මේ විස්තර අනුව Shen- Shen කියන්නේ ලංකාවේ කොටසක් යැයි මාහට හැඟෙ.හේතුව මෙතන විස්තර කරන විදිහට සියල්ලම හීනයාන බික්ඛුන් පිළිබඳවත් Woo-e ඌව බවත් විස්තර කරන ආකාරයට . ..කෙසේ වෙතත් මාගේ උත්සාහය නිවැරදි පාර මෙය විය හැකි බව සැක හැර ගැණීමටයි ..
After travelling for seventeen days , a distance we may calculate of about 1500 le,(the pilgrims)reached the kingdom of Shen-Shen ,a country rugged and hilly ,with a thin and barren soil.The clothes of the common people are coarse,and like those worn in our land of Han,some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth of hair;-this was the only difference seen among them .The king professed (our) law,and there might be in the country more than four thousand monks who were students of the the Hinayana .The common people of this and other kingdoms (in that region),as well as the sramans , all practice the rule of India ,only that the latter do so more exactly ,and the former more loosely . So (the travelers found it in all the kingdoms through which they went on their way from this to the west ,only that each had its own peculiar barbarous speech . (The monks ),however ,who had (given up the worldly life )and quitted their families ,were all students of Indian books and Indian language .Here they stayed for about a month ,and then proceeded on their journey ,fifteen days walking to the north-west bringing them to the country of Woo-e.(උව) In this also there were more than four thousand monks ,all students of the Hinayana .They were very strict in their rules ,so that sramans from the territory of Ts'in were all unprepared for their regulations.Fa-Hsien ,through the management of Foo Kung-sun , maitre d'hotelerie ,was able to remain (with his company in the monastery where they were received ) for more than two months, and here they were rejoined by Pao-yum and his friends (at the end of the time )the people of Woo-e neglected the duties of propriety and righteousness, and treated the strangers in so niggardly a manner that Che-yen Hwuy-keen,and Hwuy-wei went back towards Kao-ch'ang,hoping to obtain there the means of continuing their journey .Fa-Hsien and the rest ,however ,through the liberality of Foo Kung-sun,managed to go straight forward in a south-west direction .They found the country uninhibited as they went along . The difficulties which they encountered in crossing the streams and on their route,and the sufferings which endured, were unparalleled in human experience,but in the course of a month and five days they succeeded in reaching Yu-teen .
Khoten. processing of images .The king's new monastery .
Yu-teen is a pleasant and prosperous kingdom,with a numerous and flourishing population .The inhabitants all profess our law, and join together in its religious music for their enjoyment.The monks amount to several myriads,most of whom are students of the Mahayana. They all receive their food from the common store.Throughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like (separate)stars and each family has a small tope(stupa) reared in front of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high,or rather more. They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from all quarters,the use of which is given to travelling monks who may arrive,and who are provided with whatever else require.
The Lord of the country lodged Fa-Hsien and the others comfortably,and supplied their wants,in a monastery called Gomati, of the Mahayana school.Attached to it there are three thousand monks,who are called to their meal by the sound of a bell.When they enter the refectory.Their demeanor is marked by a reverent gravity and they take their seats in regular order,all maintaining a perfect silence.No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils.When any of these pure men require food, they are not allowed to call out (to the attendants) for it,but only make signs with their hands.
Hwuy-king,Tao-ching,and Hwuy-tah set ot in advance towards the country of K'eeh-ch'a;but Fa-Hsien and the others,wishing to see the procession of images,remained behind for three months. There are in this country fourteen great monasteries,not counting the smaller ones.Beginning on the first day of the fourth month,they sweep and water the streets inside the city,making a grand display in the lanes and byways,in which the king and queen,with their ladies brilliantly arrayed,take up their residence (for the time).
The monks of the Gomati monastery being mahayana students,and help in great reverence by the king,took precedence of all others in the procession.At a distance of three or four le from the city,they made a four-wheeled image car,more than thirty cubits high, which looked like the great hall(of a monastery)moving along. The seven precious substances were grandly displayed about it,with silken streamers and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image stood in the middle of the car,with two bodhisattvas in attendance upon it,while devas were made to follow in waiting,all brilliantly carved in gold and silver,and hanging in the air.when (the car) was a hundred paces from the gate,the king put off his crown of state,changed his dress for a fresh suit,and with bare feet,carrying in his hands flowers and incense,and with two rows of attending followers,went out at the gate to meet the image;and,with his head and face (bowed to the ground),he did homage at its feet,and then scattered the flowers and burnt the incense. When the image was entering the gate,the queen and the brilliant ladies with her in the gallery above scattered far and wide all kind of flowers,which floated about and fell promiscuously to the ground.In the way everything was done to promote the dignity of the occasion.The carriages of the monasteries were all different,and each one had its own day for the procession.(The ceremony ) began on the first day of the fourth month,and ended on the fourteenth,after which the king and queen returned to the palace.
