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On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19: Chapter XIV. Magadha

On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19

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Chapter XIV. Magadha

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From Vaiśālī, the pilgrim narrates, he went south across the Ganges to Magadha.

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Neither in these Records nor in the Life is the distance stated, but in the "Fang-chih", Magadha, that is, Rājagaha, is 150 *li* to the south of Vaiśālī. Fa-hsien merely tells us that from the Ānanda Topes he crossed the river and descended south for a yojana into the Magadha country.¹ Between Vaiśālī and Pāṭaliputra lay the Vajjian villages Na-t'ê (那陀) or Nataka, and farther on kou-li (拘利) or Koṭi, the latter being separated from the Magadha country by a river, viz., the Ganges.²

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi, *ch.* 27.

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² Chang-a-han-ching, *ch.* 2. Sar. Vin. Yao-chih, *ch.* 6 where we have *Na-ti-ka* and *Ku-ti* as the names of the two towns or villages.

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Our pilgrim proceeds to describe the Magadha country in his usual manner. It was, he states, above 5000 *li* in circuit. There were few inhabitants in the walled cities, but the other towns were well peopled; the soil was rich, yielding luxuriant crops. It produced a kind of rice with large grain of extraordinary savour and fragrance called by the people "the rice for grandees". The land was low and moist and the towns were on plateaus; from the beginning of summer to the middle of autumn the plains were overflowed, and boats could be used. The inhabitants were honest in character; the climate was hot; the people esteemed learning and reverenced Buddhism. There were above fifty Buddhist monasteries, and more than 10000 ecclesiastics, for the most part adherents of the Mahāyāna system. There were some tens of Deva-temples, and the adherents of the various sects were very numerous.

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South of the Ganges, the pilgrim proceeds, was an old city above 70 *li* (about fourteen miles) in circuit, the foundations of which were still visible although the city had long been a wilderness. In the far past when men lived for countless years it had been called "Kusumapura city" from the numerous flowers (Kusuma) in the royal inclosure (pura). Afterwards when men's lives still extended to milleniums the name was changed to "Pāṭaliputra city". The pilgrim gives the following account of the origin of the city and its second name. Once on a time a very learned brahmin had a large number of disciples. A party of these on a certain occasion wandered into the wood, and a young man of their number appeared unhappy and disconsolate. To cheer and amuse the gloomy youth his companions agreed to get up a mock marriage for him. A man and a woman were chosen to stand as parents for the bridegroom, and another couple represented the parents of the imaginary bride. They were all near a pāṭali tree at the time, and as the name of the tree had a feminine termination they decided to make it the bride. All the ceremonies of a marriage were gone through, and the man acting as father of the bride broke off a branch of the pāṭali tree, and gave it to the bridegroom to be his bride. When all was over, and the other young men were going home, they wanted their companion, the bridegroom, to go with them, but he insisted on remaining near the tree. Here at dusk an old man appeared with his wife and a young maiden, and the old man gave the maiden to the young student to be his wife. This couple lived together for a year when a son was born to them. The student, now tired of the lonely wild life of the woods, wanted to go back to his home, but the old man, his father-in-law, induced him to remain by the promise of a properly built establishment, and the promise was carried out very promptly. Afterwards when the seat of government was removed to this place it got the name Pāṭaliputra because it had been built by the gods for the son of the pāṭali tree, and it kept the name ever since.

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In the part of this story which tells of the students making the pāṭali tree the bride the translators had the reading *wei-nü-hsü-shu-ye* (謂 女 婿 樹 也), "they called it the son-in-law tree". This is nonsense, and cannot be forced into agreement with the context. In the abstract of the passage given above the reading of the D text has been followed, viz. *wei-nü-shêng*(聲)-*shu*, "saying it was a feminine tree”, that is, they took the tree for the bride because its name had a feminine termination. The place where the mock ceremony was performed was close to a pāṭali, Bignonia suaveolens or Trumpet-flower tree, and the bride was called Miss Pāṭali, her father in the play giving a branch of the tree, as his daughter, to the student to be his wife. Afterwards, as the story shows, the Dryads of the tree, like the melancholy mortal, took the whole affair in earnest, and made the marriage a reality. The old man and the old mother and her daughter are the god and goddesses of the tree, and the daughter becomes the student’s wife. When he proposes to go away the old god by superhuman agency builds for the residence of his newly born grandson a substantial establishment. This was the nucleus of the city which from the story of its origin obtained and kept the name Pāṭaliputra. In Buddhist books the building of the city with this name is sometimes ascribed to king Ajātasattu in the Buddha’s time. It was built as a defence against the Vajjians, and it had a Gotama Gate and a Gotama Landing-place from the name of the Buddha.¹ This city is described as being 240 li from the Rajagaha mountains in a north-by-east direction.

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¹ Chang-a-han-ching ch. 2; Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih ch. 36; Vin. Mah. VI. 28; Mahā-Parinibbāna-sutta (Dīgha II. 89).

