On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c15.39

v1.c15.39

In Julien's rendering of this passage he makes the pilgrim represent Sudatta as *unable* to cover all the Park with gold, but this is not in the text. Then Julien translates the words *Fo-ch'êng-liang-t'ien* (佛 誠 良 田) by "C'est, en vérité, l'excellent champ du Bouddha", but this is not at all the meaning of the expression. The words state plainly that the Buddha is an "excellent field" or generous soil, and this sort of expression is of very common occurrence in the Buddhist Scriptures. To give alms of food or clothing, or do any service to Buddhas, P'usas, or eminent monks or nuns, was to sow good seed in good ground, the crop to be reaped either in this life or in one to come. Hence the beings to whom such meritorious services are rendered are called "excellent fields", and of these the most "excellent field" always is the Buddha. In the present case the Prince wished to share in the reward which Sudatta would have, and in order to secure this result he remitted a portion of the price for the ground and built a "temple" (*ching-shê*) for the Buddha on the space unoccupied by gold coins. Some other accounts represent Jeta as refusing to sell even for as many gold coins as would cover the park; and when Sudatta claims that the mention of a sum makes a bargain, and Jeta maintains it does not, the Judges to whom the matter is referred decide against the Prince. This last is also represented as contributing a porch or vestibule to Sudatta's vihāra, and in no case is he described as building the whole monastery.¹ The statement which Yuan-chuang here makes the Buddha address to Ananda about the trees having been given by the Prince, and the ground purchased by Sudatta, is a stupid invention to account for the common way of designating the vihāra in Chinese translations. It was not the pilgrim, however, who invented the story, as it is found in other accounts of the transaction.²