Darada, the country of the ancient Dardae, the region near Dardus; lat. 30d 11s N., lon. 73d 54s E. See E. H. p. 30.  I am myself in more than doubt on the point.  Cunningham ("Ancient Geography of India,” p. 82) says “Darel is a valley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by Dardus or Dards, from whom it received its name.”  But as I read our narrative, Fa-hien is here on the eastern bank of the Indus, and only crosses to the western bank as described in the next chapter.

(2) Lo-han, Arhat, Arahat, are all designations of the perfected Arya, the disciple who has passed the different stages of the Noble Path, or eightfold excellent way, who has conquered all passions, and is not to be reborn again.  Arhatship implies possession of certain supernatural powers, and is not to be succeeded by Buddhaship, but implies the fact of the saint having already attained nirvana.  Popularly, the Chinese designate by this name the wider circle of Buddha’s disciples, as well as the smaller ones of 500 and 18.  No temple in Canton is better worth a visit than that of the 500 Lo-han.

   (3) Riddhi-sakshatkriya, “the power of supernatural footsteps,"="a
   body flexible at pleasure,” or unlimited power over the body.  E. H.,
   p. 104.

(4) Tushita is the fourth Devaloka, where all Bodhisattvas are reborn before finally appearing on earth as Buddha.  Life lasts in Tushita 4000 years, but twenty-four hours there are equal to 400 years on earth.  E. H., p. 152.

(5) Maitreya (Spence Hardy, Maitri), often styled Ajita, “the Invincible,” was a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of Sakyamuni’s retinue, but is not counted among the ordinary (historical) disciples, nor is anything told of his antecedents.  It was in the Tushita heaven that Sakyamuni met him and appointed him as his successor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5000 years.  Maitreya is therefore the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing at present in Tushita, and, according to the account of him in Eitel (H., p. 70), “already controlling the propagation of the Buddhistic faith.”  The name means “gentleness” or “kindness;” and this will be the character of his dispensation.

(6) The combination of {.} {.} in the text of this concluding sentence, and so frequently occurring throughout the narrative, has occasioned no little dispute among previous translators.  In the imperial thesaurus of phraseology (P’ei-wan Yun-foo), under {.}, an example of it is given from Chwang-tsze, and a note subjoined that {.} {.} is equivalent to {.} {.}, “anciently and now.”

CHAPTER VII

Crossing of the Indus.  When Buddhism first crossed the river for the east