There are in China more than four hundred kinds of herbs, stones, stalks, and roots, most of which are excellent and rare in colour and taste, and very fragrant in their smell; thereby we can cure any disease and control the temper. In the healing arts of acupuncture and cautery and the skill of feeling the pulse China has never been superseded by any country of Gambudvîpa (India); the medicament for prolonging life is only found in China. Our hills are connected with the Himalaya, and our mountains are a continuation of the Gandhamâdana[1]; all sorts of things strange and precious are found there in abundance. From the character of men and the quality of things, China is called the 'Divine Land.' Is there any one, in the five parts of India, who does not admire China? All within the four seas respectfully receive the command. They (Indians) say that Mañgusrî[2] is at present living in that country (China). When they hear that one is a priest of the Deva-putra, all pay great honour and respect, wherever one goes. Deva means 'heaven' and putra 'son;' the priest of the Deva-putra is more fully 'One who has come from the place where dwells the Son of Heaven of Kîna (China)[3]. We
- ↑ This mountain range, Gandhamâdana, is generally translated by 'Fragrant mountain,' sometimes more fully, 'Hsiang-tsui,' i.e. 'Fragrant intoxicating mountain.' It is the region of the Anavatapta lake, from which the four rivers, Sitâ, Gaṇgâ, Sindhu, and Vakshu (Oxus) derive their source. This lake is perhaps the Manasarowar lake (lat. 31° N., long. 81° 3), and Hiuen Thsang's identification with the lake Sirikol (lat. 38° 20 N.) on the plateau of Pamir may be altogether wrong (see Eitel's Handbook, s. v. Anavatapta). So we should take the Gandhamâdana as the high plateau north of the Himalaya, on which the lake Anavatapta lies. I-tsing mentions this mountain again in chap, xxxiv, p. 169.
- ↑ The Indians seem to have had some impression of Mañgusrî's dwelling in China in I-tsing's time. We meet with this statement again in chap, xxxiv, p. 169.
- ↑ The reader is reminded that the Chinese Emperor is still called the 'Son of Heaven,' an old term used by Confucius or his direct disciples (b.c. 551-479). Deva-putra is a literal translation of 'Son of Heaven' (Tien-tze).The name, Kîna, which I-tsing is using, is taken from Sanskrit, and probably is the same as Kîna of Indian literature. But how long this name had been used in India or from which name of China it had been taken is uncertain. It was once supposed to have been taken from the Ch'in dynasty (b.c. 222), forming a landmark in Indian chronology, but this supposition was given up
