[7] The professors of the Abhidharma make their offerings to it;
those of the Vinaya to it. Every year there is one such offering, and
each class has its own day for it. Students of the mahayana present
offerings to the Prajna-paramita, to Manjus'ri, 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 such other 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, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred communities, have
been handed down from one generation to another without interruption.
From the place where the travellers crossed the Indus to South India,
and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty thousand li,
all is level plain. There are no large hills with streams among them;
there are simply the waters of the rivers.
[Footnote 1: No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon,
and total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory. Food eaten
at any other part of the day is called vikala, and forbidden; but a
weary traveller might receive unseasonable refreshment, consisting of
honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil.]
[Footnote 2: Sariputtra was one of the principal disciples of Buddha,
and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all.
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