XV. I-TSING
(A) Itineraries
i. I-tsing
From Canton to Fo-che=Palembang (Sumatra) 20 days
From Fo-che to Mo-lo-yu=Malayu, on the River Jambi (E. coast of Sumatra) 15 days
From Mo-lo-yu to Kie-tch’a=Kedah on the W. coast of the Malay peninsula 15 days
From Kie-tch’a, northwards, to the Nicobars (Lo-jen-Kouo, the land of naked men) 10 days
From Lo-jen-Kouo to Tāmralipti (on the Hooghly) in a N.W. direction 1½ months[^1]
ii. Wou-Hing[^2] and Tche-hong (two other pilgrims)
From Chen-wan (in Tonkin) to Che-li-fo-che (Palembang) 1 month
From Che-li-fo-che to Mo-lo-yu 15 days
From Mo-lo-yu to Kie-tch’a 15 days
From Kie-tch’a West to Nāgapattanā (Na-kia-po-tan-na). 30 days
From Nāgapattana to Ceylon 2 days[^3]
—Ferrand, J.A. 11 : 14, p. 51.
Note: Takakusu, I-tsing, gives 20 days for the journey from Negapatam to Ceylon (p. xlvi), which seems to be a mistake.
(B) i. How the Buddhist priests were received and attended on at a Dinner
I shall briefly describe the ceremony of inviting priests, in India as well as in the islands of the Southern Sea. In India the host comes previously to the priests, and after a salutation, invites them to the festival. On the Upavasatha-day he informs them saying, ‘It is the time.’
The preparation of the utensils and seats for the priests is made according to circumstances. Necessaries may be carried (from the monastery) by some of the monastic servants; or provided by the host. Only copper utensils as a rule are used, which are cleansed by being rubbed with fine ashes. Each priest sits on a small chair placed at such a distance that one person may not touch another. The shape of the chair has already been described in chapter iii.[^4] It is not wrong, however, to use earthenware utensils once, if they have not been used before. When they have been already used, they should be thrown away into a ditch, for used vessels (lit. ‘touched’) should not be preserved at all. Consequently in India, at almsgiving places at the side of the road, there are heaps of discarded utensils which are never used again. Earthenware (of superior quality) such as is manufactured at Siang-yang (in China) may be kept after having been employed, and after having been thrown away may be cleansed properly. In India there were not originally porcelain and lacquer works. Porcelain, if enamelled, is, no doubt, clean. Lacquered articles are sometimes brought to India by traders; people of the islands of the Southern Sea do not use them as eating utensils, because food placed in them receives an oily smell. But they occasionally make use of them when new, after washing the oily smell away with pure ashes. Wooden articles are scarcely ever employed as eating utensils, yet, if new, they may be used once, but never twice, this being prohibited in the Vinaya.
The ground of the dining hall at the host’s house is strewn over with cow-dung, and small chairs are placed at regular intervals; and a large quantity of water is prepared in a clean jar. When the priests arrive they untie the fastenings of their cloaks. All have clean jars placed before them: they examine the water, and if there are no insects in it, they wash their feet with it, then they sit down on the small chairs. When they have rested awhile, the host, having observed the time and finding that the sun is nearly at the zenith, makes this announcement: ‘It is the time.’ Then each priest, folding his cloak by its two corners, ties them in front, and taking up the right corner of his skirt, holds it by the girdle at his left side. The priests cleanse their hands with powder made of peas or earth-dust; and either the host pours water, or the priests themselves use water out of the Kuṇḍī (i.e. jars); this is done according as they find one way or the other more convenient. Then they return to their seats. Next eating-utensils are distributed to the guests, which they wash slightly so that water does not flow over them. It is never customary to say a prayer before meals. The host, having cleansed his hands and feet (by this time), makes an offering to saints (images of arhats) at the upper end of the row of seats; then he distributes food to the priests. At the lowest end of the row an offering of food is made to the mother, Hāritī.
The following is the manner of serving food. First, one or two pieces of ginger about the size of the thumb are served (to every guest), as well as a spoonful or half of salt on a leaf. He who serves the salt, stretching forth his folded hands and kneeling before the head priest, mutters ‘Samprāgatam’ (well come!). This is translated by ‘good arrival.’ * * * Now the head priest says ‘Serve food equally.’
