On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c7.s10: Bamian
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c7.s10
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Bamian
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Our narrative proceeds to relate that the pilgrim going south-east from *Ka-chih* country entered the Great Snowy Mountains. These mountains are lofty and their defiles deep, with peaks and precipices fraught with peril. Wind and snow alternate incessantly, and at midsummer it is still cold. Piled up snow fills the valleys and the mountain tracks are hard to follow. There are gods of the mountains and impish sprites which in their anger send forth monstrous apparitions, and the mountains are infested by troops of robbers who make murder their occupation.
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A journey of above 600 *li* brought the pilgrim out of the limits of the Tokhara country and into the *Fan-yen-na* country. This was above 2000 *li* from east to west and 300 *li* from north to south. It was in the midst of the Snowy Mountains, and its inhabitants taking advantage of the mountains and defiles had their towns in strong places. The capital, which was built at a steep bank and across a defile, had a high cliff on its north side and was six or seven *li* in length. The country was very cold; it yielded early wheat, had little fruit or flower, but had good pasture for sheep and horses. The people had harsh rude ways; they mostly wore furs and serges, which were of local origin. Their written language, their popular institutions, and their currency were like those of Tokhara, and they resembled the people of that country in appearance but differed from them in their spoken language. In honesty of disposition they were far above the neighbouring countries, and they made offerings and paid reverence with perfect sincerity to [all objects of worship] from the Three Precious ones of Buddhism down to all the gods. Traders coming and going on business, whether the gods shew favourable omens or exhibit sinister manifestations, pay worship (lit. seek religious merit).
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The *Fan-yen-na* (梵衍那) of this is, as has been shewn by others, Bamian, and Yuan-chuang was apparently the first to use this transcription. Other transcriptions found in Chinese literature are *Fan-yen* (帆延), and *Wang* (i. e.
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Bang)-yen (疑衍), each representing a sound like Bam-yan. Our pilgrim represents the inhabitants as using the natural strongholds of the hills and defiles for their places of abode. The district, we learn from the T'ang-Shu, had several large towns, but the people lived chiefly in mountain caves.¹ Writing from reports of recent travellers Colonel Yule tells us: "The prominences of the cliffs which line the valley of Bámián are crowned by the remains of numerous massive towers, whilst their precipitous faces are for six or seven miles pierced by an infinity of anciently excavated caves, some of which are still occupied as dwellings. The actual site of the old city is marked by mounds and remains of walls, and on an isolated rock in the middle of the valley are the considerable ruins of what appear to have been the acropolis, now known as Ghúlghúla."² This Ghulghula probably represents part of our pilgrim's capital, the name of which in the 7th century was Lo-lan (羅爛). Ibn Haukal tells us that "Bamian is a town about half as large as Balkh, situated on a hill. Before this hill runs a river, the stream of which flows into Guyestan. Bamian has not any gardens nor orchards, and it is the only town in this district situated on a hill."³ The Life tells us that when Yuan-chuang arrived at the capital the king came out to meet him and then entertained him in the palace and that in this city the pilgrim met with two learned Brethren of the Mahāsaṅgika school who were very kind to him. The king was probably regarded by Yuan-chuang as a descendant of the Sākya exile from Kapilavastu who went to Bamian and became its king.
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¹ T'ang-shu, ch. 221.
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² See "The Rock-cut Caves and Statues of Bamian" in J. R. A. S. Vol. xviii. Art. XIV.
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³ Or. Geog. tr. Ouseley p. 225.
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In Bamian there were some tens of Buddhist monasteries with several thousands of Brethren who were adherents of that Hīnayāna school which "declares that [Buddha] transcends the ordinary", that is, the Lokottaravādin School.
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For the words here placed within inverted commas the original is *Shuo-ch'u-shih* (說出世). This expression, as has been shewn by others, is used to translate the Sanskrit Lokottaravādin. Julien interprets this and its Chinese equivalent as meaning those "dont les discours s'élèvent au dessus du monde".¹ Burnouf renders the term by "ceux qui se prétendent supérieures au monde".² Eitel translates it "Those who pretend to have done with the world".³ But all these interpretations judged by the accounts of the school seem to be wrong and misleading. Wassiljew explains the term better as meaning "those who argue about emergence from the world, that is, argue that in the Buddhas there is nothing which belongs to the world".⁴ So also Rockhill using Tibetan texts explains the term thus—"Those who say that the blessed Buddhas have passed beyond all worlds (i. e. existences), that the Tathāgata was not subject to worldly laws are called ["Those who say that the Tathagata] has passed beyond all world, or *Lokottaravādins*."⁵ The school which bore this name is described as an offshoot from the Mahāsaṅgika or Church of the Great Congregation of Brethren which arose in the Madhyadeśa or "Mid-India" of Chinese writers. The name was given to the sect from the prominence which its founders gave to the doctrines that the Buddhas were not begotten and conceived as human beings, that there was nothing *worldly* in them, but that they were altogether above this world, world-transcending. In Chinese Lokottaravādin became *Shuo-ch'u-shih* (or *Ch'u-shih-shuo*) as in Yuan-chuang's translation, or *Ch'u-shih-chien-yen-yü* or *Ch'u-shih-chien-shuo*.⁶ The former means “stating that [Buddha] transcends the world” and the latter means “talk [of Buddha] transcending what is in the world.” In the “Mahāvastu” we have apparently a sort of text book of this sect, though the treatise represent itself to be portion of the Vinaya.¹ It teaches with iteration the doctrine of the unworldliness or super-worldliness of the Tathāgatas or Great Rishis, and consists mainly of legends of the past and present lives of the Buddha. As Vasumitra shews, the Lokottaravādins, like the other sects which branched off from the Mahāsaṅgika body, differed from the latter only in the accidentals not in the essentials of doctrine and precept. The peculiar doctrine about the Buddhas must be excepted. In the lists of the Buddhist schools given in the Dīpavamso the Lokottaravādin school is not mentioned.
