The travels of Fa-Hian (400 A.D.)
by Samuel Beal | 1884 | 20,385 words | ISBN-10: 8120811070
This is the English translation of the travel records of Fa-Hian (or, Faxian): a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled by foot from China to India between A.D. 399 and A.D. 412. The full title is: The travels of Fa-Hian: Buddhist-country-records; By Fa-hian, the Sakya of the Sung (Dynasty) [Date, 400 A.D]. This work is an extract of the book “Buddhi...
Chapter IX
In this country also the law of Buddha flourishes. This is the place where, in old days, Sakra, ruler of Devas, made apparitionally the hawk and dove, in order to try Bodhisattva, who cut off his flesh to ransom the dove. Buddha, when he perfected wisdom, going about with his disciples, spoke thus: “This is the place where, in a former birth, I cut my flesh to ransom the dove.” From this the people of the country getting to know the fact, built a stupa on the spot, and adorned it with gold and silver.