but no written
copies which he could transcribe. He had therefore travelled far and
come on to Central India. Here, in the mahayana monastery,(1) he found
a copy of the Vinaya, containing the Mahasanghika(2) 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
vihara. As to the other eighteen schools,(3) 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.(4) This copy (of the rules), however, is
the most complete, with the fullest explanations.(5)

He further got a transcript of the rules in six or seven thousand
gathas,(6) being the sarvastivadah(7) 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, we got the
Samyuktabhi-dharma-hridaya-(sastra),(8) containing about six or seven
thousand gathas; he also got a Sutra of 2500 gathas; one chapter of
the Parinir-vana-vaipulya Sutra,(9) of about 5000 gathas; and the
Mahasan-ghikah Abhidharma.

In consequence (of this success in his quest) Fa-Hsien stayed here
for three years, learning Sanskrit books and the Sanskrit speech, and
writing out the Vinaya rules. When Tao-ching arrived in the Central
Kingdom, and saw the rules observed by the Sramanas, and the dignified
demeanour 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."(10) He remained accordingly (in India), and did not
return (to the land of Han). Fa-Hsien, however, whose original purpose
had been to secure the introduction of the complete Vinaya rules into
the land of Han, returned there alone.

NOTES

(1) Mentioned before in chapter xxvii.

(2) Mahasanghikah simply means "the Great Assembly," that is, of
monks. When was this first assembly in the time of Sakyamuni held? It
does not appear that the rules observed at it were written down at the
time. The document found by Fa-Hsien would be a record of those rules;
or