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From Jiraoyi to Shaqi

Foguo Ji (A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms) 佛國記 · Faxian · c. 416 (Eastern Jin, Yixi era) · 5 passages · 179 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min

Foguo Ji (A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms) Complete in one volume The record of fifteen years in which Faxian, a monk of sixty-five, left Chang'an to seek the rules of discipline, crossed the desert and the Congling mountains as far as India, and came home by sea by way of Sri Lanka. Thirty countries in all. In an age when Korea, China and Japan were writing of one another, this is the earliest travel account left by a man of East Asia who saw India with his own eyes.

1The city of Jiraoyi

坐訖,東南行七由延,到罽饒夷城。城接恒水,有二僧伽藍,盡小乘學。

When the retreat was over he went southeast seven yojanas and reached the city of Jiraoyi. The city touches the Ganges, and there are two sangharamas there, both of them studying the Lesser Vehicle.

2Where he taught that the body is like foam

去城西六七里,恒水北岸,佛爲諸弟子說法處。傳云︰說無常、苦,說身如泡沫等。此處起塔猶在。

Six or seven li west of the city, on the north bank of the Ganges, is the place where the Buddha preached the Law for his disciples. It is handed down that he preached on impermanence and suffering, and taught that the body is like foam on the water. The stupa raised in this place is still there.

3The village of Heli

度恒水,南行三由延,到一村,名呵梨。佛於此中說法、經行、坐處,盡起塔。

Crossing the Ganges and going south three yojanas, one comes to a village named Heli. Stupas have been raised at all the places within it where the Buddha preached the Law, and walked, and sat.

4The great country of Shaqi

從此東南行十由延,到沙祇大國。

Going southeast from here ten yojanas, he reached the great country of Shaqi.

5The tree that grew from a willow twig

出沙祇城南門,道東,佛本在此嚼楊枝,刺土中,即生長七尺,不增不減。諸外道婆羅門嫉妬,或斫或拔,遠棄之,其處續生如故。此中亦有四佛經行、坐處,起塔故在。

Going out of the south gate of the city of Shaqi, on the east of the road, is the tree that grew when the Buddha chewed a willow twig here and stuck it in the ground. It grew at once to seven chi, and has neither grown nor shrunk since. The Brahmins of the other ways were jealous of it, and cut it down or pulled it up and threw it far away, but it grew back in that same place as it was at first. Within this place there are also the spots where the four Buddhas walked and sat, and the stupas raised there are still standing.