Seven or eight le to the west of the city there is what is called the king's New Monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and extended over three reigns.It may be 250 cubits in height,rich in elegant carving and inlaid work,covered above with gold and silver,and finished throughout with a combination of all the precious substances.Behind the sthupa there has been built a Hall of Buddha of the utmost magnificence and beauty,the beams, pillars, venetianed doors,and widows being all overlaid with gold-leaf.Besides this,the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated,beyond the power of words to express.Of whatever things of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the (Ts'ung)range of mountains (මෙය උතුවන් කන්ද විය යුතුයි ) are possessed,they contribute the greater portion (to the monastery),using but a small potion of them themselves.
When the processions of images in the fourth month were over, Sang-shao,by himself alone,followed a Tar-tar who was an earnest follower of the Law,and proceeded towards Kopene. Fa-Hsien and and the others went forward to the kingdom of YTsze-hoh,which it took them twenty five days to reach. Its king was a strenuous follower of our Law,and had (around him) more than thousand monks.mostly students of mahayana. Here(the travelers) abode fifteen days,and then went south for four days,when they found themselves among the Ts'ung mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy, where they halted and kept their retreat when this was over,they went on among the hills for twenty five days, and got to Hwuy-king and his two companions.
RELICS OF BUDDHA
It happened that the king of the country was then holding the pancha parishad,that is in Chinese,the great quadrennial assembly.When this is to be held ,the king requests the presence of the sramans from all quarters(of his kingdom).They come (as if) in clouds ;and when they are still assembled,their place of session is grandly decorated .Silkan streamers and canopies are hung out in,and water -lilies in gold and silver are made and fixed up behind the places where ( the chief of them)are to sit.When clean mats have been spread,and they are all seated,the king and his ministers present their offerings according to rule and law. (The assembly takes place),in the first ,second,or third month,for the most part in the spring.After the king has held the assembly,he further exhorts the ministers to make other and special offerings.The doing of this extends over one,two,three,five,or even seven days ;and when all is finished,he takes his own riding-horse,saddles,bridles,and waits on him himself,while he makes the noblest and most important minister of the kingdom mount him.Then,taking fine white woolen cloth,all sorts of precious things,and articles which the sramans require,he distributes them among them,uttering vows at the same time along with all his ministers; and when this distribution has taken place,he again redeems (what ever he wishes)from the monks.
(සෝමාවතිය චෛත්යය)
The country, being among the hills and cold,does not produce the other cereals,and only the wheat gets ripe.After the monks have received their annual (portion of this),the mornings suddenly show the hoarfrost,and on this account the king always begs the monks to make the wheat ripen before they receive their portion.There is in the country a spitoon which belonged to Buddha,made of stone, and in color like his alsm-bowl.There is also a tooth of Buddha,for which the people have reared a tope(sthupa),connected with which there are more than a thousand monks and their disciples,all students of the hinayana .To east of these hills the dress of the common people is of coarse materials,as in our country of T'sin,but here also there were among them the differences of fine woolen cloth and of serge or haircloth.The rules observed by the sramans are remarkable,and too numerous to be mentioned in detail.The country is in the midst of the (T's-wung)Onion range .As you go forward from these mountains,the plants,trees,and fruits are all different from those of the land of Han,excepting only the bamboo,
pomegranate,and sugar-cane.
(සමනල කන්ද)
From this (the travelers)went westwards towards North,and after being on the way for a month,they succeeded in getting across and through the range of the Onion mountains.The snow rests on them both winter and summer.There are also among them venomous dragons,which when provoked,spit forth poisonous winds,and cause showers of snow and storms of sand and gravel.Not one in ten thousand of those who encounter these dangers escapes with his life.The people of the country call the range by the name of 'The snow mountains' . When (the travelers) had got through them,they went in North and immediately on entering its boards,found themselves in a small kingdom called T'o-leih where also there were many monks,all students of the hinayana
In this kingdom there was formerly an Arhan,who by his supernatural power took a clever artificer up to the Tushita heaven, to see the height,complexion,and appearance of Maitreya Bodhisattva,and then return and make and image of him in wood. First and last,this was done three times,and then the image was completed, eighty cubits in height,and eight cubits at the base from knee to knee of the crossed legs.On first- days it emits an effulgent light.The kings of the (surroundings)countries vie with one another in presenting offerings to it.Here it is,to be seen now as of old.
