See E. H., p. 166. The name of the province of
Behar was given to it in consequence of its many viharas.
[4] According to the characters, "square, round, four inches." Hsuan-
chwang says it was twelve inches round.
[5] In Williams' Dictionary, under {.}, the characters, used here, are
employed in the phrase for "to degrade an officer," that is, "to
remove the token of his rank worn on the crown of his head;" but to
place a thing on the crown is a Buddhistic form of religious homage.
[6] The Vaisyas, or bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are described
here as "resident scholars."
[7] See Eitel's Handbook under the name vimoksha, which is explained
as "the act of self-liberation," and "the dwelling or state of
liberty." There are eight acts of liberating one's self from all
subjective and objective trammels, and as many states of liberty
(vimukti) resulting therefrom. They are eight degrees of self-
inanition, and apparently eight stages on the way to nirvana. The tope
in the text would be emblematic in some way of the general idea of the
mental progress conducting to the Buddhistic consummation of
existence.
[8] This incense would be in long "sticks," small and large, such as
are sold to-day throughout China, as you enter the temples.
[9] "The illuminating Buddha," the twenty-fourth predecessor of
Sakyamuni, and who, so long before, gave him the assurance that he
would by-and-by be Buddha. See Jataka Tales, p. 23.
[10] The staff was, as immediately appears, of Gosirsha Chandana, or
"sandal-wood from the Cow's-head mountain," a species of copper-brown
sandal-wood, said to be produced most abundantly on a mountain of (the
fabulous continent) Ullarakuru, north of mount Meru, which resembles
in shape the head of a cow (E. H., pp. 42, 43). It is called a "pewter
staff" from having on it a head and rings and pewter. See Watters,
"China Review," viii, pp. 227, 228, and Williams' Dictionary, under
{.}.
[11] Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk's
attire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round
the waist (E. H., p. 118).
[12] These were the "marks and beauties" on the person of a supreme
Buddha. The rishi Kala Devala saw them on the body of the infant Sakya
prince to the number of 328, those on the teeth, which had not yet
come out, being visible to his spirit-like eyes (M. B., pp. 148, 149).
[13] Probably="all Buddhas."
[14] The number may appear too great. But see what is said on the size
of topes in chapter iii, note 4.
[15] In Singhalese, Pase Buddhas; called also Nidana Buddhas, and
Pratyeka Jinas, and explained by "individually intelligent,"
"completely intelligent," "intelligent as regards the nidanas."
This, says Eitel (pp. 96, 97), is "a degree of saintship unknown to
primitive Buddhism, denoting automats in ascetic life who attain to
Buddhaship 'individually,' that is, without a teacher, and without
being able to save others. As the ideal hermit, the Pratyeka Buddha
is compared with the rhinoceros khadga that lives lonely in the
wilderness. He is also called Nidana Buddha, as having mastered the
twelve nidanas (the twelve links in the everlasting chain of cause
and effect in the whole range of existence, the understanding of which
solves the riddle of life, revealing the inanity of all forms of
existence, and preparing the mind for nirvana). He is also compared
to a horse, which, crossing a river, almost buries its body under the
water, without, however, touching the bottom of the river. Thus in
crossing samsara he 'suppresses the errors of life and thought, and
the effects of habit and passion, without attaining to absolute
perfection.'" Whether these Buddhas were unknown, as Eitel says, to
primitive Buddhism, may be doubted. See Davids' Hibbert Lectures, p.
146.
CHAPTER XIV
DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNA.
CROSSING THE INDUS TO THE EAST.
Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fa-hien and the
two others,[1] proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy
mountains.[2] On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and
summer. On the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they
suddenly encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become
unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth
came from his mouth, and he said to Fa-hien, "I cannot live any
longer. Do you immediately go away, that we do not all die here;" and
with these words he died.[3] Fa-hien stroked the corpse, and cried out
piteously, "Our original plan has failed; - it is fate.[4] What can we
do?" He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to
the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,[5] where
there were nearly three thousand monks, students of both the mahayana
and hinayana. Here they stayed for the summer retreat,[6] and when
that was over, they went on to the south, and ten days' journey
brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na,[7] where there are also more
than three thousand monks, all students of the hinayana. Proceeding
from this place for three days, they again crossed the Indus, where
the country on each side was low and level.[8]
NOTES
[1] These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king.
[2] Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass.
[3] All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13.
[4] A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from
the lips of Fa-hien.
