It Should Be Written Takshasira, Of Which The Chinese Phonetisation Will Allow; - See A Note Of Beal In His "Buddhist Records Of The Western World," I. 138.

We must suppose that Fa-hien went on from Nan-king to Ch'ang-an, but the Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so.

INTRODUCTION

Life of Fa-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his Narrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism.

1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fa-hien in addition to what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read the accounts of him in the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled in A.D. 519, and a later work, the "Memoirs of Marvellous Monks," by the third emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is nearly all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an appearance of verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass.

His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wu-yang in P'ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi. He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died before shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the service of the Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, still keeping him at home in the family. The little fellow fell dangerously ill, and the father sent him to the monastery, where he soon got well and refused to return to his parents.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 8 of 190
Words from 1864 to 2123 of 51126