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Continuing his description, the pilgrim tells us that to the north of the “old palace” (that is capital) was a stone pillar some tens of feet in height on the site of Asoka’s “Hell”. “In the 100th year after Sakya Ju-lai’s nirvāṇa”, he says, “king Asoka great-grandson of king Bimbisāra transferred his capital from Rājagaha to Pāṭaliputra, and surrounded the latter old city with an outer wall.” Of this city the long lapse of time had left only the old foundations. Of monasteries, deva-temples, and topes there were hundreds of ruins, but only two or three of the old structures survived. On the north of the capital and near the Ganges was a small walled city containing above 1000 inhabitants: this was the Hell-prison of king Asoka. The pilgrim then gives us a short history of this Prison or Hell. It was instituted by king Asoka, soon after his accession, when he was cruel and tyrannical. It was surrounded by high walls with a lofty tower at each corner; it was made to resemble hell with all its tortures, such as great furnaces of fierce heat and cutting instruments with sharp points and edges; a fierce wicked man was sought out and made jailer. At first only local criminals were all, without regard to the nature of their offences, sent to this prison; afterwards casual passers by were wantonly dragged in and put to death; all who entered were killed, and so secrecy was preserved. But it came to pass that a recently ordained śramaṇa one day on his begging rounds came to the Prison gate, and was caught by the jailer, who proceeded to kill him. The śramaṇa, greatly terrified, prayed for a short respite in order to make his confession, and the request was granted. At this moment a prisoner was brought in and at once dismembered and cut to atoms in the presence of the śramaṇa: the latter was moved by the spectacle to deep pity, attained the contemplation of impermanency, and realised arhatship. When his time came the jailer put the śramaṇa in a caldron of boiling water, but the water became cold, and the śramaṇa was seen to sit in it on a lotus-seat. This marvel was reported to the king, who came to see it, and extolled the miraculous protection. The jailer now told the king that according to his own rule, (that no one who entered the Prison was to be allowed to leave it), His Majesty must die. The king admitted the force of the remark, but giving the jailer precedence he ordered the lictors to cast him into the great furnace. Then His Majesty left the Prison, caused it to be demolished, and made his penal code liberal.

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This short history of Asoka's Hell was probably condensed from the legends in the Divyāvadāna and "Tsa-a-han-ching".¹ These agree closely in all the main incidents, and differ in some particulars, from the story as told in other books. According to the former accounts king Asoka had burned to death 500 ladies of his harem, and his chief minister Rādhagupta (called also Anuruddha), reminding him that such proceedings were unseemly for a king, recommended His Majesty to institute a place of punishment under a proper official. The king took the advice, and caused a jail or place of punishment to be constructed, a handsome attractive building with trees and tanks like a city. After search and enquiry a sufficiently cruel, ugly, wicked man named Chaṇḍa-Giri, in Chinese O-shan (惡山) or “Wicked Hill”, was found for the post of jailer; he was duly installed and allowed to make the rule that no one who went in was to be let out. The jail was furnished with the tortures described in a Buddhist book on the infernal places of punishment, Wicked Hill having listened to a monk of the Ketuma monastery reading this exhilarating treatise aloud. But according to Fa-hsien¹ and others Asoka had personally visited the infernal regions (the hells within the Iron Hills), and studied their tortures. Now Wicked Hill in this cruel Hell of Despair had boiled, roasted, pounded to fragments, and otherwise tortured to death very many wretched victims. But one day a stranger bhikshu named Samudra, in Chinese Hai or “Sea”, in ignorance and by accident, came to the gate of the Prison, and wandered in, attracted by the beauties of the place. Wicked Hill immediately had the bhikshu seized and was proceeding to boil him when the bhikshu piteously implored a short respite. The jailer demurred at first but at length yielded. At that time one of the king's concubines arrived to undergo punishment for misconduct. She was at once pounded to atoms in the presence of the bhikshu. The latter now made the most of his respite, and by zealous application became an arhat. When his time for being boiled came, events occurred as Yuan-chuang relates. We have the story of Asoka's Hell-prison told also by Fa-hsien; but he places the site about half a mile to the south of the city, whereas Yuan-chuang places it to the north. Fa-hsien's account is not taken from the “Divyāvadāna”, but it agrees with that work in placing the site of the Hell near the tope erected by Asoka over Ajātasattu's share of Buddha's relics. Yuan-chuang also seems to have found the site near, and to the north of, the Relics Tope as Fa-hsien describes. Our pilgrim's statements, however, are not quite consistent with themselves. But as he remained at the place for seven days visiting all the sacred traces his account is not to be set aside lightly.

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¹ Divyāv. p. 374ff.; A-yü-wang-chuan ch. 1; A-yü-wang-ching ch. 1; Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 28; Bur. Int. p. 365 ff.

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi chs. 27 and 32. See also Fên-pie-kung-tê-lun ch. 3 (Bun. No. 1290); Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan ch. 3 (No. 1340).

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We return to the pilgrim's description. Not far south from the Prison, he tells us, was a tope, the lower part of which had sunk out of sight leaving only the dome, which was ornamented with precious substances, and the stone balustrade. This, he adds, was one of the 84000 topes, and it was erected for Asoka in his palace by human agents; it contained a shêng or pint of the Buddha's, relics and it had miraculous manifestations, and illuminations by divine light. The pilgrim goes on to tell how the 84000 topes came to be built and the relics deposited in them. After Asoka had abolished his Hell the great arhat Upagupta made a skilful use of his opportunities to convert the king and succeeded in winning him over to Buddhism. When the king expressed to Upagupta his desire to increase the topes for the worship of the Buddha's relics the arhat replied— It has been my wish that your majesty by means of your religious merit would employ the gods that you might carry out your former vow and protect Buddha, the Canon, and the Church, and now is the opportunity. When Asoka heard all this he was greatly pleased, and having summoned the inferior gods (kuei-shên) he gave them his orders. The gods were to go over all Jambudvipa, and wherever there was a population of a full Koti, they were to erect a tope for Buddha's relics. The gods set up the topes, and reported to the king, who then divided the relics which he had taken from the topes of the eight countries and distributed them among the gods. He then told Upagupta that he would like to have all the relics deposited in the topes at the same instant. This was accomplished by Upagupta kindly putting his hand across the sun's face at midday, the gods having been ordered to deposit their relics at the moment the hand was seen darkening the sun.

