Several years had now elapsed since Fa-Hsien left the land of Han; the men with whom he had been in intercourse had all been of regions strange to him; his eyes had not rested on an old and familiar hill or river, plant or tree; his fellow-travellers, moreover, had been separated from him, some by death, and others flowing off in different directions; no face or shadow was now with him but his own, and a constant sadness was in his heart.

Suddenly (one day), when by the side of this image of jade, he saw a merchant presenting as his offering a fan of white silk;( 5) and the tears of sorrow involuntarily filled his eyes and fell down.
A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip of the patra tree,( 6) which he planted by the side of the hall of Buddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits.

As it bent on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would fall, propped it with a post eight or nine spans round.

The tree began to grow at the very heart of the prop, where it met (the trunk); (a shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where it entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about four spans round.

Although the post was split in the middle, the outer portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them.
Beneath the tree there has been built a vihara, in which there is an image (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence and look up to without ever becoming wearied.