The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li/Samuel Beal

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li/Samuel Beal

Postby admin » Thu May 19, 2022 6:27 am

The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang
by the Shaman Hwui Li
With an Introduction Containing an Account of the Works of I-Tsing [I-tsing/I-ching/Yijing, 635–713 CE (78 years old)]
by Samuel Beal, B.A., D.C.L.
Professor of Chinese, University College, London
With a Preface by L. Cranmer-Byng
1911



CONTENTS.

[For a detailed Index of Proper Names the reader is referred to the Second Volume of the "Records of the Western World."]

• PREFACE
• BOOK I. Begins with the (birth of Hiuen-Tsiang] in Kow-shi, and ends with the account of his arrival at Kau-Chang.
Birth and parentage of Hiuen-Tsiang -- Family of Hiuen-Tsiang -- Resides at Loyang -- Admitted as a recluse -- Removes to Shing-Tu -- Famine and riot in the Empire -- Leaves Shing-Tu -- Passes the gorges -- Resolves to travel to the West -- His mother's dream -- Starts on his journey -- Liang-Chow -- Assisted by the governor of Kwa-Chow -- Dream of Dharma, a priest -- Engages a guide -- Arrives at the Yuhmen barrier -- Traverses the desert -- Illusions of the desert -- Reaches the first watch-tower -- The fourth watch-tower -- Loses the track -- Exhausted by thirst -- Advances towards I-gu -- Arrives at I-gu -- The king exhorts him to remain -- Refuses to remain -- The king uses threats -- The king persists in his efforts -- The king relents -- The king's presents -- Hiuen-Tsiang's acknowledgments -- Hiuen-Tsiang's letter -- Hiuen-Tsiang's further acknowledgments -- His departure to the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 1-34
• BOOK II. Commencing with O-ki-ni, and ending with Kie-jo-kio-she (Kanauj).
Arrives at O-ki-ni -- Crosses the Silver Mountain -- Arrives at K'ui-chi -- Departs for the Temple of O-she-li-ni -- Discussion with Mokshagupta -- He encounters Turkish robbers -- The Muzart Pass -- Meets Yeh-hu, the Khan of the Turks -- Reception by the Khan -- Receives from the Khan a set of vestments -- Arrives at Ping-yu -- The worship of the Turks -- Receives many Turks into the priesthood -- Intrigues at Kunduz -- Sramana named Dharmasinha -- The Navasangharama -- The two Stupas at Po-li -- Jumadha and Juzgana -- Enters the great Snowy Mountains -- Passes the Snowy Mountains -- Arrives at Bamiyan -- Relics of Sanakavasa -- The Temple of Sha-lo-kia -- The concealed treasure -- Finds the treasure -- Arrives at Lamghan -- History of Dipankara Buddha -- Relics at Hidda -- The cave of Nagaraja Gopala -- The Cave of the Shadow -- Beholds the Shadow -- Stupa built by Kanishka -- A statue of white stone -- Arrives at the town of Utakhanda -- Enters the country of U-chang-na -- The river Subhavdstu -- The fountain of Apalala -- The wooden statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva -- Bodhisattva born as Chandraprabha -- Temple of U-sse- kia-lo (Hushkara) -- Arrives at the capital of Kasmir --- Explains various Sastras -- The Council of Kanishka -- Sastras engraved on copper -- Attacked by brigands -- The forest of amra trees -- Arrives at the kingdom of Tcheka -- Converts the heretics -- Resides in the convent of Tu-she-sa-na -- Reaches Mathura -- The River Ganges -- The Sangharama of Gunaprabha -- Sanghabhadra composes the Kosha-Karika Sastra -- The ladders of Kapitha -- Arrives at Kie-jo-kio-she-kwo (Kanaij) -- Saladitya Harshavardhana -- Resides at the Bhadra Vihara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 35-84
• BOOK III.
Asangha's ascent to heaven -- His brother Vasubandhu -- Attacked by brigands -- Prepared as a sacrifice -- His miraculous escape -- Conversion of the brigands -- The field of Great Beneficence -- Buddha's ascent into heaven -- Arrives at the kingdom of Sravasti -- Sacred spots at Sravasti -- The Vihara Sangharama -- Kapilavastu -- The Naga tank -- Kusinagara -- The "Stag-desert" -- Sacred spots at Banaras -- Arrives at the kingdom of Chen-chu (Ghazipur) -- Pataliputtra Pura -- The stone upon which Buddha stood after leaving Vaisali -- The Bodhimanda -- The Bodhi-tree -- Enters Nalanda -- Salutes Ching-fa-tsong (Silabadra) -- Pays worship to Maitreya Bodhisattva -- Provisions at Nalanda -- The Nalanda monastery -- Structure of Nalanda -- The Sangharamas of India -- Srigupta -- Bamboo garden of Karanda -- The first convocation -- Ananda repeats the Sutras -- Bimbasara's decree -- Jyotishka, the nobleman -- The Hamsa convent -- The image of Avalokitesvara -- Origin of Indian letters -- Vyakaranam treatises -- Sanskrit grammar -- The Subauta "sound (endings") -- Arrives at the Kapotika convent -- Offers flowers and vows to the figure of Avalokitesvara -- Buildings at Hiranya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 85-127
• BOOK IV.
Arrives at Champa -- The fairy fruit -- Karnasuvarna -- Arrives at Samatata -- Green jade figure of Buddha -- Simhala -- Tooth of Buddha -- Deva Bodhisattva -- The kingdom of Dhanakataka -- Bhavaviveka -- Birthplace of Dharmapala Bodhisattva -- Priests from Ceylon -- The Chandaneva tree -- The Lion-king -- Death of the Lion-king -- The Western women -- Padmaraga jewel -- Laukagiri -- Arrives at Maharashtra -- Maharashtra -- King Siladitya of Ujjain arrives at Vallabhi -- The country of Po-la-sse -- Arrives at Sindh -- U-ga-tsun (The Sun-god) -- The Kshattriya Jayasena -- The dream of Hiuen-Tsiang -- The Sarira miracle -- Composes a Sastra called Hwui-Tsung -- The Sky-flower doctrine -- Letter sent to Silabhadra -- The Lokatiya disputant -- The heretics called Sankhyas and others -- The Sankhya system -- The heretics are overcome -- Kumara-raja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 128- 165
• BOOK V.
Nirgrantha skilled in divination -- The resolve to return -- Silabhadra approves -- Silabhadra receives the letter -- Proceeds to Kumara-raja -- Arrives at Kie-shu-ho-ki-lo -- Siladitya-raja, and the king of Ts'in -- Interview with Siladitya -- Sammatiya-school doctrine -- Ceremonial at meeting-place -- An offering to Buddha -- The challenge of Hiuen-Tsiang -- The tooth of Buddha -- The sick elephant -- Conclusion of the Assembly -- Arrives at the kingdom of Po-lo-ye-kia -- The Arena of Charity -- Bestowal of gifts -- He delays his return -- Takes his departure -- Arrives at Pi-lo-na-na -- Crosses the Indus -- The king of Kapisa proceeds homewards -- Arrives at Kunduz -- Habits of the people of Hi-mo-ta-lo -- Reaches Sambhi -- The Central Lake -- Kumaralabdha -- Meets with robbers -- The entranced Arhat -- Kustana -- The country of Kashgar -- Figure of Buddha -- Arrives at Khotan -- The Arhat from Kasmir -- The first Sangharama -- Memorial for books -- Letter sent to Ko-chang -- Receives letters of instructions -- The Takla Makan desert -- Sends letter to the Emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 166-212
• CONCLUSION.
Arrives at the capital -- Begins to translate the Sanscrit books he had brought -- Resides at a temple called Si-ming -- Death of the pilgrim -- Is buried in the Western capital -- His remains afterwards removed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pp. 213-218

[T]he Shaman Hwui-li, took up his tablets and wrote the life of Hiuen-Tsiang. The Master had already written his immortal Si-yu-ki or Record of Western Countries... The Life is supplement to the Record. What is obscure or half told in the one is made clear in the other.

Hwui-li begins in the true Chinese manner with a grand pedigree of his hero, tracing his descent from the Emperor Hwang Ti, the mythical Heavenly Emperor....

And withal clear-sighted and intolerant of shams, he is still a child of his age and religion. With childish curiosity he tempts a bone to foretell the future, and with childish delight obtains the answer he most desires. In the town of Hiddha is Buddha's skull bone, one foot long, two inches round. "If anyone wishes to know the indications of his guilt or his religious merit he mixes some powdered incense into a paste, which he spreads upon a piece of silken stuff, and then presses it on the top of the bone: according to the resulting indications the good fortune or ill fortune of the man is determined." Hiuen obtains the impression of a Bodhi and is overjoyed, for, as the guardian Brahman of the bone explains, "it is a sure sign of your having a portion of true wisdom (Bodhi)." At another time he plays a kind of religious quoits by flinging garlands of flowers on the sacred image of Buddha, which, being caught on its hands and arms, show that his desires will be fulfilled. In simple faith he tells Hwui-li how Buddha once cleaned his teeth and flung the fragments of the wood with which he performed the act on the ground; how they took root forthwith, and how a tree seventy feet high was the consequence. And Hiuen saw that tree, therefore the story must be true....

He returned to his own country with no less than 657 volumes of the sacred books, seventy-four of which he translated into Chinese, while 150 relics of the Buddha, borne by twenty horses, formed the spoil reverently gathered from the many lands we call India....

The original from which the translation is made is styled "History of the Master of the Law of the three Pitakas of the 'Great Loving-Kindness' Temple." It was written, probably in five chapters, in the first instance by Hwui-li, one of Hiuen-Tsiang's disciples, and afterwards enlarged and completed in ten chapters by Yen-thsong, another of his followers. Yen-thsong was selected by the disciples of Hwui-li to re-arrange and correct the leaves which their master had written and hidden in a cave. ...