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It will be seen that in this description our pilgrim represents the old relic-tope of Pataliputra as having been built by human hands, and yet as one of the 84000 topes erected by the gods or Yakshas. Fa-hsien also makes this tope to be one of the 84000 set up by the Yakshas for Asoka. The dust-offering in a former existence, and the prophecy by the Buddha in consequence, had been related to the king by the bhikshu saved from a cruel death in the Hell-prison. It was through the merit of this offering, and the desire then expressed, that Asoka was now able, as a mahārāja, to make the yakshas do his bidding and spread far and wide “to the utmost limits of Jambudvīpa” the worship of Buddha’s relics. The 84000 topes set up by Asoka are generally said to have been for the distribution of the Buddha’s relics taken for the purpose by the king from seven of the eight topes erected by the original recipients.¹ But they are also said to have been made for the worship of the 84000 aphorisms of Buddhism or “sections of the law”. In this version of the legend it is a vihāra, not a tope, that is made for each aphorism, and the work is done by the people of the various districts.² The words here rendered by “a population of a full koṭi” are hu-man-kou-ti (戶 滿 拘 胝), “a full koṭi of individuals”. It is not easy to see how Julien could translate these words by “dans chaque ville possédant un koṭi de souvarnas”. We have already had to notice this limitation made by Asoka in our pilgrim’s account of Takshaśilā.

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¹ Divyāv. p. 331. Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 23.

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² Shan-chien-lü ch. 1. Mah. ch. V. p. 19.

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Our pilgrim next describes the stone with Buddha’s footprints. This stone, which is large in one part of the description and not large in another, was in a temple near the Relic Tope. The pilgrim informs us that when the Buddha was leaving Magadha, for the last time on his way north to Kuśinagara, he stood on this stone and turned round to take a farewell look at Magadha. He left his footprints on it, and these were still distinctly visible at the time of the pilgrim’s visit. The foot-prints, he says, were 18 inches long by 6 inches wide; on the right and left sides were wheels or disks; each of the ten toes had artistic venation; the lamination was distinct, and at times shed a bright light. When Asoka removed to Pāṭaliputra he had the Foot-prints Stone put under a cover, and as it was near the capital he was constant in paying it worship. Afterwards various princes tried to have the Stone carried to their countries, but it could not be removed. In recent times king Śaśāṅka having tried in vain to efface the footprints caused the Stone to be thrown into the Ganges, but it returned to its original place.

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The Stone of this passage was seen also by Fa-hsien in a temple near the Relic Tope. According to the Life there was a wheel on each sole, the tips of the toes had svastika tracery, and there were vases and fish and other things. Julien translates the words hua-wên (花文) by "des ornements de fleurs", but they mean simply the artistic tracing of the lines in the toes— the wan-tzŭ-hua-wên or svastika tracery of the Life. Then the yü-hsing-yin (or ying)-ch'i (魚形隱 (or 映) 𨅝) of the text is in Julien's rendering "des corps de poissons s'élèvent en relief". But I think the words here only mean that the lamination of the prints stood out in relief. The figures on the stone were of course wrought by an artist, and they retained the scaly character of the work as left by him. But to the pilgrim's believing eye the footprints retained the impression of the lines and figures which adorned the soles of the Buddha's feet. These, however, he describes as they appeared to him.

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Near the Temple of the Footprints Stone, the narrative proceeds, was a stone pillar above 30 feet high with an inscription much injured. The sum of the contents of the inscription was that Asoka, strong in faith, had thrice given Jambudvīpa as a religious offering to the Buddhist order, and thrice redeemed it with his own precious substances.

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Fa-hsien also mentions this pillar and places it south of the Relic Tope: he describes it as 30 feet high and 14 or 15 feet in circumference.

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Continuing his description Yuan-chuang relates that to the north of the "old palace", that is, old capital, was a large stone cavern which on the outside had the appearance of a hill, and inside was some scores of feet wide. Asoka had made this by the agency of the inferior gods (kuei-shên) for his uterine younger brother named Mahendra when the latter was a mendicant ascetic. This brother, the pilgrim relates, had used his high birth to slight the laws and lead a dissolute life, oppressing the people until they became provoked. The high ministers and old statesmen reported the matter to the king giving him advice and requesting that the laws be observed and justice administered. The king said with tears to Mahendra— "As sovereign I have the protection of all men and specially of you my brother; but forgetting my affection I have not in time guarded and guided you, and you have now incurred the penalties of the law. I am in fear of my ancestors, and perplexed by counsels". Mahendra made obeisance and confessed saying— "I have misconducted myself presuming to break the laws. I pray for a reprieve of seven days". The king then consigned Mahendra to a dark chamber, with a keeper, and had him supplied with dainties and luxuries. On the sixth day Mahendra was in great trouble and fear, but by renewed bodily and mental application he attained arhatship; then mounting in the air he made divine exhibitions, and quitting the affairs of this life he went off to lodge in a mountain gorge. Asoka induced him to return to the capital by promising to make him a cave-dwelling there. Mahendra consented, and Asoka called the inferior gods to a feast telling them to bring each a stone seat for himself. When the feast was over the gods were requested to pile up the stones so as to make an "empty house".

