On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c12.s2: Tamasāvana
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c12.s2
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Tamasāvana
v1.c12.s2.1
From the capital of Chinabhukti the pilgrim went south-east above 500 *li* to the *Ta-mo-su-fa-na* (Tamasāvana) Monastery. This had above 300 Brethren of the Sarvāstivādin School who led strict pure lives and were thorough students of the Hinayāna. Here each of the 1000 Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa assembles a congregation of devas and men and preaches the profound excellent Religion. Here also in the 300th year after Sakyamuni Buddha's nirvāṇa the Śāstramaster *Ka-to-yen-na* composed his "Fa-chih-lun". This monastery had an Asoka tope above 200 feet high beside which were the spots on which the Four Past Buddhas had sat and walked up and down. Small topes and large caves in unknown number succeeded each other closely, all having relics of arhats who since the beginning of this kalpa here passed away for ever. Surrounding the Hill-Monastery for a circuit of twenty *li* were hundreds and thousands of Buddha-relic topes very close together.
v1.c12.s2.2
In the *Life* the distance from the capital of Chinabhukti to the Tamasāvana monastery in 50 *li* or only one tenth of the distance here given. Our pilgrim's *Ta-mo-su-fa-na* is undoubtedly the Tamasāvana (or Tāmasavana) or "Darkness-wood" of other authors. This was apparently the name both of the monastery and of the district in which it was situated. The monastery must have been at an early date a noted seat of Buddhism as Brethren from it were among the great Doctors invited by king Asoka to his Council. The description of the summoning of this Council is given in several treatises from one original apparently. It is interesting to note the agreement and difference of these treatises in the matter of the Tamasāvana. In the Divyāvadāna the reading is "Tamasāvana" and the A-yü-wang-ching in agreement with this has *An-lin* or "Darkness-wood", the interpretation given by our pilgrim. The Tsa-a-han-ching instead of Tamasāvana has *To-p'o-p'oh* which is evidently for Tapova, the original being probably Tapovana. In the A-yü-wang-chuan the “dhirās Tamasāvane” is rendered by *Chou-ye-wu-wei* lit. “day-night fearless”, that is, the brave of the Day-night.¹ The phrase in ordinary Chinese would mean “day and night without fear”, but here the term *chou-ye* is used in the sense of “the darkness of day”. It corresponds to the *chow-an* or “Day-darkness” of another treatise and both terms evidently stand for Tamasā.²
v1.c12.s2.3
¹ Divyāv. p. 399: A-yü-wang-ching, *ch*. 3: Isa-a-han-ching, *ch*. 23: A-yü-wang-chuan *ch*. 1 (chou-ye-wu-wei 晝夜無畏).
v1.c12.s2.4
² Ta-chuang-yen-lun, *ch*. 5 (No. 1182), chow-an 晝闇.
v1.c12.s2.5
With reference to this Monastery we read that the Buddha accompanied by the faithful yaksha Vajrapāṇi passed over a dark green wood on his way through the air to convert the Dragon-king Apalāla. Addressing the Yaksha Buddha prophesied that in that place 100 years after his decease a vihāra would be erected to be called “Darkness-wood” which should be preeminent for absorbed meditation.³
v1.c12.s2.6
³ Sar. Vin. Yao-shih, *ch*. 9.
v1.c12.s2.7
The Śāstra-master here called *Ka-to-yen-na* (Katyāyana) was Kātyāyanīputra, and his śāstra here mentioned exists in two Chinese translations one of which is by our pilgrim.⁴
v1.c12.s2.8
⁴ Bun. No. 1273, 1275.
v1.c12.s2.9
For the words in the text here interpreted as meaning— “Surrounding the Hill-monastery for a circuit of twenty *li* were hundreds and thousands of Buddha-relic topes very close together”, Julien has— “Les couvents, qui s’élèvent tout autour de la montagne, occupent un circuit de vingt li. On compte par centaines et par milliers les stoupas qui renferment des *che-li* (Çariras-reliques) du Bouddha. Ils sont très-rapprochés et confondent mutuellement leur ombre”. This rendering seems to be inadmissible and to give a meaning very different from what the author intended to convey. Yuan-chuang does not make the absurd statement that there were Buddhist monasteries for twenty *li* all round a hill, but he tells us that there were thousands of relic-topes all round the “Hill monastery”. The “Hill monastery” was the Tamasāvana; and it was so called by the pilgrim because it was isolated, and not subject to a superior establishment. This use of the word *shan* (山) in the senses of wild, independent, rustic is very common, and the phrase *shan-ka-lan* meets us again in these Records. The monastery Tamasāvana as our pilgrim describes it was a spacious comprehensive establishment. It had accommodation for 300 Brethren: it contained a tope and sacred places of the Buddhas, and the caves and memorial topes of numerous deceased arhats; and then all round it for twenty *li* were many thousand Buddha-relic topes. In other treatises the establishment is called a Wood or Hill, and it was evidently different in character from ordinary vihāras.
Linked texts (1)
- Divyāvadāna — Sanskrit