a record of buddhistic kingdoms(佛都记录)

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A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

A RECORD OF

BUDDHISTIC

KINGDOMS

Translated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese

text

BY JAMES LEGGE

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

PREFACE

Several times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured

to read through the "Narrative of Fa-hien;" but though interested with the

graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so constantly--

now with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and now with his

substitution for them of their meanings in Chinese characters, and I was,

moreover, so much occupied with my own special labours on the

Confucian Classics, that my success was far from satisfactory. When Dr.

Eitel's "Handbook for the Student of Chinese Buddhism" appeared in 1870,

the difficulty occasioned by the Sanskrit words and names was removed,

but the other difficulty remained; and I was not able to look into the book

again for several years. Nor had I much inducement to do so in the two

copies of it which I had been able to procure, on poor paper, and printed

from blocks badly cut at first, and so worn with use as to yield books the

reverse of attractive in their appearance to the student.

In the meantime I kept studying the subject of Buddhism from various

sources; and in 1878 began to lecture, here in Oxford, on the Travels with

my Davis Chinese scholar, who was at the same time Boden Sanskrit

scholar. As we went on, I wrote out a translation in English for my own

satisfaction of nearly half the narrative. In the beginning of last year I

made Fa-hien again the subject of lecture, wrote out a second translation,

independent of the former, and pushed on till I had completed the whole.

The want of a good and clear text had been supplied by my friend, Mr.

Bunyiu Nanjio, who sent to me from Japan a copy, the text of which is

appended to the translation and notes, and of the nature of which some

account is given in the Introduction, and towards the end of this Preface.

The present work consists of three parts: the Translation of Fa-hien's

Narrative of his Travels; copious Notes; and the Chinese Text of my copy

from Japan.

It is for the Translation that I hold myself more especially responsible.

Portions of it were written out three times, and the whole of it twice.

While preparing my own version I made frequent reference to previous

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

translations:--those of M. Abel Remusat, "Revu, complete, et augmente

d'eclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landress" (Paris, 1836);

of the Rev. Samuel Beal (London, 1869), and his revision of it, prefixed to

his "Buddhist Records of the Western World" (Trubner's Oriental Series,

1884); and of Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of H.M.'s Consular Service in China

(1877). To these I have to add a series of articles on "Fa-hsien and his

English Translators," by Mr. T. Watters, British Consul at I-Chang (China

Review, 1879, 1880). Those articles are of the highest value, displaying

accuracy of Chinese scholarship and an extensive knowledge of Buddhism.

I have regretted that Mr. Watters, while reviewing others, did not himself

write out and publish a version of the whole of Fa-hien's narrative. If he

had done so, I should probably have thought that, on the whole, nothing

more remained to be done for the distinguished Chinese pilgrim in the way

of translation. Mr. Watters had to judge of the comparative merits of the

versions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many points of

contention between them. I have endeavoured to eschew those matters,

and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence of

renderings of my own.

The Chinese narrative runs on without any break. It was Klaproth who

divided Remusat's translation into forty chapters. The division is helpful to

the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or four instances. In

the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are separated by a circle in the

column.

In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally

followed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is now

in vogue. We cannot tell exactly what the pronunciation of them was,

about fifteen hundred years ago, in the time of Fa-hien; but the southern

mandarin must be a shade nearer to it than that of Peking at the present

day. In transliterating the Indian names I have for the most part followed

Dr. Eitel, with such modification as seemed good and in harmony with

growing usage.

For the Notes I can do little more than claim the merit of selection and

condensation. My first object in them was to explain what in the text

required explanation to an English reader. All Chinese texts, and Buddhist

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

texts especially, are new to foreign students. One has to do for them what

many hundreds of the ablest scholars in Europe have done for the Greek

and Latin Classics during several hundred years, and what the thousands

of critics and commentators have been doing of our Sacred Scriptures for

nearly eighteen centuries. There are few predecessors in the field of

Chinese literature into whose labours translators of the present century can

enter. This will be received, I hope, as a sufficient apology for the

minuteness and length of some of the notes. A second object in them was

to teach myself first, and then others, something of the history and

doctrines of Buddhism. I have thought that they might be learned better in

connexion with a lively narrative like that of Fa-hien than by reading

didactic descriptions and argumentative books. Such has been my own

experience. The books which I have consulted for these notes have been

many, besides Chinese works. My principal help has been the full and

masterly handbook of Eitel, mentioned already, and often referred to as

E.H. Spence Hardy's "Eastern Monachism" (E.M.) and "Manual of

Buddhism" (M.B.) have been constantly in hand, as well as Rhys Davids'

Buddhism, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,

his Hibbert Lectures, and his Buddhist Suttas in the Sacred Books of the

East, and other writings. I need not mention other authorities, having

endeavoured always to specify them where I make use of them. My

proximity and access to the Bodleian Library and the Indian Institute have

been of great advantage.