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It will be observed that in this story Yuan-chuang describes Asoka as making a hill and cave for his brother at the city and near the north outer wall. Fa-hsien also tells of this hill and cave, and places them within the city, and so does another author who adds a large stone image in a niche in the hill. But the other accounts do not introduce the yaksha-made hill and cave, but represent the king's brother as going away to a distance from Pāṭaliputra to live as a hermit or a religious devotee. Yuan-chuang calls the brother Mahendra, translated by Ta-Ti or "Great Sovereign". In the Pali books this, Mahinda, is the name of Asoka's son, his younger brother's name being Tissa (Tishya). The Divyāvadāna calls the brother Vitāśoka and so in the "A-yü-wang-ching", but the "A-yü-wang-chuan" calls him So-ta-to (宿大哆) perhaps for Sudatta.¹ One treatise calls him Siu-ka-tu-lu (修伽妬路) perhaps for Sugātra which is translated in another work by Shan-jung (善容) "of good appearance" or "auspicious bearing".² This brother's only offence, according to the Buddhist books, was that he as a Tirthika spoke disrespectfully to the king about the professed Buddhists; he said that these men living at ease with good food and clothing, were subject to their passions, and that Buddhism did not give emancipation. To convince him of his error Asoka had recourse to the following expedient. By an arrangement with his chief minister he disappeared for a time; the minister invested Vītāśoka with the crown and other trappings of royalty as an experiment. Asoka then appeared suddenly and pretending to regard Vītāśoka, whom he found wearing the crown, as a usurper, sentenced him to be beheaded at the end of seven days. In the interim the condemned prince was to have all kinds of sensual pleasures with music and dancing. On the seventh day, in reply to a question, he told the king that he had not had any enjoyment, having not even heard the music or seen the dancing, the fear of death being always before him. The king used this answer to shew his brother how wrong he had been in the language he had used about the professed Buddhists who, having always a horror of birth and death, could not indulge in any carnal pleasures. He then set Vītāśoka free, and the latter, with the king's permission, became a lay Buddhist and went to live in a frontier land. When he attained arhatship he returned to Pāṭaliputra to visit Asoka, but he soon left for another district: there he was beheaded by a man who mistook him for a Nirgrantha, a reward having been offered by the king for the head of every man of that sect brought to him.

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¹ Divyāv. ch. XXVIII; A-yü-wang-ching ch. 3; A-yü-wang-chuan ch. 2; Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 23; For Vitāśoka we find Vigatāśoka as in Divyāv. p. 370.

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² Fên-pie-kung-tê-lun ch. 3; Ch'iu-li-lao-ching (求離牢獄經)

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Yuan-chuang, in his description, tells us that to the north of the old capital, and south of the Hell, was the large stone trough made by the gods for Asoka to hold the food which he provided for the Buddhist bhikshus.

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The pilgrim next takes us across to the south of the capital. To the south-west of the old city, he relates, was a small rocky mountain in the steep sides of which the inferior gods (kuei-shên) had made some tens of caves for Upagupta and the other arhats. Beside this mountain were the stone foundations of an old terrace, and tanks of dimpled water clear as a mirror, people from far and near called them "the holy water", and to drink or wash in the water effaced the soil of sin.

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The description continues— South-west from the Small Hill were five topes the foundations of which had disappeared leaving the bases standing out high; looked at from a distance they seemed to form a hillock. Their sides were some hundreds of paces [in length] and on the tops men of later times had erected other small topes. According to the Indian records, when Asoka's 84 000 topes were built there remained five pints (shêng) of relics, and for each shêng he built here a magnificent tope surpassing those of other places. Miracles occurred at them testifying to the Ju-lai's five-fold spiritual body. Disciples of little faith made the unauthorized statement that the topes represented the five treasures of king Nanda's seven precious substances. After this an unbelieving king came with his army to excavate for the treasures: but the earth quaked, the sun was darkened, the topes thundered, the soldiers fell dead, and the horses and elephants fled; since then no one has dared to covet. Others say that as there are differences in the theories, and no certainty, we really get the facts by following the old narrative.

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Fa-hsien does not make any mention of these five topes, and Yuan-chuang's story about them does not agree with the legend about the 84 000 Relic Topes. Julien's translation and treatment of this curious story leaves much to be desired. Thus Yuan-chuang states that extraordinary phenomena occurred at the topes "to testify to the five-fold spiritual body of the Tathāgata (Ju-lai)". The text for the words in inverted commas is i-piao-ju-lai-wu-fên-fa-shên (以 表 如 來 五 分 法 身). This is rendered by Julien— "Par là, il voulut honorez la personne de Jou-lai, composée de cinq parties." Here, to pass over other matters, the all-important word fa is left out. Then Julien has a note in which he professes to give from a Chinese dictionary the five constituents of the Fa-shên or spiritual body. But the passage which he cites gives the "five skandhas", and Julien wrongly took them as the constituents of the spiritual body. They are the elements or "aggregations" of the human body of Ju-lai, and of every human being, and they are contrasted with the five parts of the spiritual constitution of Ju-lai and all arhats. These five parts are moral discipline, absorbed meditation, spiritual wisdom, spiritual emancipation, and the perception of this emancipation, and this is the description quoted in the book which Julien cites.¹ It was the perfect combination of these in himself at which the Buddha aimed during the countless ages in which he had been born and reborn into mortal life; and it is the perfection of these in his professed disciples which constitutes his eternal presence in his church. The prodigies at the five topes were the outward evidences of the unseen spirit of the Buddha abiding in the world. It was on the erroneous supposition that these topes were merely the Treasure-stores of king Nanda that an impious prince tried to excavate them, and fared as our pilgrim describes. To the story of this prince Yuan-chuang adds— *tzŭ-tzŭ-i-chiang-wu-kan-chi-yü* (自茲已降無敢覬覦), “from this down to the present no one has dared to covet”, that is, since this king’s vain attempt no one has ventured to give effect to his desire to have the treasures. Julien gives this translation of the words— “le roi, lui-même, s’avoua vaincu et abjura ses projets de rapine”, a rendering impossible from every point of view. In the sentence which follows in Julien’s translation the author’s meaning is again missed. The important words *huo-yue* (或曰) “or it is said” or “others say” are left out, and the translator erroneously introduces the words “mais nous”. The pilgrim mentions the two theories about the five topes, one was that they were the Treasure-stores of king Nanda, and the other, based on old records, was that they were Asoka topes.

