The
nirvana ground (where he was burned[22] after death) is as large as
a carriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there
is none. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass,
but the impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the
present day.
NOTES
[1] The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five
miles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27d 3s N., lon. 79d 50s E.
[2] The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning "the heaven of thirty-three
classes," a name which has been explained both historically and
mythologically. "The description of it," says Eitel, p. 148, "tallies
in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated
between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities
of devas, eight one each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra's
capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a
thousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra,
with his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly
reports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and
evil in the world," &c. &c.
[3] Buddha's mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the /mater immaculata/ of the
Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, "Reborn in
Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted." The Tushita
heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but
was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of
Buddha's visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he
calls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now
become a deva by the changing of her sex.
[4] Compare the account of the Arhat's conveyance of the artist to the
Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more
comprehensive.
[5] Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sakyamuni, being the son of his
uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of
Buddha's last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or
"heavenly eye," the first of the six abhijnas or "supernatural
talents," the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or
by intuition, all beings in all worlds. "He could see," says Hardy, M.
B., p. 232, "all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard
seed held in the hand."
[6] Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as
in the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word,
however, is explained by "blue lotus flowers;" and Hsuan-chwang calls
her the nun "Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});" - the same as Hardy's
Upulwan and Uppalawarna.
