Notes

(1) Gaya, a city of Magadha, was north-west of the present Gayah (lat. 24° 47′ N., lon. 85° 1′ E). It was here that Sâkyamuni lived for seven years, after quitting his family, until he attained to Buddhaship. The place is still frequented by pilgrims. E. H., p. 41.

(2) This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the incident I have met with,—in “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 31. And he was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of time.

(3) An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in Hardy’s M. B., pp. 166–168; “The Life of the Buddha,” p. 30; and the “Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal’s revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty caused by the {.} {.} of Fâ-Hien.

(4) Called “the tree of leaves,” and “the tree of reflection;” a palm tree, the borassus flabellifera, described as a tree which never loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p. 92.

(5) The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note.

(6) See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171–179, and “Buddhist Birth Stories,” pp. 96–101.

(7) See chap. xiii, note 7.

(8) Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: “A naga king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sâkyamuni once sat for seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him.” The account (p. 35) in “The Life of the Buddha” is:—“Buddha went to where lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in thought.” So also the Nidana Katha, in “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 109.

(9) This was Brahma himself, though “king” is omitted. What he requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111.

(10) See chap. xii, note 10.

(11) The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them.

(12) These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note 17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to this time holders of “erroneous” views, having 500, 300, and 200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of Sâkyamuni; and are—each of them—to become Buddha by-and-by. See the Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115.

(13) This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to the travellers.