A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms

Chapter XXII · KAPILAVASTU. ITS DESOLATION. LEGENDS OF BUDDHA’S BIRTH, AND OTHER INCIDENTS IN CONNEXION WITH IT.

James Legge translation

Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of Kapilavastu;(1) but in it there was neither king nor people. All was mound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a score or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood the old palace of king Suddhodana(2) there have been made images of the prince (his eldest son) and his mother;(3) and at the places where that son appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his mother’s womb,(4) and where he turned his carriage round on seeing the sick man after he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate,(5) topes have been erected. The places (were also pointed out)(6) where (the rishi) A-e(7) inspected the marks (of Buddhaship on the body) of the heir-apparent (when an infant); where, when he was in company with Nanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn to one side, he tossed it away;(8) where he shot an arrow to the south-east, and it went a distance of thirty le, then entering the ground and making a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into a well from which travellers might drink;(9) where, after he had attained to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father;(10) where five hundred Sakyas quitted their families and did reverence to Upali(11) while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where Buddha preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and others kept the four doors (of the hall), so that (even) the king, his father, could not enter;(12) where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, which is still standing,(13) with his face to the east, and (his aunt) Maja-prajapati presented him with a Sanghali;(14) and (where) king Vaidurya slew the seed of Sakya, and they all in dying became Srotapannas.(15) A tope was erected at this last place, which is still existing.

Several le north-east from the city was the king’s field, where the heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.(16)

Fifty le east from the city was a garden, named Lumbini,(17) where the queen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on the northern bank, after (walking) twenty paces, she lifted up her hand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, gave birth to the heir-apparent.(18) When he fell to the ground, he (immediately) walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings (appeared) and washed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately formed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where (the queen) bathed,(19) the monks (even) now constantly take the water, and drink it.

There are four places of regular and fixed occurrence (in the history of) all Buddhas:—first, the place where they attained to perfect Wisdom (and became Buddha); second, the place where they turned the wheel of the Law;(20) third, the place where they preached the Law, discoursed of righteousness, and discomfited (the advocates of) erroneous doctrines; and fourth, the place where they came down, after going up to the Trayatrimsas heaven to preach the Law for the benefit of their mothers. Other places in connexion with them became remarkable, according to the manifestations which were made at them at particular times.

The country of Kapilavastu is a great scene of empty desolation. The inhabitants are few and far between. On the roads people have to be on their guard against white elephants(21) and lions, and should not travel incautiously.

NOTES

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · (1) Kapilavastu, “the city of beautiful virtue,” was the birthplace of Sâkyamuni, but was destroyed, as intimated in the notes on last chapt Note 2 · (2) The father, or supposed father, of Sâkyamuni. He is here called “the king white and pure” ({.} {.} {.}). A more common appellation is “t Note 3 · (3) The “eldest son,” or “prince” was Sâkyamuni, and his mother had no other son. For “his mother,” see chap. xvii, note 3. She was a daught Note 4 · (4) In “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 15, we read that “Buddha was now in the Tushita heaven, and knowing that his time was come (the time for Note 5 · (5) In Hardy’s M. B., pp. 154, 155, we read, “As the prince (Siddhartha, the first name given to Sâkyamuni; see Eitel, under Sarvarthasiddha Note 6 · (6) This is an addition of my own, instead of “There are also topes erected at the following spots,” of former translators. Fâ-Hien does not Note 7 · (7) Asita; see Eitel, p. 15. He is called in Pâli Kala Devala, and had been a minister of Suddhodana’s father.Note 8 · (8) In “The Life of Buddha” we read that the Lichchhavis of Vaisali had sent to the young prince a very fine elephant; but when it was near Note 9 · (9) The young Sakyas were shooting when the prince thus surpassed them all. He was then seventeen.Note 10 · (10) This was not the night when he finally fled from Kapilavastu, and as he was leaving the palace, perceiving his sleeping father, and sai Note 11 · (11) They did this, I suppose, to show their humility, for Upali was only a Sudra by birth, and had been a barber; so from the first did Bud Note 12 · (12) I have not met with the particulars of this preaching.Note 13 · (13) Meaning, as explained in Chinese, “a tree without knots;” the ficus Indica. See Rhys Davids’ note, Manual, p. 39, where he says that a Note 14 · (14) See chap. xiii, note 11. I have not met with the account of this presentation. See the long account of Prajapati in M. B., pp. 306-315.Note 15 · (15) See chap. xx, note 10. The Srotapannas are the first class of saints, who are not to be reborn in a lower sphere, but attain to nirvâna Note 16 · (16) See the account of this event in M. B., p. 150. The account of it reminds me of the ploughing by the sovereign, which has been an insti Note 17 · (17) “The place of Liberation;” see chap. xiii, note 7.Note 18 · (18) See the accounts of this event in M. B., pp. 145, 146; “The Life of the Buddha,” pp. 15, 16; and “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 66.Note 19 · (19) There is difficulty in construing the text of this last statement. Mr. Beal had, no doubt inadvertently, omitted it in his first transl Note 20 · (20) See chap. xvii, note 8. See also Davids’ Manual, p. 45. The latter says, that “to turn the wheel of the Law” means “to set rolling the Note 21 · (21) Fâ-Hien does not say that he himself saw any of these white elephants, nor does he speak of the lions as of any particular colour. We s