CHAPTER XV.

BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.

After they had crossed the river, there was a country named Pe-tʽoo,[1] where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the mahâyâna and hînayâna. When they saw their fellow-disciples from Tsʽin passing along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: ‘How is it that these men from a border-land should have learned to become monks,[2] and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search of the Law of Buddha?’ They supplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law.

NOTES

[1] Bhida. Eitel says, ‘The present Punjâb;’ i.e. it was a portion of that.

[2] ‘To come forth from their families;’ that is, to become celibates, and adopt the tonsure.