dim patch of light. But it passed away. With mingled joy and pain he continued
to pray, and again he saw a light, and again it vanished swiftly. Then, in his
ecstasy of loving devotion, he vowed that he would never leave the place until
he had seen the “Venerable of the age.” After two hundred prayers, he saw the
cave suddenly fill with radiance, and the shadow of Buddha, of a brilliant white
colour, rose majestically on the wall, as when the clouds are riven, and all at
once flashes on the wondering eye the marvellous image of the “Mountain of
Light.” The features of the divine countenance were illuminated with a dazzling
glow. Hiouen-thsang was absorbed in wondering contemplation, and from an
object so sublime and incomparable he could not turn his eyes away.
After he awoke from his trance, he called in six men, and bade them kindle a fire
in the cave, that he might burn incense; but as the glitter of the flame made the
shadow of Buddha disappear, he ordered it to be extinguished. Five of the
attendants saw the shadow, but the sixth saw nothing; and the guide, when
Hiouen-thsang told him of the vision, could only express his astonishment.
“Master,” he said, “without the sincerity of your faith and the energy of your
vows, you could not have seen such a miracle.”
Such is the account which Hiouen-thsang’s biographers give of his visit to
Buddha’s cave; but Max Müller remarks, to the credit of Hiouen-thsang himself,
that in the Si-yu-hi, which contains his own diary, the story is told much more
simply. After describing the cave, he merely adds:—“Formerly, the shadow of
Buddha was seen in the cave, bright, like his natural appearance, and with all the
marks of his divine beauty. One might have said, it was Buddha himself. For
some centuries, however, it has not been possible to see it completely. Though
one does perceive something, it is only a feeble and doubtful resemblance. If a
man prays with sincere faith, and if he have received from above a secret
impression, he sees the shadow clearly, but cannot enjoy the sight for any length
of time.”
From Peshawer the undaunted pilgrim proceeded to Kashmir, visited the
principal towns of Central India, and arrived at last in Magadha, the Holy land of
the Buddhists. There, for a space of five years, he devoted himself to the study of
Sanskrit and Buddhist literature; he explored every place which was consecrated
by memories of the past. Passing through Bengal, he travelled southward, with
the view of visiting Ceylon, the chief seat of Buddhism. But, unable to carry out