It will be found that Hwui-li's history often explains or elucidates the travels of Hiuen-Tsiang. Yen-thsong evidently consulted other texts or authorities. This is especially the case in reference to the history of the Temple of Nalanda...


-- The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li, With an Introduction Containing an Account of the Works of I-Tsing, by Samuel Beal, B.A., D.C.L.
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Re: The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li/Samuel B

Postby admin » Thu May 19, 2022 6:29 am

PREFACE

CENTURIES before biography became a business, before the peccadilloes of Royal mistresses and forgotten courtesans obtained a "market value," the writing of the Master's life by some cherished disciple was both an act of love and piety in the Far East. The very footprints of the famous dead became luminous, and their shadows shone in dark caves that once withheld them from the world. Memory looking back viewed them through a golden haze; they were merged at last in ancient sunlight; they were shafts of God rayed in the tangled forests of time. In this spirit, then, the man of compassionate feeling (such is the rendering of the Sanscrit Shama), the Shaman Hwui-li, took up his tablets and wrote the life of Hiuen-Tsiang [602–664 CE]. The Master had already written his immortal Si-yu-ki or Record of Western Countries, yet the sixteen years of that wonderful quest in far-off India, of cities seen and shrines visited, of strange peoples and stranger customs, cannot be crowded into one brief record. And so we watch the patient disciple waiting on those intervals of leisure when the task of translation from Sanscrit into Chinese is laid aside, when the long routine of a Buddhist day is ended, waiting for the impressions of a wandering soul in the birthland of its faith. The Life is supplement to the Record. What is obscure or half told in the one is made clear in the other.

Hwui-li begins in the true Chinese manner with a grand pedigree of his hero, tracing his descent from the Emperor Hwang Ti, the mythical Heavenly Emperor. This zeal for following the remotest ancestors over the borders of history into the regions of fable may be largely ascribed to a very human desire to connect the stream of life with its divine source. We are chiefly concerned to know that he came of a family which had already given notable men to the State, and was launched "in the troublous whirl of birth and death" but a little distance from the town of Kou-Shih, in the province of Honan, in the year 600 A.D. Here and there biography leaves us a glimpse of his outward appearance as boy and man. We are told that "at his opening life he was rosy as the evening vapours and round as the rising moon. As a boy he was sweet as the odour of cinnamon or the vanilla tree." A soberer style does justice to his prime, and again he comes before us, "a tall handsome man with beautiful eyes and a good complexion. He had a serious but benevolent expression and a sedate, rather stately manner." The call of the West came early to Hiuen-Tsiang. From a child he had easily outstripped his fellows in the pursuit of knowledge, and with the passing of the years he stepped beyond the narrow limits of Chinese Buddhism and found the deserts of Turkestan between him and the land of his dreams. Imperfect translations from the Sanscrit, the limited intelligence of the Chinese priesthood, the sense of vast truths dimly perceived obscurely set forth, the leaven of his first Confucian training all contributed to the making of a Buddhist pilgrim. The period of his departure, 629 A.D., was an eventful one for China. T'ai-Tsung, the most powerful figure of the brilliant T'ang dynasty, sat on the throne of his father Kaotsu, the founder of the line. The nomad Tartars, so long the terror of former dynasties, succumbed to his military genius, and Kashgaria was made a province of the Empire. Already the kingdom of Tibet was tottering to its fall, and Corea was to know the devastation of war within her boundaries. Ch'ang-an was now the capital, a city of floating pavilions and secluded gardens, destined to become the centre of a literary movement that would leave its mark for all time. But the days were not yet when the terraces of Teng-hiaug-ting would see the butterflies alight on the flower-crowned locks of Yang-kuei-fei, or the green vistas re-echo to the voices of poet and emperor joined in praise of her. Only two wandering monks emerge furtively through the outer gates of the city's triple walls, and one of them looks back for a glimpse of Ch'ang-an, the last for sixteen eventful years of exile.

Others had crossed the frontier before him, notably Fa-hian and Sung Yun, others in due course would come and go, leaving to posterity their impressions of a changing world, but this man stands alone, a prince of pilgrims, a very Bayard of Buddhist enthusiasm, fearless and without reproach. As we read on through the pages of Hwui-li the fascination of the Master of the Law becomes clear to us, not suddenly, but with the long, arduous miles that mark the way to India and the journey home.

Take the Master's tattered robes, let the winds of Gobi whistle through your sleeve and cut you to the bone, mount his rusty red nag and set your face to the West. In the night you will see "firelights as many as stars" raised by the demons and goblins; travelling at dawn you will behold "soldiers clad in fur and felt and the appearance of camels and horsemen and the glittering of standards and lances; fresh forms and figures changing into a thousand shapes, sometimes at an immense distance, then close at hand, then vanished into the void." The time comes when even the old red steed avails not, the Great Ice Mountains loom in front of you, and you crawl like an ant and cling like a fly to the roof of the world. Then on the topmost summit, still far away from the promised land, you realise two things -- the littleness of human life, the greatness of one indomitable soul.

But the superman is also very human. With the vast bulk of his encyclopaedic knowledge he falls on the pretentious  monk Mokshagupta, he flattens him and treads a stately if heavy measure on his prostrate body. And withal clear-sighted and intolerant of shams, he is still a child of his age and religion. With childish curiosity he tempts a bone to foretell the future, and with childish delight obtains the answer he most desires. In the town of Hiddha is Buddha's skull bone, one foot long, two inches round. "If anyone wishes to know the indications of his guilt or his religious merit he mixes some powdered incense into a paste, which he spreads upon a piece of silken stuff, and then presses it on the top of the bone: according to the resulting indications the good fortune or ill fortune of the man is determined." Hiuen obtains the impression of a Bodhi and is overjoyed, for, as the guardian Brahman of the bone explains, "it is a sure sign of your having a portion of true wisdom (Bodhi)." At another time he plays a kind of religious quoits by flinging garlands of flowers on the sacred image of Buddha, which, being caught on its hands and arms, show that his desires will be fulfilled. In simple faith he tells Hwui-li how Buddha once cleaned his teeth and flung the fragments of the wood with which he performed the act on the ground; how they took root forthwith, and how a tree seventy feet high was the consequence. And Hiuen saw that tree, therefore the story must be true.

But it is not with the pardonable superstitions of a human soul of long ago that we need concern ourselves. The immense latent reserve, the calm strength to persist, is the appeal. It comes to us with no note of triumph for the thing accomplished or the obstacle removed, but rather underlies some simple statement of fact and is summed up in these few trite words: "We advanced guided by observing the bones left on the way." The little incidents of life and death are as nothing to one who looks on all men as ghosts haunted by reality. And so the Master of the Law resigns himself to the prospect of a violent end at the hands of the river pirates of the Ganges, to the miraculous interposition of a timely storm, with the same serenity with which he meets the long procession streaming out of Nalanda in his honour, with its two hundred priests and some thousand lay patrons who surround him to his entry, recounting his praises, and carrying standards, umbrellas, flowers, and perfumes.
[Mleccha: the despised foreigner who lacks the instruction of the traditional teaching (sastra)]

Yet there are moments of sheer delight when scenes of physical beauty are fair enough to draw even a Buddhist monk from his philosophic calm, when even Hiuen-Tsiang must have become lyrical in the presence of his recording disciple. Who would not be the guest of the abbot of Nalanda monastery with its six wings, each built by a king, all enclosed in the privacy of solid brick? "One gate opens into the great college, from which are separated eight other halls, standing in the middle (of the monastery). The richly adorned towers, and the fairy-like turrets, like pointed hilltops, are congregated together. The observatories seem to be lost in the mists (of the morning), and the upper rooms tower above the clouds.

"From the windows one may see how the winds and the clouds produce new forms, and above the soaring eaves the conjunctions of the sun and moon may be observed.

"And then we may add how the deep, translucent ponds bear on their surface the blue lotus intermingled with the Kanaka flower, of deep red colour, and at intervals the Amra groves spread over all, their shade.

"All the outside courts, in which are the priests' chambers, are of four stages. The stages have dragon-projections and coloured eaves, the pearl-red pillars, carved and ornamented, the richly adorned balustrades, and the roofs covered with tiles that reflect the light in a thousand shades, these things add to the beauty of the scene."

Here ten thousand priests sought refuge from the world of passing phenomena and the lure of the senses.

Wherever our pilgrim goes he finds traces of a worship far older than Buddhism.
He does not tell us so in so many words, yet underneath the many allusions to Bodhi-trees and Nagas we may discover the traces of that primitive tree and serpent worship that still exists in remote corners of India, as, for instance, among the Naga tribes of Manipur who worship the python they have killed. In Hiuen's time every lake and fountain had its Naga-raja or serpent-king. Buddha himself, as we learn from both the Si-yu-ki and the Life, spent much time converting or subduing these ancient gods. There were Nagas both good and evil. When Buddha first sought enlightenment he sat for seven days in a state of contemplation by the waters of a little woodland lake. Then this good Naga "kept guard over Tathagata; with his folds seven times round the body of the Buddha, he caused many heads to appear, which overshadowed him as a parasol; therefore to the east of this lake is the dwelling of the Naga." In connection with this legend it is interesting to remember that Vishnu is commonly represented as reposing in contemplation on the seven-headed snake. Even after the passing of the Buddha the Nagas held their local sway, and King Asoka is foiled in his attempt to destroy the Naga's stupa, for, "having seen the character of the place, he was filled with fear and said, 'All these appliances for worship are unlike anything seen by men.' The Naga said, 'If it be so, would that the king would not attempt to destroy the stupa!' The king, seeing that he could not measure his power with that of the Naga, did not attempt to open the stupa (to take out the relics)." In many instances we find the serpent gods not merely in full possession of their ancient haunts, but actually posing as the allies and champions of the new faith and its founder. In the Si-yu-ki we are told that "by the side of a pool where Tathagata washed his garments is a great square stone on which are yet to be seen the trace-marks of his robe.... The faithful and pure frequently come to make their offerings here; but when the heretics and men of evil mind speak lightly of or insult the stone, the dragon-king (Naga-raja) inhabiting the pool causes the winds to rise and rain to fall."