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¹ P'u-sa-pèn-shêng-man-lun (No. 1312) *ch.* 4; Ta-pan-nie-p'an-ching *ch.* 33 (No. 113); Ta-ming-san-ts'ang-fa-shu *ch.* 22 (No. 1621); Chiao-shêng-fa-shu *ch.* 17 (No. 1636).

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We do not seem to have any information about these buried treasures of the king called Nanda. This was the name of the dynasty which was succeeded by that of the Mauryas under Chandragupta. In the „Mahāvamsa” the last ruler of the former dynasty is called Dhana-Nanda, who seems to have also had the name Mahāpadma, and perhaps Chandramas.² In the “Divyā- vadāna” we have Nanda given as the name of Asoka's grand-father Chandragupta, and in another treatise we have a wise but conceited king Nanda who is outwitted by Nāgasena.¹ But we do not find mention of treasures hidden by any one of these.

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² Mah. p. 16. Rockhill, ‘Life’, p. 186; Tār. S. 291; Milindapañho

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¹ Divyāv. p. 369. See Tsa-pao-tsang-ching ch. 9 (No. 1329).

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We now return again to our pilgrim's description. He tells us that to the south-east of the “old city” was the “Ku-t'a-Saṅghārāma” according to the A, B, and D texts, but in C and in the “Fang-chih” it is “Ku-ku-t'a Saṅghārāma” (or Cock Monastery). This monastery, the pilgrim states, had been built by Asoka, but it was in ruins, the foundations alone remaining. After Asoka became a Buddhist he summoned an assembly of 1000 Buddhist monks, common monks and arhats, in this monastery and supplied them with the requisites of their order.

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Fa-hsien, who agrees with Yuan-chuang in placing the Cock Monastery to the south-east of Pāṭaliputra, does not make any mention of the great gathering of bhikshus at it, nor is this mentioned in the “Fang-chih”. The number of the bhikshus who accepted Asoka's invitation to meet at Pāṭaliputra is given in other books as 300,000. These Brethren did not come to hold a Council but only to a grand meeting and entertainment, to attend Asoka's first “quinquennial festival of the holy priesthood”. The senior among them was the great Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja who had seen the Buddha.² In the D text of the Life this monastery has the name Ku-t'a, but in another text it is Ni-ku-t'a that is perhaps, Nigrodha. This was the name of the son of Susīma, the elder half-brother of Asoka, whom the latter murdered. Nigrodha became a Buddhist monk, and was in great favour with his uncle, being instrumental, according to some accounts, in converting the king to Buddhism.³

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² Divyāv. p. 398 ff.; Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 23; A-yü-wang-chuan ch. 2. In the Shan-chien-lü ch. 2 we read of the Council of 1000 assembled at Pāṭaliputra to settle the Vinaya.

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³ Mah. ch. V; Shan-chien-lü ch. 1: in these works the name of Asoka's elder brother is Sumana, but Susīma is the name in Divyāv. and other works. J. R. A. S. Vol. III. P. II. p. 162.

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p. 292, translated by Rhys Davids, ‘Questions of Milinda’ Vol. II. p. 147; J. R. A. S. Vol. III. P. II. p. 158.

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In some translations of the Indian books the name of the monastery is *Ki-t'ou-mo* (雞頭摩), *Ki* being the translation¹ of *Kukkuṭa* and *t'ou-mo* being perhaps for *dhāma*, site or house. In other works it is the Cock-wood Vihāra or the Cock-bird Vihāra,² and it seems to be sometimes called Aśokārāma. In his mention of the Brethren brought together in this establishment by Asoka, Yuan-chuang may have had in his mind the Council which met under the auspices of that sovereign. The passage about this assembly has been misunderstood, and consequently wrongly interpreted, by Julien. He renders *fan-shêng* (凡聖) by "les laics et les hommes doués de sainteté", and divorces them from their proper union. They belong to the words which precede and qualify them, the *fan* being the common Brethren who were still learners, and the *shêng* those who were arhats. There was an earlier Kukkuṭārāma near Pāṭaliputta, probably only huts in the park. Asoka may have built a monastery on this ancient site. There was also another Kukkuṭārāma, near Kosambi, in the Buddha's time.

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¹ A-yü-wang-chuan *ch.* 1. But we also find the word Ketuma as the name of a monastery here.

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² Tsa-a-han-ching *ch.* 21 and *ch.* 23.

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Yuan-chuang, proceeding with his account, relates that by the side of the Kukkuṭārāma was a large tope called the Āmalaka stupa, āmalaka being "the name of an Indian medicinal fruit". To account for the existence of this tope he tells the story of the dying Asoka and his last gift of the half of an āmalaka (or āmala) fruit. The king was *in extremis* and, knowing this, he wished to give his valuables in alms to the Buddhist clergy; but his statesmen had engrossed the administration, and would not allow him to carry out his desires. Once at food he kept an āmalaka and played with it until one half was spoiled: then holding it in his hand he sighed, and soliloquized on the vanity of human grandeur. After a few words with his ministers he charged the one in attendance to carry the half-fruit to the Kukkuṭārāma, and give it to the Brethren with a message from him. The abbot accepted the alms-offering in pity to the king, gave the fruit as requested to the Brethren, having instructed the steward to have the fruit cooked, to keep the kernel, and to have a tope raised.

