As you go forward from these mountains, the plants, trees, and fruits are all different from those of the land of Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate,( 7) and sugar-cane.
NOTES (1) See Eitel, p.89.He describes the assembly as "an ecclesiastical conference, first instituted by king Asoka for general confession of sins and inculcation of morality." (2) The text of this sentence is perplexing; and all translators, including myself, have been puzzled by it.
(3) See what we are told of king Asoka's grant of all the Jambudvipa to the monks in chapter xxvii.

There are several other instances of similar gifts in the Mahavansa.
(4) Watters calls attention to this as showing that the monks of K'eeh-ch'a had the credit of possessing weather-controlling powers.
(5) The text here has {.} {.}, not {.} alone.

I often found in monasteries boys and lads who looked up to certain of the monks as their preceptors.
(6) Compare what is said in chapter ii of the dress of the people of Shen-shen.
(7) Giles thinks the fruit here was the guava, because the ordinary name for "pomegranate" is preceded by gan {.}; but the pomegranate was called at first Gan Shih-lau, as having been introduced into China from Gan-seih by Chang-k'een, who is referred to in chapter vii..