P‚o-yun and Sang-king here merely made their offerings to the alms-bowl, and then resolved to go back. Hwuy-king, Hwuy-tah, and T‚o-ching had gone on before the rest to Nag‚ra, to make their offerings at the places of Buddha's shadow, tooth, and the flat-bone of his skull. There Hwuy-king fell ill, and T‚o-ching remained to look after him, while Hwuy-tah came alone to Purushapura, and saw the others, and then he with P‚o-yun and Sang-king took their way back to the land of Ts'in. Hwuy-king came to his end in the monastery of Buddha's alms-bowl, and on this F‚-hien went forward alone towards the place of the flat-bone of Buddha's skull.[6]
[Footnote 1: The modern Pesh‚wur.]
[Footnote 2: A first cousin of S‚kyamuni, and born at the moment when he attained to Buddhaship. Under Buddha's teaching, ¬nanda became an Arhat, and is famous for his strong and accurate memory; and he played an important part at the first council for the formation of the Buddhist canon. The friendship between S‚kyamuni and ¬nanda was very close and tender; and it is impossible to read much of what the dying Buddha said to him and of him, as related in the Mah‚pari-nirv‚na SŻtra, without being moved almost to tears. ¬nanda is to reappear on earth as Buddha in another Kalpa.]
[Footnote 3: On his attaining to nirv‚na, S‚kyamuni became the Buddha, and had no longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and could rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect purity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he attained to pari-nirv‚na, and had done with all the life of sense and society, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether he absolutely and entirely ceased to be, in any sense of the word being, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not and could not have spoken definitely on the point. So far as our use of language is concerned, apart from any assured faith in and hope of immortality, his pari-nirv‚na was his death.]
[Footnote 4: JambudvÓpa is one of the four great continents of the universe, representing the inhabited world as fancied by the Buddhists, and so-called because it resembles in shape the leaves of the jambu tree.]
[Footnote 5: Compare the narrative in Luke's Gospel, xxi. 1-4.]
[Footnote 6: This story of Hwuy-king's death differs from the account given in chapter xiv.—EDITOR.]
CHAPTER XIII
~Festival of Buddha's Skull-bone~
Going west for sixteen yojanas, [1] he came to the city He-lo [2] in the borders of the country of Nag‚ra, where there is the flat-bone of Buddha's skull, deposited in a vih‚ra [3] 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 committed 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 vih‚ra, on a lofty platform, 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 color is of a yellowish white, and it forms an imperfect circle twelve inches round, curving upwards to the centre. Every day, after it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vih‚ra ascend a high gallery, where they beat great drums, blow conches, and clash their copper cymbals. When the king hears them, he goes to the vih‚ra, 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 had entered by that on the east. The king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship, and afterwards gives audience on the business of his government. The chiefs of the Vaisyas [4] also make their offerings before they attend to their family affairs. Every day it is so, and there is no remissness in the observance of the custom. When all of the offerings are over, they replace the bone in the vih‚ra, where there is a vimoksha tope, of the seven precious substances, and rather more than five cubits high, sometimes open, sometimes shut, to contain it. In front of the door of the vih‚ra, 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 vih‚ra stands in a square of thirty paces, and though heaven should shake and earth be rent, this place would not move.