On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s3: Measures of Time
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s3
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Measures of Time
v1.c8.s3.1
Our author next goes on to describe the measures of time in India, beginning with the divisions of the Day-night period. Here also he mainly follows Sanghabhadra's treatise¹, and differs from most other writers, Buddhist and orthodox.
v1.c8.s3.2
¹ Abhidharma-shun-chêng-li-lun, l. c. For the measures of Time generally see the references in the above note 3 on p. 142.
v1.c8.s3.3
He calls the Kṣaṇa the shortest space of time and makes 120 of it equal to one Tatkṣaṇa. Then 60 Tatkṣaṇas make one Lava, 30 Lavas make one Muhurta, five of these make one "time" (時), and six 'times' make one Day-night. The six 'times' of this last are, we are told, distributed equally between the day and the night. But the non-Buddhist people of India, Yuan-chuang tells us, divided the day and night each into four "times".
v1.c8.s3.4
It will be seen that Yuan-chuang here puts the Kṣaṇa below the Tatkṣaṇa, in this agreeing with the Abhidharma treatises of Sanghabhadra and Dharmatara. The Divyāvadāna, on the other hand, makes 120 Tatkṣaṇas equal to one Kṣaṇa, and 60 Kṣaṇas equal to one Lava. In some Chinese versions of the sacred books the tatkṣaṇa is not mentioned. The kṣaṇa is defined as the time occupied by a woman in spinning one hsün (尋) of thread, but the word is generally used by Buddhist writers in the sense of an instant, the twinkling of an eye, the very shortest measurable space of time.
v1.c8.s3.5
The word kṣaṇa is commonly transcribed in Chinese books as in our text, and it is rarely translated. The lava is sometimes rendered by shih (時), time, and sometimes by fēn (分), a division. So also Muhurta is sometimes translated by shih, time, but more frequently by hsü-yü (須臾), an instant or moment, such being also the original meaning of muhurta. But hsü-yü when used as a translation of this word does not denote an instant but a period of 48 minutes, the thirtieth part of a Day-night. The day is divided into three "times", viz. forenoon, noon, and afternoon, and hence it is called Trisandhya. In like manner the night is divided into three "times" or watches and hence it is called Triyāmā.
v1.c8.s3.6
Our author next goes on to enumerate the divisions, natural and artificial, of the month and the year in India. He distinguishes between the common four-fold division of the seasons, and the three-fold one used by Buddhists. The latter division was into a hot season (Grīshma) followed by a rainy season (Varsha), and then a cold season (Hemanta). We have next the names of the months of the year in their order beginning with Chaitra. Then comes an interesting passage which, as it appears in our texts, presents some difficulty. The meaning seems to be something like this—
v1.c8.s3.7
"Hence the professed Buddhists of India, complying with the sacred instructions of the Buddha, observe (lit. sit) two periods of Retreat, either the early or the later three months. The former period begins on our 16th day of the 5th month, and the latter on the 16th of the 6th month. Previous translators of the Sūtras and Vinaya use "Observe the summer" or "Observe the end of the winter". These mistranslations are due to the people of outlying lands not understanding the standard language, or to the non-harmonizing of provincialisms".
v1.c8.s3.8
The first sentence of this passage evidently means that the Buddhist monks of India could make either the former or the later three months of summer their period of Retreat. My interpretation of the passage differs a little from that of Julien who substitutes *yü* (雨) *rain*, for the *liang* (兩) *two*, of the text, supporting his change of reading by a quotation of the present passage in a Buddhist Cyclopedia. But one of two copies of this Cyclopedia in my possession gives *liang* and the other has *huo* (或). Moreover all texts of the "Hsi-yü-chi" seem to agree in having *liang* here: and we read in other books of two and even three periods of Retreat. For the monks of India, however, these were all included within the Rain-season, the four months which began with the 16th of their fourth month and ended on the 15th of the 8th month. The full period of Retreat was three months; and Buddha ordained that this period might be counted either from the middle of the fourth or the middle of the fifth month. The conjecture may be hazarded that Yuan-chuang originally wrote *liang-yü*(兩雨)-*an-chü* that is "two Rain-Retreats" and that a copyist thinking there was a mistake left out the second character. This restoration does not make good style but something of the kind is apparently needed as Yuan-chuang's expression for the Retreat was *yü-an-chü*.
v1.c8.s3.9
The Sanskrit term for the Retreat is Varshā (in Pali Vassa) which means simply rains, the *rainy season*, from *varsha* which denotes, along with other things, *rain* and *a year*. The usual expression for "keeping Retreat" is *varshām vas* (in Pali, *vassam vasati*) or *varshām sthā*, meaning respectively to reside, and to rest, during the rainy season. For these terms the Chinese give various equivalents such as the *Tso-hsia* and *Tso-la* of some, and the *Tso-an-chü* or *Tso-yü-an-chü* of Yuan-chuang and others. For the Buddhists of India as for the other people of that country the "rainy season" began on the 16th of the month Ashādha (the fourth of their year), and continued for four months. This was chiefly for religious purposes, but to the non-Buddhists of India three months of this period formed also their summer. This may help to explain the use of the phrase *Tso-hsia* which is a short form for the full expression *Tso-hsia-yü-an-chü* meaning "to observe the Summer Rain Retreat". Then *Tso-hsia* and Tso-la mean also to pass a year as an ordained monk, the precedence of a brother being settled by his "years in religion". The phrase Tso-la or Tso-la-an-chü is used specially of the strict anchorite who observed two Retreats, one in the summer and one in the winter. It might be also applied to brethren in strange lands, Tokhara for example, whose Rainy season occurred at the end of the winter. Yuan-chuang seems to think that the terms Tso-Hsia and Tso-La are not correct renderings from the Sanskrit and they certainly are not literal translations. He supposes the mistakes to have arisen either from the translators having been natives of countries remote from Mid-India, and so ignorant of the correct term and its proper pronunciation, or from the use of an expression which had only local application and currency. But the "non-harmonizing of provincialisms" denotes not only the misuse of local terms, but also ignorance of the idioms in one language which should be used to represent the corresponding idioms of another. Thus a Chinese or Indian scholar translating a Sanskrit book into Chinese without a thorough knowledge of the Sanskrit and Chinese idioms would not harmonize the countries' languages. Julien takes "Mid-kingdom" here to mean China but it certainly denotes Mid-India. In that region people called the Rainy season Varshā, but in other places the word was pronounced vasso, or barh, or barkh, or barsh. So translators, Yuan-chuang thinks, may have in some cases mistaken the word, or they may have misunderstood either the original, or the Chinese term they were using in translation. Thus the important fact that the Retreat was ordained on account of the Rains is put out of view by the renderings Tso-Hsia and Tso-La. There was not, however, any ignorance of Sanskrit or Chinese in the use of these terms, and good scholars in the two languages such as Fa-hsien and I-ching use Tso-hsia and An-chü indifferently. In countries in which there was no long regular Rainy season the Retreat became of importance as a time for spiritual improvement by study of the sacred books and prolonged meditation, and as giving a year's seniority to the brother among his brethren.
Linked texts (1)
- Divyāvadāna — Sanskrit