The connection between Buddhism and tree-worship is even closer still. The figure of the Master is for ever reclining under the Bodhi-tree beneath whose shade he dreamed that he had "the earth for his bed, the Himalayas for his pillow, while his left arm reached to the Eastern Ocean, his right to the Western Ocean, and his feet to the great South Sea." This Bodhi-tree is the Ficus Religiosa, or peepul tree, and is also known as Rarasvit or the tree of wisdom and knowledge. The leaves are heart-shaped, slender and pointed, and constantly quivering. In the Si-yu-ki it is stated of a certain Bodhi-tree that although the leaves wither not either in winter or summer, but remain shining and glistening throughout the year, yet "at every successive Nirvana-day (of the Buddhas) the leaves wither and fall, and then in a moment revive as before." The Buddha sat for seven days contemplating this tree; "he did not remove his gaze from it during this period, desiring thereby to indicate his grateful feelings towards the tree by so looking at it with fixed eyes." Hiuen-Tsiang himself and his companions contributed to the universal adoration of the tree, for, as that impeccable Buddhist the Shaman Hwui-li rather baldly states, "they paid worship to the Bodhi-tree."

How did Buddhism come to be connected in any way with tree and serpent worship? The answer is, through its connection with Brahmanism. As Buddhism was Brahmanism reformed, so Brahmanism in its turn was the progressive stage of tree and serpent worship.

Both Early Buddhism and Early Brahmanism are the direct outcome of the introduction of Zoroastrianism into eastern Gandhara by Darius I. Early Buddhism resulted from the Buddha's rejection of the basic principles of Early Zoroastrianism, while Early Brahmanism represents the acceptance of those principles. Over time, Buddhism would accept more and more of the rejected principles...

While, not surprisingly, the ordinary generic human contrast between truth and falsehood is found in the Vedas, the specifically Early Zoroastrian form of the ideas, including the result of following one or the other path, is completely alien to them. In the early Vedic religion, ritually correct performance of blood sacrifices was believed to be rewarded in this life, but the reward had nothing to do with one's virtuous actions or one's future in the afterlife. These ideas thus seem to have been introduced by the Achaemenid Persians into eastern Gandhara and Sindh, the western limits of the ancient Indic world and southeastern limits of the Central Asian world, just as they were introduced into Near Eastern parts of the vast Persian Empire....

These specific "absolutist" or "perfectionist" ideas are firmly rejected by the Buddha in his earliest attested teachings, as shown in Chapter One. In short, the Buddha reacted primarily (if at all) not against Brahmanism, but against Early Zoroastrianism.

-- Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter With Early Buddhism in Central Asia, by Christopher I. Beckwith

Siva the destroyer is also Nag Bhushan, "he who wears snakes as his ornaments." Among the lower classes in many districts the worship of the serpent frequently supplants or is indistinguishable from the worship of Siva. In the Panma Purana, the Bodhi-tree is the tree aspect of Vishnu, the Indian fig-tree of Pudra, and the Palasa tree of Brahma. Again, Vishnu is also Hari the Preserver -- Hari who sleeps upon a coiled serpent canopied by its many heads. The Laws of Manu lay down the worship to be offered both to the water-gods (Nagas) and the tree spirits: "Having thus, with fixed attention, offered clarified butter in all quarters ... let him offer his gifts to animated creatures, saying, I salute the Maruts or Winds, let him throw dressed rice near the door, saying, I salute the water-gods in water; and on his pestle and mortar, saying, I salute the gods of large trees."

The tree and the serpent coiled at its roots are the two essential symbols of primitive religion, whether the tree is the peepul and the serpent a Naga-raja, or the serpent be the Tiamat of the Babylonians and the tree the date-palm. There are the serpent-guarded fruits of the Hesperides; there is the serpent beneath the tree of knowledge in the garden, or rather grove, of Eden; there is Yggdrasill, the sacred ash tree of Norse mythology, with Nidhogg the great serpent winding round its roots. The first mysteries of religion were celebrated in groves, as those of Asher and Baal and the groves of the early Romans.

Serpent-worship has universally been the symbol-worship of the human desire for life, the consequent reproduction of the species, and hence the immortality of the race. To-day the barren women of Bengal pay reverence to the person of the Naga mendicant. But the worship of trees takes its rise from the emotions of primaeval man, inspired in the forest. Fear and awe and the passions all dwelt in its shade. The first god of man emerging from the animal is Pan, and his the woodnote that, calling through the sacred grove, causes the new-found conscience to start and the guilty to hide their shame.

But in pointing out the survivals of ancient faith so naively testified to by Hiuen-Tsiang, I have intended no disparagement to the gentle, compassionate Master of the Eastern World. Buddha could not have planted any tree that the jungles of India would not have swiftly strangled in one tropic night. He sought for Brahmanism, that giant of the grove, the light and air for which it pined, he cleared the creepers that would have closed it in, he cut away the dead and dying branch and gave the tree of ancient faith its chance of attainment. And if he left the old wise Nagas to their woodland lakes, or paid silent recognition to the spirit of the Bodhi-tree, who shall blame him? Man the primitive, with his fresh mind brought to bear upon the mysteries around him, with all senses alert to catch the rhythmic pulses of life and view the silent growth that soared beyond him, with his imagination unfettered and his garb of convention as yet unsewn, was nearer to the great dawn than all the book-bound philosophers that followed him.

But Hiuen-Tsiang or Yuan Chwang, for such is the latest rendering of his name in the modern Pekinese, was born into a world that beheld the tree of Buddhism slowly dying from the top. He bore witness, if unconsciously, to a time of transition and a noble faith in decay, and the swift, silent growth of jungle mythology around the crumbling temples of Buddha.
It is evident from the account of Hiuen-Tsang that Buddhism was slowly decaying when he visited India. Important centres of early Buddhism were deserted, though some new centres, such as Nalanda in the east, Valabhi in the west and Kanchi in the south, had sprung up.[???] After some time Buddhism lost its hold in other provinces and flourished only in Bihar and Bengal, where royal patronage succeeded in keeping alive a dying cause. But it is clear that Buddhism was no longer popular and centred round a few monasteries. The Buddhism that was practised at these places was no longer of the simple Hinayana type, nor even had much in common with the Mahayana of the earlier days, but was strongly inbued with the ideas of Tantricism, inculcating belief in the efficacy of charms and spells and involving secret practices and rituals....

It has been propagated that Muslim invaders drove away the monks and damaged the monasteries, but it does not stand correct in the light of scrutiny of the facts....

Destruction and burning of the university of Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khalji is based on concoction and imagination....

Two Tibetan traditions tell a tale of destruction of Nalanda Mahavihara by Tirthika’s fire. History of Buddhism in India by Lama Tara Nath [Taranatha] (17th century AD) and Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang by Sumpa Khan (18th century AD) narrate the event of destruction almost in the same manner....[!!!]

Unfortunately, the antiquities and finds from the excavations have not been closely studied and dated...

-- Nalanda Mahavihara: Victim of a Myth regarding its Decline and Destruction, by O.P. Jaiswal

His record of these sixteen years of travel is a priceless one, for through it we are able to reconstruct the world and ways of Buddhist India of the centuries that have passed. Yet far more priceless still is that record, read between the lines, of a human soul dauntless in disaster, unmoved in the hour of triumph, counting the perils of the bone-strewn plain and the unconquered hills as nothing to the ideal that lay before him, the life-work, the call of the Holy Himalayas and the long toil of his closing years. It is difficult to over-estimate his services to Buddhist literature. He returned to his own country with no less than 657 volumes of the sacred books, seventy-four of which he translated into Chinese, while 150 relics of the Buddha, borne by twenty horses, formed the spoil reverently gathered from the many lands we call India.

And so we leave him to his rest upon Mount Sumeru, where once his venturous soul alighted in the dreams of youth, with the serpents coiled beneath its base, with its seven circling hills of gold and the seven seas between, and the great salt ocean encompassing them all. There, as Mr. Watters has finely said, "he waits with Maitreya until in the fulness of time the latter comes into this world. With him Yuan-chuang hoped to come back to a new life here and to do again the Buddha's work for the good of others." Till then we leave him to the long interval of bliss transcending all planes of human ecstasy.

"Around his dreams the dead leaves fall;
Calm as the starred chrysanthemum
He notes the season glories come,
And reads the books that never pall."


L. CRANMER-BYNG.
May 16th, 1911.
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Re: The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li/Samuel B

Postby admin » Fri May 20, 2022 4:14 am

HISTORY OF THE EARLY LIFE OF HIUEN-TSIANG

INTRODUCTION.


1. THE present volume is intended to supplement the "History of the Travels of Hiuen-Tsiang" (Si-yu-ki), already published by Messrs. Trubner in two volumes, and entitled "Buddhist Records of the Western World."

The original from which the translation is made is styled "History of the Master of the Law of the three Pitakas of the 'Great Loving-Kindness' Temple." It was written, probably in five chapters, in the first instance by Hwui-li, one of Hiuen-Tsiang's disciples, and afterwards enlarged and completed in ten chapters by Yen-thsong, another of his followers.1 [Julien, Preface to the Life of Hiouen-Tsiang, p. lxxix.] Yen-thsong was selected by the disciples of Hwui-li to re-arrange and correct the leaves which their master had written and hidden in a cave.[???] He added an introduction and five supplementary chapters. The five chapters added by Yen-thsong are probably those which follow the account of Hiuen-Tsiang's return from India, and relate to his work of translation in China. I have not thought it necessary to reproduce this part of the original; my object has been simply to complete the "Records" already published relating to India.

