A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms/Chapter 15

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A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fa-hsien: James Legge, 1886

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Chapter 15: Bhida. Sympathy of Monks with the Pilgrims.

Chapter 15

After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-t’oo,1 where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their fellow-disciples from Ts’in passing along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: “How is it that these men from a border-land should have learned to become monks,2 and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search of the Law of Buddha?” They supplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law.

Footnotes

1 Bhida. Eitel says, “The present Punjab;” i.e. it was a portion of that.

2 “To come forth from their families;” that is, to become celibates, and adopt the tonsure.