Note 3 — Chapter VII · CROSSING OF THE INDUS. WHEN BUDDHISM FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER FOR THE EAST

(3) The Japanese edition has a different reading here from the Chinese copies,—one which Rémusat (with true critical instinct) conjectured should take the place of the more difficult text with which alone he was acquainted. The “Nine Interpreters” would be a general name for the official interpreters attached to the invading armies of Han in their attempts to penetrate and subdue the regions of the west. The phrase occurs in the memoir of Chang K’een, referred to in the next note.