2. It will be found that Hwui-li's history often explains or elucidates the travels of Hiuen-Tsiang. Yen-thsong evidently consulted other texts or authorities. This is especially the case in reference to the history of the Temple of Nalanda, in the third chapter of the book, compared with the ninth book of the "Records."1 [With respect to Tathagata-Raja, e.g., the phrase used in the original does not mean "his son," but "his direct descendant," and this goes far to reconcile this account with that found in the Si-yu-ki. Again, with reference to the remark of Hwui-li found on page 112 infra, that the Nalanda monastery was founded 700 years before the time of Hiuen-Tsiang, this, as I have observed (in the note), clears up the date of Sakraditya, who is described as a former king of the country, living after the Nirvana of Buddha; the expression "not long after,'' found in the Si-yu-ki, must be accepted loosely. The foundation of the convent would be about 80 B.C.]

Kumaragupta I (r. c. 415–455 CE) was an emperor of the Gupta Empire of Ancient India....

Kumaragupta performed an Ashvamedha sacrifice, which was usually performed to prove imperial sovereignty, although no concrete information is available about his military achievements. Based on the epigraphic and numismatic evidence, some modern historians have theorized that he may have subdued the Aulikaras of central India and the Traikutakas of western India....

Kumaragupta was a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II and queen Dhruvadevi.[3] Chandragupta's last inscription is dated c. 412 CE, while Kumaragupta's earliest inscription is dated c. 415 CE (year 96 of the Gupta era). Therefore, Kumaragupta must have ascended the throne in or shortly before 415 CE.

Kumaragupta bore the titles Maharajadhiraja, Parama-bhattaraka, and Paramadvaita. He also adopted the title Mahendraditya, and his coins call him by several variants of this name, including Shri-Mahendra, Mahendra-simha, and Ashvamedha-Mahendra. Shakraditya, the name of a king mentioned in Buddhist texts, may also have been a title of Kumaragupta.

-- Kumaragupta I, by Wikipedia

According to Taranatha, Asoka, the great Mauryan emperor of the third century BC, gave offerings to the chaitya of Sariputra that existed at Nalanda and erected a temple here; Ashoka must therefore be regarded as the founder of the Nalanda-vihara....

But it may be clearly emphasised that the excavations have not revealed anything which suggests the occupation of the site before the Guptas, the earliest datable finds being a (forged) copper plate of Samudra-gupta and a coin of Kumaragupta. This is fully confirmed by the statement of Hiuen-Tsang that ‘a former king of the country named Sakraditya built here a monastery and that his successors, Buddha-gupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya and Vajra built some monasteries nearby’. As some of these names were borne by the Gupta emperors, it has been held that all of them refer to the Imperial Guptas of the fifth and sixth century AD.


-- Nalanda Mahavihara: Victim of a Myth regarding its Decline and Destruction, by O.P. Jaiswal

3. I may also notice the interesting statement found in the fourth book, referring to King Sadvaha (So-to-po-ho), and the rock temple he excavated for Nagarjuna.2 [I think it is abundantly clear from the evidence of Chinese traditions that the Patriarch Nagarjuna and the Bhikshu Nagasena (who disputed with Menander) are distinct persons. The first (as I have shown in some papers written for the Indian Antiquary) was an innovator, and more or less given to magical practices; the latter was a learned Bhikshu engrossed in metaphysical studies.]

Nagarjuna is now believed to have flourished as late as 100 years after Kanishka,3 [So says Taou-Sun in his history of the Sakya family.] i.e., towards the end of the second century A.D. This would also be the date of Sadvaha. Who this king was is not certain. He is said to have reigned over Shing-tu, which may simply mean India. He was surnamed Shi-yen-to-kia (Sindhuka?). He probably had resided on the Indus, and by conquest had got possession of the Southern Kosala. Was he a Pallava? and was Alamana, where Nagarjuna knew him, the same as Aramana on the Coromandel Coast, between Chola and Kalinga?4 [For some remarks on this point, vide Indian Antiquary, May 1888, p. 126, c. i. Cf. also Schiefner's Taranatha, p. 303.] Be that as it may, we know that was so closely acquainted with the king that he sent him a friendly letter exhorting him to morality of life and religious conduct. The king in return prepared the cave-dwelling for him of which we have the history in the tenth book of the "Records." This cave-dwelling was hewn in a mountain called Po-lo-mo-lo-ki-li, i.e., Bhramaragiri, the mountain of the Black bee (Durga).1 [M. Julien restores these symbols to baramoulagiri, and accepts the interpretation given by Hiuen-Tsiang, viz., "the black peak." Before I had been able to consult any parallel record I was satisfied that this restoration was wrong, and in a paper read before the Royal Asiatic Society, J. R. A. S., vol. xv. part 3, I ventured to assert that the Chinese character "fung," "a peak," was a mistake for "fung," "a bee," and that the name of the hill was Bhramaragiri, i.e., the hill of the "Black-bee" or of Durga. I was gratified some months afterwards to find in Taou-Siin a complete confirmation of my opinion, as he in his account of this district speaks of the Black-bee Mountain, using the symbol "fung," "a bee," for "fung," "a peak."]

Dr. Burgess has identified this mountain with the celebrated Sri Sailas, bordering on the river Kistna, called by Schiefner Cri-Parvata. Doubtless it is the same as that described by Fa-Hian in the 35th chapter of his travels. He calls it the Po-lo-yue Temple, which he explains as "the Pigeon" (Paravat) monastery. But a more probable restoration of the Chinese symbols would be the Parvati, or the Parvata, monastery. The symbol yue in Chinese Buddhist translations is equivalent to va (or vat).2 [Thus in Fa-hian's account of the five-yearly religious assembly (Panchavassa-parishad), the Chinese symbols are pan-cha-yue-sse (hwui), where yue evidently corresponds to va. Again, " throughout Taou-Sun's work on the history of the Sakyas, the symbols for Chakkavat are cha-ka-yue, where again yue is equivalent to vat. And so again, when Taou-Sun describes the inhabitants of Vaisali in the time of Buddha, he always calls them yue-chi, i.e., Vajjis or Vatis (the symbol chi is used for ti, as 'in Kiu-chi for Koti).]

We may therefore assume that the Po-lo-yue monastery of Fa-hian was the Durga monastery of Hiuen-Tsiang, otherwise called Sri-parvata. This supposition is confirmed by the actual history of the place; for Hiuen-Tsiang tells us that after the Buddhists had established themselves in the monastery, the Brahmans by a stratagem took possession of it. Doubtless, when in possession, they would give it a distinctive name acceptable to themselves; hence the terms Bhramara or Bhramaramba.

4. With respect to Fa-hian's restoration of Po-lo-yue to Paravata, "a pigeon," there need be no difficulty. It may have been called the "Pigeon monastery" in pre-Brahman times. The highest storey was probably decorated with pigeon-emblems,1 [I cannot suppose that he meant to say that the different storeys were constructed in the shape of the animals denoted, but that they were decorated by emblems of these animals.] or, like the top beams of the gateways at Sanchi, adorned with the trisul emblem. This emblem, in all probability, originally denoted the three rays of the rising sun.2 [Cf. the figure of Mithra in Dr. Bruce's Itinerariun Septentrionale, and also "Abstract of Four Lectures," p. 159.] These three rays, by the addition of a simple stroke at the base, were converted into a representation of a descending pigeon or dove. This would be sufficient to account for the name the Pigeon monastery. But there is no need to press this matter; for whether the symbol yue be equal to va or vat, in this particular case, there can be no doubt as to its true restoration.

5. This remark leads me to allude briefly to the people named Yue-chi or Yue-ti in Chinese Buddhist literature. There is frequent mention made of the Yue-chi in Chinese books previous to the Turushka invasion of North-West India by the predecessors of Kanishka. The inhabitants of Vaisali are, e.g., in Buddha's lifetime, called Yue-chi.3 [Viz., in many passages in the works of Sang-yui and Taou-Sun.]

These people we know were Vajjis or Vatis;4 [The symbol chi is convertible with ti (as before noticed).] they are represented as a proud and arrogant race, and remarkable for personal display and the equipment of their chariots.5 [I have called attention to the equipment, &c., of the Licchavis in vol. xix., Sawed Books of the East, p. 257, n. 2.] I should argue then that as the Amardi are called Mardi, and the Aparni are called Parni, so the Vatis were the same as the Avatis. But in the Scythic portion of the Behistun inscription we have distinct mention of the Afartis or Avartis as the people who inhabited the high lands bordering on Media and the south shores of the Caspian. Were the Vajjis or Vatis, then, a people allied to these Medes or Scyths, who at an early date had invaded India? The question at any rate is worth consideration.1 [In confirmation, I would again refer to the testimony of the sculptures at Sanchi; vide my short and uncorrected paper, J. R. A. S., January 1882.]

6. Arising from this is a still more interesting inquiry, although perhaps more speculative, touching the origin of the name "Licchavis," given to the inhabitants of Vaisali. Mr. Hodgson speaks of these people as Scyths;2 [Collected Essays, Trubner's edition, p. 17.] and if we remember that the Vajjians, otherwise Licchavis, were a foreign people, and throughout their history regarded as unbelievers, having chaityas consecrated to Yakshas, &c., it will not be unreasonable to derive their name from the Scythic race known as Kavis or Kabis, by whose aid Feridun was placed on the throne of Persia.3 [Cf. Sir H. Rawlinson, J. R. A. S., xv. p. 258.] These Kavis or Kabis were unbelievers,4 ["Blind heretics;" vide Zendavesta by Darmesteter and Mills, pass.] and their blacksmith's flag,5 [Derefsh-i-Kavani.] which was adopted by the Persians as their national banner, was finally taken and perhaps destroyed by the Arabs. Is the flag (Plate xxviii. fig. 1, Tree and Serpent Worship) this flag of the Kavis?

There is another scene in which a similar flag may be observed (surmounted, as the former, by a trisul), I mean in Plate xxxviii.

If this Plate represents the siege of Kusinagara by the Vajjis, to recover a portion of the relics of Buddha, then the procession on the left, in which the relic-casket is carried off in triumph, accompanied by the flag, is probably intended to represent the Vajjians proceeding to Vaisali for the purpose of enshrining the relics, as already noticed and represented in Plate xxviii.