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¹ Mélanges p. 330, 333.
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² Bur. Int. p. 452.
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³ Handbook Ch. Buddhism s. v. Lokottara-vādinah.
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⁴ Wass. Bud. S. 250.
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⁵ Rockhill Life p. 183. I have taken some liberty with Mr Rockhill's text as there is apparently something omitted.
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⁶ See the Shih-pa-pu-lun (No. 1284) and I-pu-tsung-lun-lun (No. 1286).
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¹ Mahāvastu ed. Senart. T. I. Intn p. 2, p. 159.
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The description in the text proceeds.
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On the declivity of a hill to the north-east of the capital was a standing image of Buddha made of stone, 140 or 150 feet high, of a brilliant golden colour and resplendent with ornamentation of precious substances. To the east of it was a Buddhist monastery built by a former king of the country. East of this was a standing image of Sākyamuni Buddha above 100 feet high, made of t'u-shih, the pieces of which had been cast separately and then welded together into one figure.
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The large Buddha image of this passage is evidently the “big idol, male” which Captain Talbot measured with his theodolite and found to be 173 feet high. A picture of this image is given at p. 341 in Vol. xviii of the R. A. Journal in the Article already quoted from. Captain Talbot states that the image was “hewn out of the conglo-merate rock, but the finishing, drapery, &c., was all added by moulding on stucco”. Our pilgrim’s statement that the image was of a “brilliant golden colour” agrees with its name “Surkbut” or “Gold image”, and this is said to be probably the meaning of another of its names the Red Idol. The second image, we have seen, was made of *t'u-shi*. This word written 鍮石 (or 鍮) is here rendered by Julien *laiton*, but in some other passages he translates it by *cuivre jaune*. Native dictionaries and glossaries also give different and conflicting explanations of the two characters. These are sometimes treated by native scholars as two words, but they evidently stand for one word which is apparently a foreign one, perhaps the Turkish word *tūj* which denotes *bronze*. Chinese interpreters use *t'u-shi*, called also *t'u-ssŭ* (土似), to translate the Sanskrit *rīti*. "bell-metal", "bronze", and also as the equivalent of *tāmrika* from *tāmra* which means "copper". It is also described as a "stone like gold", and as a metal made from copper, being yellow when of good quality. It seems to be sometimes used in the sense of "copper ore", but in these Records we may generally render it by *bronze*. This bronze image has been identified with the "female figure 120 feet high" of Captain Talbot, who says this, like the other image, was hewn out of the conglomerate rock. It is also the White Idol of the Persian account which also makes it to have been cut in the rock and calls it a female figure. It is about 1/4 of a mile to the left of the larger image. We cannot explain away Yuan-chuang's statement that the image was made of metal by the hypothesis that it was of stone covered with metal. If the Shah-mameh is the image east of the monastery then Yuan-chuang was misinformed as to its material.
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A J. R. A. S. Vol. xix. p. 162, 164.
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The description continues.
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In a monastery 12 or 13 *li* to the east of the capital was a recumbent image of the Buddha in Nirvāṇa above 1000 feet long. Here the king held the Quinquennial Assembly at which he was wont to give away to the monks all his possessions from the queen down, his officials afterwards redeeming the valuables from the monks.
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In the D text and in the Fang-chih the monastery of the Nirvāṇa Buddha is only two or three *li* east from the capital, and this is probably correct. In the Life the Nirvāṇa image is at the monastery near which was the *tūj* or bronze Buddha. The length of the Nirvāṇa image is enormous, especially if we are to regard it as having been within the walls of a monastery. Perhaps, however, the figure was only carved in a rock which formed the back wall of the temple. In any case we probably do well to agree with Colonel Yule’s suggestion that the Azdaha of the present inhabitants of this district is the Nirvāṇa Buddha of our traveller. The Azdaha, which is described as being on the flat summit of a nearly isolated rock, is “a recumbent figure bearing rude resemblance to a huge lizard, and near the neck of the reptile there is a red splash as of blood.” We cannot, however, imagine that the pilgrim on seeing a figure like this would call it Buddha in Nirvāṇa.
