(17) There was a Kasyapa Buddha, anterior to Sakyamuni.  But this Maha-kasyapa was a Brahman of Magadha, who was converted by Buddha, and became one of his disciples.  He took the lead after Sakyamuni’s death, convoked and directed the first synod, from which his title of Arya-sthavira is derived.  As the first compiler of the Canon, he is considered the fountain of Chinese orthodoxy, and counted as the first patriarch.  He also is to be reborn as Buddha.  Eitel, p. 64.

(18) The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same rules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint.  See Hardy’s E. M., chap. 17.  See also Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, p. 321.

(19) The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to observe the Shikshapada, or ten commandments.  Fa-hien was himself one of them from his childhood.  Having heard the Trisharana, or threefold formula of Refuge,—­“I take refuge in Buddha; the Law; the Church,—­the novice undertakes to observe the ten precepts that forbid—­(1) destroying life; (2) stealing; (3) impurity; (4) lying; (5) intoxicating drinks; (6) eating after midday; (7) dancing, singing, music, and stage-plays; (8) garlands, scents, unguents, and ornaments; (9) high or broad couches; (10) receiving gold or silver.”  Davids’ Manual, p. 160; Hardy’s E. M., pp. 23, 24.

(20) The eldest son of Sakyamuni by Yasodhara.  Converted to Buddhism, he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha’s death became the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika).  He is now revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be reborn as the eldest son of every future Buddha.  Eitel, p. 101.  His mother also is to be reborn as Buddha.

(21) There are six (sometimes increased to ten) paramitas, “means of passing to nirvana:—­Charity; morality; patience; energy; tranquil contemplation; wisdom (prajna); made up to ten by use of the proper means; science; pious vows; and force of purpose.  But it is only prajna which carries men across the samsara to the shores of nirvana.”  Eitel, p. 90.

(22) According to Eitel (pp. 71, 72), A famous Bodhisattva, now specially worshipped in Shan-se, whose antecedents are a hopeless jumble of history and fable.  Fa-hien found him here worshipped by followers of the mahayana school; but Hsuan-chwang connects his worship with the yogachara or tantra-magic school.  The mahayana school regard him as the apotheosis of perfect wisdom.  His most common titles are Mahamati, “Great wisdom,” and Kumara-raja, “King of teaching, with a thousand arms and a hundred alms-bowls.”

(23) Kwan-she-yin and the dogmas about him or her are as great a mystery as Manjusri.  The Chinese name is a mistranslation of the Sanskrit name Avalokitesvra, “On-looking Sovereign,” or even “On-looking Self-Existent,”