Buddhism, in Its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in Its Contrast with ChristianityMonier-Williams, Monier, Sir
Religion
Buddhism, in Its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in Its Contrast with Christianity
Monier-Williams, Monier, Sir
Buddhism; Buddhism -- Relations -- Christianity; Christianity and other religions -- Buddhism; India -- Religion
The Chinese traveller, Fā-hien, names the same four sacred places (Chap.
xxxi.), and says that the situation of the four great Stūpas (see p.
504) has been fixed, namely, (1) where the Buddha was born, (2) where he
attained wisdom, (3) where he began to turn the wheel of his Law, (4)
where he attained Pari-nirvāṇa (p. 142). Compare engraving of sculpture
opposite p. 477.
Elsewhere Fā-hien mentions two other sacred spots—the place where the
Buddha discomfited the advocates of erroneous doctrines[189], and the
place where he descended after ascending to the Trayastriṉṡa heaven (see
p. 414 of this volume), to preach the Law to his mother (Legge’s
Fā-hien, 68).
These places are all situated within the area of the sacred land of
Buddhism (see map opposite p. 21);—that is to say, the land which was
the scene of the Buddha’s itineration for forty-five years—a region
about 300 miles long, by nearly 200 broad, lying in Gangetic India,
within the modern provinces of Oudh and Behār (Bihār for Vihāra), or the
ancient kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha, and having Ṡrāvastī and
Buddha-Gayā for its limit towards the north and south respectively.
It will be interesting to note a few particulars in regard to these and
other sacred spots scattered throughout this region, in the following
order:—Kapila-vastu, Buddha-Gayā, Sārnāth near Benares, Rāja-gṛiha,
Ṡrāvastī (often written Ṡrāvasti), Vaiṡālī, Kauṡāmbi, Nālanda, Saṅkāṡya,
Sākeṭa (Ajūdhyā), Kanyā-kubja (Kanauj), Pāṭali-putra (Patnā), Kesarīya,
Kuṡi-nagara. The map opposite p. 21 will make these clear.
To begin with the Buddha’s birth-place (see p. 21).
_Kapila-vastu._
Kapila-vastu (in Pāli, Kapila-vatthu) was long searched for by
archæologists in vain, but is now identified by General Sir A.
Cunningham and Mr. Carlleyle with Bhūila, a village surrounded by buried
brickwork in the Bastī district under the Nepāl mountains, about
twenty-five miles north-east from Faizābād, twelve north-west from
Bastī, and one hundred and twenty north of Benares. Both Fā-hien (Legge,
67) and Hiouen Thsang describe the neighbouring Lumbinī (Lavaṇī) garden,
where the Buddha was born from the right side of his mother (see p. 23,
and engraving opposite p. 477). They also mention the Arrow-fountain
where Gautama contended with others of his tribe in a shooting-match.
The legend is (p. 24) that he gained the victory by shooting an arrow
which passed through the target, buried itself in the ground, and caused
a clear spring of water to flow forth (Legge, 65-67; Beal, ii. 23, 24).
This name Ṡara-Kūpa, ‘arrow-fountain,’ has now been corrupted into
Sar-Kuia (or Sar-Kuhiya), and the spot has been identified (Cunningham’s
‘Reports of Survey,’ xii. 188).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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