My diary of Events, from Kara'shahr to Nagarahara

Part 2

After staying in Kara-shahr for two months, my friends and I continued our journey south-west across the desert. On the road, there were no homes or people. We suffered quite a lot because of the difficulties of the road and rivers and were on the road for a month and five days before we reached the prosperous, oasis town of Khotan. The ruler of the country provided us with accom­modation in a monastery. We stayed for three months and were able to see the magnificent procession of images, which began on the first day of the fourth month and lasted for fourteen days.

We spent twenty-five days on the road to Yarkand after coming from Khotan, then stopped for fifteen days before continu­ing the journey. We arrived at Kashgar, in the middle of the Tsung-ling range (Pamirs) in twenty five days, in time to watch the Pancavassika Parisa or Quinquennial assembly, a five-yearly event instituted by King Asoka, in which the ruler made a great offering to the Sangha. Leaving Kashgar, we entered Tajikistan through the Sarykol range, and took a month to cross the Pamir Mountains. Then we continued our journey south-west for fifteen days over another difficult and danger­ous road.

I described it like this: “The mountain side is simply a stone wall standing up 10,000 feet. Looking down, the sight is confused and there is no sure foothold. Below is a river called Sint’u-ho (Indus). In old days, men had cut away the rocks to make a way down and spread out side ladders, of which there are 700 steps to pass. When these are negotiated, the river is crossed by a hanging rope bridge. The two banks of the river are something less than 80 paces apart.”

After crossing the river, we arrived at the country of Udyana. It is the flourishing centre of Buddhism, with five hundred monasteries belonging to the Small Vehicle. Three of my companions, Hui-king, Tao-ching and Hui Yu went on ahead to Nagarahara (Jalalabad) to pay reverence to the Buddha-shadow at the Gopala Naga cave and the tooth and skull bone relics at Hadda. Hui Ying and I remained at Udyana to spend the rains-retreat.

When this was over, we journeyed south to Swat, descended eastward for five days and arrived at Gandhara (a region between Takkasila and modern day Charsadda). From there, we travelled south to Peshawar to see the famed stupa of Kaniska and the alms-bowl relic. Here we met the party of Pao-yun and Sung-king who had come to pay homage to the alms-bowl relic too. Hui-yu, also came to Peshawar and at this point, he decided to return to China with Pao-yun and Sung-king. My companion, Hui-ying, dwelling in the temple of the alms-bowl relic, passed on there. I wish him peace.

Now I had to proceed westward alone to Nagarahara. In the city of Hadda, I visited the vihara of the Buddha’s skull-bone. At the capital of Nagarahara, I visited the viharas of the Buddha’s religious staff and sanghati (outer robe) and the Gopala Naga cave to pay homage to the Buddha shadow. I decided to team up with my two remaining companions, Tao-ching and Hui-king. Together, we spent two months of winter there, leaving me with time to update this website.