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On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c20: Chapter XV. Magadha Continued

On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c20

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Chapter XV. Magadha Continued

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CHUAN IX of our Records begins by telling us that in a wood, to the east of the Bodhi Tree and on the other side of the Nairanjana river, was a tope, and to the north of this a tank which was the place where the "scent-elephant" served his mother. Formerly, the pilgrim continues, Ju-lai in his career as a P'usa was a young "scent-elephant"; his home was in the North Mountains and he wandered to the banks of this tank; his mother was blind, and he gathering lotus-roots and drawing pure water, waited on her with filial piety, going about as the seasons changed. Once a man lost his way in this wood and cried out in helpless distress; the young elephant thereupon kindly led him out of the wood, and shewed him the way home. When the man returned to his native place he told the king about the "scent-elephant", and then went as guide with the force which the king sent to capture the animal. At the instant this man pointed out the elephant his arms fell down as if lopped off. The king had the elephant brought to his stables and tied up there, but the creature would not take any food. In reply to the king's question he said he could not enjoy any food knowing that his blind mother was starving; thereupon the king moved by the filial display of the elephant set him free.

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This curious story of the Buddha in one of his previous existences having been a "scent-elephant" or Gandhahastin is the Mātiposaka Jātaka (No. 455 of the Pali Jātaka). There is a different version of it given in the late work the "Bhadrakalpa Avadāna", and still another version in a Chinese translation of a Sanskrit treatise.¹ In the latter work the king of Videha, who is at enmity with the king of Kāsi, owns a scent-elephant which makes him unconquerable by his enemy. The king of Kāsi manages to get possession of the elephant, but the latter refuses to take food because his blind parents are starving on account of his absence. He is allowed to go and nurse them, and finally he effects a reconciliation between the two kings. The Gandhahastin was apparently an unknown and imaginary creature which was supposed to have the strength of ten ordinary elephants. It is mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa, and the word occurs as a proper name, two Buddhas and a Bodhisattva being so called. The words rendered in the above passage by "going about as the seasons changed" are yü-shi-t'ui-i (與時推移). Julien, separating these from their connection translates them by— "Dans la suite des temps", a rendering which does great violence to the text.

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¹ Bud. Lit. Nep. p. 46; Tsa-pao-tsang-ching *ch.* 2 (No. 1329).

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By the side of this tope, the pilgrim tells us, was another one in front of which a stone pillar had been erected where the Buddha Kāśyapa had sat in meditation, and beside it was a place with vestiges of the sites used for sitting and exercise by the Four Past Buddhas. From this, the narrative proceeds, going east across the Mo-ha river you come to a stone pillar in a large wood. It was here that the Tirthika Yü-t'ou-lan tzŭ (that is, Udra-rāma-putra) went into Samādhi and uttered his wicked vow. This man, the pilgrim explains, had led a life of ascetic seclusion in this "religious wood", and had attained supernormal powers. He was greatly reverenced by the king of Magadha, who invited him into the palace for his midday meal, and waited on him personally. When the king went away for a time he entrusted one of his daughters with the duty of attending to the holy man, and she was careful to carry out her father's desires. As she prepared a seat for the Tirthika, however, she came in contact with him, and he thereupon felt the stirrings of desire and lost his spiritual powers. Pretending to the princess that he was about to return to his hermitage, not through the air as he had always done before, but on foot for the benefit of the people, he walked to this wood. Here he tried to go into samādhi, but the chattering of the birds and the brawling (B. gambols) of the watery tribes when he went to the tank, distracted his mind and spoiled his spiritual exercises. So he became enraged, and made a vow to return into the world as a fierce animal with the body of a gigantic wild cat and the wings of a bird. His passion now gradually abated, and he regained the power of samādhi; soon afterwards he died and went to Heaven where he is to remain for 80000 kalpas. At the end of that period, according to Buddha's prediction, he is to realize his old evil desire, and there is no period fixed for his release from this bad state of existence.

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The original invention of the silly story here told was perhaps due to a punning explanation of the great rishi's name. This is given by Yuan-chuang here, as in a previous passage, as Uddo (or Udra) Rāma-putra, but another form of the name, viz. Udraka, is given by our pilgrim in his translations. Then we have also the forms Rudra and Rudraka with Rāma-putra added. The word udra denotes an otter and I-ching translates it in this name by Shui-t'a or "Water otter". But the uddo or udra does not live in the water, he lives in the jungle, and hunts his prey on land and in water. Then Rudra or rudraka means fierce and terrible, and so we find Rudraka Rāma-putra rendered by Mêng-hsi-tzŭ or "the fierce son of joy". This Udra or Rudra was, we know, a great religious teacher living in a hermitage near Rājagaha at the time when Siddhārtha left home to enter on his career. Siddhārtha went to him to learn the way of salvation, but finding that the teaching did not lead to absolute final results he went away to work out his problems alone. On becoming Buddha he proposed to go to his former master Udra and impart to him the new method of salvation. But a voice from the heavens told him that Udra had died the night (or seven nights) before. The Buddha sighed over Udra's misfortune in not surviving to hear the new way of deliverance, for he knew that Udra, who had attained "the samādhi of the negation of thought", would have grasped his doctrines quickly, and thus have obtained release from all future births. As matters stood the rishi, according to some accounts, had gone to the "Heaven of the negation of the absence of thought", and is to remain there for an immensely long period. When his life there is over he is to be reborn in this world as a wild cat or a fox, and go about with an insatiable appetite preying on birds, beasts, and fishes.¹ Then dying of starvation he is to go to Hell for a period, and, as Yuan-chuang has stated, the Buddha did not announce how long this purgatory is to last. There is no satisfactory explanation for this descent of Udra into lower lives, and the myth does not seem to suit the affectionate respect with which the Buddha is represented in some treatises as speaking of his old teacher.²

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¹ Hsing-chi-ching ch. 33; Chung-a-han-ching ch. 28; Abhi.-shun-chêng-lí-lun ch. 68 (No. 1265).

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² In the Pali Vinaya Vol. I, p. 7 for instance.

