KANYAKUBJA, OR CANOUGE. BUDDHA’S PREACHING.
Fâ-Hien stayed at the Dragon vihâra till after the summer retreat,(1)
and then, travelling to the south-east for seven yojanas, he arrived at
the city of Kanyakubja,(2) lying along the Ganges.(3) There are two
monasteries in it, the inmates of which are students of the hinayana.
At a distance from the city of six or seven le, on the west, on the
northern bank of the Ganges, is a place where Buddha preached the Law
to his disciples. It has been handed down that his subjects of
discourse were such as “The bitterness and vanity (of life) as
impermanent and uncertain,” and that “The body is as a bubble or foam
on the water.” At this spot a tope was erected, and still exists.
Having crossed the Ganges, and gone south for three yojanas, (the
travellers) arrived at a village named A-le,(4) containing places where
Buddha preached the Law, where he sat, and where he walked, at all of
which topes have been built.
NOTES
(1) We are now, probably, in 405.
(2) Canouge, the latitude and longitude of which have been given in a
previous note. The Sanskrit name means “the city of humpbacked
maidens;” with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king
Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi
Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused. E. H., p. 51.
(3) Ganga, explained by “Blessed water,” and “Come from heaven to
earth.”
(4) This village (the Chinese editions read “forest”) has hardly been
clearly identified.