At
a distance from the city of six or seven li, on the west, on the
northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law to
his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of discourse
were such as "The bitterness and vanity of life as impermanent and
uncertain," and that "The body is as a bubble or foam on the water." At
this spot a tope was erected, and still exists.
Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, the
travellers arrived at a village named A-le, containing places where
Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of
which topes have been built.
[Footnote 1: This was, probably, in A.D. 405.]
CHAPTER XIX
~Legend of Buddha's Danta-kashtha~
Going on from this to the southeast for three yojanas, they came to the
great kingdom of Sha-che. As you go out of the city of Sha-che by the
southern gate, on the east of the road is the place where Buddha, after
he had chewed his willow branch, stuck it in the ground, when it
forthwith grew up seven cubits, at which height it remained, neither
increasing nor diminishing. The Brahmans, with their contrary doctrines,
became angry and jealous. Sometimes they cut the tree down, sometimes
they plucked it up, and cast it to a distance, but it grew again on the
same spot as at first. Here also is the place where the four Buddhas
walked and sat, and at which a tope was built that is still existing.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272