On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19.98

v2.c19.98

This interpretation of our author differs from the rendering given by Julien who seems to take liberties with his text here. The words *hsing-shi-yii-pu* (行 十 餘 步) "going above ten paces", cannot be rendered "sur un espace d'environ dix pas", but belong to the words which follow. These are in Julien's translation— "Des fleurs extraordinaires, au nombre de dix-huit, surgirent sur ses traces". But there is nothing in the text for *surgirent* and *wên* (文) is not a classifier of *flowers*. *Hua-wên* is an ornamental tracing or figure and there were eighteen such figures, one for each of Buddha's footprints for the ten paces. Then Julien adds— "Dans la suite, on couvrit cet endroit d'un massif en briques de trois pieds de hauteur". The text for this is *Hou-jen-yü-tzŭ-lei-chuan-wei-chi-kao-yü-san-chih* (後 人 于 此 壘 爲 基 高 餘 三 尺) that is, "later men here raised a brick base above three feet high". The *chi* or "base" was the wall which fronted and protected the actual walk, the latter being at Yuan-chuang's time probably made of chunam. In the next sentence Julien has— "Le massif en brique, posé sur les vestiges du Saint" for *tzŭ-shêng-chih-chi*, that is, "this base for the sacred footprints". The Buddha's Walk of our pilgrim corresponds to the Ratanacaṅkamacetiya or Jewel-walk chaitya of the "Jātaka", which was between the Bodhi Tree and the Animisacetiya, and so to the north-east of the Tree.¹ Fa-hsien tells of a tope (that is, Chaitya) at the spot where Buddha walked east and west under the Pei-to (i. e. Bodhi) Tree for seven days, but he does not mention an artificial raised and covered passage.² With him, as with the Pali writers, the Walk is evidently only a place (thāna or ch'ii) marked by a chaitya. Cunningham devotes ch. III. of his "Mahābodhi" to this "Buddha Walk" which, he says, "still exists close to the north side of the Temple" and is "a simple brick wall 53 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches broad, and a little more than 3 feet in height".