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North of the vihara two or three le there was the Smasanam, which name means in Chinese "the field of graves into which the dead are thrown." Going on still to the west for five or six le, on the north of the hill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna, the place where, after the nirvana of Buddha, 500 Arhats collected the Sutras.

Going on still to the west for five or six li, on the north of the hill, in the shade, they found the cavern called Srataparna, the place where, after the nirvâna of Buddha, five hundred Arhats collected the Sûtras. When they brought the Sûtras forth, three lofty seats had been prepared and grandly ornamented. Sâriputtra occupied the one on the left, and Maudgalyâyana that on the right.

The Council in the Srataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to have been convoked by the older members to settle the rules and doctrines of the order. ~Sâkyamuni's Attaining to the Buddhaship~ From this place, after travelling to the west for four yojanas, the pilgrims came to the city of Gayâ; but inside the city all was emptiness and desolation.

~Srataparna Cave, or Cave of the First Council~ Out from the old city, after walking over three hundred paces, on the west of the road, the travellers found the Karanda Bamboo garden, where the old vihâra is still in existence, with a company of monks, who keep the ground about it swept and watered.

They make us think that there was such a tree overshadowing the cave; but Fa-Hsien would hardly have neglected to mention such a circumstance. A very great place in the annals of Buddhism. The Council in the Srataparna cave did not come together fortuitously, but appears to have been convoked by the older members to settle the rules and doctrines of the order.