My diary of Events, from Nagarahara to Kosambi

Part 3

When winter was over, we went south and met with great obstacles and extreme cold while passing the Safed Koh mountain range. Hui-king, barely recovering from an earlier ill­ness, was unable to proceed onwards. He died of exhaustion in my arms, forcing us to press on lest we too, passed on. We crossed the mountain range with great effort and entered Afghanistan where we spent the rains-retreat in the company of 3,000 monks in the area.

Then we crossed the Punjab, where, to our delight, we saw the Buddhist religion flourishing and after passing many monasteries with myriads of monks, and reached the Mathura country. I then visited Sankasia, Kanauj, Saketa or Ayodha and Savatthi consecutively, and the monks at Jetavana monastery were shocked to see us, for they had not seen anyone from Han (Chinese) come so far as this before in search of the Buddha’s law.

Moving eastward, we traveled to the ancient Sakyan kingdom, where a visit to the birthplaces of Kakusandha Buddha and Kanakagamana Buddha was paid . Seeing the Asokan pillars erected there was great. The capital, Kapilavatthu, was like a huge desert, without anyone living there. There were only a congregation of monks and about ten families of lay people. The roads were devoid of travellers, as many feared the wild elephants and lions.

From the capital, we traveled to Kusinara, scene of the Buddha’s Mahaparinibbana. In this city too, there were few inhabitants and such families as were there, were somehow related with the monks. We moved onwards and went to Vesali and Pataliputta, the capital of ancient Magadha. Then we moved on to Nalanda and Rajagaha, where I ascended Gijjhakuta hill and after offering flowers, incense and lights, re­mained there the whole night analyzing and reciting the suttas.

We continued the trip and went to Bodhagaya, the scene of the Buddha’s full Enlightenment, Deer Park at Sarnath where the Buddha preached the First Sermon, Varanasi and lastly Kosambi in Allahabad district, where we visited what was left of the Ghositarama monastery. Returning to Pataliputta, Tao-ching decided remain in India after seeing the strict decorum observed by the monks in India with regard to the Disciplinary rules compared with the meagre character of the precepts known in China.Thus we bade him farewell.

When he decided to take up permanent residence there, I thought it would be best to update my diary to make sure I remember when he decided to stop his journey.