A Confucian idea for the moment
overcame his Buddhism.
[5] Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it
can be here intended.
[6] We are now therefore in 404.
[7] No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the Lieutenant-
Governorship of the Punjab, between 32d 10s and 33d 15s N. lat., and
70d 26s and 72d E. lon. See Hunter's Gazetteer of India, i, p. 393.
[8] They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed,
twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and
second, as described in chapter vii.
CHAPTER XV
BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.
After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-
t'oo,[1] where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied
both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples
from Ts'in passing along, they were moved with great pity and
sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: "How is it that these men
from a border-land should have learned to become monks,[2] and come
for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search of the
Law of Buddha?" They supplied them with what they needed, and treated
them in accordance with the rules of the Law.
NOTES
[1] Bhida. Eitel says, "The present Punjab;" i.e. it was a portion of
that.
[2] "To come forth from their families;" that is, to become celibates,
and adopt the tonsure.
CHAPTER XVI
ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA;
OF THE MONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES.
From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succession of
very many monasteries, with a multitude of monks, who might be counted
by myriads. After passing all these places, they came to a country
named Ma-t'aou-lo.[1] They still followed the course of the P'oo-na[2]
river, on the banks of which, left and right, there were twenty
monasteries, which might contain three thousand monks; and (here) the
Law of Buddha was still more flourishing. Everywhere, from the Sandy
Desert, in all the countries of India, the kings had been firm
believers in that Law. When they make their offerings to a community
of monks, they take off their royal caps, and along with their
relatives and ministers, supply them with food with their own hands.
That done, (the king) has a carpet spread for himself on the ground,
and sits down in front of the chairman; - they dare not presume to sit
on couches in front of the community. The laws and ways, according to
which the kings presented their offerings when Buddha was in the
world, have been handed down to the present day.
All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom.[3] In it the cold and
heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The
people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their
households, or attend to any magistrates and their rules; only those
who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the grain from
it. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay.
The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments.
Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the
circumstances (of each case). Even in cases of repeated attempts at
wicked rebellion, they only have their right hands cut off. The king's
body-guards and attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole
country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink
intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic. The only exception is
that of the Chandalas.[4] That is the name for those who are (held to
be) wicked men, and live apart from others. When they enter the gate
of a city or a market-place, they strike a piece of wood to make
themselves known, so that men know and avoid them, and do not come
into contact with them. In that country they do not keep pigs and
fowls, and do not sell live cattle; in the markets there are no
butchers' shops and no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and
selling commodities they use cowries.[5] Only the Chandalas are
fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh meat.
After Buddha attained to pari-nirvana,[6] the kings of the various
countries and the heads of the Vaisyas[7] built viharas for the
priests, and endowed them with fields, houses, gardens, and orchards,
along with the resident populations and their cattle, the grants being
engraved on plates of metal,[8] so that afterwards they were handed
down from king to king, without any daring to annul them, and they
remain even to the present time.
The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious
virtue, and to recite their Sutras and sit wrapt in meditation. When
stranger monks arrive (at any monastery), the old residents meet and
receive them, carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl, give them
water to wash their feet, oil with which to anoint them, and the
liquid food permitted out of the regular hours.[9] When (the stranger)
has enjoyed a very brief rest, they further ask the number of years
that he has been a monk, after which he receives a sleeping apartment
with its appurtenances, according to his regular order, and everything
is done for him which the rules prescribe.[10]
Where a community of monks resides, they erect topes to
Sariputtra,[11] to Maha-maudgalyayana,[12] and to Ananda,[13] and also
topes (in honour) of the Abhidharma, the Vinaya, and the Sutras. A
month after the (annual season of) rest, the families which are
looking out for blessing stimulate one another[14] to make offerings
to the monks, and send round to them the liquid food which may be
taken out of the ordinary hours.
