night and opened their prison doors. Hsue Kuan, a
writer of the Sung dynasty, quotes in his _Tung Chai Chi_ passages to
support the view that Buddhism was known in China some centuries
before the reign of Ming Ti; among others, the following from the _Sui
Shu Ching Chi Chih_: "These Buddhist writings had long been circulated
far and wide, but disappeared with the advent of the Ch'in dynasty,"
under which (see Sec. _Chinese Literature, Sec.Sec. History_) occurred the
Burning of the Books. It is, however, convenient to begin with the
alleged dream of Ming Ti, as it was only subsequent to that date that
Buddhism became a recognized religion of the people. It is certain
that in A.D. 65 a mission of eighteen members was despatched to Khotan
to make inquiries on the subject, and that in 67 the mission returned,
bringing Buddhist writings and images, and accompanied by an Indian
priest, Kashiapmadanga, who was followed shortly afterwards by another
priest, Gobharana. A temple was built for these two at Lo-yang, then
the capital of China, and they settled down to the work of translating
portions of the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese; but all that now
remains of their work is the S[=u]tra of Forty-two Sections,
translated by Kashiapmadanga. During the next two hundred and fifty
years an unbroken line of foreign priests came to China to continue
the task of translation, and to assist in spreading the faith. Such
work was indeed entirely in their hands, for until the 4th century the
Chinese people were prohibited from taking orders as priests; but by
that date Buddhism had taken a firm hold upon the masses, and many
Chinese priests were attracted towards India, despite the long and
dangerous journey, partly to visit the birthplace of the creed and to
see with their own eyes the scenes which had so fired their
imaginations, and partly in the hope of adding to the store of books
and images already available in China (see Sec. _Chinese Literature, Sec.Sec.
Geography and Travel_). Still, the train of Indian missionaries,
moving in the opposite direction, did not cease. In 401, Kumarajiva,
the nineteenth of the Western Patriarchs and translator of the Diamond
S[=u]tra, finally took up his residence at the court of the soi-disant
emperor, Yao Hsing. In 405 he became State Preceptor and dictated his
commentaries on the sacred books of Buddhism to some eight hundred
pr