He who serves food, standing before the guests, whose feet are in a line, bows respectfully, while holding plates, cakes, and fruits in his hands, serves them about one span away from (or above) the priest’s hands; every other utensil or food must be offered one or two inches above the guest’s hands. If anything is served otherwise, the guests should not receive it. The guests begin to eat as soon as the food is served; they should not trouble themselves to wait till the food has been served all round.
That they should wait till the food has been served equally all round is not a correct interpretation. Nor is it according to the Buddha’s instruction that one should do as one likes after a meal.
Next some gruel made of dried rice and bean soup is served with hot butter sauce as flavouring, which is to be mixed with the other food with the fingers. They (the guests) eat with the right hand, which they do not raise up higher than the middle part of the belly. Now cakes and fruits are served; ghee and also some sugar. If any guest feels thirsty, he drinks cold water, whether in winter or summer. The above is a brief account of the eating of the priests in daily life as well as at a reception.
—Takakusu, I-tsing, pp. 35-40.
(B) ii. On chop sticks in China and India
As to the mode of eating in the West, they use only the right hand, but if one has had an illness or has some other reason, one is permitted to keep a spoon for use. We never hear of chop-sticks in the five parts of India; they are not mentioned in the Vinaya of the Four Schools (Nikāyas), and it is only China that has them. Laymen naturally follow the old custom (of using sticks), and priests may or may not use them according to their inclination. Chop-sticks were never allowed nor were they prohibited, thus the matter should be treated according to the ‘abridged teaching,’ for when the sticks are used, people do not discuss or murmur.
In China they may be used, for if we obstinately reject their use, people may laugh or complain.
They must not be used in India. Such is the idea of the ‘abridged teaching’ (Samkṣiptavinaya).
—Op. cit. p. 90.
(C) On clothing in different lands
If we come to India in Chinese garments, they all laugh at us; we get much ashamed in our hearts, and we tear our garments to be used for miscellaneous purposes, for they are all unlawful. If I do not explain this point, no one will know the fact. Although I wish to speak straightforwardly, yet I fear to see my hearer indignant. Hence I refrain from expressing my humble thought, yet I move about reflecting upon these points.
I wish that the wise may pay serious attention and notice the proper rules of clothing. Further, laymen of India, the officers and people of a higher class have a pair of white soft cloth for their garments, while the poor and lower classes of people have only one piece of linen. It is only the homeless member of the Sangha who possesses the three garments and six Requisities, and a priest who wishes for more (lit. who indulges in luxury) may use the thirteen Necessaries.[^5] In China priests are not allowed to have a garment possessed of two sleeves or having one back, but the fact is that they themselves follow the Chinese customs, and falsely call them Indian. Now I shall roughly describe the people and their dresses in Jambudvīpa and all the remote islands. From the Mahābodhi eastward to Lin-i (i.e. Champā) there are twenty countries extending as far as the southern limits of Kwan Chou (in Annam). If we proceed to the south-west we come to the sea; and in the north Kaśmīra is its limit. There are more than ten countries (islands) in the Southern Sea, added to these the Simhala island (Ceylon). In all these countries people wear two cloths (Skt. kambala). These are of wide linen eight feet long, which has no girdle and is not cut or sewn, but is simply put around the waist to cover the lower part.
Besides India there are countries of the Pārasas (Persians) and the Tajiks (generally taken as Arabs), who wear shirt and trousers. In the country of the naked people (Nicobar Isles) they have no dress at all; men and women alike are all naked. From Kaśmira to all the Mongolic countries such as Suli, Tibet, and the country of the Turkish tribes, the customs resemble one another to a great extent; the people in these countries do not wear the covering-cloth (Skt. Kambala), but use wool or skin as much as possible.
they can, and there is very little karpāsa (i.e. cotton), which we see sometimes worn. As these countries are cold, the people always wear shirt and trousers. Among these countries the Pārasas, the Naked People, the Tibetans,[^6] and the Turkish tribes have no Buddhist law, but the other countries had and have followed Buddhism; and in the districts where shirts and trousers are used the people are careless about personal cleanliness. Therefore the people of the five parts of India are proud of their purity and excellence.
—Takakusu: I-Tsing, pp. 67-8.
