At that time the king, who was a sincere believer in the Law of Buddha and wished to build a new vihara for the monks, first convoked a great assembly.  After giving the monks a meal of rice, and presenting his offerings on the occasion, he selected a pair of first-rate oxen, the horns of which were grandly decorated with gold, silver, and the precious substances.  A golden plough had been provided, and the king himself turned up a furrow on the four sides of the ground within which the building was to be.  He then endowed the community of the monks with the population, fields, and houses, writing the grant on plates of metal, to the effect that from that time onwards, from generation to generation, no one should venture to annul or alter it.

In this country Fa-hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a Sutra from the pulpit, say:  “Buddha’s alms-bowl was at first in Vaisali, and now it is in Gandhara.  After so many hundred years (he gave, when Fa-hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he has forgotten it), it will go to Western Tukhara; after so many hundred years, to Khoten; after so many hundred years, to Kharachar; after so many hundred years, to the land of Han; after so many hundred years, it will come to Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will return to Central India.  After that, it will ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the Bodhisattva Maitreya sees it, he will say with a sigh, ’The alms-bowl of Sakyamuni Buddha is come’; and with all the devas he will present to it flowers and incense for seven days.  When these have expired, it will return to Jambudvipa, where it will be received by the king of the sea nagas, and taken into his naga palace.  When Maitreya shall be about to attain to perfect Wisdom and become Buddha, it will again separate into four bowls, which will return to the top of mount Anna, whence they came.  After Maitreya has become Buddha, the four deva kings will again think of the Buddha with their bowls as they did in the case of the previous Buddha.  The thousand Buddhas of this Bhadra-kalpa, indeed, will all use the same alms-bowl; and when the bowl has disappeared, the Law of Buddha will go on gradually to be extinguished.  After that extinction has taken place, the life of man will be shortened, till it is only a period of five years.  During this period of a five years’ life, rice, butter, and oil will all vanish away, and men will become exceedingly wicked.  The grass and trees which they lay hold of will change into swords and clubs, with which they will hurt, cut, and kill one another.  Those among them on whom there is blessing will withdraw from society among the hills; and when the wicked have exterminated one another, they will again come forth, and say among themselves, ’The men of former times enjoyed a very great longevity; but through becoming exceedingly wicked, and doing all lawless things, the length of our life has been shortened and reduced even to five years.  Let us now unite together in the practice