CHAPTER IX.
SOO-HO-TO. LEGEND OF BUDDHA.
In that country also Buddhism1 is flourishing. There is in it the place where Śakra,2 Ruler of Devas, in a former age,3 tried the Bodhisattva, by producing4 a hawk (in pursuit of a) dove, when (the Bodhisattva) cut off a piece of his own flesh, and (with it) ransomed the dove. After Buddha had attained to perfect wisdom,5 and in travelling about with his disciples (arrived at this spot), he informed them that this was the place where he ransomed the dove with a piece of his own flesh. In this way the people of the country became aware of the fact, and on the spot reared a tope, adorned with layers6 of gold and silver plates.
1
Buddhism stands for the two Chinese characters 佛法, ‘the Law
of Buddha,’ and to that rendering of the phrase, which is of frequent
occurrence, I will in general adhere. Buddhism is not an adequate
rendering of them any more than Christianity would be of τὸ
εὐαγγέλιον Χριστοῦ. The Fâ or Law is the equivalent of dharma
comprehending all in the first Basket of the Buddhist teaching,—as
Dr. Davids says (Hibbert Lectures, p. 44), ‘its ethics and philosophy,
and its system of self-culture;’ with the theory of karma, it seems
to me, especially underlying it. It has been pointed out (Cunningham’s
‘Bhilsa Topes,’ p. 102) that dharma is the keystone of all king
Priyadarśi or Aśoka’s edicts. The whole of them are dedicated to the
attainment of one object, ‘the advancement of dharma, or of the Law of
Buddha.’ His native Chinese afforded no better character than 法
or Law, by which our author could express concisely his idea of the
Buddhistic system, as ‘a law of life,’ a directory or system of Rules,
by which men could attain to the consummation of their being.
2
Śakra is a common name for the Brahmânic Indra, adopted by
Buddhism into the circle of its own great adherents;—it has been
said, ‘because of his popularity.’ He is generally styled, as here,
Tʽeen Tî, ‘God or Ruler of Devas.’ He is now the representative of
the secular power, the valiant protector of the Buddhist body, but
is looked upon as inferior to Śâkyamuni, and every Buddhist saint. He
appears several times in Fâ-hien’s narrative. E. H., pp. 108 and 46.
3
The Chinese character is 昔, ‘formerly,’ and is often, as in the
first sentence of the narrative, simply equivalent to that adverb. At
other times it means, as here, ‘in a former age,’ some pre-existent
state in the time of a former birth. The incident related is ‘a Jâtaka
story.’
4
It occurs at once to the translator to render the characters
化作 by ‘changed himself to.’ Such is often their meaning in the
sequel, but their use in chapter xxiv may be considered as a crucial
test of the meaning which I have given them here.
5
That is, had become Buddha, or completed his course (成道).
6
This seems to be the contribution of 校 (or 挍), to the force of
the binomial 校師, which is continually occurring.