Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t2.1

v1.c5.s2.t2.1

The sala tree (commonly known as sal) is a perennial evergreen arbor of the Dipterocarpaceae family. Its scientific name is *Shorea robusta*. Its original home is in the Indian and Malayan rainforests and it is one of the Buddhist holy trees. Sutras record that the Buddha Sakyamuni entered nirvana between the two sala trees beside the Ajitavatā River outside the capital of Kuśinagara (35 km east of present-day Gorakhpur. The work *Travelling Notes on the Western Regions in the Great Tang Dynasty* (juan 6) described the sala trees seen by Xuanzang there, “The trees were similar to the Quercus dentata but their bark was bluish white, and leaves were bright and smooth. The four trees were very high and the Buddha entered nirvana here.” ‘娑罗’ (Suoluo) was the transliteration of sala in Sanskrit. Juan 1 of Shen Qing’s *Record of North Mountain* in the Tang Dynasty explained that, “It is named sala in Sanskrit and it is called jiangu here and it doesn’t wither away in winter.” The explanation on "sala forest" in *juan* 23 of Hui Lin’s *Sound and Meaning of All Sutras* differed somewhat. “The sala tree is called gaoyuan here and it is higher than other trees in a forest. It was translated as 'jiangu' wrongly in the past because sala was similar to the pronunciation of Para. If it is called 'jiangu', the sound of the same has to made by turning the tongue. If it is called 'gaoyuan', it might be done by pronouncing it straight without any turning of the tongue.” 'Jiangu' corresponds to the Sanskrit 'sàra', whose pronunciation is similar to Sala.