FIRST CROSSED THE RIVER(INDU) FOR THE EAST
The travelers went on to the south-west for fifteen days (at the foot of mountains,and)following the course of their range.The way was difficult and rugged,(runing 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 his foot;and beneath where the waters of the called the Indus.In former times men had chiseled paths along the rocks ,and distributed ladders on the face of them, to the number all together 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.
The monks asked Fa-Hsien 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 old that,after the setting up of the image of Maitreya Bodhisattva,there were sramanas who crossed this river,carrying with them Suthras and books of Discipline. Now the image was set up rather more than 300 years after the nirvana of Buddha, which may be referred to the reign of king P'ing of the Chow dynasty.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,the great spiritual master (who is to be)the successor of the sakya ,who could have caused the 'Three Precious Ones'to be proclaimed so far,and the people of those boarder lands to know our Law.We know of a truth 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 had proper cause'.
UDYANA -
(පාද ලාංචනය තැබූ තැන )
After crossing the river,(the travelers)immediately came to the kingdom of Woo-chang (Udyana).'The middle kingdom' .The food and clothes of the common people are the same.The Law of Buddha is very (flourishing in Woo-chang)They call the places where the monks stay (for a time)or reside permanently Sangharamas;and of these are in all 500,the monks being all students of the hinayana. When stranger bhikshus arrive at one of them,their wants are supplied for three days,after which they are told to find a resting -place for themselves.
There is a tradition that when Buddha came to north,he came to once this country,and that here he left a print of his of foot,which is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder(on the subject)it exits,and the same thing is true about it,at the present
day.Here also are still to be seen the rock on the which he dried his clothes,and the place where he converted the wicked dragon(naga) . The rock is fourteen cubits high,and more than twenty broad ,with one side of it smooth .
Hwuy-king,Hwuy-tah,and Tao-ching went on ahead towards (the place of)Buddha's shadow in the country of Nagara;but Fa-Hsien and others in Woo-chang,and kept the summer retreat.That over they descended south,and arrived in the country of Soo-ho -To.
Soo-Ho-To ,Legend of Buddha....
In that country also Buddhism is flourishing.There is in it the place where Sakra,Rular of Devas ,in a former age,tried the Bodhisattva, by producing a hawk (in pursuit of a)dove,when (the Bodhisattva)cut off a piece of his own flesh ,and (with it) ransomed the dove.After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom, and in travelling about with his disciples(arrived at this spot), He informed them that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with a piece of his own flesh.In this way the people of the country became aware of the fact,and on the spot reared a tope (sthupa),adorned with layers of gold and silver plates.The people of the country were mostly students of the hinayana,
THAKSHILA
(හිස දන්දුන් තැන )
Seven days journey from this to east brought the travelers to the kingdom of Takshasila which means 'the severed head' in the language of China .Here was Bodhisattva,he gave away his head to a man ;and from this circumstance the kingdom got its name.
Going on further for two days to the east ,they came to the place where the Bodhisattva threw down his body to feed a starving tigress.in these two places also large topes have been built,both adorned with layers of all the precious substances.The kings, ministers,and peoples of the kingdoms around vie with one another in making offerings at them.The trains of those who come to scatter flowers and light lamps at them never cease.The nations of those quarters all those (and four great topes)
PUSHPAPURA
Going southwards (the travelers in four days arrived at the kingdom of Purushapura . Formerly , When Buddha was travelling in this country with his disciples, he said to Ananda ,'After my pari-nirvana,there will be a king named Kanishka( ගැමුණු විය යුතුයි ) who shall on this spot build a tope'.This Kanishka was afterwards born into the world ;and (once),when he had gone forth to look about him ,Sakra ,Rular of Devas ,wishing to excite the idea in his mind ,assumed the appearance of a little herd-boy ,and was making a tope right in the way (of the king ),who asked what sort of thing he was making .The boy said,'I am making a tope for Buddha '.The King said 'very good',and immediately ,right over the boy's tope ,he (proceeded to ) rear another, which was more than four hundred cubits high ,and adorned with layers of all the precious substances.Of all the topes and temples which (the travelers) saw in their journeying's,there was not one comparable to this in solemn beauty and majestic grandeur.There is a current saying that this is the finest tope in Jambudvipa. When the king's tope was completed,the little tope (of the boy)came out from its side on the south ,rather more than three cubits in height.