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The river which Yuan-chuang in this passage says he crossed, going east from the Bodhi Tree district, is called by him Mo-ha. Julien turns this into Mahī, and Cunningham calls the river the Mohana-nadī. But the Chinese Mo-ha cannot be for Mahī, and it is possible it may be for the Sanskrit mahā, great or large, and moha ho may be either a proper name or simply "a large river". We have a mahā ho here in Magadha, and in Chuan XI we have one in the Malva Country.

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Returning to the pilgrim's narrative it tells us that going east from the Moha river through a forest and jungle for above 100 li you come to the Kukkuṭapāda (Cock's foot) or Gurupāda (Sage's foot) Mountain. The lofty peaks of this mountain are endless cliffs, and its deep valleys are boundless ravines; its lower slopes have their gullies covered with tall trees, and rank vegetation clothes the steep heights. A threefold cliff projects in isolated loftiness, reaching to the sky and blending with the clouds. As time went on since the Venerable Mahā Kāśyapa took up his abode in it, in nirvāṇa, the people not venturing to speak plainly talked of it as the Gurupāda mountain. This Mahā Kāśyapa, the pilgrim goes on to relate, was a disciple who had attained full supernatural powers. When the Julai having finished his mission was about to pass away he addressed Kāśyapa, saying— "For vast kalpas I devoted myself zealously to austerities seeking to obtain the highest religion (fa 法) for all creatures; my aspirations have been all realized; as I now wish to pass away, I commit to you all my canon to preserve and preach in its entirety; my gold-embroidered monk's robe, the gift of my aunt, keep to hand over to Maitreya when he comes to be Buddha; those who will then be adherents of the religion which I am leaving, monks and nuns, male and female lay-believers, are all to be saved first, and released from renewed existence". Kāśyapa thereupon undertook the charge of Buddha's religion. Twenty years after he had drawn up the canon, wearied with impermanence, he proceeded to "enter nirvāṇa". So going up the north side of the Cock-foot Mountain, and thence to its south-west ridge where there were steep precipices and narrow tortuous paths, with his monk's staff he opened a way by which he reached the summit emerging on the north-east side. There he entered the triple peak, inside which he stands holding Buddha's robe, the threefold summit having closed over him by the force of his prayer, and the mountain still retains the dorsal triple elevation. Hereafter when Maitreya has come, and has had his three assemblies, there will still remain an immense number of unbelievers; these Maitreya will lead to this mountain and shew them Kāśyapa; but the sight will only increase their pride of spirit. Then Kāśyapa will, in their presence, give over the Buddha's robe to Maitreya and bid him farewell; having done this he will soar into the air, work miracles, and pass away by magic combustion. Seeing all this the unbelievers will be moved to faith, and eventually will all attain arhatship. At the tope on this mountain bright lights are seen occasionally in the stillness of the night, but they may not be visible to you when you ascend the mountain.

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The mountain here called by our pilgrim Cock's-Foot and Sage's-Foot is also called Wolf's-Traces (Lang-chih 狼跡) that is perhaps, Kokapāda.¹ It is placed by Fa-hsien three *li* south from the Bodhi Tree. In some treatises the country of the mountain is not given, or it is said to be in Magadha,² or at the Pi-ti (Videha) village in Magadha.³ I-ching places the Gurupāda mountain seven yojanas to the south from Nālandā, and so near the Bodhi⁴ Tree. The story of Mahā Kaśyapa going into and remaining within the Cock’s-Foot mountain is told in several Buddhist treatises, but with some differences of detail. When Kaśyapa has finished his work of compiling the canon he hands over charge of the Church to Ānanda, and goes away to worship at the four great chaityas, and the topes over relics of Buddha. Then after trying in vain to take farewell of king Ajātaśatru he proceeds to the Cock’s-Foot mountain, enters it at the triple peak, and sits down inside to await the coming of Maitreya. Soon afterwards Ajātaśatru comes to the place, the hill opens, and the king sees Kaśyapa, whereupon he builds a tope on the mountain.¹ When Maitreya comes he will find, according to the Divyāvadāna and other treatises, only the perfect compact skeleton of Kaśyapa, and he will lift this with his right hand, and placing it on the palm of his left, shew it to his unbelieving congregation.² Some accounts, however, represent Kaśyapa as only remaining in samādhi, or in a state of torpor, and he is to be roused on the advent of Maitreya by Indra rubbing him with sweet-scented oil.³ This was probably our pilgrim’s conception; but he does not express himself clearly and consistently. The pride of the unbelievers being increased on the sight of the mummy is due to the fact that the people of Maitreya’s time will all be giants compared with those of the time of Gautama Buddha.⁴ According to some versions of the legend it was not the gold-embroidered robe, but his ordinary one of dirt-heap rags that Buddha gave to his successor to keep for Maitreya.⁵ And in some accounts Kaśyapa puts on the robe and goes into the mountain to wait for Maitreya apparently of his own motion, and without any instructions from the Buddha.¹ We must also notice that in at least one treatise we find the Buddha delivering the gold-embroidered robe to the disciple of whom he predicts that in the distant future he will become Maitreya Buddha.²

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¹ Mahāmāya-ching *ch.* 2 (No. 382); Fo-shuo-Mi-lê-ta-ch'êng-Fo-ching (No. 209); The "Wolf's-Traces" mountain was apparently part of Gridhrakūṭa.

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² Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih *ch.* 40; A-yü-wang-chuang *ch.* 4.

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³ Fo-shuo-Mi-lê-hsia-shêng-ching (No. 208), where the title is different.

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⁴ Hsi-yü-ch'iu *ch.* 1; Chavannes, 'Mémoires', p. 47.

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¹ Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih ch. 40.

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² Divyāv. p. 61; Abhi-kośa-lun ch. 28 (No. 1267); Sar. Vin. Yao-shih ch. 6.

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³ Fo-shuo-Mi-lê-ta-ch’êng-Fo-ching.

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⁴ Ta-chih-tu-lun ch. 3, here Kaśyapa is in the Gridhrakūṭa mountain.

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⁵ Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih l. c.

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¹ Ta-pei-ching *ch.* 2 (No. 117).

