(2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being
drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the
incident I have met with,--in "The Life of the Buddha," p. 31. And
he was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the
narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of
time.

(3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in
Hardy's M. B., pp. 166-168; "The Life of the Buddha," p. 30; and the
"Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering
girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal's
revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty
caused by the {.} {.} of Fa-hien.

(4) Called "the tree of leaves," and "the tree of reflection;" a palm
tree, the _borassus flabellifera_, described as a tree which never
loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p.
92.

(5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note.

(6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179,
and "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 96-101.

(7) See chap. xiii, note 7.

(8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: "A naga
king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sakyamuni 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 naga 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 Nidana Katha, in "Buddhist Birth Stories," p.
109.

(9) This was Brahma himself, though "king" is omitted. What he
requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his
Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111.

(10) See chap. xii, note 10.

(11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and
the Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with
them.

(12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note
17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up
to this time holders of "erroneous" views, having 500, 300, and
200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of
Sakyamuni; and are--each of them--to become Buddha by-and-by. See the
Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115.

(13) 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.



CHAPTER XXXII

LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA.

When king Asoka, in a former birth,(1) was a little boy and played 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 wheel,(2) to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once)
when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa,
he saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka(3) for the
punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what
sort of a thing it was, they replied, "It belongs to Yama,(4) king
of 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."