palace or convent; a body so impure as mine should be separated from it by a
great distance.’
“On hearing these words, his disciples broke out into sobs and cries. Drying their
tears, they said to him: ‘Master, you have still a reserve of strength and vigour;
your countenance is in no wise altered; why do you give sudden utterance to
such miserable words?’
“‘I know it through and in myself,’ replied the Master of the Law; ‘how would it
be possible for you to understand my presentiments?’
“On the first day of the first moon in the spring of the first year Lin-te (664), the
neighbouring interpreters and all the religious of the convent, came to solicit
him, with the most pressing earnestness, to translate the collection of the
Ratnakoûta soûtra.
“The Master of the Law, yielding to their fervid persistency, made an effort to
overcome his weakness, and translated a few lines. Then, closing the Hindu text,
he said: ‘This collection is as great as that of the Pradjñâ, but I feel I have not
sufficient strength to complete such an enterprise. My last moments have
arrived, and my life can be only of short duration. To-day I would fain visit the
valley of Lantchi, to offer my last homages to the statues of the innumerable
Buddhas.’
“Accordingly, he set forth with his disciples. The monks, at his departure, did
not cease to shed tears.
“After this pious excursion he returned to the convent. Thenceforward he ceased
to translate, and occupied himself solely in his religious duties.
“On the eighth day, one of his disciples, the monk Hiouen-Khio, originally of
Kao-tch’ang, related to the Master of the Law a dream which he had had. He had
seen a Fesu-thou (or Stoûpa,) of imposing aspect and prodigious height, crumble
suddenly to the ground. Awakened by the fall, he ran to inform the Master of the
Law. ‘The event does not concern you,’ said Hiouen-thsang; ‘it is the presage of
my approaching end.’
“On the evening of the ninth day, as he crossed the bridge of a canal in the rear
of his residence, he fell, and injured his leg. From that moment his strength
declined perceptibly.
“On the sixteenth day he cried out, as if awaking from a dream: ‘Before my eyes