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² Fo-shuo-ku(or Mi-lê)-lai-shi-ching (No. 206).

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The pilgrim, continuing his narrative, states that he went from the Kukkuṭapāda Mountain north-east, above 100 *li*, and came to the Buddhavana Mountain, with lofty peaks and closely packed cliffs. Buddha, he adds, had rested in a cave in its steep side. At the side of this was a flat stone which Śakra and Brahmā had once used for grinding Oxhead Sandal to rub over Buddha's body: the stone still retained the perfume. On this mountain also the 500 Arhats remained dormant: those who moved them to an interview might see them going as śrāmaṇeras into a village to beg food: whether secret or open the effects of their supernormal action could not be recorded. From this mountain a journey eastward of above 30 *li* through a valley led the pilgrim, he tells us, to the Yashti (or Stick) Wood, a dense forest of bamboos which covered a mountain. This leads the pilgrim to record how an unbelieving brahmin, doubting the statement that Śākyamuni Buddha was sixteen feet high, had a stick of that length made to take his measure. But as the figure always exceeded the height of the stick he could never learn the true height of Buddha. So in a fit of disgust he threw away the stick, which took root, and from it came the wood which got the name Yashtivana. In this Asoka had erected a tope and Buddha had exhibited miracles and preached for seven days to devas and men. Our pilgrim then tells the story of the devoted upāsaka of recent times by name Jayasena, who had lived in this Wood. Above ten *li* to the south-west of the Yashtivana, the pilgrim continues, were two hot springs made by Buddha and used by him. Six or seven *li* to the south-east of the Wood, on a ridge of a mountain, was a tope where Buddha had preached to men and devas for two or three months, when king Bimbisāra had constructed a road through the mountain above twenty paces wide and two or three *li* in length.

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The miracle which our pilgrim here narrates as originating the name of the Yashti-vana or Stick-Wood is unfortunately not in agreement with other Buddhist texts. From these we learn that the name and place were well known at the beginning of the Buddha's career. These books tell us that when he proceeded from the neighbourhood of the Bodhi Tree to pay his first visit, as the Buddha, to Rājagriha, he rested on the way in the Yashti-vana, the Stick (or Staff) wood.¹ As a variant for Yashti we find Lashti,² and there are the two Pali forms Yatthi and Latthi. Moreover we find the place called the Si-p'o-lo-ti, that is, Subhalatthi with the word for trees added.³ It is called in some books a garden or park and in others a mountain. In it was a noted shrine called the Supratishtha-chaitya. This Supratishtha (in Pali Supatittha) was the god of a banyan tree in the Wood,⁴ and the chaitya, at which Buddha lodged, was apparently only the foot of the banyan. The name of the chaitya is rendered in Chinese by Shan-an-chu (善安住), "well settled" and by Shan-chien (善建) "well established".⁵ It was evidently this name, Supratishtha, which the Tibetan translator had before him in the passage given by Rockhill; and the tentative rendering "Consecrated" given by the latter⁶ should be replaced by "Well-established" or a similar phrase. This Wood is not mentioned by Fa-hsien, and the Sung pilgrim⁷ places it 100 *li* north-west from the Cock's-Foot Mountain, which according to him was 100 *li* south-east from the Bodhi Tree. In one book it is said to be 40 *li* from Rājagriha, and it was evidently to the west of that city, and not far from it. It is still, according to Cunningham, "well known as the Jakhti-ban, which is only the Hindi form of the Sanskrit word".⁸ As to the two Hot Springs mentioned by our pilgrim these are still, Cunningham tells us, to be found "at a place called Tapoban". In Buddhist writings we find mention of a T'a-pu (Tapo) Ho or Hot river,¹ and of a Tapodārāma or Hot-water Monastery near Rājagaha.² These may represent the "Hot-springs" of the pilgrim, but they were there before Buddha's time, and there is mention of several hot-water springs in the neighbourhood of the city.

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¹ Sar. Vin. Ch'u-chia-shih, ch. 2; Mahāvastu III. 441; Yin-kuo-ching, ch. 4. Pali Vinaya 1. 35.

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² Hsing-chi-ching ch. 48.

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³ Chung-pên-ch'i-ching ch. 1 (No. 556).

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⁴ Ssŭ-fên-lü ch. 33.

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⁵ Hsing-chi-ching l. c.; Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 38; Dh. p. 119.

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⁶ Rockhill's, Life', p. 42 and note.

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⁷ Ma T. 1. ch. 338.

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⁸ Ancient Geog. of India'. p. 461.

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¹ Tsa-a-han-ching *ch*. 38.

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² Sam. Nik. Vol. I. p. 8.

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Our pilgrim's narrative next goes on to tell that three or four *li* north from the great mountain with Bimbisāra's road was an isolated hill on which the *rishi* Vyāsa once dwelt as a hermit. Four or five *li* north from this was a small isolated hill in the rocky side of which was a cave large enough to seat above 1000 men: at the south-west corner of it was the Asura's Palace. With reference to this the pilgrim tells a story of a "mischievous" (好事者) man (in Julien's rendering "un ami du merveilleux") who induced 13 friends to go with him into this cave. They all went forward about 30 or 40 *li* when they came to a city of gold, and silver, and lapis-lazuli. Two female servants told the party they must all, except their magician leader, take a bath before going in; when the thirteen men had bathed they found themselves in a rice-field about 30 *li* up the valley. Beside the cave ran the causeway made by king Bimbisāra to get to the Buddha. It was about four *li* long by ten paces wide, formed by cutting throught banks of rock and filling up valleys, piling up stones, boring through precipices, and making a succession of steps. From this going east across the mountain for above 60 *li* the pilgrim came to the Kusāgrapur city, "the city of the superior reed-grass", the centre of Magadha and its old capital. The city derived its name from the excellent fragrant reed-grass which abounded there. High hills formed its outer walls; on the west it had a narrow outlet: on the north was a passage through the mountain; it was above 150 *li* in circuit: *kanika* trees with fragrant bright golden blossoms were on all the paths, and these made the woods in late spring all golden coloured.

