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Four le to the north-west of the vihara there is a grove called "The Getting of Eyes." Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived here in order that they might be near the vihara.(12) Buddha preached his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full of joy, they stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and faces on the ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to grow, and they grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one dared to cut them down, so that they came to form a grove. It was in this way that it got its name, and most of the Jetavana monks, after they had taken their midday meal, went to the grove, and sat there in meditation.
Six or seven le north-east from the Jetavana, mother Vaisakha(13) built another vihara, to which she invited Buddha and his monks, and which is still existing.
To each of the great residences for monks at the Jetavana vihara there were two gates, one facing the east and the other facing the north. The park (containing the whole) was the space of ground which the (Vaisya) head Sudatta purchased by covering it with gold coins. The vihara was exactly in the centre. Here Buddha lived for a longer time than at any other place, preaching his Law and converting men. At the places where he walked and sat they also (subsequently) reared topes, each having its particular name; and here was the place where Sundari(14) murdered a person and then falsely charged Buddha (with the crime). Outside the east gate of the Jetavana, at a distance of seventy paces to the north, on the west of the road, Buddha held a discussion with the (advocates of the) ninety-six schemes of erroneous doctrine, when the king and his great officers, the householders, and people were all assembled in crowds to hear it. Then a woman belonging to one of the erroneous systems, by name Chanchamana,(15) prompted by the envious hatred in her heart, and having put on (extra) clothes in front of her person, so as to give her the appearance of being with child, falsely accused Buddha before all the assembly of having acted unlawfully (towards her). On this, Sakra, Ruler of Devas, changed himself and some devas into white mice, which bit through the strings about her waist; and when this was done, the (extra) clothes which she wore dropt down on the ground. The earth at the same time was rent, and she went (down) alive into hell.(16) (This) also is the place where Devadatta,(17) trying with empoisoned claws to injure Buddha, went down alive into hell. Men subsequently set up marks to distinguish where both these events took place.
Further, at the place where the discussion took place, they reared a vihara rather more than sixty cubits high, having in it an image of Buddha in a sitting posture. On the east of the road there was a devalaya(18) of (one of) the contrary systems, called "The Shadow Covered," right opposite the vihara on the place of discussion, with (only) the road between them, and also rather more than sixty cubits high. The reason why it was called "The Shadow Covered" was this:—When the sun was in the west, the shadow of the vihara of the World-honoured one fell on the devalaya of a contrary system; but when the sun was in the east, the shadow of that devalaya was diverted to the north, and never fell on the vihara of Buddha. The mal-believers regularly employed men to watch their devalaya, to sweep and water (all about it), to burn incense, light the lamps, and present offerings; but in the morning the lamps were found to have been suddenly removed, and in the vihara of Buddha. The Brahmans were indignant, and said, "Those Sramanas take out lamps and use them for their own service of Buddha, but we will not stop our service for you!"(19) On that night the Brahmans themselves kept watch, when they saw the deva spirits which they served take the lamps and go three times round the vihara of Buddha and present offerings. After this ministration to Buddha they suddenly disappeared. The Brahmans thereupon knowing how great was the spiritual power of Buddha, forthwith left their families, and became monks.(20) It has been handed down, that, near the time when these things occurred, around the Jetavana vihara there were ninety-eight monasteries, in all of which there were monks residing, excepting only in one place which was vacant. In this Middle Kingdom(21) there are ninety-six(21) sorts of views, erroneous and different from our system, all of which recognise this world and the future world(22) (and the connexion between them). Each had its multitude of followers, and they all beg their food: only they do not carry the alms-bowl. They also, moreover, seek (to acquire) the blessing (of good deeds) on unfrequented ways, setting up on the road-side houses of charity, where rooms, couches, beds, and food and drink are supplied to travellers, and also to monks, coming and going as guests, the only difference being in the time (for which those parties remain).
There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. They regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not to Sakyamuni Buddha.
Four le south-east from the city of Sravasti, a tope has been erected at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king Virudhaha,(23) when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,(23) and took his stand before him at the side of the road.(24)
NOTES
(1) In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kosala. It is
placed by Cunningham (Archaeological Survey) on the south bank of
the Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodya or Oude. There are
still the ruins of a great town, the name being Sahet Mahat. It was in
this town, or in its neighbourhood, that Sakyamuni spent many years of
his life after he became Buddha.
