bhida. sympathy of monks with the pilgrims.

after they had crossed the river, there was a country named pe-t’oo,1 where buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks) studied both the mahayana and hinayana. when they saw their fellow-disciples from ts’in passing along, they were moved with great pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: “how is it that these men from a border-land should have learned to become monks,2 and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search of the law of buddha?” they supplied them with what they needed, and treated them in accordance with the rules of the law.