Page:Gems of Chinese literature (1922).djvu/126

 



ROM this point (Râjagriha) going west four yôjanas, the pilgrims arrived at the city of Gayâ, also a complete waste within its walls. Journeying twenty more li to the south, they arrived at the place where the Bôdhisatva passed six years in self-mortification; it has forests on all sides. From that point going west three li, they arrived at the spot where Buddha entered the water to bathe, and an angel pressed down the branch of a tree to pull him out of the pool. Also, by going two li further north, at a place where the two lay-sisters presented Buddha with congee made with milk, and two li to the north of this is the place where Buddha, sitting on a large stone and facing the east, ate it. The tree and the stone are both still there, the latter being about six feet in length and breadth by over two feet in height. In Central India the climate is equable; trees will live several thousand, and even so much as ten thousand years. From this point going