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The story of Asoka's gift of half a myrobalan (āmalaka) fruit is told in several Buddhist treatises. When the king became old he named his grandson, the son of Kunāla, to be his successor. This prince, by name Sampati, acting under the advice of the high officials who had obtained all power, stopped the king's largesses to the Buddhist church while the king was still nominally sovereign. He also gradually reduced the services and allowances for the king, until at last he sent him half an āmalaka fruit on an earthen plate. The king, hereupon, sadly remarked to his courtiers, as in Yuan-chuang's story, that he had sunk from being sovereign of Jambudvīpa to be lord of only this half-fruit. He then sent this, as all he had to give, to the Brethren of the Kukkuṭārāma, and Yaśa, the head of the establishment, had it cooked and distributed.¹ There is no mention in the Buddhist books of the erection of a tope to commemorate this gift, and Fa-hsien does not seem to have seen or heard of the tope.

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¹ Divyāv. p. 430; Ta-chuang-yen-lun-ching ch. 5 (No. 1182).

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Our pilgrim's narrative proceeds. To the north-west of the Āmalaka Tope, in an old monastery, was the Institution of the Gong-call Tope. Once, the pilgrim explains, there were in this city above 100 Buddhist monasteries with Brethren of high character and great learning, and the Tirthikas were silenced. Then the Buddhist clergy gradually died, and there was a great falling off in their successors, "while the Tirthikas (wai-tao) transmitting learning from teacher to disciple made it a profession." So when the rival partisans were called together thousands and myriads collected to the Buddhist establishments, shouts were raised— "strike loud the gongs; call the learned together". The simple flocked to the meeting, and there was wild beating of gongs. At the Tirthikas' request the king appointed a public discussion to decide their respective merits with the condition that, if the Tirthikas proved successful, the Buddhist monasteries should not be allowed to call meetings by gong-beating. The Buddhists were defeated, and they had borne their humiliation twelve years, when Deva, a disciple of Nāgārjuna P'usa in South India, obtained leave from his master to go to Pāṭaliputra city and meet the Tirthikas in discussion. The fame of Deva P'usa had reached the city; and the Tirthikas, hearing of his proposed visit, induced the king to order the gate-keepers to forbid any foreign monk to enter the city. Deva, however, came in disguised; and on the morning after his arrival beat the gong of the monastery in which he had slept. This caused great excitement, and Deva obtained what he wanted, a public discussion. In the course of twelve days he refuted the propositions of the Tirthikas, and vanquished them utterly in argument. The king and his ministers were greatly pleased, and they raised this sacred structure as a memorial.

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On this story we have to observe that it seems to show that the Cock Monastery (Kukkuṭārāma) was within the walls of Pāṭaliputra. This was evidently the "old monastery" which had the tope of the Gong-striking, this and the Āmalaka tope being apparently within the enclosing walls of the Monastery. The part of Yuan-chuang's story which, in the abstract here given, is within inverted commas, has not been well rendered in Julien's translation. Thus the words chün-yü-t'ung-chih-miu-yu-k'ou-chi (群愚同止謬有扣擊) "dolts flocked to the meeting, there was wild beating",¹ are in his version— "Quand la multitude des hommes stupides se sera réunie avec nous, nous voulons combattre leurs erreurs et les terrasser", making the words to be uttered by les hérétiques. It is not easy to see how the last four Chinese characters could be forced to yield the meaning here given to them. Then at the end of the story Julien magnifies the P'usa's victory in the statement that "En moins d'une heure, il terrassa tous les hérétiques". The Chinese here rendered by une heure is chie-ch'ên (淡辰), a classical term which means a period of twelve days. That the great religious discussion lasted nearly twelve days is not improbable, and it is clearly impossible that Deva should have replied to his opponents' statements within one hour. It may be noticed that in the "Fangchih" it is Nāgārjuna who goes to Pāṭaliputra to confront the Tīrthikas.

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¹ The words k'ou-chi, "to knock and strike" may perhaps be used here in the sense of excitement, hurly-burly— "Stupid persons flocked to the meeting and there was disorderly excitement."

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The next object of which the pilgrim makes mention is the old foundation of the house in which the "Demon-eloquent" brahmin had lived, and the mention of this leads to the story of the exposure of the brahmin by Aśvaghosha. Yuan-chuang, giving apparently a local tradition, tells how there once was in Pāṭaliputra a brahmin who dwelt in a hut alone. He did not mix with his fellow-mortals, but sought success by worshipping demons, and was in league with elves; his sonorous discourse was small-talk, and his fine speech was echo-answering; old eminent scholars had not precedence of him, and ordinary men looked up to him as an arhat. But Aśvaghosha P'usa, whose knowledge embraced all things, and whose spiritual attainments extended over the "Three Vehicles", suspected the brahmin of being dependent on evil spirits for all his cleverness with his tongue. The P'usa reasoned that when fluency of speech is the gift of evil spirits what is said is not an answer to a question asked, and the speaker cannot repeat what he has once uttered to another. So Aśvaghosha visited the brahmin in order to put him to the test, and the interview convinced him that the brahmin was dependent on evil spirits. At Aśvaghosha's request the king summoned the brahmin to a public discussion at which the king was present. Aśvaghosha stated the subtleties of Buddhism, and the general principles of the Five Sciences, in a thorough manner and with clear eloquent diction. When the brahmin had spoken in reply Aśvaghosha said— You have missed the gist of my discourse, you must make your speech over again. But the brahmin remained silent so the P'usa jeered at him saying— "Why dont you explain. The sprites you serve should hasten to give you language". Then Aśvaghosha at once removed the screen which the brahmin kept before his face in order to ascertain what was strange in the possessed one's face. The brahmin, now put to utter confusion, prayed him to desist, and Aśvaghosha merely said to the audience— The collapse of this man's reputation today is an instance of "an empty name does not endure". Then the king addressing Aśvaghosha said— Had it not been for your abundant virtues, sir, this delusion would not have been exposed: the genius who knows others excels posterity, and reflects glory on predecessors, and according to the laws his great services must be recognized.

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In this passage Yuan-chuang represents Aśvaghosha as having secular learning which embraced all things and "spiritual attainments extending to the Three Vehicles".

