Chapter VII · CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE EAST.
James Legge translation
[Chinese]
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · The Sindhu. We saw in a former note (chap. ii note 6) that the earliest name in China for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is cNote 2 · Both Beal and Watters quote from Cunningham (Ladak, pp. 88, 89) the following description of the course of the Indus in these parts, in striNote 3 · The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese copies,—one which Rémusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured shoulNote 4 · Chang Kʽeen, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140–87), is celebrated as the first Chinese who ‘pierced the void,’ and penetrated tNote 5 · Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang Kʽeen. Being sent in A.D. 88 by his patron Pan Châo on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only got aNote 6 · Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing the Indus.Note 7 · This may refer to Śâkyamuni’s becoming Buddha on attaining to nirvâṇa, or more probably to his pari-nirvâṇa and death.Note 8 · As king Pʽing’s reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent inquireNote 9 · This confirms the words of Eitel (note 3, p. 23), that Maitreya is already controlling the propagation of the faith.Note 10 · The Chinese characters for this simply mean ‘the great scholar or officer;’ but see Eitel’s Handbook, p. 99, on the term purusha.Note 11 · ‘The precious Buddha,’ ‘the precious Law,’ and ‘the precious Monkhood;’ Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; the whole being equivalent to Buddhism.Note 12 · Fâ-hien thus endorses the view that Buddhism was introduced into China in this reign, A.D. 58–75. The emperor had his dream in A.D. 61.Note 13 · The travellers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot of the mountains, and) following the course of their range. The way wNote 14 · The monks6 asked Fâ-hien if it could be known when the Law of Buddha first went to the east. He replied, ‘When I asked the people of those c