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The term here rendered "causeway" is Chan-tao (棧道) properly a gangway made to span two isolated points. In this passage it is evidently an artificial stone road forming a long series of steps across and up the mountain to the place where the Buddha lodged. For the "filling up valleys" of the present translation the Chinese is *tien-chuan* (填川), but in the B text the reading is wrongly *tuo* (舵)-*chuan*, "leading streams in their courses". In his translation of this passage Julien restores *Kū-shê-ka-lo-pu-lo* by Kuśāgrapura or "Palace of the Kuśa house". But the translation *shany-mao* (上茅), "superior reed-grass" apparently supposes the word Kuśāgra. The city was called Kuśāgrapura on account of the "very excellent lucky fragrant grass" which it produced. It is the Rājagaha or Old Rājagaha of the Pali scriptures.

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Our pilgrim next goes to tell that outside the north gate of the [old] capital was a tope to commemorate the following event. Devadatta and Ajātaśatru having become friends let loose the intoxicated elephant Wealth-guarding in the desire of killing Ju-lai, but the latter from the tips of his fingers produced five lions, whereupon the elephant became gentle, and went away.

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This ridiculous story of the intoxicated elephant is told with variations in several of the Buddhist books. According to one of these¹ a rich layman of Rājagaha had invited the Buddha and his disciples to breakfast. Devadatta with the consent of Ajātaśatru hires men to make the king's elephant Dhanapāla mad with wine, and then let him loose on the morning of the breakfast to trample Buddha to death. The Buddha, who is staying in the Bamboo Park, is warned, but he sets out for the house of his host in the city. The drunken elephant rushes towards him. The Buddha thereupon produces five lions from the tips of the fingers of one hand: at the same time, according to some versions,² he also causes a wall, and pit, and great fires to appear. The elephant is cowed and sobered, and becomes a devoted follower of the Buddha. Julien in his translation of the pilgrim's account gives "gardien du trésor" as the meaning of the author's *Hu-ts'ai* (護財), but this is a proper name. It translates the Indian *Dhanapāla* "wealth-guarding", the name given to the savage elephant owned by king Ajātaśatru,¹ and another rendering is Shou-ts'ai (守財) with the same meaning. In some older versions of the story there are no magic lions, or fires, and the Buddha sobers and tames the elephant by gentle words.² Fa-hsien differs from others in making the king himself send a black elephant to murder Buddha.³

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¹ Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih *ch.* 19. Cf. Hardy, 'Man, Bud.' 331.

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² Vibhāsha-lun *ch.* 11.

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¹ 'Questions of Milinda' by Rhys Davids Vol. I p. 297—8 and note.

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² Pali Vinaya, II. 195 Rockhill's, 'Life', p. 93 where the elephant's name is given as Ratnapāla or Vasupāla; Shi-sung-lü *ch*. 36.

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³ Fo-kuo-chi *ch*. 28.

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North-east from this tope, the narrative in our Records continues, was another at the place where Śāriputra having heard Buddhism from the bhikshu Aśvajit became an arhat. The pilgrim hereupon tells briefly how the arhatship was attained. Not far from this tope, he continues, was a deep hollow beside which was another tope. It was here that Śrigupta tried to kill Buddha, first by a pit with burning fire, and then by poisoned food. The story of this rich dupe of Buddha's rivals making, on their suggestion, a burning pit with a treacherous covering in order to kill Buddha, and of a further attempt to poison Buddha on the same occasion, is then told.

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This story of Śrigupta as told in our text is related also in several other books, e. g. in the "Avadāna Kalpalatā"⁴ and the "Tsêng-i-a-han-ching".⁵ In Fa-hsien's narrative the murderous plot is ascribed to an unnamed Nirgrantha.⁶

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⁴ Journal Bud. Text Soc. Vol. III. Pt. II. p. 10.

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⁵ Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching *ch*. 41.

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⁶ Fo-kuo-chi l. c.

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The pilgrim's description proceeds— North-east from Śrigupta's Fire-pit, and in a bend of the mountain wall, was a tope at the spot where Jīvaka, the great physician, had built a hall for the Buddha. Remains of the walls and of the plants and trees within them still existed. Julai often stayed here. Beside the tope the ruins of Jīvaka's private residence still survived.

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The great physician Jīvaka of this passage was a distinguished follower and attached friend of the Buddha. He was an illegitimate son of king Bimbisāra according to some accounts,¹ but of Abhaya, a son of Bimbisāra, according to the Ceylon authorities.² In his youth he chose the medical profession for his career, and went to Takshaśilā to study the art of healing under the famous teachers of that city. When he returned to Rājagriha and settled there, he lived in a Mango orchard, which was apparently in the inclosure between the city proper and the hills which formed its outer defences on the east side.³ It was in this orchard that Jīvaka made for Buddha a chapel or a monastery, according to some accounts in the 20th year of Buddha’s career. In some Chinese translations the word āmra, mango, is rendered by *li* (梨) “a pear”, but generally the Indian name is merely transcribed. Fa-hsien writes this *an-p'o-lo*, that is, abra, the *m* of Sanskrit becoming *b* in his transcription, as in his Yabunā for Yamunā. He places the chapel of Jīvaka, whom he calls *Ch'i-chiu* (耆闍), in a bend in the north-east corner of the city. Instead of *Ch'i-chiu* we also find Fa-hsien using *Ch'i-yii* (耆域) that is Jiva, and the character for chiu is probably a mistake. As a son of a king or a prince Jīvaka is frequently styled a Kumārabhūta, in Chinese a *wang* or a *t'ung*, “boy”, with the same meaning.

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¹ Rockhill, ‘Life’, p. 64; Hsing-ch'i-ching *ch*. 1.

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² Hardy, ‘Man. Bud.’ 244; Bigandet, ‘Legend’, Vol. I. p. 196.

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³ Fo-shuo-shêng-ching *ch*. 2; Fo-shuo-chi-chih-kuo-ching (No. 593).

