Chapter XXVII · PÂṬALIPUTTRA OR PATNA, IN MAGADHA. KING AŚOKA’S SPIRIT-BUILT PALACE AND HALLS. THE BUDDHIST BRAHMAN, RÂDHA-SÂMI. DISPENSARIES AND HOSPITALS.
James Legge translation
[Chinese]
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · The modern Patna, lat. 25° 28′ N., lon. 85° 15′ E. The Sanskrit name means ‘The city of flowers.’ It is the Indian Florence.Note 2 · See chap. x, note 3. Aśoka transferred his court from Râjagṛiha to Pâṭaliputtra, and there, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he convokedNote 3 · ‘The Vulture-hill;’ so called because Mâra, according to Buddhist tradition, once assumed the form of a vulture on it to interrupt the meditNote 4 · A Brahmân by caste, but a Buddhist in faith.Note 5 · So, by the help of Julien’s ‘Méthode,’ I transliterate the Chinese characters 羅太私迷. Beal gives Râdhasvâmi, his Chinese text having a 婆 betweNote 6 · 庠序, the names of two kinds of schools, often occurring in the Lî Kî and Mencius. Why should there not have been schools in those monasteriesNote 7 · See chap. xvi, note 25. It is perhaps with reference to the famous Bodhisattva that the Brahmân here is said to be ‘also’ named Mañjuśrî.Note 8 · ? Cashmere cloth.Note 9 · See chap. xxiii, note 3.Note 10 · We wish that we had more particulars of this great transaction, and that we knew what value in money Aśoka set on the whole world. It is to Note 11 · We know nothing more of Ne-le. It could only have been a small place; an outpost for the defence of Pâṭaliputtra.Note 12 · Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, (the travellers) came to the town of Pâṭaliputtra,1 in the kingdom of Magadha, tNote 13 · King Aśoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and resided on Gṛidhra-kûṭa3 hill, finding his delight in solitude and quiNote 14 · In this city there had resided a great Brahmân,4 named Râdha-sâmi,5 a professor of the mahâyâna, of clear discernment and much wisdom, who uNote 15 · By the side of the tope of Aśoka, there has been made a mahâyâna monastery, very grand and beautiful; there is also a hînayâna one; the two Note 16 · Shamans of the highest virtue from all quarters, and students, inquirers wishing to find out truth and the grounds of it, all resort to thesNote 17 · The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie with onNote 18 · When king Aśoka destroyed the seven topes, (intending) to make eighty-four thousand,9 the first which he made was the great tope, more than