Note 58 — NOTICE ON THE PHONGYIES, OR BUDDHIST MONKS, SOMETIMES CALLED TALAPOINS.[53]

In this part of the regulations the elect is reminded of the primitive condition of the members of the society. In imitation of their brethren of the Brahminical persuasion, and also for the purpose of living in seclusion, the Rahans, in the beginning, were satisfied with dwelling in huts raised at the foot of some tall tree. As soon, however, as Buddhism gained footing in various countries, we see that kings, nobles, and wealthy persons vied with each other in erecting splendid houses for the use of the monks. Gaudama himself was presented by King Pimpathara at Radzagio with the splendid Weloowon monastery. In Thawattie the rich man Anatapein offered him the famous Dzetawon monastery; and the rich lady Withaka of the same country gave him, as a gift, the no less splendid mansion named Pouppayon.

General A. Cunningham has discovered the ruins of Thawattie, fifty-eight miles north of Fyzabad, on the Rapti, in a place called Sahet Mahet, situated between Akaona and Bulrampur, five miles from the former and twelve from the latter. It was the capital of King Pathenadi, situated in north Kosala. In the Legend of Buddha we have seen how that monarch was dispossessed of his throne by one of his sons, and died while on his way to the capital of Adzatathat, his son-in-law. The ruins of the renowned Dzetawon monastery have been identified by means of the information supplied by the writings of the Chinese pilgrims we have often mentioned. The monastery was distant 1200 paces from the southern gate of the city. The scarcely less famous Pouppayon monastery was erected to the east of the Dzetawon. Mounds of ruins in that very same direction leave no doubt that in their bosom the last remains of that celebrated place are entombed. It is said that Gaudama, being fifty-five years old, began to reside permanently in monasteries built for him, and that he spent, out of the last twenty-five seasons, nineteen in the Dzetawon and six in the Pouppayon. According to Hwen Thsang, the place occupied by the Dzetawon monastery was a square, having 1000 cubits on each face or side. Besides the monastery, there were two temples and two tanks within the enclosure.