The Deer Park and the Countries to the South

Faxian turned back toward the city of Pataliputra. Going down westward along the Ganges for ten yojanas he came to a vihara named Kuangye (曠野), a place where the Buddha had stayed. There are monks there today.

Going west again along the Ganges for twelve yojanas he reached the city of Varanasi in the country of Kashi. About ten li northeast of the city is the vihara of the Deer Park of the Sages. In this park a pratyekabuddha lived long ago, and wild deer always came and rested there. When the World Honored One was about to attain the Way, the gods sang in the air, "The son of King Shuddhodana has left his household to study the Way, and after seven days he will become a Buddha." When the pratyekabuddha heard it, he entered nirvana at once, and for this reason the place is named the Deer Park of the Sages. After the World Honored One attained the Way, men raised a vihara in this place. When the Buddha was about to save Kulin and the other four men, the five said to one another, "This shramana Gautama practiced austerities for six years and ate one hemp seed and one grain of rice a day, and still he did not attain the Way. How much less now, when he has gone among men and given free rein to his body, his mouth, and his mind. What Way can he have? When he comes today, take care not to speak with him." But when the Buddha arrived, the five men all rose and bowed to him, and that place is there. Sixty paces further north is the place where the Buddha sat facing east, turned the wheel of the Law for the first time, and saved Kulin and the other four. Twenty paces north of it is the place where the Buddha gave Maitreya his prophecy, and fifty paces south of it is the place where the dragon Yiluobo asked the Buddha, "When shall I be freed from this dragon body?" Stupas were raised in all these places, and they are there today. Among them are two sangharamas, and monks live in both.

Going northwest from the vihara of the Deer Park for thirteen yojanas there is a country named Kaushambi. Its vihara is named the Qushiluo garden, a place where the Buddha stayed long ago. There are monks there today, and most of them study the Lesser Vehicle. Going east from there for eight yojanas is the place where the Buddha once saved an evil demon. The Buddha stayed here always, and stupas were raised at the places where he walked and where he sat. There is a sangharama too, with something over a hundred monks.

Going south from here for two hundred yojanas there is a country named Dachen (達嚫). There stands the sangharama of the Buddha Kashyapa of the past, cut out of a great stone mountain, and it has five storeys in all. The lowest storey is made in the shape of an elephant and has five hundred stone cells. The second storey is made in the shape of a lion and has four hundred. The third storey is in the shape of a horse and has three hundred. The fourth storey is in the shape of an ox and has two hundred. The fifth storey is in the shape of a dove and has a hundred. At the very top there is a spring, and its water runs past the front of the stone cells and around the rooms, turning and winding, and so it comes down to the lowest storey, follows the rooms, and goes out at the door. In every storey the stone is bored through here and there to make windows that let in the light, so the rooms are bright and there is no dark place at all. At the four corners of the rooms the stone is cut to make steps for climbing up. Men today are small of body, and when they climb the steps they barely reach the place where the men of old set one foot. For this reason this monastery is named Boluoyue, and Boluoyue is the word for dove in the language of India. Arhats always live in that monastery. This land is waste hill country, and no people live there. Only very far from the mountain is there a village, and the people all hold wrong views and know nothing of the Law of the Buddha, or of shramanas, or of brahmins, or of any other school of learning. The people of that country often see men come flying into this monastery. At such times, when men of the Way from other countries wished to come and bow at this monastery, the villagers would say, "Why do you not fly? We see that the men of the Way here all fly." The men of the Way would find an answer and say, "Our wings are not yet grown."

The country of Dachen lies deep and dangerous, and the roads are hard, so only one who knows the way can go. A man who wishes to go must take money and goods to offer the king of that country, and only then does the king send men to see him on, passing him from hand to hand and showing him the shortest road. Faxian never managed to go, and he sets down only what he heard from the people of that land.