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A Record of the Buddhist Religion, As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (a.d. 671–695) - Max Muller, 1896 - Complete Book

English

But it seems to have been the case that some of the eighteen schools, after coming into contact with the Mahfyana, adopted its custom, or at all events, studied its system along with their own®. I-tsing’s statement (p. 14) seems to imply that one and the same } Chap. xxxix ; Legge, p. 99. ? As. Res. xx, p. 41 seq. The first Buddhist king, Sroi-tsan-gam-po, sent his minister, Thonmi Sambhota, to India for the scriptures in 632 A. D. 5 Wassilief, Buddhismus, p. 96. 1 J.R.A.S., 1891, p. 420. * The Mah&bodhi-vihara in Gaya, for instance, adheres to the Sthavira School, yet belongs also to the Mahayana; the surromding circumstances may have occasioned this, See below p. xxxii, note 2. H : BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. xxiii school adheres to the Hinay4na in one place and to the Mahayana in another ; a school does not exclusively belong to the one or the other. As to the difference of the opinions held by the eighteen schools, he does not say a word; but we can see, from the fact that he is very particular in stating that his Record is in accordance with his own school only and no other}, that the opinions of the other schools were irreconcileable. He gives some trifling points of difference in their practices, such as the arrangement of ladging-places, the methods of accepting alms or wearing garments *, though they are not sufficient to draw-a line between the MéilasarvAstivada-nikaya and the other schools *, THE RESULT OF I-TSING’s DESCRIPTION OF THE BUDDHIST SCHOOLS (A. D. 671-695). (His Introduction, pp. 7-14.) The eighteen schools * of Buddhism under the four principal heads :— I. The Arya-mahasahghika-nikaya. 1. Seven subdivisions. 2, The Tripitaka in 300,000 slokas. 3. It is in practice in Magadha (C. India); a few in Lata and Sindhu (W. India); a few in N, and S. India. Side by side with the other schools in E. India. Rejected in Ceylon. Lately introduced into the islands of the Southern Sea (Sumatra, Java, &c.). Some followers in Shen-si (W. China). Il. The Arya-sthavira-nikdya. . 1. Three subdivisions. 2. The Tripitaka in 300,000 slokas °, : 3. Almost all belong to it in S, India; it is in practice in Magadha (C. India). All belong to this in Ceylon. A few in Lafa and Sindhu (W. India). Side by side with the other schools in E, India. (Not in N, India.) Lately introduced into the islands of the Southern Sea. (Not in China.) 1 Pages 20, 215. ? Pages 6-7, 66-67. * I may add here that there is no trace of Brahmanic hostility in our Record; this is in harmony with the dates of Kuméarila Bhatfa (about 750) and Sankarazarya (about 788-820). * Compare Burnonf, Lotus, 357; Csoma, As. Res. xx, 298; Dipavamsa V, 39-48; Mahavamsa V; Rhys Davids, J.R.A.S., 1891, p. 411; 1892, Pp. 53 Wassilief, Buddhismus, 223; Beal, Ind, Ant., 1880, 299 * Compare Rhys Davids, Buddhism, p. 19. xxiv . GENERAL INTRODUCTION. III. The Arya-mflasarvastivada-nikaya. 1. Four subdivisions :— @. The Milasarvastivada School. 6. The Dharmagupta School. ¢. The Mahisasaka School, @, The Kasyapiya School. 2. The Tripizaka in 300,000 slokas. 3- Most flourishing in Magadha (C. India); almost all belong to this in N, India. A few in La/a and Sindhu (W. India) andin S. India, Side by side with the other in E. India. Three subdivisions, 4, ¢, Z, are not found in India proper, but some followers in Udyana, Kharaéar, and Kustana. (Not in Ceylon.) Almost all belong to this in the islands of the Southern Sea. A few in Champa (Cochin China). 4 is found in E. China and in Shen-si (W. China). a, 4, c,d, flourishing in the south of the Yang-tse-kiang, in Kwang-tung and Kwang-si in S, China, IV. The Arya-sammitiya-nikaya!. 1, Four subdivisions, . 2. Tripi¢aka in 200,000 slokas; the Vinaya alone in 30,000 slokas. 3- Most flourishing in Lata and Sindhu (W. India). It is in practice in Magadha, A few in S. India, Side by side with the other in E. India, (Not in N. India.) (Not in Ceylon.) A few in the islands of the Southern Sea, Mostly followed in Champa (Cochin-China). (Not in China proper.) The geographical distribution of the schools -gncia and in other places :— India in general. Eighteen schools are in existensy {p.8, iv). C. India. Magadha; all the four Nikayas in practice, but III flourishes the most (except 4, ¢, d of it): W. India. Lava and Sindhu; IV is most flourishing; a few of I, II, III. N. India. Almost all belong to III; a few to I (II, IV not found). S. India. ? Almost all belong to II; a few to the other schools. E. India. I, IJ, III, IV side by side. Ceylon. All belong to IT; 1 is rejected (III, IV not found). Sumatra, Java, and the neighbouring islands, Almost all belong to III; a few to IV; lately a few to I, IL. ; ‘ Cochin-China. Champa; mostly IV; a few III (no I, Il). Siam. No Buddhism at present, owing to the