(D) Brahmans
The Brahmans are regarded throughout the five parts of India as the most honourable (caste). They do not, when they meet in a place, associate with the other three castes, and the mixed classes of the people have still less intercourse with them. The scriptures they revere are the four Vedas, containing about 100,000 verses; ‘Veda’ hitherto was wrongly transcribed by the Chinese characters ‘Wei-t‘o’; the meaning of the word is ‘clear understanding’ or ‘knowledge.’ The Vedas have been handed down from mouth to mouth, not transcribed on paper or leaves. In every generation there exist some intelligent Brahmans who can recite the 100,000 verses. In India there are two traditional ways by which one can attain to great intellectual power. Firstly, by repeatedly committing to memory the intellect is developed; secondly, the alphabet fixes one’s ideas. By this way, after a practice of ten days or a month, a student feels his thoughts rise like a fountain, and can commit to memory whatever he has once heard (not requiring to be told twice). This is far from being a myth, for I myself have met such men.
—Takakusu: I-tsing, pp. 182-183.
(E) Six pilgrims of I-tsing’s time
(i) Then Ming-Yuen arrived in the island of the son of the Lion (Ceylon) where he became the object of respectful attentions from the sovereign. Then he got into the tower secretly and stole the tooth of the Fo (Buddha), which he hoped to take to his country in order that one may make many offerings to it. When he attempted to do so, by a just turn of events he was forced to give it up. The affair was not to his liking and he covered himself with disgrace and shame.
He then went to South India. I heard that following the advice of a man in Ceylon, he went (for rest) to the central place where the monastery of the Great Knowledge (Mahābodhi) is situated; but there is no news of him and he must have died on the way; we do not know how old he was.
The people of the island of Ceylon guard this tooth of Fo (Buddha) with extraordinary care. They have placed it in a high tower; they lock its many doors with complicated safety locks; on the locks they set a seal on which five officials affix their marks. If a door is opened, a resounding noise fills the town and its suburbs. Every day they go and make offerings to this relic, and cover it with fragrant flowers on all sides. If one supplicates with great faith, then the tooth appears above the flowers or a supernatural light is produced, and the whole crowd can see it.
According to one tradition, if this island loses the tooth of Buddha, it will fall a prey to the Rākṣasas; to prevent this calamity, the tooth is guarded with exceptional care.
According to another tradition, this tooth must go to the country of China. That will be the distant effect of holy power; if we have faith, it will come. How could this be realised by the aid of a man who pretended to accomplish by violence what was not his task?
—Religieux Eminents par I-tsing, Traduit en Francais par Edouard Chavannes, pp. 54-6.
(ii) The venerable (I)-lang embarked with his younger brother for Ceylon where he wanted to study the different systems. He prostrated in adoration before the tooth of the Buddha, and then travelled little by little in the countries of the West.
Such are the reports that have reached me; but now I do not know where he is. I did not find him in the island of Ceylon; nor did I hear of him in Central India. It is probable that his soul has taken on other births. He was more than forty years of age.
—Op. cit. pp. 58-9.
(iii) Ta-tch’eng-teng, called Mo-ho-ye-na-po-ti-i-po (Mahāyānapradīpa) in Sanskrit, spent many years in Dvāravatī, and “then took the images of Fo (Buddha) and procured for himself the sūtras and śāstras; he then traversed the southern seas and arrived in the kingdom of Ceylon where he went and adored the tooth of Fo (Buddha). He witnessed all the supernatural prodigies. He traversed Southern India and reached Eastern India where he stopped in the country of Tan-mono-li-ti (Tāmralipti).”
—Op. cit. p. 71.
(iv) Tao-lin travelled in South India to gather information on the dark systems (pour s’y renseigner sur le regles sombres).
—Op. cit. p. 101.
(v) Hiuen-yeou, disciple of Seng-tché, was a native of the kingdom of Kao-li.[^7] In the wake of his master he went to the kingdom of the son of the Lion (Ceylon) and there he renounced the world; he is now settled there.
—Op. cit. p. 133.
(vi) Then (after his sojourn in Śrī Vijaya) Ou-hing embarked on a royal boat; after fifteen days he landed in the isle of Mo-louo-yu[^8]; after another fifteen days he arrived in the country of Kié-tch’a.[^9] When it was the last month of winter, he changed his course and turned towards the West. After thirty days, he reached the country of Na-kia-po-tan-na (Nāgapatana); leaving this place, he arrived, after two days on the sea, in the island of the Son of the Lion (Ceylon); there he went and worshipped the tooth of the Buddha. Leaving Ceylon, he resumed his voyage going north-east, and, at the end of one month, he reached Ho-li-ki-louo (Hari-kela).[^10]
—Religieux Eminents, pp. 144-5.