I may be allowed to say that, so far as my own study of it has gone, I

think there are many things in the vast field of Buddhist literature which

still require to be carefully handled. How far, for instance, are we entitled

to regard the present Sutras as genuine and sufficiently accurate copies of

those which were accepted by the Councils before our Christian era? Can

anything be done to trace the rise of the legends and marvels of

Sakyamuni's history, which were current so early (as it seems to us) as the

time of Fa-hien, and which startle us so frequently by similarities between

them and narratives in our Gospels? Dr. Hermann Oldenberg, certainly a

great authority on Buddhistic subjects, says that "a biography of Buddha

has not come down to us from ancient times, from the age of the Pali texts;

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

and, we can safely say, no such biography existed then" ("Buddha--His

Life, His Doctrine, His Order," as translated by Hoey, p. 78). He has also

(in the same work, pp. 99, 416, 417) come to the conclusion that the

hitherto unchallenged tradition that the Buddha was "a king's son" must be

given up. The name "king's son" (in Chinese {...}), always used of the

Buddha, certainly requires to be understood in the highest sense. I am

content myself to wait for further information on these and other points, as

the result of prolonged and careful research.

Dr. Rhys Davids has kindly read the proofs of the Translation and

Notes, and I most certainly thank him for doing so, for his many valuable

corrections in the Notes, and for other suggestions which I have received

from him. I may not always think on various points exactly as he does, but

I am not more forward than he is to say with Horace,--

"Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri."

I have referred above, and also in the Introduction, to the Corean text

of Fa-hien's narrative, which I received from Mr. Nanjio. It is on the whole

so much superior to the better-known texts, that I determined to attempt to

reproduce it at the end of the little volume, so far as our resources here in

Oxford would permit. To do so has not been an easy task. The two fonts of

Chinese types in the Clarendon Press were prepared primarily for printing

the translation of our Sacred Scriptures, and then extended so as to be

available for printing also the Confucian Classics; but the Buddhist work

necessarily requires many types not found in them, while many other

characters in the Corean recension are peculiar in their forms, and some

are what Chinese dictionaries denominate "vulgar." That we have

succeeded so well as we have done is owing chiefly to the intelligence,

ingenuity, and untiring attention of Mr. J. C. Pembrey, the Oriental Reader.

The pictures that have been introduced were taken from a superb

edition of a History of Buddha, republished recently at Hang-chau in

Cheh-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese art. I am

indebted for the use of it to the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, University Chinese

Scholar.

James Legge.

Oxford: June, 1886.

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

[ PICTURE: SKETCH MAP OF FA-HIEN'S TRAVELS ]

The accompanying Sketch-Map, taken in connexion with the notes on

the different places in the Narrative, will give the reader a sufficiently

accurate knowledge of Fa-hien's route.

There is no difficulty in laying it down after he crossed the Indus from

east to west into the Punjab, all the principal places, at which he touched

or rested, having been determined by Cunningham and other Indian

geographers and archaeologists. Most of the places from Ch'ang- an to

Bannu have also been identified. Woo-e has been put down as near Kutcha,

or Kuldja, in 43d 25s N., 81d 15s E. The country of K'ieh-ch'a was

probably Ladak, but I am inclined to think that the place where the

traveller crossed the Indus and entered it must have been further east than

Skardo. A doubt is intimated on page 24 as to the identification of T'o-leih

with Darada, but Greenough's "Physical and Geological Sketch-Map of

British India" shows "Dardu Proper," all lying on the east of the Indus,

exactly in the position where the Narrative would lead us to place it. The

point at which Fa-hien recrossed the Indus into Udyana on the west of it is

unknown. Takshasila, which he visited, was no doubt on the west of the

river, and has been incorrectly accepted as the Taxila of Arrian in the

Punjab. It should be written Takshasira, of which the Chinese

phonetisation will allow;--see a note of Beal in his "Buddhist Records of

the Western World," i. 138.

We must suppose that Fa-hien went on from Nan-king to Ch'ang-an,

but the Narrative does not record the fact of his doing so.

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

INTRODUCTION

Life of Fa-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his Narrative;

Number of the Adherents of Buddhism.

1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fa-hien in addition to

what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read the

accounts of him in the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled in A.D.

519, and a later work, the "Memoirs of Marvellous Monks," by the third

emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however, is nearly

all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an appearance of

verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass.

His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wu-yang

in P'ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi.

He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died before

shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the service of the

Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera, still keeping him at

home in the family. The little fellow fell dangerously ill, and the father

sent him to the monastery, where he soon got well and refused to return to

his parents.

