814
J. Ph. Vogel
esting to note a passage in the Dlpavamsa™ in which the chronicler relates at great
length how the king of Lanka, Devänampiya Tissa, was converted by Mahinda, the
son of Asoka, and the first monastery Tissäräma was founded. When Mahinda after
a stay of five months wished to return to Jambudipa, the king of Lanka informed
him that he intended to raise a thüpa in honour of the Teacher. The novice Sumana
was then deputed to Pätaliputta in order to obtain the indispensable relics for such
a monument. Dhammäsoka on receiving the joyful tiding filled the almsbowl of his
son’s messenger with relics and Sumana carrying these treasures to Lankä, alighted
on Mount Missaka. Here king Tissa at the head of his army came to meet him and
placed the holy relics on the frontal globe of an elephant. The noble elephant after
passing through the town proceeded to the very spot which Kakusandha, Konäga-
mana and Kassapa had formerly visited and here the thüpa was built. The chronicler
seizes the opportunity to insert accounts of the visits of the three former Buddhas23 24.
These accounts are of one and the same pattern, differing only in the motive of each
visit and in the nomenclature of the persons and localities. The monastery founded
in the days of Kakusandha was named Patiyäräma after the drinking vessel of that
Buddha, and the two thüpas connected with Konägamana and Kassapa were the
Käyabandhana- and the Dakasätikacetiya, thus named after the girdle and bathing-
mantle of those two Buddhas. Are we allowed to conclude from this passage that
päribhogika relics of the past Buddhas were actually worshipped in Ceylon25 ?
Sung-yun26 notices a stüpa and temple in Gandhära at the place “where Tathä-
gata plucked out his eyes to give in charity”. The place of the Eyegift was Puskalä-
vatl, the ancient Capital of Gandhära. “On a stone of the temple”, the pilgrim says,
“is the impress of the foot of Käsyapa Buddha”.
It is well known that footprints of Säkyamuni were and still are worshipped in
Buddhist countries. They are sometimes natural cavities in the rock resembling the
impress of a human foot or more frequently they were carved on a stone slab and
show the sign of the cakra and other laksanas, which in the course of time tended to
increase in number. The cankrama of the Buddha developed into a monument in the
shape of a terraced cloister, the footsteps being marked by conventional lotus-
flowers. A notable example of such a “walk” was recovered by Cunningham at
Bodh-Gayä27. But it existed also in the Convent of the Dharmacakrapravartana
near Benares, as the “Bodhisattva” of the third year of Kaniska’s reign is stated in
the inscription on the back of the image to have been set up at Benares on the
cankrama of the Lord (Bäränasiye Bhagavato camkame).
In Hsüan-tsang’s itinerarywe frequently meet with short references to “traces
where the three (or four) past Buddhas sat down and walked”. When such hallowed
traces were shown to the pilgrim near the top of some mountain, as was the case near
23 The Dipavamsa an ancient Buddhist Historical Record, edited and translated by Hermann
Oldenberg, London 1879, chapters XI—XV.
24 Ibidem, XV, 34—73.
25 H. Kern, Geschiedenis van het Buddhisme in Indie, Haarlem 1884, vol. II, p. 200.
Dr. Paranavitana, Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon, informs me that „there is no evi-
dence that the monuments ascribed to the three predecessors of Öäkyamuni actually existed
at any time during the historical period“.
20 Beal, op. cit., vol. I, p. CHI.
27 A. Cunningham, Mahäbodhi, London 1892, pp. 8—10, pl. V.
J. Ph. Vogel
esting to note a passage in the Dlpavamsa™ in which the chronicler relates at great
length how the king of Lanka, Devänampiya Tissa, was converted by Mahinda, the
son of Asoka, and the first monastery Tissäräma was founded. When Mahinda after
a stay of five months wished to return to Jambudipa, the king of Lanka informed
him that he intended to raise a thüpa in honour of the Teacher. The novice Sumana
was then deputed to Pätaliputta in order to obtain the indispensable relics for such
a monument. Dhammäsoka on receiving the joyful tiding filled the almsbowl of his
son’s messenger with relics and Sumana carrying these treasures to Lankä, alighted
on Mount Missaka. Here king Tissa at the head of his army came to meet him and
placed the holy relics on the frontal globe of an elephant. The noble elephant after
passing through the town proceeded to the very spot which Kakusandha, Konäga-
mana and Kassapa had formerly visited and here the thüpa was built. The chronicler
seizes the opportunity to insert accounts of the visits of the three former Buddhas23 24.
These accounts are of one and the same pattern, differing only in the motive of each
visit and in the nomenclature of the persons and localities. The monastery founded
in the days of Kakusandha was named Patiyäräma after the drinking vessel of that
Buddha, and the two thüpas connected with Konägamana and Kassapa were the
Käyabandhana- and the Dakasätikacetiya, thus named after the girdle and bathing-
mantle of those two Buddhas. Are we allowed to conclude from this passage that
päribhogika relics of the past Buddhas were actually worshipped in Ceylon25 ?
Sung-yun26 notices a stüpa and temple in Gandhära at the place “where Tathä-
gata plucked out his eyes to give in charity”. The place of the Eyegift was Puskalä-
vatl, the ancient Capital of Gandhära. “On a stone of the temple”, the pilgrim says,
“is the impress of the foot of Käsyapa Buddha”.
It is well known that footprints of Säkyamuni were and still are worshipped in
Buddhist countries. They are sometimes natural cavities in the rock resembling the
impress of a human foot or more frequently they were carved on a stone slab and
show the sign of the cakra and other laksanas, which in the course of time tended to
increase in number. The cankrama of the Buddha developed into a monument in the
shape of a terraced cloister, the footsteps being marked by conventional lotus-
flowers. A notable example of such a “walk” was recovered by Cunningham at
Bodh-Gayä27. But it existed also in the Convent of the Dharmacakrapravartana
near Benares, as the “Bodhisattva” of the third year of Kaniska’s reign is stated in
the inscription on the back of the image to have been set up at Benares on the
cankrama of the Lord (Bäränasiye Bhagavato camkame).
In Hsüan-tsang’s itinerarywe frequently meet with short references to “traces
where the three (or four) past Buddhas sat down and walked”. When such hallowed
traces were shown to the pilgrim near the top of some mountain, as was the case near
23 The Dipavamsa an ancient Buddhist Historical Record, edited and translated by Hermann
Oldenberg, London 1879, chapters XI—XV.
24 Ibidem, XV, 34—73.
25 H. Kern, Geschiedenis van het Buddhisme in Indie, Haarlem 1884, vol. II, p. 200.
Dr. Paranavitana, Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon, informs me that „there is no evi-
dence that the monuments ascribed to the three predecessors of Öäkyamuni actually existed
at any time during the historical period“.
20 Beal, op. cit., vol. I, p. CHI.
27 A. Cunningham, Mahäbodhi, London 1892, pp. 8—10, pl. V.