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The Chinese for the last clause is *tao-poh-san-shêng* (道播三乘) and it is rendered by Julien "dans sa carrière il avait su faire usage des trois Vehicules". But this rendering is not in accordance with the construction of the passage, or the meaning of the word *poh*. In a note Julien gives the three Vehicles as those of the śrāvaka, the Pratyeka Buddha, and the Bodhisattva. These are the three mentioned in Buddhist books, and they are states or degrees of spiritual attainment, the lowest being that of the śrāvaka and the highest that of the Bodhisattva, which is also called the "Great Vehicle". Our pilgrim makes Aśvaghosha have a twofold test for detecting the cooperation of evil spirits with a man who is a fine talker. The test is that the man does not give a real answer to a question, and that he cannot repeat what he has once said to another. In the public discussion the test is applied with marked success. Julien's translation misses all the point of the passage, and spoils the story. Then Julien makes Yuan-chuang state that Ma-ming (Aśvaghosha) "connaissait les démons", but Yuan-chuang merely states that Ma-ming "mentally recognized evil spirits" that is, became convinced that his suspicion as to the source of the brahmin's powers was correct. Julien translates the phrase *chüi-hou* (絕後) by "n'a pas de successeurs", and he supports his rendering by a reference to an expression quoted in the "P'ei-wên-yun-foo". But the reference is an unfortunate one, as the painter in the passage cited had a successor by whom he was surpassed. The translation is not good, and it is un-Chinese as an expression of praise. *Chui-hou* or *Chui-yü*(追)-*hou* means to stand out to posterity or to be above those who follow. The man who has genius to know others sheds a glory on his ancestors, and is a standard of superiority to his followers or posterity. The Ma-ming P'u-sa or Aśvaghosha Bodhisattva of this passage is apparently the bhikshu who flourished 300, or according to some 600 or 800 years after Buddha's decease. This Aśvaghosha was originally a brahmin, and was converted and ordained, according to some authorities by Fu-na-shê supposed to be for Puṇya-yaśa,¹ and according to others by the great Pārśva.² This last defeated Aśvaghosha in a controversy held in Shi-ka, apparently in or near Magadha. As a Buddhist monk Aśvaghosha attained to great eminence by his powers of argument and discussion, and he was given to Ka-ni-t'a (Kanishka perhaps), king of the Yue-ti country, as part of a war indemnity. This king treated the bhikshu with much kindness and esteem,³ and Aśvaghosha continued his labours in his new place of abode in Kashmir. He was the author of the "Ch'i-hsin-lun" (起信論), the "Ta-chuang-yen-ching-lun" (大莊嚴經論) and numerous other treatises. In the Patriarchal succession Aśvaghosha is the next after Puṇyayaśa, and in Japan he is regarded as a teacher of the "Pure Land" doctrine, and is the first patriarch of the Avatamsaka sūtra sect and the 12th of the "Contemplatist School".⁴ We read, however, of several eminent bhikshus with this name, one living so early as the time of the Buddha.⁵ These, however, may all be the same man assigned to different dates. He was called "Horse-voice" (Aśvaghosha) because at his birth horses neighed, or because on one occasion when he preached hungry horses forgot to feed, and listened to his sermon neighing with pious delight. There are also other stories told to account for the name which in one treatise is given as Giu-lo-wei-ni, perhaps for Ghoravin.⁶ Here we have probably the original vernacular sobriquet given to the monk because he held horses (ghora) spell-bound by his lute (vīṇā). This great Buddhist, who apparently lived in the second century of our era, was a poet, musician, scholar, religious controversialist and zealous Buddhist monk, orthodox in creed, and a strict observer of discipline.

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¹ Fu-fa-tsang-yiu-yuan ch. 5.

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² Ma-ming-p'u-sa-chuan (No. 1460).

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³ Tsa-pao-tsang-ching ch. 7.

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⁴ B. Nanjio's Short Hist. Twelve Jap. sects pp. 59, 106, 115.

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⁵ Shih-Mo-ho-yen-lun, or An Exposition of Mahāyānism, ch. 1; Mahāmāya-ching ch. 2 (No. 382); Ch'i-hsin-lun-su-pi-hsiao-chi ch. 1 (No. 1626).

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⁶ The name is written 摩羅維尼 in No. 1626.

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We return again to the pilgrim's description. Above 200 *li*, he states, from the south-west angle of the city, were the foundations of an old monastery with a tope. These were on a site which had been used as sitting place and exercise ground by the Four Past Buddhas. The tope had manifestations of divine light and other miracles, and people from far and near came to it and offered up prayers.

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In his translation of this passage Julien instead of "200 *li*" has 200 paces, but in all the texts and in the "Fang-chih" the reading is 200 *li*. By using the form of expression "south-west angle of the city" the pilgrim may perhaps have meant to indicate that the direction was exactly south-west, and not merely between south and west. It was not from the south-west corner of the city, as Mr. Fergusson seems to have supposed,¹ but from the Cock-Monastery to the south-east of the city that the pilgrim renewed his journey.

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¹ J. R. A. S. Vol. VII, Art. IX.

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The pilgrim continuing his narrative tells us that from the old monastery a journey south-west above 100 *li* brought him to the *Ti-lo-shi-ka* monastery. This establishment, erected by the last descendant of king Bimbisāra, had four courts with three-storeyed halls, lofty terraces, and a succession of open passages. It was the rendezvous of eminent scholars who flocked to it from all regions. The Brethren in it, all Mahāyānists, were above 1000 in number. At the head of the road², through the middle gate, were three temples (*ching-shê*) with disks on the roofs and hung with small bells; the bases were surrounded by balustrades, and doors, windows, beams, walls, and stairs were ornamented with gilt work in relief. The middle temple had a stone image of the Buddha thirty feet high; the left-hand one had an image of Tāra Bodhisattva; and the right-hand one had an image of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva: these three images were all of bronze (*tu-shi*). Each of the temples had a pint of relics which occasionally yielded miraculous phenomena.

