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Updated: July 8, 2025
He does not mention it in his account of Fa-Hsien, who, he says, translated the Samyukta-pitaka Sutra. Probably Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with it.
Much of what Fa-Hsien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and legends is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth as to what he saw and heard. In concluding this introduction I wish to call attention to some estimates of the number of Buddhists in the world which have become current, believing, as I do, that the smallest of them is much above what is correct. i.
The empire of the eastern Tsin, towards the close of which Fa-Hsien lived, had its capital at or near Nan-king, and Ch'ang-gan was the capital of the principal of the three Ts'in kingdoms, which, with many other minor ones, maintained a semi-independence of Tsin, their rulers sometimes even assuming the title of emperor.
The document found by Fa-Hsien would be a record of those rules; or rather a copy of that record. We must suppose that the original record had disappeared from the Jetavana vihara, or Fa-Hsien would probably have spoken of it when he was there, and copied it, if he had been allowed to do so. The second instance, however, is different.
We must conclude that Fa-Hsien, when in Ceylon, heard neither of Mahinda nor Sanghamitta. Compare what is said in chap. xvi, about the inquiries made at monasteries as to the standing of visitors in the monkhood, and duration of their ministry. The phonetic values of the two Chinese characters here are in Sanskrit sa; and va, bo or bha. "Sabaean" is Mr. Beal's reading of them, probably correct.
The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence our author writes of it as such. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his commentaries. Both were great builders of viharas. See the Mahavansa, pp. 247, foll. See chapter xii. Fa-Hsien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel says was "the ancient capital of Gandhara." See chap. xii, note 9.
Bunyiu Nanjio's "Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka," Sutra Pitaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory of Fa-Hsien.
Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a mystery as Manjusri. The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the Sanskrit name Avalokitesvra, "On-looking Sovereign," or even "On-looking Self-Existent," and means "Regarding or Looking on the sounds of the world,"="Hearer of Prayer." To the worshippers of whom Fa-Hsien speaks, Kwan-she-yin would only be Avalokitesvara.
After proceeding in this way for rather more than ninety days, they arrived at a country called Java-dvipa, where various forms of error and Brahmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth speaking of. They carried provisions for fifty days, and commenced the voyage on the sixteenth day of the fourth month. Fa-Hsien kept his retreat on board the ship.
Let us land the bhikshu and place him on some island-shore. We must not for the sake of one man allow ourselves to be exposed to such imminent peril." A patron of Fa-Hsien, however, said to them, "If you land the bhikshu, you must at the same time land me; and if you do not, then you must kill me.
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