f the river burnt
his body in a fiery ecstasy of Samadhi,(4) and his pari-nirvana was
attained. He divided his body (also) into two, (leaving) the half
of it on each bank; so that each of the two kings got one half as
a (sacred) relic, and took it back (to his own capital), and there
raised a tope over it.

NOTES

(1) This spot does not appear to have been identified. It could not be
far from Patna.

(2) Magadha was for some time the headquarters of Buddhism; the holy
land, covered with viharas; a fact perpetuated, as has been observed
in a previous note, in the name of the present Behar, the southern
portion of which corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha.

(3) In Singhalese, Ajasat. See the account of his conversion in M.
B., pp. 321-326. He was the son of king Bimbisara, 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 favourer of Devadatta. When converted, he became famous for his
liberality in almsgiving.

(4) Eitel has a long article (pp. 114, 115) on the meaning of Samadhi,
which is one of the seven sections of wisdom (bodhyanga). Hardy
defines it as meaning "perfect tranquillity;" Turnour, as "meditative
abstraction;" Burnouf, as "self-control;" and Edkins, as "ecstatic
reverie." "Samadhi," 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
nirvana, consistently culminating in total destruction of life." He
then quotes apparently the language of the text, "He consumed his body
by Agni (the fire of) Samadhi," and says it is "a common expression
for the effects of such ecstatic, ultra-mystic self-annihilation." All
this is simply "a darkening of counsel by words without knowledge."
Some facts concerning the death of Ananda are hidden beneath the
darkness of the phraseology, which it is impossible for us to
ascertain. By or in Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of
the river, and then he divides the relic of the burnt body into two
parts (for so evidently Fa-Hsien intended his narration to be taken),
and leaves one half on each bank. The account of Ananda's death in
Nien-ch'ang's "History of Buddha a