7. But again, the followers of the Turushka invaders under Kanishka and his predecessors were deeply imbued with Zoroastrian conceptions, as is evident from their coins,6 [Vide paper by M. Aurel Stein, Ind. Antiq., April 1888.] and these too were Yue-chi or Vatis. They must have derived their Zoroastrian proclivities from residence among, or connection with, people professing this religion; and so again we argue that these Yue-chi or Kushans1 [The Kushans are constantly mentioned by Ferdusi as the aboriginal race of Media. J. R. A. S., xv. p. 205; vide p. 46, infra, n. 5.] were a Northern people from the borders of the Caspian. The entire argument appears to be confirmed by the fact that Hiuen-Tsiang2 [ Records, vol. i. p. 35.] places a district called Vati in this very neighbourhood, where also dwelt the Mardi, a term equivalent to Afarti or Avati, as already shown by Norris.

8. This leads me to observe, lastly, that the plates in "Tree and Serpent Worship," in which Nagas and their female attendants are represented as worshipping the various thrones or seats on which was supposed to reside the spiritual presence of Buddha, do in fact denote the effect of the preaching of the Master on these emigrant Medes or Afartis. The Medes, as is well known, were called Mars, i.e., Snakes; and in the Vendidad, Ajis Dahaka, "the biting snake," is the personification of Media. When, therefore, Buddha converted the people of Vaisali and the Mallas of Kusinagara (who were Kushans),3 [It is curious that the Mallas are called in Chinese Lih-sse, i.e., Strong-lords. But does the symbol lih correspond with the Accadian lik or lig, a lion? In this case we should gather that the Licchuvis were lik + Kavis, i.e., powerful, or lion, Kavis.] the success of his teaching was denoted in these sculptures by representing the Nagas (remarkable for their beauty, as were the Medes) in the act of paying worship before him, as he was supposed to be spiritually present on the seats or thrones in places he had occupied during his career in the world.

It will be sufficient for my purpose if these remarks lead to a consideration of the point as to the probability of an early migration (or, perhaps, deportation) of a northern people allied to the Medes into India, who made Vaisali their capital.

9. There is an interesting point to be noticed respecting the council of Patna under Asoka. On page 102 of the translation following, it will be observed that Asoka is said to have convened 1000 priests in the Kukkutarama, i.e., the "Garden of the cock." By comparing this passage with Dipavamsa, vii. 57, 58, 59, it will be plain that this convent is the same as the Asokarama, and that the allusion in my text is to the third council at Patna. But it appears from the corresponding account in the Si-yu-ki1 [Records, &c., vol. ii. p. 96. The expression chief-priests, on the page referred to, is equal to Sthaviras.] that the members of this council were all Sthaviras or Theras, and therefore that it did not include any members of the other schools. We may hence understand why this council takes such a leading place in the records of the Ceylonese Buddhist Church, but is almost entirely ignored in the Northern books.

II. I come now to notice very briefly the records left us by I-tsing respecting other pilgrims after Hiuen-Tsiang, who, leaving China or neighbouring places, visited sacred spots in India consecrated by association with Buddha's presence or connected with his history.

1. It will be remembered that Hiuen-Tsiang returned to China after his sojourn in India in the year 645 A.D., and that he died in the year 664 A.D. It was just after this event, viz., in the year 671 or 672, that I-tsing [I-tsing/I-ching/Yijing, 635–713 CE], then a mere stripling [672-635 = 37 years old], resolved, with thirty-seven (37) [???] other disciples of Buddha, to visit the Western world to pay reverence to the sacred vestiges of their religion. Taking ship at Canton, he found himself deserted by his companions, and so proceeded alone by what is known as the southern sea-route to India. This route, as we shall notice hereafter, was by way of Condore2 [It is curious to find that the inhabitants of the Condore Islands at this time were of the Negro type, with thick woolly hair, and that their language was used in all the neighbouring districts. I-tsing speaks of himself as interpreting this language at Sribhoja [Srivijaya]. We learn too from other sources that these Condore negroes were largely used as servants or slaves at Canton and Southern China about this time.] to Sribhoja [Srivijaya] (Palembang, in Sumatra),
Palembang is one of the oldest cities in Southeast Asia. It was the capital of Srivijaya, a Buddhist kingdom that ruled much of the western Indonesian Archipelago and controlled many maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Malacca. A Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in the year 671 for 6 months.

-- Palembang, by Wikipedia

and thence to Quedah; then to Nagapatam and Ceylon, or by way of Arakan and the coast of Burmah to Tamralipti (Tatta), where stood a famous temple called Varaha (the wild boar), in which most of the pilgrims stopped awhile to study Sanskrit. It was in this temple that I-tsing translated the "friendly letter" which Nagarjuna had composed and sent to his patron King Sadvaha. He dwelt here for three years.

After visiting more than thirty countries, I-tsing returned to Sribhoja, from which place, having accidentally missed his passage in a homeward-bound ship, he sent one of his treatises, viz., his "History of the Southern Sea Religious (Law) Practices," in four chapters, to China (the inner land), and himself remained for some time longer at Sribhoja. Finally, he returned to Honan towards the close of the seventh century A.D. (viz., 693-694 A.D.), bringing with him nearly 400 distinct volumes of original copies of the Sutras and the Vinaya and Abhidharma Scriptures. He translated during the years 700-703 A.D. twenty volumes, and afterwards in 705 A.D. four other works, Altogether, between the years 700-712 A.D. he translated (with others) fifty-six distinct works in 250 chapters. Of these, the Kau-fa-kao-sang-chuen (in two parts) is an account of fifty-six priests or Buddhist converts who visited India and the neighbourhood from China and bordering districts during the latter half of the seventh century A.D. A part of these pilgrims proceeded by the southern sea-route, and a part across the deserts and mountains by the northern route to India. With respect to the former, I will call attention to the incident recorded on p. 188 of the present work, from which we gather that this route was known and used at any rate as early as Hiuen-Tsiang's time. And it would appear that Bhaskaravarman, the king of Kamarupa, and probably former kings of that kingdom, had this sea-route to China under their special protection. In fact, so early as the time of Fa-hian it appears to have been well established, as he returned from Ceylon to China by sea. We learn from I-tsing's account that in his time there was a flourishing mercantile and religious establishment on the coast of Sumatra, probably on the site of the present Palembang (as before suggested), where the merchants were accustomed to find shelter and ship their spices for Canton. I have alluded to this point in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October 1881, and also in Trubner's Record; there is no need therefore to repeat the arguments in this place. But I will place down here a brief resume of I-tsing's notices concerning some of these pilgrims, in the order of his book, referred to above.

KAU-FA-KAO-SANG-CHUEN.
(Nanj. Cat. 1491.)


III. The author in the preface having alluded to the journeys of Fa-hian and Hiuen-Tsiang, who proceeded to the western countries to procure books and pay reverence to the sacred relics, passes on to notice the hardships and dangers of the route, and the difficulty of finding shelter or entertainment in the different countries visited by their successors, pilgrims to the same spots, and that in consequence of there being no temples (monasteries) set apart for Chinese priests. He then goes on to enumerate the names of the pilgrims referred to in his memoirs.

1. The Shaman Hiuen-Chiu, master of the law, a native of Sin-chang, in Ta-chau. His Indian name was Prakasamati. At a very early age he became a disciple of Buddha, and when arrived at manhood, he purposed in his mind to set out to worship the sacred traces of his religion. Accordingly, in the course of the Cheng-Kwan period (627-650 A.D.), taking up his residence in the capital, he first applied himself to the acquisition of the Sanskrit (Fan) language. Then, staff in hand, travelling westward, he got beyond Kin-fu, and passing across the desert of drifting sands, he arrived by way of the Iron Gates,1 [Vide Buddhist Records, &c. p. 36 n. 119.] over the Snowy Peak, through Tukhara and Tibet into North India, and finally reached the Jalandhar country, having narrowly escaped death at the hands of robbers. He remained in Jalandhar four years. The king of the Mung2 [There is much mention of the Mung king in I-tsing; is he the same as the Bala-rai who seems to have succeeded the last Siladitya? Vide Records, p. 176 n,, and p. 242.] country caused him to be detained, and gave him all necessary entertainment. Having gained proficiency in Sanskrit literature, after a little delay, he gradually went southward and reached the Mahabodhi (convent). There he remained four years. After this he went on to Nalanda, where he remained three years. After this he followed the Ganges' northern course, and received the religious offerings of the king of the country. He remained here in the Sin-che and other temples, then, after three years, he returned to Loyang by way of Nepal and Tibet, after a journey of some 10,000 li.

Hiuen-Chiu after this, in the year 664 A.D., returned to Kasmir, where he found an aged Brahman called Lokayata, with whom he returned to Loyang. And now being pressed to set out again, he passed by way of the piled-up rocks (asmakuta) along the steep and craggy road that leads across rope-bridges into Tibet. Having escaped with his life from a band of robbers, he arrived at the borders of North India. Here he met with the Chinese envoy,3 [This is probably the envoy who was sent from China, and arrived in India after the death of Siladitya.] who accompanied him and Lokayata to the Maratha country in Western India. Here he met the Mung king, and, in obedience to his instruction, remained there for four years. Proceeding to South India, he purposed to return to Tangut, taking with him various sorts of medicines. He reached the Vajrasana, and passed on to Nalanda, where I-tsing met him. And now, having fulfilled the purpose of his life, he found the way through Nepal blocked by Tibetan hordes, and the road through Kapisa in the hands of the Arabs. Then he returned to the Grihdrakuta peak and the Bamboo garden, but could find no solution of his doubts; so retiring to the Amravat country in Mid-India, he died there, aged sixty odd years.1 [With respect to the other priests named by I-tsing, we can only here give an abstract of his notices. For the Amaravati country vide Records, ii. 209, n. 70.]

