~Fâ-Hien's Indian Studies~
From Vârânasî the travellers went back east to Pâtaliputtra. Fâ-hien's
original object had been to search for copies of the Vinaya. In the
various kingdoms of North India, however, he had found one master
transmitting orally the rules to another, but no written copies which he
could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and come on to Central
India. Here, in the mahâyâna monastery, he found a copy of the Vinaya,
containing the Mahâsânghikâ [1] rules--those which were observed in the
first Great Council, while Buddha was still in the world. The original
copy was handed down in the Jetavana vihâra. As to the other eighteen
schools, each one has the views and decisions of its own masters. Those
agree with this in the general meaning, but they have small and trivial
differences, as when one opens and another shuts. This copy of the
rules, however, is the most complete, with the fullest explanations. [2]
He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand
gâthas, [3] being the sarvâstivâdâh [4] rules--those which are observed
by the communities of monks in the land of Ts'in; which also have all
been handed down orally from master to master without being committed to
writing. In the community here, moreover, he got the
Samyuktâbhi-dharma-hridaya-sâstra, containing about six or seven
thousand gâthas; he also got a Sûtra of two thousand five hundred
gâthas; one chapter of the Pari-nirvâna-vaipulya Sûtra, of about five
thousand gâthas; and the Mahâsânghikâ Abhidharma.
In consequence of this success in his quest Fâ-hien stayed here for
three years, learning Sanscrit books and the Sanscrit speech, and
writing out, the Vinaya rules. When Tâo-ching arrived in the Central
Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified
demeanor in their societies which he remarked under all occurring
circumstances, he sadly called to mind in what a mutilated and imperfect
condition the rules were among the monkish communities in the land of
Ts'in, and made the following aspiration: "From this time forth till I
come to the state of Buddha, let me not be born in a frontier-land." He
remained accordingly in India, and did not return to the land of Han.
Fâ-hien, however, whose original purpose had been to secure the
introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into the land of Han, returned
there alone.
[Footnote 1: Mahâsânghikâ simply means "the Great Assembly," that is, of
monks.]
[Footnote 2: It was afterwards translated by Fâ-hien into Chinese.]
[Footnote 3: A gâtha is a stanza, generally consisting of a few,
commonly of two, lines somewhat metrically arranged.]
[Footnote 4: "A branch," says Eitel, "of the great vaibhâshika school,
asserting the reality of all visible phenomena, and claiming the
authority of Râhula."]