recent persecution of Buddhists by a king. + This seems to be most common; Sammitj,in Dipav. V, 46 (plural -tf), also in Wijesinha, Mahév., p. 15, note, ‘ * This fact is in harmony with Prof. Oldemberg’s opinion expressed in his Vinaya-pifakam, i, p. lili, that the Ceylonese Buddhism might have been introduced through the southern coasts LIFE. AND TRAVELS OF I-TSING. XXV E. China. - 2 of ITI flourishing. W. China. Shen-si: 4 of III, and also I followed. S. China. South of Yang-tse-kiang, Kwang-tung, and Kwang-si: all III (a, 4, ¢, @) flourishing. The Mahayana and Hinayana. China in general belongs to the Mahay4na. Malayu (=Sribhoga), a few Mahayanists. N. India and the ten or more islands of the Southern Sea (Sumatra, Java, &c.) generally belong to the Hinaydna. All the remaining places in India. Both YAnas are found, i.e. some practise according to the one, some according to the other. THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF I-TSING, Hif$ Boyhood, to his Departure from China. I-tsing, oné*of the three gfeat travellers in India, was born inthe year 635 A.D. in Fan-yang', during the reign of T'ai-tsung’. When he was seven years old (641), he went tp: the teachers, Shan-yii and Hui-hsi, who both lived in a temple on the mountain T‘ai in Shan-tung*, He was probably instructed by these teachers in the elements of general Chinese literature, with d*view to his proceeding to the priesthood. His Upadhyaya Shan-yii died, to his great sorrow, when he was only twelve years old (646)*. He then, laying aside his study of secular literature, devoted himself to the Sacred Canon of the Buddha. He was admitted to the Order (Pravragya) when he was fourteen years of age. It was, he tells us, in his eighteenth year (652) that he formed the intention of travelling to India, which was not, however, carried out till his thirty-seventh year (671)*° During some nineteen years of the interval he seems to have applied all his youthful vigour to 1 Modern Cho-chou (=Juju of Marco Polo, near Peking), a departmént in the province of Chi-li. ? Reigned a. D, 627-649 ; 635 is, in Chinese, the ninth year of the Chéng-kuan period. ® Below, pp. 199, 207. + Page 204; Hiuen Thsang returned from India in this year. + 3 Page 204. xxvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION. the study of religion, so as ‘not to render his life useless by indulging himself _in secular literature +. He received his Full Ordination (Upasampada) at the required age of twenty (654), his Karmazarya, Hui-hsi, then becoming his Upadhyaya to take the place of the deceased Shan-yit. On the same day, pointing out to him the importance of holding firm to the Noble Precepts of the Buddha, and also the fact that the Buddha’s teaching was becoming misinterpreted, the Upadhyaya instructed him in earnest, The words of his teacher must have guided him throughout the whole of his life, for what he did or wrote afterwards perfectly accords with them. After that incident, he devoted himself exclusively to the study of the Vinaya text during the following five years (654-658). He made great progress in his pursuit, and his teacher ordered him to deliver a lecture on the subject; in fact he calls himself on one occasion ‘One versed in the Vinaya,’ so far as the Chinese study of it is concerned 8, Next to the Vinaya he proceeded to learn the larger SQtras, practising some of the thirteen Dhiitdigas* during his residence in the mountain Vihara. Owing to the instigation of his Upadhy4ya he then went to Eastern Wei® to study Asanga’s two Sastras belonging to the Abhidharma-pi/aka; thence he moved to the Western Capital *, where He further read the Abhidharma-kosa and VidyAmiatra- siddhi of Vasubandhu and Dharmapala respectively 7. While he stayed at Ch'ang-an he may have witnessed the ‘noble enthusiasm of Hiuen Thsang §,’ and probably also the grand ceremony, of his funeral carried out under the special direction of the emperor, for his death occurred during I-tsing’s stay in the capital (664). Stirred up perhaps by the great personality of Hiuen Thsang and by the honour and glory that attended him, I-tsing seems to have made a great effort to carry out his long meditated enterprise of a journey to India, which was in his time the home of Buddhist literature. I-tsing indeed became a great admirer of Hiuen Thsarig as well as of Fa-hien, as his biographer tells us®°. He stayed in the capital till a.p. 670, the year prior to his departure from home. As to his travels, the reader will perhaps prefer to read them in I-tsing’s own words, though the record is unfortunately short *°. 1 Page 209; this was his teacher's instruction. 2 Page 209. 3 Page 65. * Compare pp. 56, 57, note. 5 Or, Yeh, now Chang-teh Fu in Honan. ® Si-an Fu or Ch’ang-arn (= Kenjanfu of Marco Polo) in Shen-si. 7 Page 210. * Compare the Life of I-tsing (Nanajio’s Catal., No. 1495) ; Chavannes, Memoirs, p. 193. ° See L. c.; for his own words about his two predecessors, see below, pp. 184, 207.