2. Taou-hi, a doctor of the law, of the district of Lih-Shing, the department Tsa'i-chau. He was called by the Sanskrit name Srideva. He went by the northern route through Tibet towards India, visited the Mahabodhi, and paid respect to the sacred traces, and during some years dwelt in the Nalanda monastery and in the Kusi country. The Mung king of Amravat paid him great respect. Whilst in the Nalanda monastery he studied books of the Great Vehicle; whilst in the Chu-po- pun-na (Davavana) temple (the temple of the cremation) he studied the Vinaya pitaka, and practised himself in the Sabdavidya, a synopsis of which he drew up in the square and grass characters. Whilst in the Mahabodhi temple he engraved one tablet in Chinese, giving an account of things new and old in China. He also wrote (copied?) some four hundred chapters of sutras and sastras whilst at Nalanda. I-tsing, although in the west, did not see him, but whilst dwelling in the Amravat country, he sickened and died, aged fifty years.

3. Sse-pin, a doctor of the law, a man of Ts'ai-chau, well versed in the Sanskrit forms of magic incantation. He accompanied Hiuen-chiu from North India to Western India. Arrived at Amarakova(?), he dwelt in the Royal Temple, where he met with Taou-Hi; they remained here for one year together, when Sse-pin sickened and died, aged thirty-five years.

4. Aryavarman, a man of Sin-lo (Corea), left Chang'an A.D. 638. He set out with a view to recover the true teaching and to adore the sacred relics. He dwelt in the Nalanda Temple, copying out many Sutras. He had left the eastern borders of Corea, and now bathed in the Dragon pool of Nalanda. Here he died, aged seventy odd years.

5. Hwui-nieh, a Corean, set out for India 638 A.D., arrived at the Nalanda Temple, and there studied the sacred books and reverenced the holy traces. I-tsing found some writing he had left in the temple, where also he had left his Sanskrit MSS. The priests said he died the same year, about sixty years of age.

6. Hiuen-Ta!i, a doctor of the law, a Corean, called by the Sanskrit name of Sarvajnanadeva. In the year Yung-hwei (650 A.D.) he went by the Tibetan road through Nepal to Mid-India; he there worshipped the relics at the Bodhi Tree. Afterwards going to the Tukhara country, he met Taou-hi, with whom he returned to the Ta-hsio Temple (Mahabodhi). Afterwards he returned to China, and was not heard of again.

7. Hiuen-hau, a doctor of the law, a Corean, went with Hiuen-chiu, in the middle of the Cheng-kwan period, to India, and reaching the Ta-hsio Temple, he died there.

8. Two priests of Corea, names unknown, started from Chang'an by the southern sea-route and came to Sribhoja. They died in the country of Po-lu-sse, to the westward (the western portion of Sumatra).

9. Buddhadharma, a man of To-ho-shi-li (Tushara or Turkhara), of great size and strength. He became a priest, and being of a gentle disposition, he wandered through the nine provinces of China, and was everywhere received. Afterwards he went to the west to worship the sacred traces. I-tsing saw him at Nalanda; afterwards he went to the north when about fifty years old.

10. Taou-fang, a doctor of the law, of Ping-chau, went by way of the Sandy Desert and the Tsih rock to Nepal, and afterwards came to the Ta-hsio Temple, where he remained several years; he then returned to Nepal, where he still is.

11. Taou-sing, a doctor of the law, of Ping-chau, called in Sanskrit Chandradeva, in the last year of the Cheng- kwan period (649 A.D.) went by the Tu-fan (Tibetan) road to Mid-India; he arrived at the Bodhi Temple, where he worshipped the chaityas; afterwards he went to Nalanda. After that, going twelve stages to the eastward, he came to the King's Temple, where they study only the Little Vehicle. He remained here many years, learning the books of the Tripitaka according to the Hinayana. Returning to China through Nepal, he died.

12. Shang-tih, a contemplative priest, of Ping-chau. He longed for the joys of the Western Paradise, and, with the view of being born there, he devoted himself to a life of purity and religion (reciting the name of Buddha). He vowed to write out the whole of the Prajna-Sutra, occupying 10,000 chapters. Desiring to worship the sacred vestiges, and so by this to secure for himself the greater merit, with a view to a birth in that heaven, he travelled through the nine provinces (of China), desiring wherever he went to labour in the conversion of men and to write the sacred books. Coming to the coast, he embarked in a ship for Kalinga.1 [The coast of Annam.] Thence he proceeded by sea to the Malaya country, and thence wishing to go to Mid-India, he embarked in a merchant-ship for that purpose. Being taken in a storm, the ship began to founder, and the sailors and merchants were all struggling with one another to get aboard a little boat that was near. The captain of the ship being a believer, and anxious to save the priest, called out to him with a loud voice to come aboard the boat, but Shang-tih replied, "I will not come; save the other people." And so he remained silently absorbed, as if a brief term of life were agreeable to one possessed of the heart of Bodhi. Having refused all help, he clasped his hands in adoration, and looking towards the west, he repeated the sacred name of Amita, and when the ship went down these were his last words. He was about fifty years of age. He had a follower unknown to me, who also perished with his master, also calling on the name of Amita Buddha.

13. 'Matisimha, a man of the capital, his common name being Wong-po. This man accompanied the priest Sse-pin, and arriving at the Middle Land, dwelt in the Sin-che Temple. Finding his progress little in the Sanskrit language, he returned homewards by way of Nepal, and died on the way there, aet. 40.

14. Yuan-hwui, a doctor of the law, according to report offspring of the commander-in-chief Ngan. Leaving North India, he dwelt in Kasmir, and took charge of the royal elephants. The king of this country delighted day by day in going to the different temples, the Dragon-Lake Mountain Temple, the Kung Yang Temple. This is where the 500 Rahats received charity. Here also the venerable Madyantika, the disciple of Ananda, converted the Dragon King. Having remained here some years, he went southwards and came to the great Bodhi Temple, where he worshipped the Bodhi Tree, beheld the Lake of "Mu-chin " (Muchhalinda), ascended the Vulture Peak, &c. After this he went back to Nepal and died there.

15. Again, there was a man who accompanied the envoy by the northern route to the Baktra country, and lodged in the Nava-vihara in Balkh. In this establishment the principles of the Little Vehicle were taught. Having become a priest, he took the name of Chittavarma. Having received the precepts, he declined to eat the three pure things, on which the master of the convent said, "Tathagata, our Great Master, permitted five things (as food); why do you object to them?" He answered, "All the books of the Great Vehicle forbid them; this is what I formerly practised; I cannot now bring myself to change." The superior answered, "I have established a practice here in agreement with the three sacred collections, and you follow your own interpretation, which is contrary to mine. I cannot permit this difference of opinion; I cease to be your master." Chittavarma was thus reluctantly obliged to yield. Then having learned a little Sanskrit, he returned by the northern route. I know no more about him.

16. Again, there were two men who lived in Nepal; they were the children of the wet-nurse of the Duke-Prince of Tibet (Tufan). They both were ordained, but one went back to lay life. They lived in the Temple of the Heavenly Kings. They spoke Sanskrit well and understood Sanskrit books.

17. Lung, a doctor of the law; I know not whence he came. In the Cheng Kwan period (627-650 A.D.) he went by the northern route to North India, wishing to visit the sacred spots. In Mid-India he got a Sanskrit copy of the Fa-hwa (Lotus of the Good Law), and having gone to Gandhara, he died there.

18. Ming-Yuen, a man of Yih-chau, a doctor of the law, whose Sanskrit name was Chinta-deva. He embarked in a ship of Cochin-China, and came to the Kalinga country, and thence to Ceylon.

19. I-long, a priest of Yih-chau, well versed in the Vinaya Pitaka, and in the interpretation of the Yoga, set forth from Chang'an with a priest, Chi-ngan, of his own province, and an eminent man called I-hiuen, and after travelling through the southern provinces came to Niau-Lui, and there embarked on board a merchant-ship. Having arrived at Langkia (Kamalanka?), Chi-ngan died. I-long, with his other companion, went on to Ceylon, where they worshipped the Tooth, and having obtained various books, returned through Western India. It is not known where he is now residing. He has not been heard of in Mid-India.

20. I-tsing next refers to a priest of Yih-chau named Huining. He left China by sea for the south in the year 665 A.D., and passed three years in the country called Ho-ling.1 [ ]

21. The next notice is of the life of a priest called Wan-ki of Kiau-chau, who spent ten years in the Southern Sea, and was very learned in the language of Kun-lun (Condore), and partly acquainted with Sanskrit. He afterwards retired to a lay life and resided at Shi-lo-fo-shi (Sribhoja).

22. Another priest called Mocha-Deva, a Cochin-Chinese, went to India by the southern sea-route, and having visited all the countries of that part, arrived at the Mahabodhi Temple, where he adored the sacred relics, and died aet. 24.

23. Kwei-chung (the disciple of Miny-yuen, No. 18), another priest of Cochin-China, went by the Southern Sea with his master, Ming-yuen, to Ceylon; afterwards in company with him proceeded to the Bodhi Tree, and afterwards to Rajagriha, and being taken sick in the Bamboo garden (Veluvana), he died there, aged thirty years.

24. Hwui Yen, a doctor of the law, of Kwai-chau, was a pupil of Hing-Kung; he went to Sinhala, and remained there. Whether he is dead or alive I know not.

25. Sin-chiu, a doctor of the law, his country not known. His Sanskrit name Charita-varma. Taking the northern route, he arrived in the Western country, and after the customary reverence, he lived in the Sin-che Temple. In an upper room of this temple he constructed a sick chamber, and left it for ever for the use of sick brothers. He himself died here. Some days before his death, in the middle of the night, he suddenly exclaimed, "There is Bodhisattva, with outstretched hand, beckoning me to his lovely abode;" and then, closing his hands, with a long sigh he expired, aet. thirty-five.

