Note 3 — Chapter XXXVI · IN PATNA. FÂ-HIEN’S LABOURS IN TRANSCRIPTION OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND INDIAN STUDIES FOR THREE YEARS.

(3) The eighteen pu {.}. Four times in this chapter the character called pu occurs, and in the first and two last instances it can only have the meaning, often belonging to it, of “copy.” The second instance, however, is different. How should there be eighteen copies, all different from the original, and from one another, in minor matters? We are compelled to translate—“the eighteen schools,” an expression well known in all Buddhist writings. See Rhys Davids’ Manual, p. 218, and the authorities there quoted.