The king thought that his virtue in the past was not yet sufficient to give him possession of the bowl.
(8) The text is simply "those in white clothes." This may mean "the laity," or the "upasakas;" but it is better to take the characters in their common Chinese acceptation, as meaning "commoners," "men who have no rank." See in Williams' Dictionary under {.}.
(9) I do not wonder that Remusat should give for this--"et s'en retournent apres." But Fa-Hsien's use of {.} in the sense of "in the same way" is uniform throughout the narrative.
(10) Hardy's M.B., p.

183, says:--"The alms-bowl, given by Mahabrahma, having vanished (about the time that Gotama became Buddha), each of the four guardian deities brought him an alms-bowl of emerald, but he did not accept them.

They then brought four bowls made of stone, of the colour of the mung fruit; and when each entreated that his own bowl might be accepted, Buddha caused them to appear as if formed into a single bowl, appearing at the upper rim as if placed one within the other." See the account more correctly given in the "Buddhist Birth Stories," p.

110.
(11) Compare the narrative in Luke's Gospel, xxi.

1-4.
(12) See chapter viii.
(13) This, no doubt, should be Hwuy-ying.