26. Chi Hing, a doctor of the law, of Ngai-Chau, his Sanskrit name Prajna-Deva, went to the Western region, and afterwards dwelt in the Sin-che Temple, north of the river Ganges, and died there, aged about fifty years.

27. We next read of a priest of the Mahayana school called Tang, or "the lamp" (dipa), who went with his parents when young to the land of Dvarapati (Sandoway in Burmah), and there became a priest. He returned with the Chinese envoy to the capital. Afterwards he went by the southern sea-route to Ceylon, where he worshipped the Tooth; and then proceeding through South India and crossing into Eastern India, arriving at Tamralipti: being attacked by robbers at the mouth of the river, he barely escaped with his life; he resided at Tamralipti for twelve years, having perfected himself in Sanskrit; he then proceeded to Nalanda and Buddha Gaya, then to Vaisali and the Kusi country, and finally died at Kusinagara, in the Pari-Nirvana Temple.

28. Sanghavarma, a man of Samarkand, when young crossed the Sandy Desert and came to China. Afterwards, in company with the envoy, he came to the Great Bodhi Temple and the Vajrasana, where he burnt lamps in worship for seven days and seven nights continuously. Moreover, in the Bodhi Hall, under the Tree of Asoka, he carved a figure of Buddha and of Kwan-tseu-tsai Bodhisattva. He then returned to China. Afterwards, being sent to Kwai-chau (Cochin-China), there was great scarcity of food there. He daily distributed food, and was so affected by the sorrows of the fatherless and bereaved orphans, that he was moved to tears as he visited them. He was on this account named the weeping Bodhisattva. He died shortly afterwards from infection caught there, which soon terminated fatally, aet. about sixty.

29. Two priests of Kao-chang went to Mid-India, and died on the voyage. Their Chinese books are at Sribhoja.

30. Wan-yun, a doctor of the law, of Loyang, travelling through the southern parts of China, came to Cochin-China, thence went by ship to Kalinga, where he died.

31. I-hwui, a man of Loyang, of eminent ability, set out for India to recover some copies of Sanskrit (Fan) books. He died aet. 30.  

32. Three priests set out by the northern route for Udyana, and also for the place of Buddha's skull-bone. They are said to have died there.

33. Hwui Lun, a Corean, otherwise called Prajnavarma, came by sea from his own country to Fuchau, and proceeded thence to Chang'an. Following after the priest Hiuen-chiu (No. 1, p. xiii.), he reached the West, and during ten years dwelt in the Amravat country and in the Sin-che Temple (north of the Ganges). Passing through the eastern frontiers, and thence proceeding northward, he came to the Tu-ho-lo (Tukhara) Temple. This temple was originally built by the Tukhara people for their own priests. The establishment is called Gandharasanda. To the west is the Kapisa Temple. The priests of this establishment study the Little Vehicle. Priests from the north also dwell here. The temple is called Gunacharita.

Two stages to the east of the Mahabhodi1 [It is doubtful whether the Mahabodhi named here does not refer to the Tu-ho-lo Temple mentioned above.???]] is a temple called Kiu-lu-kia.2 [This maybe restored to Kuruka, and may possibly refer to the Kuru country.] It was built long ago by a king of the Kiu-lu-ka country, a southern kingdom (Kurukshetra?). Although poor, this establishment is strict in its teaching. Recently, a king called Sun-Army (Adityasena), built by the side of the old temple another, which is now newly finished. Priests from the south occupy this temple.

About forty stages east of this, following the course of the Ganges, is the Deer Temple, and not far from this is a ruined establishment, with only its foundations remaining, called the Tchina (or China) Temple. Tradition says that formerly a Maharaja called Srigupta built this temple for the use of Chinese priests. He was prompted to do so by the arrival of about twenty priests of that country who had travelled from Sz'chuen to the Mahabodhi Temple to pay their worship.[???] Being impressed by their pious demeanour, he gave them the land and the revenues of about twenty villages as an endowment. This occurred some 500 years ago. The land has now reverted to the king of Eastern India, whose name is Devavarma, but he is said to be willing to give back the temple-land and the endowment in case any priests come from China.[???] The Mahabhodi Temple, near the Diamond Throne (i.e., at Gaya), was built by a king of Ceylon for the use of priests of that country. The Nalanda Temple, which is seven stages north-east of the Mahabodhi, was built by an old king, Sri-Sakraditya, for a Bhikshu of North India called Raja-Bhaja. After beginning it he was much obstructed, but his descendants finished it, and made it the most magnificent establishment in Jambudvipa. This building of Nalanda stands four-square, like a city precinct. The gates (porches) have overlapping eaves covered by tiles. The buildings (gates?) are of three storeys, each storey about twelve feet in height.

Outside the western gate of the great hall of the temple is a large stupa and various chaityas, each erected over different sacred vestiges, and adorned with every kind of precious substance.

The superior is a very old man; the Karmadana or Viharaswami or Viharapala is the chief officer after the superior, and to him the utmost deference is paid.

This is the only temple in which, by imperial order, a water-clock is kept to determine the right time. The night is divided into three watches, during the first and last of which there are religious services; in the middle watch, as the priests may desire, they can watch or repose. The method in which this clock determines the time is fully described in the "Ki-kwci-ch'uen."

The temple is called Sri Nalanda Vihara, after the name of the Naga called Nanda.

The great temple opens to the west. Going about twenty paces from the gate, there is a stupa about 100 feet high. This is where the Lord of the World (Lokanatha) kept Wass (the season of the rains) for three months; the Sanskrit name is Mulagandhakoti. Northwards fifty paces is a great stupa, even higher than the other; this was built by Baladitya very much reverenced in it is a figure of Buddha turning the wheel of the law. South-west is a little chaitya about ten feet high. This commemorates the place where the Brahman, with the bird in his hand, asked questions; the Chinese expression Su-li fau-to means just the same as this.

To the west of the Mulagandha Hall is the tooth-brush tree of Buddha.

On a raised space is the ground where Buddha walked. It is about two cubits wide, fourteen or fifteen long, and two high. There are lotus flowers carved out of the stone, a foot high, fourteen or fifteen in number, to denote his steps.

Going from the temple south to Rajagriha is thirty li. The Vulture Peak and the Bambu Garden are close to this city. Going S.W. to the Mahabodhi is seven stages (yojanas). To Vaisali is twenty-five stages north. To the Deer Park twenty or so stages west. East to Tamralipti is sixty or seventy stages. This is the place for embarking for China from Eastern India and close to the sea. There are about 3500 priests in the temple at Nalanda, which is supported by revenues derived from land (villages) given by a succession of kings to the monastery.

34. Taou-lin, a priest of King-chan (in Hupeh), whose Sanskrit name was Silaprabha, embarked in a foreign ship, and passing the copper-pillars, stretched away to Lanka (Kamalanka); after passing along the Kalinga coast he came to the country of the naked men. He then proceeded to Tamralipti, where he passed three years learning the Sanskrit language. After visiting the Vajrasana and worshipping the Bodhi Tree, he passed to Nalanda, where he studied the Kosha, and after a year or two went to the Vulture Peak, near Rajagriha, and finally proceeded to South India.

35. Tan-Kwong, a priest of the same district in China, went to India by the southern sea-route, and having arrived at A-li-ki-lo (Arakan?), he was reported to have found much favour with the king of that country, and to have got a temple built and books and images; in the end, as was supposed, he died there.

36. Hwui-ming, another priest from the same district, set out to go to India by the southern sea-route, but the ship being baffled by contrary winds, put in at Tung-chu (copper pillars), erected by Ma-yuen, and after stopping at Shang-king, returned to China.

37. Hiuen-ta, a priest of Kung-chow and the district of Kiang Ning, was a man of high family. He appears to have accompanied an envoy in a Persian ship to the southern seas. Having arrived at Fo-shai (Sribhoja), he remained there six months studying the Sabdavidya; the king was highly courteous, and on the occasion of his sending a present to the country of Mo-lo-yu (Malaya), Hiuen-ta proceeded there, and remained two months. He then went on to Quedah, and then at the end of winter went in the royal ship towards Eastern India. Going north from Quedah, after ten days or so they came to the country of the naked men. For two or three lis along the eastern shore there were nothing but cocoa-nut trees and forests of betel-vines. The people, when they saw the ship, came alongside in little boats with the greatest clamour; there were upwards of one hundred such boats filled with cocoa-nuts and plantains; they had also baskets, &c., made of rattan; they desired to exchange these things for whatever we had that they fancied, but they liked nothing so much as bits of iron. A piece of this metal two fingers' length in size would buy as many as five or ten cocoa-nuts. The men here are all naked, the women wear a girdle of leaves; the sailors in joke offered them clothes, but they made signs that they did not want any such articles. This country, according to report, is south-west of Sz'-ch'uan. The country produces no iron and very little gold and silver; the people live on cocoa-nuts and some esculent roots, but have very little rice or cereals. Iron is very valuable; they call it Lu-a. The men are not quite black, of middling height, they use poisoned arrows, one of which is fatal. Going for half a month in a north-west direction, we come to Tamralipti, which is the southern district of East India. This place is some sixty stages or more from Nalanda and the Bodhi Tree. Meeting the priest called "Lamp of the Great Vehicle" (Mahayana dipa) in this place, they remained together there one year, learning Sanskrit and practising themselves in the Sabda-sastra. They then went on with some hundred or so merchantmen towards Central India. When about ten days' journey from the Mahabodhi, in a narrow pass, the road being bad and slippery, Hiuen-ta was left behind and attacked by robbers, who stripped him and left him half dead. At sundown some villagers rescued him and gave him a garment. Going on north, he came to Nalanda, and after visiting all the sacred spots in the neighbourhood, he remained at Nalanda ten years, and then going back to Tamralipti, he returned to Quedali, and with all his books and translations, amounting in all to 500,000 Slokas, enough to fill a thousand volumes, he remained at Sribhoja.[???]