Buddha's alms-bowl is in this country(Rambha viharaya- රම්බා විහාරය ).Formerly ,a kin of Yueh-she raised a large force and in vaded this country,wishing to carry the bowl away.Having subdued the kingdom,as he and his captains were sincere believers in the law of Buddha,and wished to carry off the bowl ,they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale.When they had done so to the Three Precious Ones,he made a large elephant be grandly caparisoned,and placed the bowl upon it.But the elephant knelt down on the ground ,and was unable to go forward.Again he caused a four-wheeled wagon to be prepared in which the bowl was put to be conveyed away.Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and dragged it with their united strength;but neither were they able to go forward.The king knew that the time for an association between himself and the bowl had not yet arrived,and was sad and deeply ashamed of himself.Forthwith he built a tope at the place and a monastery,and left a guard to watch (the bowl),making all sorts of contributions.
There may be there more than seven hundred monks.When it is near midday,they bring out the bowl ,and along with the common people ,make their midday meal.In the evening ,at the time of incense,they bring the bowl out again.It may contain rather more than two pecks,and is of various colors,black predominating,with the seams that show its four-fold composition distinctly marked.Its thickness is about the fifth of an inch,and it has a bright and glossy luster.When poor people throw into it a few flowers,it becomes immediately full,while some very rich people ,wishing to make offering of many flowers ,might not stop till they had thrown in hundreds,thousands,and myriads of bushels,and yet would not be able to fit it.
Pao-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the alms-bowl,and (then resolved to) go back. Hwuy-king,Hwuy-tah, and Tao-ching had gone on before the rest Negara,to make their offerings at (the place of )Buddha's shadow;tooth,and and the flat bone of his skull( Thissamaharamaya=තිස්සමහාරාමය දැනට චෛතයේ ඇත )
NAGARA
Going west for sixteen yojanas he came to the city of Nagara , where there is the flat-bone of Buddha's skull deposited in a vihara adorned all over with gold-leaf and the seven sacred substances . The king of the country ,revering and honoring the bone,and anxious lest it should be stolen away,has selected eight individuals,representing the great families in the kingdom, and committing to each a seal,with which he should seal (its shrine ) and guard (the relic).At early dawn these eight men come,and after each has inspected his seal ,they open the door.This done they wash their hands with scented water and bring out the bone,which they place outside the vihara,on a lofty plat-form,where it is supported on a round pedestal of the seven precious substances,and covered with a bell of lapis lazuli , both adorned with rows of pearls.Its colour is of a yellowish white ,and it forms an imperfect circle twelve inches round curving upwards to the center.Every day, after it has been brought fourth,the keepers of the vihara ascend a high gallery, where they beat great drums,blow conchs,and
clash their copper cymbals.When the king hears them,he goes to the vihara ,and makes his offerings of Flowers and incense.When he has done this ,he ( and his attendants)in order,one after another, (raise the bone),place it (for a moment)on the top of their heads,and then depart,going out by the door on the west as they entered by that on the east.The king every morning make his offerings and performs his worship,and afterwards gives audience on the business of his government.The Chiefs of the Vaisyas also make their offerings before they attend to their family affairs.
Everyday it is so,and there is no remissness in the observance of the custom.When all the offerings are over ,they replace the bone in the vihara,where is a vimoksha tope,of the seven precious substances,and rather more than five cubits high,sometimes shut,to contain it.Infront of the door of the vihara,there are parties who every morning sell flowers and incense,and those who wish to make offerings buy some of all kinds.The kings of various countries are also constantly sending messengers with offerings. The vihara stands in a square of thirty paces,and though heaven should shake and earth be rent,this place would not move.
Going on ,north from this for a yojana (Fa-Hsien)arrived at the capital of Nagara,the place where the Bodhisattva once purchased with money five stalks of flowers,as an offering to the Dipankara Buddha.In the midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha's tooth,where offerings are made in the same way as to the flat-bone of his skull.