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The pilgrim’s narrative proceeds. From the capital (li. e. the walled city of Old Rājagaha) he went north-east 14 or 15 *li* to the Gridhrakūṭa or Vulture Peak Mountain. This, he says, is continuous with the south side of the North Mountain, and rises to a great height, blending with the empyrean. Its summit is a perch for vultures, and is like a terrace. During the fifty years of his spiritual administration the Buddha lived much and taught his religion on this mountain. There is a road from the foot to the top, made by king Bimbisāra in order to reach the Buddha and hear him preach. The top is elongated from east to west, and narrow from north to south. Close to a cliff on the west side is a magnificent brick hall (*ching-shê*), opening to the east, in which the Buddha often preached. In it is a life-size image of the Buddha in the attitude of preaching. To the east of this hall is a large stone, an exercise-place of the Buddha, and at its side a rock, about fourteen feet high and above 30 paces in circumference, where Devadatta hurled a rock at the Buddha. South of this, and below the cliff, is a tope on the spot where the Buddha delivered the "Fa-hua-ching". To the south of the temple, and at the side of the cliff, is a large cave in which the Buddha once sat in samādhi. North-west from this is another cave, with a large flat stone, in front of which Māra as a vulture frightened Ānanda. Near the temple are caves in which Śāriputra and other arhats went into samādhi.

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This description of the Gṛdhrakūṭa, or Vulture Peak, is apparently all derived from Buddhist books and local information. This mountain, the Gijjhakūṭa of the Pali scriptures and early writers, has been identified by Cunningham with the present Sailagiri, and the identification is possibly correct.¹ But it is very remarkable that while its natural caves, great and small, are important features of the Gṛdhrakūṭa mountain, Cunningham "could not hear of the existence of any cave" in the Sailagiri mountain. In addition to the caves in the Vulture Peak mentioned by our pilgrim, and by Fa-hsien, we read of others such as the cave which was the residence of the Yaksha Gambhira, transcribed in Chinese Kin-p'i-lo (金毗羅) and sometimes translated Shên-yuan (深遠) or "Very far" that is "Profound".² It was in this cave or "Yaksha's Palace" that the Buddha was sitting when Devadatta hurled the rock at him, and it may be our pilgrim's cave in which the Buddha sat in samādhi. When we are told here by Yuan-chuang that the Buddha delivered the "Fa-hua-ching", that is the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, and by Fa-hsien³ that Buddha delivered the "Shou-lêng-yen", that is the Sūraṅgamasamādhisūtra, on this mountain, we must remember that these pilgrims are writing as Mahāyānists, and that they are following the opening statements of these two sūtras, To the pilgrims the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra and the Sūrāngama-samādhi-sūtra, composed long after the Buddha's decease, were his genuine utterances delivered in the circumstances set forth in their opening paragraphs. There are also several other Mahāyāna sūtras which profess to have been delivered by the Buddha to large congregations of believers on the Gṛidhrakūṭa. The magnificent brick hall of which our pilgrim tells us here as being on this mountain, must have been a recent structure erected after the time of Fa-hsien, and perhaps on the ruins of the hall which that pilgrim mentions. That Yuan-chuang's brick hall was not an old building may also be inferred with probability from the statement that it contained a life-size image of the Buddha preaching, that is evidently, in the later heterodox standing position. This mountain, the Vulture Peak, was from the earliest times of Buddhism a favourite place of resort for serious meditative bhikshus, and the Buddha seems to have retired to it occasionally with his immediate disciples. A vihāra grew up on the mountain, probably near the site of the hall mentioned by Fa-hsien, and a Vinaya treatise tells of the Buddha giving the Brethren there permission to make permanent water-courses for the supply of water to the establishment.¹ The Gṛidhrakūṭa is in some books given as one of the five mountains which surrounded Rājagṛiha, but it is also represented as a part of the north mountain, and near the east side of the city. King Bimbisāra, we are informed, from his prison window in the city, could see the Buddha and his disciples on the mountain, but this statement need not be taken literally. We also find mention of the Buddha being at the Sūkarakhata on the Gṛidhrakūṭa mountain with the disciple Śāriputra.

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¹ Anc. Geog: of India', p. 466.

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² Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih ch. 18; Pi-nai-ye ch. 5; Shi-sung-lü ch. 36.

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³ Fo-kuo-chi ch. 29.

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¹ Ssu-fên-lü ch. 50.

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The pilgrim goes on to tell us that to the west of the north gate of the "Mountain City" was the Pi-pu-lo (Vipula) mountain. According to local accounts, he adds, on the north side of the south-west declivity there had once been 500 hot springs, of which there remained at his time several scores, some cold and some tepid. The source of these springs was the Anavatapta Lake to the south of the Snow Mountains, and the streams ran underground to this place. The water was beautifully clear, and it had the same taste as that of the Lake. The fountain stream flowed in 500 branches past the Small Hot wells, and this made the water of the springs hot. All these springs had carved stones such as heads of lions or white elephants, or they had stone aqueducts to lead the water into tanks made of stone slabs. People came from various lands to bathe in these tanks, and often went away healed of old maladies. About the springs were the foundations of topes and temples in close succession, and and also the sites of sitting and exercise places of the Four Past Buddhas. This place having a succession of hill and stream was a hermitage of benevolence and wisdom, and in it were hidden many scholars unknown to the world. To the west of the Hot Springs was the *Pi-po-lo* (Pippala) Cave in which the Buddha often lodged. Through the rock at the back of this was a passage into the Asur's Palace in which bhikshus practising samādhi lodged notwithstanding the strange sights which drove some of them mad. We then have a story of a bhikshu and a small female of the Asur's Palace. The pilgrim adds— "On the Vipula Mountain is a tope on the spot where the Buddha once preached; many Digambaras now lodge here and practise austerities incessantly; they turn round with the sun, watching it from its rising to its setting."

