Indian Antiquary Vol 32

SR No.: 032524
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 550
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 450

426
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1903.
reappear in India under the name of the Buddha, allows us to class the Buddhist sutras as the second institution of the Chinese philosopher, who had given the Tao-te king as his first institution. The iterum institutor and the altera institutio would refer to the Buddha himself considered as the metamorphose of Lao-tzeu.
The t'ien-tzeu (devaputra) of the Yue-tchi.
(See page 421 above, and note 8;
original page 23, note 2.)
The t'ien-tzeu of the Yue-tchi is expressly designated in a curious notice of India, incorporated in the Chinese version of the Dvadasa-viharaṇa-sutra (Cheu-eul-iu-king. Nanjio, 1374); the author of the translation, dated 392, was the ramana Kalōdaka, a native of the western countries. The sutra, a very short one, enumerates the movements of the Buddha during the twelve years of preaching. The account with which it ends has apparently escaped attention, thongh its date and the information contained make it of interest; a translation of the same is, therefore, given here: -
In Ien-feou-ti (Jambudvipa), there are 16 great kingdoms, 84,000 towns, 8 emperors (kouo-wang), "4 Sons of Heaven (t'ien-tzeu). To the east there is the Son of Heaven of the Tsin [the Eastern "Tsin, 317-420, contemporaries of the translator Kälödaka]; the people there are very prosperous. "To the south there is the Son of Heaven of the kingdom Tien-tchou (India); the country pro"duces many renowned elephants. To the west there is the Son of Heaven of Ta-t'ain (Roman "empire); the country produces gold, silver, precious stones in abundance. To the north-west there "is the Son of Heaven of the Yue-tchi; the country produces many good horses.
"In the 84,000 towns, there are 6,400 kinds of men, 10,000 kinds of languages, 56 hundreds "of thousands of myriads of groups (? kiou-tsin), 6,400 kinds of fish, 4,500 kinds of birds, 2,400 kinds "of quadrupeds, 10,000 kinds of trees, 8,000 kinds of plants, 740 various kinds of medicinal plants, "43 various kinds of perfumes, 121 kinds of gems, 7 kinds of perfect gems.
"In the sea there are 2,500 kingdoms which live upon the five sorts of grain, 330 kingdoms "which live upon fish and turtles. There are 5 kings; a king commands 500 towns. The "first king has for name (king of the) kingdom of Seu-li (Sinhala, ha, Ceylon ?). They only "worship the Buddha there, and no heretical doctrines. The second king has name Kia-lo; the "country produces the 7 gems. The third king has name Pou-lo; the country produces 42 kinds "of perfumes and white glass (liou-li). The fourth king has name Che-ye; the country produces red "pepper (piment) and ordinary pepper. The fifth king has name Na-ngo; the country produces the "white pearl and glass (liou-li) of seven colours. In the five great kingdoms, the people of the "towns are for the most part black and small. The distance between them is 650,000 li. After that, "there is only the sea without inhabitants. One arrives at the precincts of the mountains of iron "at 140,000 li" (Japanese ed., XXIV. 8, 3a.)
The tradition which divides Jambudvipa between four sovereigns, designated respectively "the master of men," "the master of elephants," "the master of treasures," "the master of horses," (Rémusat, Foe-koue-ki, notes, p. 82; introduction to the Si-yu-ki, by Tchang-houe, in Julien, Mémoires de Hiouen Theang, I., lxxvi.-lxxvii.), is evidently akin to the system of the
four "Sons of Heaven."
(To be continued.)