Notes

(1) Sha-che should probably be Sha-khe, making Cunningham’s identification of the name with the present Saket still more likely. The change of {.} into {.} is slight; and, indeed, the Khang-hsi dictionary thinks the two characters should be but one and the same.

(2) This was, no doubt, what was called the danta-kashtha, or “dental wood,” mostly a bit of the ficus Indicus or banyan tree, which the monk chews every morning to cleanse his teeth, and for the purpose of health generally. The Chinese, not having the banyan, have used, or at least Fâ-Hien used, Yang ({.}, the general name for the willow) instead of it.

(3) Are two classes of opponents, or only one, intended here, so that we should read “all the unbelievers and Brahmans,” or “heretics and Brahmans?” I think the Brahmans were also “the unbelievers” and “heretics,” having {.} {.}, views and ways outside of, and opposed to, Buddha’s.