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The "Mountain city" of this and other passages of the Records is evidently the city known as "Old Rājagaha", and the Girivraja of certain non-Buddhist writers. According to the "Hsing-chi-ching"¹ and the Pali authorities the Vipula mountain of the present passage was one of the five mountains which stood round Old Rājagaha city. But in certain other treatises it is merely a mountain near that city, and is an occasional resort of the Buddha.² Fa-hsien does not mention it or the Hot Springs, but the Sung pilgrim tells of the mountain to the north of Rājagaha with above twenty hot springs at its base. A contemporary of our pilgrim, the Chinese ambassador Wang Hsüan (or Yuan)-tsê, washed his head in one of these springs, and for five years afterwards his hair retained a remarkable glossy cleanness.¹ Our pilgrim's *Pi-po-lo* (畢鉢羅) cave is apparently the Pippala or Peepul Cave of other writers. Fa-hsien and the Sung pilgrim visited this cave in a mountain which was evidently the Vipula of our text. In some books, however, the Peepul cave is placed in the Vulture-Peak Mountain. In his translation of the last paragraph of the present passage Julien makes the pilgrim describe the Digambaras as circumambulating the Buddhist tope all day. But this does not seem to be the proper interpretation of Yuan-chuang's words—自旦至屠旋轉觀察—"from sunrise to sunset they revolve and watch". It was the sun which these Digambara devotees, like others already mentioned, followed in his daily course, turning with him, and observing him in all his journey from rising to setting.

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¹ *Ch.* 48.

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² Pie-yi-Tsa-a-han-ching *ch.* 16.

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¹ Fang-chih *ch.* 2.

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The pilgrim proceeds to relate that to the left of the north gate of the mountain city on the north of the south cliff there, going east two or three *li*, you come to the large cave in which, Devadatta went into Samādhi. Near this was a flat rock, stained as if with blood, and beside it was a tope. This was the spot at which a bhikshu, practising samādhi, committed suicide, attaining arhatship in the act. We have then the story of this desponding bhikshu's proceeding. To the east of this spot, on a cliff, was a stone tope to commemorate the suicide of another bhikshu in order to attain arhatship. The pilgrim then narrates the circumstances of this suicide, telling how the Buddha wrought a miracle to encourage and help the fervent bhikshu in accomplishing his pious design.

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The Devadatta-samādhi Cave of this passage is apparently the Devadatta Cave of Fa-hsien, the situations being similar.² It was probably in this cave that the ambitious Devadatta practised samādhi with the design of attaining supernormal powers, and thus becoming perfectly equal to his cousin, the Buddha.

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² Fo-kuo-chi *ch.* 30.

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The reader will observe that in the passage now under notice the pilgrim narrates with evident approval the accounts of suicide committed, at the places he mentions, by two bhikshus, and that he represents the Buddha as assisting the second bhikshu in carrying out his deliberate intention of taking his own life. Fa-hsien tells of a bhikshu wearied and disgusted with mortal life committing suicide, and the "black rock" of his story is evidently the red-stained rock of our text, and his bhikshu is the pilgrim’s bhikshu who takes his own life at the rock. But Fa-hsien represents the bhikshu as knowing that suicide was prohibited to a follower of Buddha, and as getting over this difficulty by saying to himself that in taking his own life he is only killing the three venomous enemies of spiritual perfection. I-ching has some very interesting observations on the tendency of some Buddhist Brethren to encourage suicide, and even to put their teachings into practice.¹ But both he and Fa-hsien seem to go too far when they allow their readers to suppose that there is in the Vinaya any express prohibition against a bhikshu taking his own life.

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¹ Nan-hai-ch'i-kuei *chs.* 38. 39.

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Our pilgrim’s description proceeds to tell that above one *li* from the north gate of the "Mountain city" was the Kalanda Bamboo Park with the original lodging (*ching-shê*) of stone and brick opening to the east; in this Ju-lai lodged much while as Buddha he was preaching and converting, and it contained a life-size image of him of recent origin. Once, the pilgrim explains, there was in this city a great citizen named Kalanda who had given his Bamboo Park to Tirthikas. But when he came under the Buddha’s influence he was sorry he had given away the Park to these persons, and wished he could have it again that he might give it to the Buddha. The gods, knowing Kalanda’s earnest desires, wrought on his behalf, and frightened the Tirthikas into giving up the Park. When they had withdrawn from it the owner built a lodging (*ching-shê*) in the Park, and gave all to the Buddha who accepted the offering at once.

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The *ching-shê* of this passage is evidently the *ching-shê* of the early translators, that is, monastery or vihāra. Here Yuan-chuang gives to the famous Buddhist establishment outside the north wall of Old Rājagaha its common designation in the Chinese translations, viz—Kalanda Bamboo Park. His version of the story of the establishment follows mainly the accounts given in certain books such as the "Chung-pên-ch'i-ching".¹ These describe the Bamboo Park as the property of a rich and influential man of Rājagaha who gives it to the Tīrthikas. On his conversion to Buddhism he takes the Park back with the help of Yakshas, builds a hall and lodging-places in it, and gives the whole to the Buddha. But in some versions of the story the Bamboo Park was the property of king Bimbisāra, and it was he who gave it to the Buddha and his order.² This king, while a prince, had taken a fancy to the Park then owned by a rich subject; the Prince wanted to buy it, but the owner refused to sell, and the Prince vowed to have it when he became king. In due course he ascended the throne, and then proceeded to take possession of the Park; the owner dying vowed to have revenge in his next birth: he came back into the world as a poisonous serpent, and watched for an opportunity to bite the king. This came one day when the king lay down to sleep in the Park under a tree while his attendants were wandering about. The serpent came out, and was proceeding to bite the king when a squirrel (or according to other versions jays or magpies) made a noise, and saved the king. As this squirrel (or the bird) was called Kalantaka (or Kalandaka) the king ordered that the animal should be allowed to live in security and that its name should be given to the Bamboo Park.³ In the "Shan-hsien-lü" it is the king of Vaiśālī whose life is saved in this Park by a squirrel; and it is this king who perpetuates memory of the act by giving the name Kalantaka to the village of the Park. The Pali name is Veḷuvana Kalandakanivāpa, that is, the Bamboo Park the squirrel's (or jay's) Portion, and this corresponds to the name in a Chinese translation, Chio-fêng (鵲封) or Magpie fief. This Bamboo Park, which as Fa-hsien tells us,¹ was on the west side of the highway about 300 paces from the north wall of Old Rājagaha, was the chosen residence of anchorites, and all devoted to solitary religious meditation. It was also a favourite residence of the Buddha, and it was the first piece of property acquired by the young Buddhist Order. It was a charming place not too near the city, still by day and quiet at night, away from the noise and bustle of common life; it had tanks of clear cold water; the air was mild; there were no stinging insects; and it was in all respects a place eminently adapted for deep and prolonged religious meditation.² The vihāra in it did not belong to the original establishment, and is not mentioned among the residences of the Buddhist Brethren at or near Rājagaha in the Buddha's time. In one treatise it is said to have been built by Indra at the request of Moginlin.³

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¹ Ch. 1; Fo-pên-hsing-ching ch. 45.

