[Footnote 254: This use of Nikâya must not be confused with its other use to denote a division of the Sûtra-Pitaka. It means a group or collection and hence can be used to denote either a body of men or a collection of treatises. These Nikâyas are also not the same as the four schools (Vaibhâshikas, etc.), mentioned above, which were speculative. Similarly in Europe a Presbyterian may be a Calvinist, but Presbyterianism has reference to Church government and Calvinism to doctrine. There were in India at this time (1) two vehicles, Maha-and Hinayana, (2) four speculative schools, Vaibhâshikas, etc., (3) four disciplinary schools, Mûla-sarvâstivâdins, etc. These three classes are obviously not mutually exclusive. Thus I-Ching approved of (_a_) the Mahayana, (_b_) the Mâdhyamika and Yogâcâra, which he did not consider inconsistent and (_c_) the Mûla-sarvâstivâda.] [Footnote 255: I-Ching, transl. Takakusu, p. 186.] [Footnote 256: Three Asankhya Kalpas. I-Ching, Takakusu's transl. pp. 196-7. He seems to regard the Mahayana as the better way. He quotes Nâgârjuna's allusions to Avalokita and Amitâyus with apparent approval; he tells us how one of his teachers worshipped Amitâyus and strove to prepare himself for Sukhâvatî and how the Lotus was the favourite scripture of another. He further tells us that the Mâdhyamika and the Yoga systems are both perfectly correct.] [Footnote 257: Hsüan Chuang speaks of Mahayanists belonging to the Sthavira school.] [Footnote 258: Quoted by Rockhill, _Life of the Buddha_, pp. 196 ff.] [Footnote 259: Chaps. XXXVIII and XXXIX. He seems to say that it is right for the laity to make an offering of their bodies by burning but not for Bhikshus. The practice is recognized and commended in the Lotus, chap. XXII, which however is a later addition to the original work.] [Footnote 260: I-Ching, transl. Takakusu, pp. 153-4 somewhat abridged. I-Ching (pp. 156-7) speaks of Mâtricheta as the principal hymn writer and does not identify him with Aśvaghosha.] [Footnote 261: I believe the golden image in the Arakan Pagoda at Mandalay is still washed with a ceremonial resembling that described by I-Ching.] [Footnote 262: I-Ching says that monasteries commonly had a statue of Mahâkâla as a guardian deity.] [Footnote 263: By the Gupta king, Narasinha Gupta Bâlâditya. Much information about Nâlandâ will be found in Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana's _Mediæval School of Indian Logic_, pp. 145-147. Hsüan Chuang (_Life_, transl. Beal, p. 111) says that it was built 700 years before his time, that is, in the first century B.C. He dwells on the beauty of the buildings, ponds and flowers.] CHAPTER XXIV DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA