Buddhist records of the Western world (Xuanzang)
by Samuel Beal | 1884 | 224,928 words | ISBN-10: 8120811070
This is the English translation of the travel records of Xuanzang (or, Hiuen Tsiang): a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India during the seventh century. This book recounts his documents his visit to India and neighboring countries, and reflects the condition of those countries during his time, including temples, culture, traditions and fest...
Chapter 3 - Measures of Length used in India
To give a brief account of matters. In point of measurements, there is first of all the yojana (yu-shen-na); this from the time of the holy kings of old has been regarded as a day's march for an army. The old accounts say it is equal to 40 li; according to the common reckoning in India it is 30 li, but in the sacred books (of Buddha) the yojana is only 16 li.
In the subdivision of distances, a yojana is equal to eight krośas (keu-lu-she); a krośa is the distance that the lowing of a cow can be heard; a krośa is divided into 500 bows (dhanus); a bow is divided into four cubits (hastas); a cubit is divided into 24 fingers (aṅgulis); a finger is divided into seven barleycorns (yavas); and so on to a louse (yūka), a nit (likṣā), a dust grain, a cow's hair, a sheep's hair, a hare's down, copper-water,[1] and so on for seven divisions, till we come to a small grain of dust; this is divided sevenfold till we come to an excessively small grain of dust (aṇu); this cannot be divided further without arriving at nothingness, and so it is called the infinitely small (paramāṇu).
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
An enumeration corresponding to that in the text will be found in the Lalita Vistara (Foucaux, p. 142) and in the Romantic Legend of Buddha (p. 87). The expression copper-water may refer to the size of the small hole made in the tamrī or copper cup for the admission of water.