Chapter I · FROM CHʽANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT.
James Legge translation
[Chinese]
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Chʽang-gan is still the name of the principal district (and its city) in the department of Se-gan, Shen-se. It had been the capital of the fNote 2 · The period Hwăng-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the greater portion of the reign of Yâo Hing of the After Tsʽin, a powerful princeNote 3 · These, like Fâ-hien itself, are all what we might call ‘clerical’ names, appellations given to the parties as monks or Śramaṇas.Note 4 · The Buddhist tripiṭaka or canon consists of three collections, containing, according to Eitel (p. 150), ‘doctrinal aphorisms (or statements,Note 5 · Lung embraced the western part of Shen-se and the eastern part of Kan-sŭh. The name remains in Lung Chow, in the extreme west of Shen-se.Note 6 · Kʽeen-kwei was the second king of ‘the Western Tsʽin.’ His family was of northern or barbarous origin, from the tribe of the Seen-pe, with tNote 7 · Under varshâs or vashâvasâna (Pâli, vassa; Spence Hardy, vass), Eitel (p. 163) says:—‘One of the most ancient institutions of Buddhist disciNote 8 · During the troubled period of the Tsin dynasty, there were five (usurping) Leang sovereignties in the western part of the empire (五 凉). The Note 9 · Chang-yih is still the name of a district in Kan-chow department, Kan-sŭh. It is a long way north and west from Lan-chow, and not far from tNote 10 · Dâna is the name for religious charity, the first of the six pâramitâs, or means of attaining to nirvâṇa; and a dânapati is ‘one who practisNote 11 · Of these pilgrims with their clerical names, the most distinguished was Pâo-yun, who translated various Sanskrit works on his return from InNote 12 · This was the second summer since the pilgrims left Chʽang-gan. We are now therefore, probably, in A.D. 400.Note 13 · Tʽun-hwang (lat. 39° 40′ N.; lon. 94° 50′ E.) is still the name of one of the two districts constituting the department of Gan-se, the most Note 14 · Who this envoy was, and where he was going, we do not know. The text will not admit of any other translation.Note 15 · Le Hâo was a native of Lung-se, a man of learning, able and kindly in his government. He was appointed governor or prefect of Tʽun-hwang by Note 16 · ‘The river of sand;’ the great desert of Kobi or Gobi; having various other names. It was a great task which the pilgrims had now before theNote 17 · Fâ-hien had been living in Chʽang-gan.1 Deploring the mutilated and imperfect state of the collection of the Books of Discipline, in the secNote 18 · After starting from Chʽang-gan, they passed through Lung,5 and came to the kingdom of Kʽeen-kwei,6 where they stopped for the summer retreatNote 19 · Here they met with Che-yen, Hwuy-keen, Săng-shâo, Pâo-yun, and Săng-king;11 and in pleasant association with them, as bound on the same jourNote 20 · Le Hâo,15 the prefect of Tʽun-hwang, had supplied them with the means of crossing the desert (before them), in which there are many evil dem