Chapter XXXVI · IN PATNA. FÂ-HIEN’S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS.
James Legge translation
[Chinese]
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Mentioned before in chapter xxvii.Note 2 · Mahâsâṅghikâḥ simply means ‘the Great Assembly,’ that is, of monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Śâkyamuni held? It does not Note 3 · The eighteen pû (部). Four times in this chapter the character called pû occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only have theNote 4 · This is equivalent to the ‘binding’ and ‘loosing,’ ‘opening’ and ‘shutting,’ which found their way into the New Testament, and the ChristianNote 5 · It was afterwards translated by Fâ-hien into Chinese. See Nanjio’s Catalogue of the Chinese tripiṭaka, columns 400 and 401, and Nos. 1119 anNote 6 · A gâthâ is a stanza, generally consisting, it has seemed to me, of a few, commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged; but I do not Note 7 · ‘A branch,’ says Eitel, ‘of the great vaibhâshika school, asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the authority of RâhuNote 8 · See Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 1287. He does not mention it in his account of Fâ-hien, who, he says, translated the Saṃyukta-piṭaka Sûtra.Note 9 · Probably Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 120; at any rate, connected with it.Note 10 · This then would be the consummation of the Śramaṇa’s being,—to get to be Buddha, the Buddha of his time in his Kalpa; and Tâo-ching thought Note 11 · From Vârâṇasî (the travellers) went back east to Pâṭaliputtra. Fâ-hien’s original object had been to search for (copies of) the Vinaya. In tNote 12 · He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand gâthas,6 being the sarvâstivâdâḥ7 rules,—those which are observed by the cNote 13 · In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fâ-hien stayed here for three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and writ