A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of valley.where there is Buddha's pewter staff;and a vihara also has been built at which offerings are made.The staff is made of Gosirsha Chandana( සඳුන් දර ),and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long.It is contained in a wooden tube,and though a hundred or a thousand men ere to (try to)lift it,they could not move it.
Entering the mouth of the valley,and going west,he found Buddha's Sangha,where also there is reared a vihara, and offerings are made. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought,for the people to collect in crowds bring out the robe,pay worship to it, and make offerings,on which there is immediately a great rain from the sky.
South of the city,half a yojana,there is a rock-cavern,in a great hill fronting the south-west;and here it was that Buddha left his shadow.Looking at it from a of more than ten paces,you seem to see Buddha's real form,with his complexion of gold,and his characteris-
tic marks in their nicety clearly and brightly displayed. The nearer you approach,however,the fainter it becomes,as if if were only in your fancy.When the kings from the regions all around have sent skillful artists to take a copy,none of them have been able to do so.Among the people of the country there is a saying current that 'the thousand Buddhas must all leave their shadows here'.
Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow,when Buddha was at the spot,he shaved his hair and clit his nails,and proceeded,along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits high,to be a model for all future topes;and it is still existing.By the side of it there is a monastery,with more than seven hundred monks in it.At this place there are as many as a thousand topes of Arhans and pratyeka Buddhas.
A yojana to the north-east of the city brought him to the mouth of valley.where there is Buddha's pewter staff;and a vihara also has been built at which offerings are made.The staff is made of Gosirsha Chandana( සඳුන් දර ),and is quite sixteen or seventeen cubits long.It is contained in a wooden tube,and though a hundred or a thousand men ere to (try to)lift it,they could not move it.
Entering the mouth of the valley,and going west,he found Buddha's Sangha,where also there is reared a vihara, and offerings are made. It is a custom of the country when there is a great drought,for the people to collect in crowds bring out the robe,pay worship to it, and make offerings,on which there is immediately a great rain from the sky.
South of the city,half a yojana,there is a rock-cavern,in a great hill fronting the south-west;and here it was that Buddha left his shadow.Looking at it from a of more than ten paces,you seem to see Buddha's real form,with his complexion of gold,and his characteris-
tic marks in their nicety clearly and brightly displayed. The nearer you approach,however,the fainter it becomes,as if if were only in your fancy.When the kings from the regions all around have sent skillful artists to take a copy,none of them have been able to do so.Among the people of the country there is a saying current that 'the thousand Buddhas must all leave their shadows here'.
Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow,when Buddha was at the spot,he shaved his hair and clit his nails,and proceeded,along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits high,to be a model for all future topes;and it is still existing.By the side of it there is a monastery,with more than seven hundred monks in it.At this place there are as many as a thousand topes of Arhans and pratyeka Buddhas.
The little snowy mountains.Lo-e .Pohna. CROSSING INDUS TO THE EAST
Having stayed there till the third month of winter,Fa-Hsien and the two others,proceeding south-wards,crossed Little Snowy mountains. On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and summer .On the north(side)of the mountains,in the shade,they suddenly encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become unable to speak.Hwy-king could not go any farther.A white froth came from his mouth,and he said to Fa-Hsein,'I cannot live any longer.Do you immediately go away,that we do not all die here,' and with these words he died.Fa-Hsein stroked the corpse,and cried out piteously,'Our original plan has failed;-it is fate.What can we do?'he then again exerted himself,and they succeeded in crossing to south of the range,and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e, where there were nearly three thousand monks,students of both the mahayana and hinayana. Here they stayed for the summer retreat, and when that was over ,they went on to the south,and ten days' journey brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na ,where there are also more than three thousand monks,all students of the hinayana. Proceeding from this place for three days,they again crossed the Indus,where the country on each side was low and level.
After they had crossed the river,there was a country named Pe-t'oo
Where Buddhism was very flourishing and (the monks )studied both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples from ts'in passing along,they were moved with great pity and sympathy,and expressed themselves thus:'How is it that these men from a borderland should have learned to become monks,and come for the sake of or doctrines from such a distance in search of the Law of Buddha?' They supplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law.