(2) There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a
northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh.
(3) In Singhalese, Pase-nadi, meaning "leader of the victorious army."
He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Sakyamuni.
Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory,
because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy's
M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al.
(4) Explained by "Path of Love," and "Lord of Life." Prajapati was
aunt and nurse of Sakyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood,
and the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to
become a Buddha.
(5) Sudatta, meaning "almsgiver," was the original name of
Anatha-pindika (or Pindada), a wealthy householder, or Vaisya head,
of Sravasti, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old
house, only the well and walls remained at the time of Fa-Hsien's visit
to Sravasti.
(6) The Angulimalya were a sect or set of Sivaitic fanatics, who made
assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had
joined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha,
he became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he "got the
Tao," or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his
conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in
Pali is Angulimala. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his
autobiographical poem in the "Songs of the Theras."
(7) Eitel (p. 37) says:—"A noted vihara in the suburbs of Sravasti,
erected in a park which Anatha-pindika bought of prince Jeta, the son
of Prasenajit. Sakyamuni made this place his favourite residence for
many years. Most of the Sutras (authentic and supposititious) date
from this spot."
(8) See chapter xvii.
(9) See chapter xiii.
(10) Arya, meaning "honourable," "venerable," is a title given only to
those who have mastered the four spiritual truths:—(1) that "misery"
is a necessary condition of all sentient existence; this is duhkha:
(2) that the "accumulation" of misery is caused by the passions; this
is samudaya: (3) that the "extinction" of passion is possible; this is
nirodha: and (4) that the "path" leads to the extinction of passion;
which is marga. According to their attainment of these truths,
the Aryas, or followers of Buddha, are distinguished into four
classes,—Srotapannas, Sakridagamins, Anagamins, and Arhats. E. H., p.
14.
(11) This is the first time that Fa-Hsien employs the name Ho-shang
{.} {.}, which is now popularly used in China for all Buddhist monks
without distinction of rank or office. It is the representative of
the Sanskrit term Upadhyaya, "explained," says Eitel (p. 155) by "a
self-taught teacher," or by "he who knows what is sinful and what is
not sinful," with the note, "In India the vernacular of this term is
{.} {.} (? munshee (? Bronze)); in Kustana and Kashgar they say {.}
{.} (hwa-shay); and from the latter term are derived the Chinese
synonyms, {.} {.} (ho-shay) and {.} {.} (ho-shang)." The Indian term
was originally a designation for those who teach only a part of the
Vedas, the Vedangas. Adopted by Buddhists of Central Asia, it was made
to signify the priests of the older ritual, in distinction from the
Lamas. In China it has been used first as a synonym for {.} {.}, monks
engaged in popular teaching (teachers of the Law), in distinction
from {.} {.}, disciplinists, and {.} {.}, contemplative philosophers
(meditationists); then it was used to designate the abbots of
monasteries. But it is now popularly applied to all Buddhist monks.
In the text there seems to be implied some distinction between
the "teachers" and the "ho-shang;"—probably, the Pali Akariya and
Upagghaya; see Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp.
178, 179.
(12) It might be added, "as depending on it," in order to bring out
the full meaning of the {.} in the text. If I recollect aright, the
help of the police had to be called in at Hong Kong in its early
years, to keep the approaches to the Cathedral free from the number
of beggars, who squatted down there during service, hoping that
the hearers would come out with softened hearts, and disposed to be
charitable. I found the popular tutelary temples in Peking and other
places, and the path up Mount T'ai in Shan-lung similarly frequented.
(13) The wife of Anatha-pindika, and who became "mother superior" of
many nunneries. See her history in M. B., pp. 220-227. I am surprised
it does not end with the statement that she is to become a Buddha.
(14) See E. H., p. 136. Hsuan-chwang does not give the name of this
murderer; see in Julien's "Vie et Voyages de Hiouen-thsang," p.
125,—"a heretical Brahman killed a woman and calumniated Buddha." See
also the fuller account in Beal's "Records of Western Countries," pp.
7, 8, where the murder is committed by several Brahmacharins. In this
passage Beal makes Sundari to be the name of the murdered person (a
harlot). But the text cannot be so construed.
