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
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The Country, Being Among The Hills And Cold, Does Not Produce The
Other Cereals, And Only The Wheat Gets Ripe.
After the monks have
received their annual (portion of this), the mornings suddenly show
the hoar-frost, and on this account the king always begs the monks to
make the wheat ripen[4] before they receive their portion.
There is in
the country a spitoon which belonged to Buddha, made of stone, and in
colour like his alms-bowl. There is also a tooth of Buddha, for which
the people have reared a tope, connected with which there are more
than a thousand monks and their disciples,[5] all students of the
hinayana. To the east of these hills the dress of the common people is
of coarse materials, as in our country of Ts'in, but here also[6]
there were among them the differences of fine woollen cloth and of
serge or haircloth. The rules observed by the Sramans are remarkable,
and too numerous to be mentioned in detail. The country is in the
midst of the Onion range. As you go forward from these mountains, the
plants, trees, and fruits are all different from those of the land of
Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate,[7] and sugar-cane.
NOTES
[1] See Eitel, p. 89. He describes the assembly as "an ecclesiastical
conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of
sins and inculcation of morality."
[2] The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators,
including myself, have been puzzled by it.
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