On to Mathura (Muttra).(මතුරා රට-මාතර )
From this place they traveled South-east, passing by a succession of very many monasteries,with a multitude of monks,who might be counted by myriads.After passing all these places ,they came to a country named Ma-t'aou-lo(peakcock city -කතරගම ?).They still followed the course of the P'oo-na river(යමුනා ගඟ ), on the banks of which ,left and right, there were twenty monasteries which might contain three thousand monks;and(here)the Law Buddha was still more flourishing.Everywhere the kings had been firm believers in that Law.When they make their offerings to a community of monks, they take off their royal caps,and along with their relatives and ministers,supply them with food with their own hands.That done,(the king)has a carpet spread for himself on the ground,and sits down in front of the chairman;they dare not presume to sit on couches in front community.The Law and ways,according to which the kings presented their offerings when Buddha was in the world, have been handed down to the present day.
All south from this is named the Middle Kingdom(මද්යම දේශය) .In it the cold and heat are finely tempered,and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The people are numerous and happy;they have not to register their house-holds,or attend to any magistrates and their rules;only those who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a potion of)the grain from it.If they want to stay on,they stay.The king governs without decapitation or(other)corporal punishments.Criminals are simply fined,lightly or heavily,according to the circumstances(of each case).Even `in cases of repeated attempts at wicked rebellion,they only have their right off.The body guards and attendance all have salaries .Throughout the whole country the people do not kill any living creature,nor drink intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic.The only exception is that of the Chandalas. That is the name for those who are (held to be)wicked men,and live apart from others.When they enter the gate of a city or market -place,they strike a piece wood to make themselves known,so that men know and avoid them,and do not come in to contact with them.In that country they do not sell live cattle;in the markets there are no butchers' shops and no dealers in intoxicating drink. In buying and selling commodities they use cowries.Only the Chandalas are fishermen and hunters,and sell flesh meat.
After Buddha attained to pari-nirvana,the kings of the various countries and the heads of the Vaisyas built viharas for the priests, and endowed them with fields,houses,gardens,and orchards,along with the resident populations and their cattle,the grants being engraved on plates of metal,so that afterwards they were handed down from king to king,without any daring to annual them,and they remain even to the present time.
The regular business of the monks is to perform acts of meritorious virtue,and to recite their Sutras ans sit wrapt in meditation. when stranger monks arrive(at any monastery),the old residents meet and receive them,carry for them their clothes and alms-bowl,give them water to wash their feet,oil with which to anoint them,and the liquid food permitted out of the regular hours.when(the stranger) has enjoyed a very brief rest,they further ask the number of years that he has been a monk,after which he receives a sleeping apartment with its appurtenances,according to his regular order,and everything is done for him which the rules prescribe.
Where the community of monks resides, they erect topes to Sariputtra,to Maha-Moggallana,and to Ananda,and and also topes(in honor)of the Abhidhamma,the Vinaya,and the suthras.A month after the (annual season of)rest,the families which are looking out for blessing stimulate one another to make offerings to the monks,and send round to them the liquid food which may be taken out of the ordinary hours.All the monks come together in a great assembly, and preach the Law;after which offerings are presented at the tope of Sariputta,with all kinds of flowers and incense.All through the night lamps are kept burning,and skillful musicians are employed to perform.
When Sariputtra was a great brahman,he went to Buddha, and begged(to be permitted) to quit his family(and become a monk).The great Mugalan and the great Kasyapa also did the same.The bhikshunis for the most part make their offerings at the tope Ananda,because it was he who requested the World-honored one to allow females to quit their families (and become nuns).The sramanas mostly make their offerings to Rahula the professors of the Abhidamma make their offerings to it;those of the Vinaya to it.Every year there is one such offerings,and each class has its own day for it.Students of the mahayana present offerings to the Prajna-paramita,to Manjusri,and to Kwan-she-yin.When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute(from the harvests),the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the Brahmans bring clothes and other such articles as the monks require for use,and distribute among them. The monks,having received them,also proceed to give portions to one another .From the nirvana of Buddha,the forms of ceremony, Law,and rules,practiced by the sacred communities ,have been handed down from one generation to another without interruption.
From the place where (the travelers) crossed the Indus on to the southern sea, a distance of 40 or 50,000 le,all is level plain.There are no large hills with streams(among them);there are simply the waters of the rivers.
please read next journey using below link;
https://seehahelaithihasaya.blogspot.com/2018/10/sankasaya-buddhas-ascent-to-and-descent_15.html
please read next journey using below link;
https://seehahelaithihasaya.blogspot.com/2018/10/sankasaya-buddhas-ascent-to-and-descent_15.html
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