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² Fo-shuo-chu-fên-shuo-ching ch. 2 (No. 946); Yin-kuo-ching ch. 4; Ssŭ-fên-lü ch. 33.

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³ Chung-hsü-ching ch. 11; Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih ch. 8; Rockhill, 'Life', p. 43.

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¹ Fo-kno-chi ch. 30.

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² Chung-a-han-ching ch. 36; Pali Vinaya, Vol. 1. p. 39.

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³ Fu-kai-chêng-hsing-so-chi-ching ch. 9.

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Our pilgrim's description proceeds to tell that to the east of the Bamboo Park was the tope which king Ajātaśatru built over his share of the Buddha's relics; when king Asoka having become a believer took out these relics for the topes he was about to build, a remnant was left, which constantly shone with a bright light.

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The meaning of the text here seems to be tolerably clear, yet Julien has apparently misunderstood the latter part of the paragraph. He translates— "Le roi Açoka ayant conçu une foi sincère, ouvrit le monument, prit les reliques, et bâtit [à son tour un autre] stoupa. [On en voit] encore les restes, qui repandent constamment une lueur brillante". The words which I have enclosed within square brackets are not required and injure the sense. Yuan-chuang does not state that Asoka built here a tope the remains of which were still visible and shed a brilliant light. He says that when Asoka took away the relics from Ajātaśatru's tope to build topes over them, there was a remnant left, which constantly shone with a brilliant light. In the Life the account of the matter is very clear. "Asoka, having become a believer, wishing to build topes everywhere, extracted the relics, leaving a few behind; and these now are constantly emitting a brilliant light." In a curious sūtra of the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka group the fortunes of Ajātaśatru's share of the Buddha's relics is thus narrated. The king placed the relics together with a copy of the sūtra, written on gold cloth, in a box made of precious substances; this box he deposited in a trench dug outside Rājagaha, and over it he built a splendid tope; then 100 years afterwards king Asoka came to Rājagaha, dug out the box, and took the relics for his 84000 Buddha-relices topes.¹ We have already had a reference to this curious legend of Asoka's topes, (above p. 21).²

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¹ Ta-sa-cha-ni-kan-tzŭ-so-shuo-ching *ch.* 10 (No. 179).

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² On the origin and history of this legend see Rhys Davids's article in the J. R. A. S. for 1901. (pp. 397-410) on 'Asoka and the Buddha-relics'.

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The pilgrim proceeding with his description tells us that at the side of Ajātaśatru's tope was one over the half-body-relics of Ānanda. He continues—About five or six *li* south-west from the Bamboo Park, on the north side of the South Mountain in a great Bamboo wood, was a large cave. Here Mahā-Kaśyapa with 999 great arhats after the Buddha's death compiled the Tripiṭaka. In front of the cave were the foundations of the large Hall which king Ajātaśatru built for the arhats. Yuan-chuang then proceeds to give a short account of the summoning and composition of this Council and of its work. He adds that the Tripiṭaka then drawn up was called the "President's Collection" because Kaśyapa was president of the Brethren. To the north-west of this cave, was a tope on the spot where Ānanda attained arhatship before joining in the formation of the canon. Above twenty *li* to the west of this was an Asoka tope at the place where the canon of the Great Congregation was compiled. Those Brethren, arhats and others, some myriads in number, who were not admitted to Kaśyapa's Council assembled here. They said among themselves—"While Ju-lai was living we all had one Teacher, now he is dead we are put aside as strangers; to requite Buddha's kindness we must compile a canon". So the common brethren and Arhats united and drew up a fivefold Canon of Sūtras, Vinaya, Abhidharma, Miscellaneous, and Dhāraṇīs; this was called the "Great Congregation's Collection" because Arhats and common brethren formed the assembly by which it was drawn up.

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The account here given by our pilgrim of the original formation of the Buddhist canon merits some attention. He agrees with Fa-hsien in giving as the place of Kaśyapa's Council a cave in the north side of the South Mountain (the Dakṣiṇa-giri or Dakkhiṇa-giri) to the north of Old Rājagaha. Fa-hsien calls the cave Ch'ê-ti (車帝),¹ which may be the Cha-ti (刹帝) of a Vinaya treatise, and perhaps for the Pali chetiya.² The account of the First Council given in the canon merely says it was held at Rājagaha. The Mahāvaṃsa makes the Council to have been held in the Sattapaṇṇi cave in the Vebhāra mountain;³ the "Sarvata Vinaya" and certain other treatises describe the Council as meeting in the Pippala Cave on the Gridhrakūṭa⁴ and this is probably the Nyagrodha cave of Rockhill's Tibetan authority;⁵ and other places are given in other works.

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi ch. 30.

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² Sêng-ki-lü ch. 32.

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³ Ch. 3.

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⁴ Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih ch. 39; Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan-chuan ch. 1 (No. 1340).

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⁵ Rockhill, 'Life', ch. V.

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Our pilgrim makes the Council to have been composed of 1000 members. This is the number given in the "Ta-chi-tu-lun",⁶ but the earliest account gives only 500.⁷

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⁶ Ch. 2.

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⁷ 'Vinaya Texts' III. 372, 385.

