On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c15.28

v1.c15.28

According to Fa-hsien the Jetavana vihāra was 1200 *pu* (paces) outside the south gate of Śrāvastī, on the west side of the road, with a gate opening to the east, that is, toward the highway. The 1200 *pu* of this account made above 5000 feet, and so the two pilgrims are in substantial agreement as to the situation of the Jetavana monastery. In other accounts this establishment is represented as being at a convenient distance from the city of Śrāvasti¹, but Nāgārjuna seems to describe it as having been within the city.² The term here, as before, rendered "temple" is *ching-shê*, and Yuan-chuang seems to use it in this passage in the sense of "vihāra". This is the sense in which the term is commonly used by the early Chinese Buddhist writers and translators. Thus Fa-hsien calls the great establishment now under notice the *Ch'i-huan* (for Jetavana)-*ching-shê*. In our text this term is evidently used as the equivalent of *ārāma*, in the sense of monastery, and covers all the buildings of the great establishment.