(15) Eitel (p. 144) calls her Chancha; in Singhalese, Chinchi. See the
story about her, M. B., pp. 275-277.
(16) "Earth's prison," or "one of Earth's prisons." It was the Avichi
naraka to which she went, the last of the eight hot prisons, where
the culprits die, and are born again in uninterrupted succession
(such being the meaning of Avichi), though not without hope of final
redemption. E. H. p. 21.
(17) Devadatta was brother of Ananda, and a near relative therefore
of Sakyamuni. He was the deadly enemy, however, of the latter. He had
become so in an earlier state of existence, and the hatred continued
in every successive birth, through which they reappeared in the world.
See the accounts of him, and of his various devices against Buddha,
and his own destruction at the last, in M. B., pp. 315-321, 326-330;
and still better, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, Vinaya
Texts, pp. 233-265. For the particular attempt referred to in the
text, see "The Life of the Buddha," p. 107. When he was engulphed, and
the flames were around him, he cried out to Buddha to save him, and we
are told that he is expected yet to appear as a Buddha under the name
of Devaraja, in a universe called Deva-soppana. E. H., p. 39.
(18) "A devalaya ({.} {.} or {.} {.}), a place in which a deva is
worshipped,—a general name for all Brahmanical temples" (Eitel, p.
30). We read in the Khang-hsi dictionary under {.}, that when Kasyapa
Matanga came to the Western Regions, with his Classics or Sutras, he
was lodged in the Court of State-Ceremonial, and that afterwards there
was built for him "The Court of the White-horse" ({.} {.} {.}), and
in consequence the name of Sze {.} came to be given to all Buddhistic
temples. Fa-Hsien, however, applies this term only to Brahmanical
temples.
(19) Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough in
the circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in
I Samuel v. about the Ark and Dagon, that "twice-battered god of
Palestine."
(20) "Entered the doctrine or path." Three stages in the Buddhistic
life are indicated by Fa-Hsien:—"entering it," as here, by becoming
monks ({.} {.}); "getting it," by becoming Arhats ({.} {.}); and
"completing it," by becoming Buddha ({.} {.}).
(21) It is not quite clear whether the author had in mind here Central
India as a whole, which I think he had, or only Kosala, the part of it
where he then was. In the older teaching, there were only thirty-two
sects, but there may have been three subdivisions of each. See Rhys
Davids' "Buddhism," pp. 98, 99.
(22) This mention of "the future world" is an important difference
between the Corean and Chinese texts. The want of it in the latter has
been a stumbling-block in the way of all previous translators. Remusat
says in a note that "the heretics limited themselves to speak of the
duties of man in his actual life without connecting it by the notion
that the metempsychosis with the anterior periods of existence through
which he had passed." But this is just the opposite of what Fa-Hsien's
meaning was, according to our Corean text. The notion of "the
metempsychosis" was just that in which all the ninety-six erroneous
systems agreed among themselves and with Buddhism. If he had wished to
say what the French sinologue thinks he does say, moreover, he would
probably have written {.} {.} {.} {.} {.}. Let me add, however, that
the connexion which Buddhism holds between the past world (including
the present) and the future is not that of a metempsychosis, or
transmigration of souls, for it does not appear to admit any separate
existence of the soul. Adhering to its own phraseology of "the wheel,"
I would call its doctrine that of "The Transrotation of Births." See
Rhys Davids' third Hibbert Lecture.
(23) Or, more according to the phonetisation of the text, Vaidurya.
He was king of Kosala, the son and successor of Prasenajit, and the
destroyer of Kapilavastu, the city of the Sakya family. His hostility
to the Sakyas is sufficiently established, and it may be considered as
certain that the name Shay-e, which, according to Julien's "Methode,"
p. 89, may be read Chia-e, is the same as Kia-e ({.} {.}), one of the
phonetisations of Kapilavastu, as given by Eitel.
(24) This would be the interview in the "Life of the Buddha" in
Trubner's Oriental Series, p. 116, when Virudhaha on his march found
Buddha under an old sakotato tree. It afforded him no shade; but he
told the king that the thought of the danger of "his relatives and
kindred made it shady." The king was moved to sympathy for the time,
and went back to Sravasti; but the destruction of Kapilavastu was only
postponed for a short space, and Buddha himself acknowledged it to be
inevitable in the connexion of cause and effect.
