The prefect Le E was a reverent believer in the Law of Buddha. When he heard that a Śramaṇa had arrived in a ship across the sea, bringing with him books and images, he immediately came to the seashore with an escort to meet (the traveller), and receive the books and images, and took them back with him to the seat of his government. On this the merchants went back in the direction of Yang-chow;[12] (but) when (Fâ-hien) arrived at Tsʽing-chow, (the prefect there)[13] begged him (to remain with him) for a winter and a summer. After the summer retreat was ended, Fâ-hien, having been separated for a long time from his (fellow-)masters, wished to hurry to Chʽang-gan; but as the business which he had in hand was important, he went south to the Capital;[14] and at an interview with the masters (there) exhibited the Sûtras and the collection of the Vinaya (which he had procured).
After Fâ-hien set out from Chʽang-gan, it took him six years to reach Central India;[15] stoppages there extended over (other) six years; and on his return it took him three years to reach Tsʽing-chow. The countries through which he passed were a few under thirty. From the sandy desert westwards on to India, the beauty of the dignified demeanour of the monkhood and of the transforming influence of the Law was beyond the power of language fully to describe; and reflecting how our masters had not heard any complete account of them, he therefore (went on) without regarding his own poor life, or (the dangers to be encountered) on the sea upon his return, thus incurring hardships and difficulties in a double form. He was fortunate enough, through the dread power of the three Honoured Ones,[15] to receive help and protection in his perils; and therefore he wrote out an account of his experiences, that worthy readers might share with him in what he had heard and said.[15]
It was in the year Keah-yin,[16] the twelfth year of the period E-he of the (Eastern) Tsin dynasty, the year-star being in Virgo-Libra, in the summer, at the close of the period of retreat, that I met the devotee Fâ-hien. On his arrival I lodged him with myself in the winter study,[17] and there, in our meetings for conversation, I asked him again and again about his travels. The man was modest and complaisant, and answered readily according to the truth. I thereupon advised him to enter into details where he had at first only given a summary, and he proceeded to relate all things in order from the beginning to the end. He said himself, ‘When I look back on what I have gone through, my heart is involuntarily moved, and the perspiration flows forth. That I encountered danger and trod the most perilous places, without thinking of or sparing myself, was because I had a definite aim, and thought of nothing but to do my best in my simplicity and straightforwardness. Thus it was that I exposed my life where death seemed inevitable, if I might accomplish but a ten-thousandth part of what I hoped.’ These words affected me in turn, and I thought:—‘This man is one of those who have seldom been seen from ancient times to the present. Since the Great Doctrine flowed on to the East there has been no one to be compared with Hien in his forgetfulness of self and search for the Law. Henceforth I know that the influence of sincerity finds no obstacle, however great, which it does not overcome, and that force of will does not fail to accomplish whatever service it undertakes. Does not the accomplishing of such service arise from forgetting (and disregarding) what is (generally) considered as important, and attaching importance to what is (generally) forgotten?’
[1] No. 1122 in Nanjio’s Catalogue, translated into Chinese by Buddhajiva and a Chinese Śramaṇa about A.D. 425. Mahîśâsakâḥ means ‘the school of the transformed earth,’ or ‘the sphere within which the Law of Buddha is influential.’ The school is one of the subdivisions of the Sarvâstivâdâḥ.
[2] Nanjio’s 545 and 504. The Âgamas are Sûtras of the hînayâna, divided, according to Eitel, pp. 4, 5, into four classes, the first or Dîrghâgamas (long Âgamas) being treatises on right conduct, while the third class contains the Samyuktâgamas (mixed Âgamas).
[3] Meaning ‘Miscellaneous Collections;’ a sort of fourth Piṭaka. See Nanjio’s fourth division of the Canon, containing Indian and Chinese miscellaneous works. But Dr. Davids says that no work of this name is known either in Sanskrit or Pâli literature.
[4] We have in the text a phonetisation of the Sanskrit Kuṇḍikâ, which is explained in Eitel by the two characters that follow, as = ‘washing basin,’ but two things evidently are intended.
[5] See [chap. xvi, note 25].
[6] At his novitiate Fâ-hien had sought the refuge of the ‘three Precious Ones’ (the three Refuges [三歸] of last chapter), of which the congregation or body of the monks was one; and here his thoughts turn naturally to the branch of it in China. His words in his heart were not exactly words of prayer, but very nearly so.
[7] In the text 大風, tâ-fung, ‘the great wind,’ = the typhoon.