When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering

the widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to

renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, "I did not

quit the family in compliance with my father's wishes, but because I

wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This is why I chose

monkhood." The uncle approved of his words and gave over urging him.

When his mother also died, it appeared how great had been the affection

for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he returned to the monastery.

On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his fellow-

disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away their

grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero stood his

ground, and said to the thieves, "If you must have the grain, take what you

please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of charity which brought you

to your present state of destitution; and now, again, you wish to rob others.

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

I am afraid that in the coming ages you will have still greater poverty and

distress;--I am sorry for you beforehand." With these words he followed

his companions into the monastery, while the thieves left the grain and

went away, all the monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing

homage to his conduct and courage.

When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations

of the full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and

strict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after, he

undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the Vinaya-

pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels in India and

return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative, with the

addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him, on his visit to

the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha.

It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the capital

(evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana Buddha-

bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had obtained

in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to do in this way,

he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and died in the

monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great sorrow of all who

knew him. It is added that there is another larger work giving an account

of his travels in various countries.

Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he

himself has told us. Fa-hien was his clerical name, and means "Illustrious

in the Law," or "Illustrious master of the Law." The Shih which often

precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as Sakyamuni, "the

Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and Silence," and may be

taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes said to have belonged to

"the eastern Tsin dynasty" (A.D. 317-419), and sometimes to "the Sung,"

that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of Liu (A.D. 420-478). If he became

a full monk at the age of twenty, and went to India when he was twenty-

five, his long life may have been divided pretty equally between the two

dynasties.

2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fa-hien's travels

than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long ceased to

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

be in existence.

In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D. 589-

618), the name Fa-hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the last

section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, his labours in

translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in conjunction with

Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section, page 15, we find "A

Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;"--with a note, saying that it was the

work of the "Sramana, Fa-hien;" and again, on page 13, we have

"Narrative of Fa-hien in two Books," and "Narrative of Fa-hien's Travels

in one Book." But all these three entries may possibly belong to different

copies of the same work, the first and the other two being in separate

subdivisions of the Catalogue.

In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title is

"Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms." In the Japanese or Corean recension

subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first, "Narrative of the

Distinguished Monk, Fa-hien;" and then, more at large, "Incidents of

Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern Tsin, Fa-hien, recorded by

himself."

There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work than

the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonne of the imperial library of the

present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by Le Tao-

yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei (A.D. 386-

584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other 276; both of

them given as from the "Narrative of Fa-hien."

In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The

evidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be required.

It is clear to myself that the "Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms" and the

"Narrative of his Travels by Fa-hien" were designations of one and the

same work, and that it is doubtful whether any larger work on the same

subject was ever current. With regard to the text subjoined to my

translation, it was published in Japan in 1779. The editor had before him

four recensions of the narrative; those of the Sung and Ming dynasties,

with appendixes on the names of certain characters in them; that of Japan;

and that of Corea. He wisely adopted the Corean text, published in

A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS

accordance with a royal rescript in 1726, so far as I can make out; but the

different readings of the other texts are all given in top-notes, instead of

foot-notes as with us, this being one of the points in which customs in the

east and west go by contraries. Very occasionally, the editor indicates by a

single character, equivalent to "right" or "wrong," which reading in his

opinion is to be preferred. In the notes to the present republication of the

Corean text, S stands for Sung, M for Ming, and J for Japanese; R for right,

and W for wrong. I have taken the trouble to give all the various readings

(amounting to more than 300), partly as a curiosity and to make my text

complete, and partly to show how, in the transcription of writings in

whatever language, such variations are sure to occur,

"maculae, quas aut incuria fudit, Aut humana parum cavit

nature,"

while on the whole they very slightly affect the meaning of the

document.

The editors of the Catalogue Raisonne intimate their doubts of the

good taste and reliability of all Fa-hien's statements. It offends them that

he should call central India the "Middle Kingdom," and China, which to

them was the true and only Middle Kingdom, but "a Border land;"--it

offends them as the vaunting language of a Buddhist writer, whereas the

reader will see in the expressions only an instance of what Fa-hien calls

his "simple straightforwardness."

As an instance of his unreliability they refer to his account of the

Buddhism of Khoten, whereas it is well known, they say, that the

Khoteners from ancient times till now have been Mohammedans;--as if

they could have been so 170 years before Mohammed was born, and 222

years before the year of the Hegira! And this is criticism in China. The

Catalogue was ordered by the K'ien-lung emperor in 1722. Between three

and four hundred of the "Great Scholars" of the empire were engaged on it

in various departments, and thus egregiously ignorant did they show

themselves of all beyond the limits of their own country, and even of the

literature of that country itself.

Much of what Fa-hien tells his readers of Buddhist miracles and

legends is indeed unreliable and grotesque; but we have from him the truth

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