A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms

Chapter VII · CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE EAST

James Legge translation

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 was difficult and rugged, (running along) a bank exceedingly precipitous, which rose up there, a hill-like wall of rock, 10,000 cubits from the base. When one approaches the edge of it, his eyes become unsteady; and if he wished to go forward in the same direction, there was no place on which he could place his foot; and beneath where the waters of the river called the Indus.(1) In former times men had chiselled paths along the rocks, and distributed ladders on the face of them, to the number altogether of 700, at the bottom of which there was a suspension bridge of ropes, by which the river was crossed, its banks being there eighty paces apart.(2) The (place and arrangements) are to be found in the Records of the Nine Interpreters,(3) but neither Chang K’een(4) nor Kan Ying(5) had reached the spot.

The monks(6) 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 countries about it, they all said that it had been handed down by their fathers from of old that, after the setting up of the image of Maitreya Bodhisattva, there were Sramans of India who crossed this river, carrying with them Sûtras and Books of Discipline. Now the image was set up rather more than 300 years after the nirvâna(7) of Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king P’ing of the Chow dynasty.(8) According to this account we may say that the diffusion of our great doctrines (in the east) began from (the setting up of) this image. If it had not been through that Maitreya,(9) the great spiritual master(10) (who is to be) the successor of the Sakya, who could have caused the ‘Three Precious Ones’(11) to be proclaimed so far, and the people of those border lands to know our Law? We know of a truth that the opening of (the way for such) a mysterious propagation is not the work of man; and so the dream of the emperor Ming of Han(12) had its proper cause.”

NOTES

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · (1) The Sindhu. We saw in a former note that the earliest name in China for India was Shin-tuh. So, here, the river Indus is called by a nam Note 2 · (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 Note 3 · (3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese copies,—one which Rémusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured s Note 4 · (4) Chang K’een, a minister of the emperor Woo of Han (B.C. 140-87), is celebrated as the first Chinese who “pierced the void,” and penetrat Note 5 · (5) Less is known of Kan Ying than of Chang K’een. Being sent in A.D. 88 by his patron Pan Chao on an embassy to the Roman empire, he only g Note 6 · (6) Where and when? Probably at his first resting-place after crossing the Indus.Note 7 · (7) This may refer to Sâkyamuni’s becoming Buddha on attaining to nirvâna, or more probably to his pari-nirvâna and death.Note 8 · (8) As king P’ing’s reign lasted from B.C. 750 to 719, this would place the death of Buddha in the eleventh century B.C., whereas recent inq Note 9 · (9) This confirms the words of Eitel, that Maitreya is already controlling the propagation of the faith.Note 10 · (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 · (11) “The precious Buddha,” “the precious Law,” and “the precious Monkhood;” Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the whole being equivalent to Buddh Note 12 · (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.