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Passing over the pilgrim's fanciful account of the summoning and formation of the Council we come to the words which I have translated "the President's Collection" (Shang-tso-pu). The text reads—"At the end of two or three months the compilation of the Tripiṭaka was finished; because Mahā-Kāśyapa was president among the Brethren, they called it the President's collection" (兩三月盡集三藏訖以大迦葉僧中上座因而謂之上座部焉). Julien translates— "Au bout de deux ou trois mois, la collection des trois recueils se trouva achevée. Comme Mahā Kāśyapa avait eu, au milieu des religieux, le titre de président, on appela son école *Chang-tso-pou* (*Sthaviranikāya*)." Here the introduction of the words "son école" seems to violate the construction and to make an anachronism. In like manner the words *ta-chung-pu* (大衆部) in the passage which follows seem to mean "the Collection of the Great Congregation", and not "l'école de la Grande Assemblée" as Julien translates. It was the Scriptures declared by Kāśyapa's Council to be canonical which were called the Sthaviranikāya or Shang-tso-pu, and these together with the additions made by the excluded Brethren constituted the Mahāsanghika-nikāya. Yuan-chuang's words seem to imply that two sets of Sūtra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma were drawn up, but this is perhaps more than he meant to state. The mixed majority Brethren accepted all that the Sthaviras pronounced canonical, and we find it expressly stated that the Vinaya settled by Kāśyapa's Council was called the Mahāsanghika Vinaya.¹ But there were various discourses or teachings which the Sthaviras excluded from their canon; and some of these were declared by the mixed majority of Brethren, with Pūrṇa (or Purāṇa) at their head, to be canonical. Such scriptures came to be called Mahāsanghikanikāya-āgama, and we find them quoted by this name in the śastras of Buddhist writers.² The Chinese word *pu* translates the Sanskrit word *Nikāya* in its senses of group of persons and collection of scriptures, but we know that the Sthavira and Mahāsanghika Schools did not arise until after the time of Kāśyapa.

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¹ Questions of Śāriputra (No. 1152).

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² Shê-ta-shêng-lun, *ch*. 1 (No. 1183).

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Proceeding with his narrative the pilgrim tells us that above 200 paces to the north of the Bamboo Park Chapel (*ching-shê*)

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was the Kalanda Tank now without any water. Two or three *li* to the north-west of this was an Asoka tope beside which was a stone pillar, above 50 feet high, surmounted by an elephant, and having an inscription recording the circumstances of the tope. Not far to the north-east from this was Rājagriha city the outer wall of which was utterly destroyed; the foundations of the inner wall stood out prominently and were above 20 *li* in circuit with one gate. King Bimbisāra had his capital at Kuśāgrapur which was constantly afflicted by disastrous fires; on the advice of his statesmen this king made a law that the inhabitant with whom a fire originated was to be banished to the cemetery. When a fire broke out in the palace he made his heir king, and went to live in the cemetery. Hearing this the king of Vaiśālī proceeded to invade Magadha, whereupon this city was built, and the inhabitants of Kuśāgrapur all removed to it, and because the place had been the abode of their king the city came to be called "the king's abode" (Rājagriha). But there was another story which ascribed the building of this city to Ajātaśatru whose successor made it his capital. When Asoka removed the seat of government to Pāṭaliputra he gave Rājagriha to the brahmins, and so the only inhabitants of the city were 1000 brahmin families.

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The legend which Yuan-chuang here relates about the founding of Rājagriha in the time of king Bimbisāra is apparently a distortion of the legend about the founding of Old Rājagriha, the Kuśāgrapur of our author.¹ Another city, the name of which is not given, was afflicted by frequent conflagrations, and the inhabitants removed to the site on which they built Rājagriha. There are, however, various explanations of the name given by later commentators or historians.² The old city called Rājagriha is represented as a very ancient one, the third in the history of the world.³ That New Rājagriha was the work of Bimbisāra or his son and successor seems to agree with some of the Buddhist scriptures.

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¹ Ta-chi-tu-lun, *ch*. 3.

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² Sar. Vin. Vibhāshā, *ch*. 2.

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³ Ta-lu-t'an, *ch*. 6.

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In the south-west corner of the "Palace city" were two small monasteries in which Brethren from other countries got lodging. North-west from these was a tope at the place where the householder (Elder) Jyotishka was born. On the left side of the road, outside the south gate of the city, was a tope where Buddha preached and ordained Rahula.

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The name Jyotishka of this passage, transcribed as Chu-ti-se-ka or Jotiska, is explained in a note as meaning "Heavenly body" (hsing-lih 星曆), and an old transcription is given as Shu-t'i-ka. Our pilgrim here calls Jyotishka an "Elder", using that word apparently in the sense of grihapati or "householder". This is the term applied to him in the Mahāvastu¹ But in other works Jyotishka is a very remarkable layman who enters Buddha's church and becomes an arhat. His story is an interesting and curious romance related with certain variations in several treatises. An extremely wealthy man of Rājagriha (or Champā) whose wife was with child was told by the Kshapanaka (or Tirthikas), to whom he was devoted, that the offspring would be a daughter. But Buddha told the man that his wife would give birth to a son who would join the Buddhists, become very distinguished, and attain arhatship. Listening to the wicked talk and counsel of the Tirthikas the husband killed his wife, and had her body taken to the cemetery to be buried. When the corpse was blazing the baby was seen, and at Buddha's request Jīvaka ventured into the fire and rescued the infant. As the father refused to take charge of his son the latter was at Buddha's request, adopted by king Bimbisāra, and Buddha gave him the name Jyotishka because he had been saved from fire (Jyotis). In the course of time the boy was claimed by his maternal uncle, and he rose to be a man of wealth and magnificence beyond imagination. In his house the walls were of silver and the floors of crystal, the furniture was of gold and other precious substances, his slaves were of heavenly beauty, and unseen devices wrought visible wonders. King Ajātaśatru coveted the house and its contents, and Jyotishka in order to avoid trouble gave away everything in alms, then entered the Buddhist church and rose to be an arhat. All the temporal and spiritual greatness of this man was explained by the Buddha as the result of religious merit acquired by him in the time of a Buddha who belonged to an era in the far off past.¹ This story of Jyotishka does not seem to be known to the Pali scriptures so far as these are at present accessible.

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