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² The common meaning of *tang-tao* (當道) is "on the road" and this may be its signification here. But as the temples could not have been actually on the highway the phrase may mean at the head of the passage, that is, at the place where the road to the middle gate began.

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This is an interesting account, and has to be studied in connection with statements in the Life. This latter treatise makes Yuan-chuang travel south-west from the Cock-Monastery six or seven yojanas (about 50 miles) to the *Ti-lo-li* (var. *Che-*)ka monastery, from which some score of the Brethren came out to welcome him. This is evidently the *Ti-lo-shi-ka* monastery of our text, and Julien writes the name so in his translation of the Life. The difference in the distance may be accounted for by the pilgrim giving the length of his journey, and the Life giving the distance in a straight line. In another passage of the Life we read that when Yuan-chuang, on his way back to China, visited Nālanda for the second time, he learned that three yojanas from it west was a monastery called *Ti-lo-shi-ka*, in which was a learned Buddhist Doctor by name Prajñā-bhadra. Here the reading in Julien’s text was *Ti-lo-tse-ka* for which he suggests Tilaṭaka as the original, but the old Sung edition has *Ti-lo-shi-ka*. This monastery is evidently the *Ti-lo-che-ka* of the previous passage in the Life, the learned Doctor having come to reside in it after the pilgrim’s first visit to Nālanda. Bōhtlingk-Roth suggest Tilaḍhaka as the name of this Buddhist establishment, but the suggestion cannot be adopted. All the texts of the Records have *Ti-lo-shi-ka*, and the *tse* (擇) of the second passage in the Life is apparently a copyist’s error for the *shi* (釋) of the old texts. Then this monastery has been identified with I-ching’s *Ti-lo-t'u* and *Ti-lo-ch'a* which probably represent one word like Tiladha.¹ He gives the name to a monastery in Magadha about two yojanas from Nālanda. It was probably in the great Buddhist establishment of *Ti-lo-shi-ka* that Pārśva and Aśvaghoṣa had the meeting already mentioned as having taken place in Shi-ka. Cunningham by manipulating his texts finds Yuan-chuang's Tilo-shika, which he calls Tiladaka, in the modern Tillāra, and Fergusson places it in the Barabar hills. The full name of the monastery may have been Tira-śaka or as Julien suggests Tila-śakya, its designation among the people being something like Tiladha. It was a large and famous establishment flourishing in the 7th century, between 40 and 50 miles in a southwest direction from the Kukkuṭārāma, and about 20 miles to the west of Nālanda. Yuan-chuang tells us that the monastery was built by the last descendant of Bimbisāra, but according to the books the last descendant of that king on the throne of Magadha was Pushyamitra, an enemy and persecutor of Buddhism. We note the temple of Buddha flanked by a temple to Tāra on one side, and by a temple to Kuan-yin on the other. Here, as in a subsequent passage where we have another temple of Tāra, that person is simply a Bodhisattva without any indication of sex. This P'usa, "the Saviour", became "Holy Mother Tāra", the spiritual wife of Kuan-yin. She resides at the foot of a mountain in the Southern Ocean, and Kuan-yin sojourns on the top, but it is in Tibet and Mongolia that Tāra is chiefly worshipped.¹

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¹ Yuan-chuang writes the name *Ti-lo-shi-ka* (底 羅 釋 迦), the Life has *Ti-lo-lei* or *che-ka* (底 羅 礫 or 磔 迦), and also *Ti-lo-tse* or *shih* (擇 or 釋)-ka; I-ching has *Ti-lo-ch'a* or *tu* (荼 or 荼).

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¹ Fo-tsu-li-tai-t'ung-tsai *ch.* 2 (No. 1637); Waddell's 'Buddhism of Tibet', p. 367ff. See also G. de Blonay's 'Materiaux pour servir à l'histoire de la Déesse Bouddhique Tārā.'

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Our pilgrim's narrative proceeds. Above 90 *li* southwest from the Ti-lo-shi-ka monastery was a lofty mountain. Among its sombre masses of clouds and rocks lodged immortals, poisonous snakes and fierce dragons lurked in the hollows of its marshes, fierce beasts skulked and birds of prey roosted in its thickets. On its top was a flat rock surmounted by a tope above ten feet high. This was on the spot where the Buddha once sat all night in the "Samādhi of the end of extinction". The pious devas had made a tope of precious gold and silver to commemorate the event, but in the long course of time the precious metals had changed to stone. No human mortal had ever visited the tope, but from afar serpents and wild beasts could be seen in companies performing pradakṣiṇa, and angels and saints giving praise and worship.

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The mountain here mentioned was apparently not visited by Yuan-chuang on his way to Gayā but he may have passed near it on some other occasion. We must remember that he spent above five years in this district and visited it again on his return. So the Records here do not give us a consecutive narrative of a journey, but rather the results of excursions and investigations.

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Our pilgrim goes on to describe that on the east ridge of this mountain was a tope on the spot on which the Buddha stood to obtain a view of Magadha. He then goes on to relate that above 30 *li* to the north-west of the mountain, on the slope of a mountain, was a monastery the high bases of which were backed by the ridge, the high chambers being hewn out of the cliff. In this monastery there were fifty Brethren, all adherents of the "Great Vehicle". It had been built in honour of Guṇamati Bodhisattva who here vanquished in discussion the great Sāṅkhya Doctor Mādhava. The pilgrim adds an account of the discussion and the results of Mādhava's defeat.

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