When Sariputtra was a great Brahman, he went to Buddha, and begged (to
be permitted) to quit his family (and become a monk). The great
Mugalan and the great Kasyapa[17] also did the same. The
bhikshunis[18] for the most part make their offerings at the tope of
Ananda, because it was he who requested the World-honoured one to
allow females to quit their families (and become nuns). The
Sramaneras[19] mostly make their offerings to Rahula.[20] The
professors of the Abhidharma make their offerings to it; those of the
Vinaya to it. Every year there is one such offering, and each class
has its own day for it. Students of the mahayana present offerings to
the Prajna-paramita,[21] to Manjusri,[22] and to Kwan-she-yin.[23]
When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute (from the
harvests),[24] the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the Brahmans bring
clothes and other such articles as the monks require for use, and
distribute among them. The monks, having received them, also proceed
to give portions to one another. From the nirvana of Buddha,[25] the
forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred
communities, have been handed down from one generation to another
without interruption.
From the place where (the travellers) crossed the Indus to Southern
India, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty
thousand le, all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams
(among them); there are simply the waters of the rivers.
NOTES
[1] Muttra, "the peacock city;" lat. 27d 30s N., lon. 77d 43s E.
(Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock.
[2] This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the
P'oo-na has yet to be explained.
[3] In Pali, Majjhima-desa, "the Middle Country." See Davids'
"Buddhist Birth Stories," page 61, note.
[4] Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, "The name Chandalas is explained by
'butchers,' 'wicked men,' and those who carry 'the awful flag,' to
warn off their betters; - the lowest and most despised caste of India,
members of which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the
ranks of the priesthood."
[5] "Cowries;" {.} {.}, not "shells and ivory," as one might suppose;
but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the
marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling "the teeth of fishes."
[6] See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha's pari-nirvana is equivalent to
Buddha's death.
[7] See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different
here, but with the same meaning.
[8] See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as
related in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fa-hien's time, and long before
and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of
metal.
[9] "No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon," and
total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids'
Manual, p. 163). Food eaten at any other part of the day is called
vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive
unseasonable refreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch. Rev.
viii. 282), of honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil.
[10] The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again
in chapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear. See Watters, Ch. Rev.
viii. 282, 3. The rules are given at length in the Sacred Books of the
East, vol. xx, p. 272 and foll., and p. 279 and foll.
[11] Sariputtra (Singh. Seriyut) was one of the principal disciples of
Buddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all, so that
he obtained the title of {.} {.}, "knowledge and wisdom." He is also
called Buddha's "right-hand attendant." His name is derived from that
of his mother Sarika, the wife of Tishya, a native of Nalanda. In
Spence Hardy, he often appears under the name of Upatissa (Upa-
tishya), derived from his father. Several Sastras are ascribed to him,
and indeed the followers of the Abhidharma look on him as their
founder. He died before Sakyamuni; but is to reappear as a future
Buddha. Eitel, pp. 123, 124.
[12] Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more
pronounceable. He also was one of the principal disciples, called
Buddha's "left-hand attendant." He was distinguished for his power of
vision, and his magical powers. The name in the text is derived from
the former attribute, and it was by the latter that he took up an
artist to Tushita to get a view of Sakyamuni, and so make a statue of
him. (Compare the similar story in chap. vi.) He went to hell, and
released his mother. He also died before Sakyamuni, and is to reappear
as Buddha. Eitel, p. 65.
[13] See chapter xii, note 2.
[14] A passage rather difficult to construe. The "families" would be
those more devout than their neighbours.
[15] One rarely hears this preaching in China. It struck me most as I
once heard it at Osaka in Japan. There was a pulpit in a large hall of
the temple, and the audience sat around on the matted floor. One
priest took the pulpit after another; and the hearers nodded their
heads occasionally, and indicated their sympathy now and then by an
audible "h'm," which reminded me of Carlyle's description of meetings
of "The Ironsides" of Cromwell.
[16] This last statement is wanting in the Chinese editions.
[17] There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sakyamuni. But this Maha-
kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and
became one of his disciples. He took the lead after Sakyamuni's death,
convoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of Arya-
sthavira is derived.
![A Record Of Buddhistic Kingdoms - Being An Account By The Chinese Monk Fa-hien Of His Travels In India And Ceylon (a.d. 399-414) By James Legge
- All the monks come together in a
great assembly, and preach the Law;[15] after which offerings are
presented at - Page 20](../images/travel.jpg)
