[Footnote 5: Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an important one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of the Buddhist Church. The first Council was that held at R‚jagriha, shortly after Buddha's death, under the presidency of K‚syapa—say about B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here—say about B.C. 300.]
CHAPTER XXVI
~Remarkable Death of ¬nanda~
Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to the confluence of the five rivers. When ¬nanda was going from Magadha to Vais‚lÓ, wishing his pari-nirv‚na to take place there, the devas informed king Aj‚tasatru [1] of it, and the king immediately pursued him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and had reached the river. On the other hand, the Lichchhavis of Vais‚lÓ had heard that ¬nanda was coming to their city, and they on their part came to meet him. In this way, they all arrived together at the river, and ¬nanda considered that, if he went forward, king Aj‚tasatru would be very angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would resent his conduct. He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt his body in a fiery ecstasy of Sam‚dhi [2], and his pari-nirv‚na was attained. He divided his body into two parts, leaving one part on each bank; so that each of the two kings got one part as a sacred relic, and took it back to his own capital, and there raised a tope over it.
[Footnote 1: He was the son of king Bimbis‚ra, who was one of the first royal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at least wrought his death; and was at first opposed to Sakyamuni, and a favorer of Devadotta. When converted, he became famous for his liberality in almsgiving.]
[Footnote 2: "Sam‚dhi," says Eitel, "signifies the highest pitch of abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to all influences from within or without; a state of torpor of both the material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial Nirv‚na, consistently culminating in total destruction of life.">[
CHAPTER XXVII
~King Asoka's Spirit-built Palace and Halls~
Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, the travellers came to the town of P‚taliputtra [1], in the kingdom of Magadha, the city where king Asoka ruled. The royal palace and halls in the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all made by spirits which he employed, and which piled up the stones, reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and inlaid sculpture-work—in a way which no human hands of this world could accomplish.
King Asoka had a younger brother who had attained to be an Arhat, and resided on Gridhra-kŻta hill, finding his delight in solitude and quiet. The king, who sincerely reverenced him, wished and begged him to come and live in his family, where he could supply all his wants. The other, however, through his delight in the stillness of the mountain, was unwilling to accept the invitation, on which the king said to him, "Only accept my invitation, and I will make a hill for you inside the city." Accordingly, he provided the materials of a feast, called to him the spirits, and announced to them, "Tomorrow you will all receive my invitation; but as there are no mats for you to sit on, let each one bring his own seat." Next day the spirits came, each one bringing with him a great rock, like a wall, four or five paces square, for a seat. When their sitting was over, the king made them form a hill with the large stones piled on one another, and also at the foot of the hill, with five large square stones, to make an apartment, which might be more than thirty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and more than ten cubits high.