95-97; and Davids' "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 51.
[17] That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana
(Pali, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery,
made sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic
meditation. The "sitting" would be not because of weariness or for
rest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144.
[18] The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake
for the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be
"a small medusa."
[19] The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the
Chinese editions, which means "Fire Limit." Buddha, it is said, {.}
converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first
by "in one of his incarnations;" and in his revised version he has
"himself." The difference between Fa-hien's usage of {.} and {.}
throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the
doings of Sakyamuni; {.}, "formerly," is often used of him and others
in the sense of "in a former age or birth."
[20] See Hardy, M. B., p. 194: - "As a token of the giving over of the
garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this
time it became one of the principal residences of the sage."
[21] This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended
to convey the idea that there was something mysterious about the
number of the topes.
[22] This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all
burned. Hardy's E. M., pp. 322-324.
CHAPTER XVIII
KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA'S PREACHING.
Fa-hien stayed at the Dragon vihara till after the summer retreat,[1]
and then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived
at the city of Kanyakubja,[2] lying along the Ganges.[3] There are two
monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana.
At a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the
northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law
to his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of
discourse were such as "The bitterness and vanity (of life) as
impermanent and uncertain," and that "The body is as a bubble or foam
on the water." At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists.
Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the
travellers) arrived at a village named A-le,[4] containing places
where Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at
all of which topes have been built.
NOTES
[1] We are now, probably, in 405.
[2] Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a
previous note. The Sanskrit name means "the city of humpbacked
maidens;" with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of
king Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi
Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused.