38. Shen-hing, a priest of Sin-Chow, also went to Sribhoja, where he died.

39. The priest Ling-wan, having gone through Annam, came to India, and erected under the Bodhi Tree a figure of Maitreya Bodhisattva one cubit in height, and of exquisite character.

40. Seng-chi, a priest and companion of the former, went to India by the southern sea-route, and arrived at Samotata. The king of that country, named Rajabhata (or patu), a Upasaka, greatly reverenced the three objects of worship, and devoted himself to his religious duties.

41. A priest, Chi-sz, is mentioned, who went to the south and resided at Shang-king, near Cochin-China. He then went south to Sribhoja, and afterwards proceeded to India.

42. A priest, Wou Hing (Prajnadeva), in company with the last, left Hainan with an easterly wind; after a month he arrived at Sribhoja. He then went in the royal ship for fifteen days to Malaya, in another fifteen days to Quedah, then waiting till the end of winter, going west for thirty days he arrived at Naga-vadana (Nagapatam?), whence after two days' sea-voyage he came to Simhapura (Ceylon). He there worshipped the sacred tooth, and then going N.E. for a month, arrived at the country of O-li-ki-lo. This is the eastern limit of East India, It is a part of Jambudvipa. After this he proceeded to the Mahabodhi Temple. Having rested here, he returned to Nalanda and studied the Yoga, Kosha, and other works. Moved with a desire to find copies of the Vinaya, he repaired to the Tiladaka Temple. In the end he died at Nalanda.

43. Fa-shin also started by the southern route, and after passing Shang-king (Saigon), Ku-long, Kaling, and Quedah, he died.

***

Putting together these notices, we may conclude that the sea-route between China and India in the early years of the Tang dynasty was by way of Java, Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca, the coast of Burma and Arakan, to Tamralipti, or else by the more adventurous way of Ceylon from Quedah. It seems that the Condore Islands were a centre of trade, and that the language of the natives of these islands was used generally through the Southern Seas; at least I-tsing speaks of himself as interpreting the language at Sribhoja (vide p. xv. n.).

We have one or two points of some certainty in the itinerary of these pilgrims. For instance, in the Si-yu-ki, Hiuen-Tsiang (Records, ii. 200) says that to the N.E. of Samotata is the country called Srikshetra, to the S.E. of this is Kamalangka, to the east of this is Darapati (read Dvarapati). This country has been identified by Captain St. John (Phoenix, May 1872) with old Tung-oo and Sandoway in Burma, lat. 18 20' N. long. 94 20' E.; it is, in fact the "door land" between Burma and Siam; this latter being called Champa or Lin-I. Hiuen-Tsiang remarks that to the S.W. of Lin-I, or Siam, is the country of the Yavanas, or, as they are called in his text, the Yen-mo-na. We do not read of this country in I-tsing; it may perhaps represent Cambodia.

IV. Another work of some importance written by I-tsing is the following:

NAN-HAE-KI-KWEI-NIU-FA-CH'UEN.
(Nanj. Cat. 1492.)


This work, in four chapters, was compiled by I-tsing, and forwarded to China "by one returning to the inner land,"[???] to be arranged and published. It relates to matters connected with the religious customs of India and some other districts (Southern Sea islands) visited by I-tsing, or gathered from others who had visited these places, during the time of his absence on foreign travel.

Passing by the introduction, which refers to the origin of the world and its orderly arrangement, I-tsing (or his editor[???]) next alludes to the number of the Buddhist schools (Nikayas), and the various countries in which they flourished. The chief schools of independent origin but depending on distinct tradition he names, are these:

1. The Aryamahasanghiti, divided into seven branches.

2. The Aryasthaviras, divided into three branches, the Tripitaka more or less like the former.

3. Aryamulasarvastatavadins, divided into four branches, the Tripitaka more or less like the former.

4. The Aryasammatiyas, divided into four branches. The Tripitaka differs in its number of stanzas from the former, and the school has other divergences.

These schools, with their sub-branches, compose the eighteen sects into which Buddhism was divided at an early date (the century following the Nirvana).

In the country of Magadha, he observes, each of the four schools is in a flourishing condition. In the Maratha country and in Sindh the Sammatiya school is chiefly followed. In the north the Sarvastavadins and Mahasanghikas are met with; in the southern borders the Mahasthaviras are principally found. The others are little known. On the eastern outskirting countries the four schools are intermingled. [From Nalanda, five hundred stages east, is the frontier land referred to. For these countries vide Records, ii. 200.]

In Ceylon the Sthavira school alone nourishes; the Mahasanghikas are expelled.

With respect to the ten countries known as the Southern Sea islands,1 [Reckoning from the west, the names of the islands are, Po-lu-sse, Molo-yau (the same as Shi-li-fo-yau), Mo-ho-siu, Ho-ling, Tan-Tan, Pw'an-pw'an, Po-li, Kiu-lun, Fo-shi-po-lo, Hoshen. Mo-kia-man, and other little islands not catalogued.] the Mulasarvastavadins and the Sammattyas are principally found; the other two schools at the present time are seldom met with. The teaching of the Little Vehicle is principally affected; in Mo-lo-yau, however, the Great Vehicle is studied also. Some of these islands may be perhaps 100 li in circuit, others several hundred li, and some 100 stages round. It is difficult to calculate distances on the great ocean, but the best skilled merchantmen know that they first arrive at Kiu-lun (called by the Cochin-China ambassadors Kwan-lun).2 [The people of this country alone have woolly hair and black skins. With this exception, the people of all the other countries are like those of China. -- Ch. Ed.]

In Champa (otherwise called Lin-I), the Sammatiya school is chiefly found, with a few Sarvastavadins. A month's voyage south-west is Annam. Formerly the people sacrificed to Heaven, but afterwards the law of Buddha flourished; now a wicked king has destroyed the priests, and all the heretics live mixed together. This is the southern point of Jambudvipa.

Speaking generally, the Great Vehicle prevails in the north, the teaching of the Little Vehicle in the south. In some parts of China the Great Vehicle is in favour, but with these exceptions the Great and Little Vehicle are intermingled without distinction. In both cases the rules of moral conduct and the four truths are taught, but in the Great Vehicle they worship the Bodhisattvas, but not in the teaching of the Little Vehicle.

With respect to the Great Vehicle, there are only two branches, viz., (1) the Chung-kwan (Madyamikas?); (2) the Yoga system. The Madyamikas regard all outward phenomena as empty and substantially unreal. The Yogas regard outward things as nothing, inward things as everything. Things are just what they appear to cognition. And so with respect to the sacred doctrine, it is true to one and false to another; there is no positive certainty for all. The great aim is to reach that shore,1 [That shore, i.e., the other side of the stream of transmigration.] and to stem the tide of life.

After some further remarks, I-tsing proceeds to say that his records are framed on the teaching of the Mulasarvastavadin school, divided into three branches: 1. The Dharmaguptas; 2. the Mahisasakas; 3. the Kasyapiyas.

In Udyana, Karashar, and Khotan there is a mixture of doctrine.

We will now pass on to give the headings of the chapters in the work under notice:

THE NAMES OF THE FORTY CHAPTERS OF THE NAN-HAE-KI-KWEI-NIU.

1. The evil of disregarding the observation of the season of rest (Vass).

2. Right decorum in the presence of the honoured one (images or paintings of the honoured one or ones).

3. The diminutive seats to be used whilst eating or reposing.

4. On the necessary cleansing of food vessels and personal preparation.

5. On cleansing after meals.

6. On the two sorts of water-pitchers.

7. On the early inspection with regard to insects.

8. On the early tooth-cleansing wood (brush).

9. Rules on undertaking religious fasts.

10. On special requirements as to raiment and food.

11. As to the different kinds of vestments.

12. On special rules as to female clothing.

13. Rules as to sacred (pure) enclosures.

14. The resting-time of the community (the five grades).

15. The period called Pravarana (relaxation after Vass).

16. On the mode of eating food (with chop-sticks).

17. On proper rules as to the seasons or hours of religious worship.

18. On articles of private property.

19. Rules and regulations for ordination.

20. The proper occasions for ablutions.

21. On seats used, and personal accommodation whilst seated.

22. On rules concerning apartments for sleeping and resting.

23. On the advantage of proper exercise to health.

24. Worship not mutually dependent.

25. On the way of personal behaviour to a teacher.

26. On the way of conduct towards strangers (priests).

27. On symptoms of bodily illness.

28. On medical rules.

29. On exceptional medical treatment (for offensive ailments).

30. On turning to the right in worship. 31. On rules of decorum in cleansing the sacred objects of worship.

32. On chanting in worship.

33. On reverence to sacred objects.

34. On rules for learning in the West.

35. On the propriety of long hair.

36. On disposing of the property of a deceased monk.

37. On property allowed to the fraternity.

38. On cremation.

39. On charges brought by low or depraved men.

40. The unselfish character of the old worthies.

So far the headings of the chapters of this most important but obscure work. It is to be hoped that the promised translation by a Japanese scholar may soon appear; the contents of the various chapters, as I have summarised them for my own reference, show me that the book, when clearly translated, will shed an unexpected light on many dark passages of Indian history.

The entire number of books translated by I-Tsing, as we have before remarked, amounted to fifty-six. I need allude to none of these on the present occasion, except to say that their names may be found in Mr. Nanjio's Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka (Appendix II., p. 441). With respect, however, to the small tract numbered 1441 in the Catalogue, I may add that I am now printing the original text, which 1 hope to publish shortly with an English translation and notes.

In commending the present rather laborious work to the notice of the public, I must regret its many defects, and at the same time apologise both to the Publishers and my Readers for the long delay in completing the task I undertook. Responsibilities which have increased with increasing years, and flagging energies, the result of long sickness, must be my excuse.

But I may not conclude without sincerely thanking those who have supported me in my labours, and especially his Lordship the Secretary of State for India and his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, from both of whom I have received material assistance.

GREENS NORTON RECTORY.  

 
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