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In this monastery there was also Śāṇakavāsa’s saṅghāṭi in nine stripes, of a dark red colour, made of cloth woven from the fibre of the śanaka plant. This man, a disciple of Ānanda, in a former existence gave to a congregation of Brethren on the day of their leaving Retreat śanaka robes. By the merit of this act in 500 subsequent births, intermediate and human, he always wore clothing of this material. In his last existence he was born in this attire and his natal garment grew with his growth; when he was admitted into the Church by Ānanda the garment became a clerical robe, and when he received full ordination the garment became a nine-striped saṅghāṭi. When Śāṇakavāsa was about to pass away he went into the “Border-limit” samādhi and, by the force of his desire aiming at wisdom, he left this robe to last while Buddhism endures and undergo destruction when Buddhism comes to an end. At this time the robe had suffered some diminution, and this was proof to believers.
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The Śāṇakavāsa of this passage is the Śanika, Śaṇavāsa, Soṇavāsi, and Śāṇavāsika or Śāṇavāsika of other works. According to the generally received account the bearer of this name was the son of a merchant of Rājagaha. He also in early life became a merchant and amassed a large fortune with which he was very generous to the Buddhist fraternity. Ānanda persuaded him to enter the Order and after ordination he devoted himself to his new career with great zeal and earnestness. He mastered all the Canon, and taught and guided a large number of disciples, his chief place of residence being at the monastery he established near Mathura. The greatest of his disciples was Upagupta whom he made his successor as Master of the Vinaya. After this Śaṇakavasa went to Kipin, a northern region including Kashmir, or to Champā, but returned to Mathura. There he died and his remains were cremated and a tope erected over them.¹ In order to account for his name and career a story is told about him in a former life. He was then the chief of a caravan of 500 merchants and on his journey he fell in with a Pratyeka Buddha dying in lonely helplessness. The caravan-chief devoted himself to the suffering saint, and nursed him with great kindness. This Pratyeka Buddha had an old worn garment of śaṇa, a kind of cloth made from the śan hemp, and the caravan-chief wished to change it for a new cotton robe. But the saint declined the offer, not wishing to part with the old robe which was associated for him with all his spiritual progress. The caravan-chief expressed his strong desire that when he next was born in this world he should be in all respects like this Pratyeka Buddha. By the merit of his kindness to the Pratyeka Buddha and his prayer he was led to join the Buddhist Order and to wear all his life the linen robe in which he was ordained, and hence he had the name Śaṇakavāsin or "Wearer of linen". The legends about him having been six years in his mother's womb, and having been born in a linen shirt, are only in some of the accounts. This arhat, who lived within 100 years after the Buddha, figures in the Divyāvadāna and in the Buddhist books of Nepāl, Tibet, and China,² but he seems to be unknown to the Pali scriptures. We can scarcely regard him as identical with Sonika, the thera of Rājagaha, mentioned in the Mahāvaṃsa and other works, although in some circumstances there is a resemblance.³ The word shê-naka in the arhat's name is also explained as meaning tzŭ-jan-fu (自然服) or “natural”,—“self-existing clothing”, as if for sanaka from sanā which means “eternal”, “self-existent”.
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¹ Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan-ching (or chuan), ch. 2 (No. 1340 tr. A.D. 472); A-yü-wang-chuan (No. 1459 tr. A.D. 300).
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² Divyāv. p. 349: Bud. Lit. Nep. p. 67; Rockhill Life p. 161.
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³ Mah. ch. IV.: Dīp. V. 22.
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The words here rendered “in 500 existences intermediate and human” are peculiar and merit attention. In all the texts and in the Life the original is yü-wu-pai-shên-chung-yin-shêng-yin (於五百身中陰生陰), and Julien translates this by “pendant cinq cents existences successives”. But this is not all that the author states, and the sense in which I understand the words is evidently something like what the construction requires. It is also apparently the sense in which the author of the Fang-chih understood the passage, for he transcribes it wu-pai-chung-yin-shên-shêng or “500 intermediate states and human births”. The Chung-yin, called also chung-yu (中有), is the antarābhava or intermediate state, the life elsewhere which intervenes between two existences on this world. Human death or ssŭ-yin (死陰) is the dissolution of the skandha (yin) which form the living body; and this is followed in due time by a new human birth, the shêng-yin, in which the skandha are recombined. In the period which elapses between these two events that which was, and is to be again, the human being, lives on in some other sphere or spheres of existence, and this unknown life is the chung-yin. This in the language of the Buddhists is the road which lies between but connects the two villages of Death and Re-birth. The term will be further explained when we come to Chuan VII.
Cites (4)
- Mahāvastu — Sanskrit
- Divyāvadāna — Sanskrit
- Dīpavaṃsa — Pāli
- Mahāvaṃsa — Pāli