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 2 - Country of Chi-na-po-ti (Chinapati)

This country is about 2000 li in circuit. The capital is about 14 or 15 li round. It produces abundant harvests;[1] the fruit trees are thinly scattered. The people are contented and peaceful; the resources of the country are abundant. The climate is hot and humid; the people are timid and listless. They are given to promiscuous study, and there are amongst them believers and the contrary. There are ten saṅghārāmas and eight Deva temples.

Formerly, when Kaniṣka-rāja was on the throne, his fame spread throughout the neighbouring countries, and his military power was recognised by all. The tributary princes[2] to the west of the (Yellow) River, in recognition of his authority, sent hostages to him. Kaniṣka-rāja having received the hostages, he treated them with marked attention. During the three seasons of the year he appointed them separate establishments, and afforded them special guards of troops.[3] This country was the residence of the hostages during the winter. This is the reason why it is called Chīnapati[4] after the name of the residence of the hostages.

There existed neither pear nor peach in this kingdom and throughout the Indies until the hostages planted them, and therefore the peach is called Chīnāni, and the pear is called Chīnarājaputra.[5] For this reason the men of this country have a profound respect for the Eastern land. Moreover (when they saw me) they pointed with their fingers, and said one to another, "This man is a native of the country of our former ruler.[6]

To the south-east of the capital 500[7] li or so, we come to the convent called Ta-mo-su-fa-na (dark forest, i.e., Tāmasavana). There are about 300 priests in it, who study the doctrine of the Sarvāstivāda school. They (the congregation) have a dignified address, and are of conspicuous virtue and pure life. They are deeply versed in the teaching of the Little Vehicle. The 1000 Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa will explain, in this country, to the assembly of the Devas the principles of the excellent law.

Three hundred years after the Nirvāṇa of Buddha the master of śāstras called Kātyāyana composed here the Fa-chi-lun (Abhidharmajñāna-prasthāna śāstra).[8]

In the convent of the dark forest there is a stūpa about 200 feet high, which was erected by Aśoka-rāja. By its side are traces of the four past Buddhas, where they sat and walked. There is a succession of little stūpas and large stone houses facing one another, of an uncertain number; here, from the beginning of the kalpa till now, saints who have obtained the fruit (of Arhats) have reached Nirvāṇa. To cite all would be difficult, Their teeth and bones still remain. The convents gird the mountain[9] for about 20 li in circuit, and the stūpas containing relics of Buddha are hundreds and thousands in number; they are crowded together, so that one overshadows the other.

Going north-east from this country, 140 or 150 li, we come to the country of Che-lan-ta-lo (Jālaṅdhara).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Literally, sowing and reaping are rich and productive.

[2]:

I translate it thus after Julien, as there is some obscurity in the text. It might, perhaps, be rendered "the united tribes of the Fan people." The Fan were Tibetans or associated tribes.

[3]:

Literally, "four soldiers stood on guard," i.e., they had four soldiers outside their quarters to protect them.

[4]:

Rendered in a note "Tang fung", i.e., "lord of China;" this seems to show that Pati is the right restoration of po-ti (compare Cunningham, Arch. Surv. of India, vol. xiv. p. 54). The fact of the name China being given to this country on account of the hostages confirms the restoration of Charaka to Serika, ante, Book i. p. 57, n. 203.

[5]:

Cunningham remarks that there can be no doubt of the introduction of the China peach, as in the north-west of India it is still known by that name (op. cit., p. 54).

[6]:

That is, of Kanishka and his associates. They belonged to the Gushān tribe of the Yuei-chi, who came originally from the borders of China. See ante, p. 56, n. 200.

[7]:

In the life of Hiuen Tsiang by Hwui-lih, the distance given from the capital of Chīnapati to the convent of "the dark forest" is 50 li (Book ii. p. 102, Julien's translation). This is probably the correct distance: the 500 li in the text is an error of the copyist. The convent is fixed by General Cunningham at Sūltanpur or Dalla Sūltanpur. It is one of the largest towns in the Jālaṅdhara Doab (op. cit., p. 55).

[8]:

This work was translated into Chinese by Saṅghadeva and another in A.D. 383. Another translation was made by Hiuen Tsiang A.D. 657. If the usual date of Buddha's Nirvāṇa be adopted (viz., 400 years before Kanishka), Kātyāyana would have flourished in the first century or about 20 B.C. See Weber, Sansk Liter., p. 222. His work was the foundation of the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāshā śāstra, composed during the council under Kanishka. (See Bunyiu Nanjio, Catalogue of Buddhist Tripiṭ, No. 1263).

[9]:

There is probably a false reading in the text, either (1) "Shan", a mountain, is a mistake for "sang", which would give us sang-kia-lan, "saṅghārāma," instead of kia-lan, or else (2) "shan" is for "yau", a very common misprint. In the first case the translation would then be "the teeth and bones still exist around the saṅghārāma;" or, if the second reading be adopted, the rendering would be "the teeth and bones still exist all round, from (yau) the kia-lan, for a circuit of 20 li," etc. Perhaps the first correction is preferable. I am satisfied the reading, as it is, is corrupt.

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