Note 10 — Chapter I · FROM CH’ANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT
James Legge translation
(10) Dana is the name for religious charity, the first of the six paramitas, or means of attaining to nirvâna; and a danapati is “one who practises dana and thereby crosses {.} the sea of misery.” It is given as “a title of honour to all who support the cause of Buddhism by acts of charity, especially to founders and patrons of monasteries;”—see Eitel, p. 29.