Life of Fa-Hien; Genuineness and Integrity of the Text of his
Narrative; Number of the Adherents of Buddhism.

1. Nothing of great importance is known about Fa-hien in addition to
what may be gathered from his own record of his travels. I have read
the accounts of him in the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled in
A.D. 519, and a later work, the "Memoirs of Marvellous Monks," by the
third emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1403-1424), which, however,
is nearly all borrowed from the other; and all in them that has an
appearance of verisimilitude can be brought within brief compass.

His surname, they tell us, was Kung, and he was a native of Wu-yang in
P'ing-Yang, which is still the name of a large department in Shan-hsi.
He had three brothers older than himself; but when they all died
before shedding their first teeth, his father devoted him to the
service of the Buddhist society, and had him entered as a Sramanera,
still keeping him at home in the family. The little fellow fell
dangerously ill, and the father sent him to the monastery, where he
soon got well and refused to return to his parents.

When he was ten years old, his father died; and an uncle, considering
the widowed solitariness and helplessness of the mother, urged him to
renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied,
"I did not quit the family in compliance with my father's wishes, but
because I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This
is why I chose monkhood." The uncle approved of his words and gave
over urging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had
been the affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he
returned to the monastery.