We saw in a former note that the earliest name in
China for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a
name approaching that in sound.
[2] Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89)
the following description of the course of the Indus in these parts,
in striking accordance with our author's account: - "From Skardo to
Rongdo, and from Rongdo to Makpou-i-shang-rong, for upwards of 100
miles, the Indus sweeps sullen and dark through a mighty gorge in the
mountains, which for wild sublimity is perhaps unequalled. Rongdo
means the country of defiles. . . . Between these points the Indus
raves from side to side of the gloomy chasm, foaming and chafing with
ungovernable fury. Yet even in these inaccessible places has daring
and ingenious man triumphed over opposing nature. The yawning abyss is
spanned by frail rope bridges, and the narrow ledges of rocks are
connected by ladders to form a giddy pathway overhanging the seething
cauldron below."
[3] The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese
copies, - one which Remusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured
should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he
was acquainted. The "Nine Interpreters" would be a general name for
the official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in
their attempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The
phrase occurs in the memoir of Chang K'een, referred to in the next
note.
[4] Chang K'een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87),
is celebrated as the first Chinese who "pierced the void," and
penetrated to "the regions of the west," corresponding very much to
the present Turkestan. Through him, by B.C. 115, a regular intercourse
was established between China and the thirty-six kingdoms or states of
that quarter; - see Mayers' Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 5. The memoir
of Chang K'een, translated by Mr. Wylie from the Books of the first
Han dynasty, appears in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute,
referred to already.
[5] Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K'een. Being sent in A.D.
88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only
got as far as the Caspian sea, and returned to China. He extended,
however, the knowledge of his countrymen with regard to the western
regions; - see the memoir of Pan Chao in the Books of the second Han,
and Mayers' Manual, pp. 167, 168.
[6] Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing
the Indus.
[7] This may refer to Sakyamuni's becoming Buddha on attaining to
nirvana, or more probably to his pari-nirvana and death.
[8] As king P'ing's reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would
place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent
inquirers place it between B.C. 480 and 470, a year or two, or a few
years, after that of Confucius, so that the two great "Masters" of the
east were really contemporaries. But if Rhys Davids be correct, as I
think he is, in fixing the date of Buddha's death within a few years
of 412 B.C. (see Manual, p. 213), not to speak of Westergaard's still
lower date, then the Buddha was very considerably the junior of
Confucius.
[9] This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already
controlling the propagation of the faith.
[10] The Chinese characters for this simply mean "the great scholar or
officer;" but see Eitel's Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha.
[11] "The precious Buddha," "the precious Law," and "the precious
Monkhood;" Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to
Buddhism.
[12] Fa-hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into
China in this reign, A.D. 58-75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61.
CHAPTER VIII
WOO-CHANG, OR UDYANA. MONASTERIES, AND THEIR WAYS. TRACES OF BUDDHA.
After crossing the river, (the travellers) immediately came to the
kingdom of Woo-chang,[1] which is indeed (a part) of North India. The
people all use the language of Central India, "Central India" being
what we should call the "Middle Kingdom." The food and clothes of the
common people are the same as in that Central Kingdom. The Law of
Buddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang). They call the places where
the monks stay (for a time) or reside permanently Sangharamas; and of
these there are in all 500, the monks being all students of the
hinayana. When stranger bhikshus[2] arrive at one of them, their wants
are supplied for three days, after which they are told to find a
resting-place for themselves.
There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at
once to this country, and that here he left a print of his foot, which
is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder (on the
subject). It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the
present day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried
his clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon.[3]
The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one
side of it smooth.
Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place
of) Buddha's shadow in the country of Nagara;[4] but Fa-hien and the
others remained in Woo-chang, and kept the summer retreat.[5] That
over, they descended south, and arrived in the country of
Soo-ho-to.[6]
NOTES
[1] Udyana, meaning "the Park;" just north of the Punjab, the country
along the Subhavastu, now called the Swat; noted for its forests,
flowers, and fruits (E. H., p. 153).
[2] Bhikshu is the name for a monk as "living by alms," a mendicant.
All bhikshus call themselves Sramans.
