The Long Āgama Sūtra 2.116

2.116

「無上二足尊，照世大沙門；
阿難請天師，地動何因緣？
如來演慈音，聲如迦毘陵；
我說汝等聽，地動之所由。
地因水而止，水因風而住；
若虛空風起，則地為大動。
比丘比丘尼，欲試神足力；
山海百草木，大地皆震動。
釋梵諸尊天，意欲動於地；
山海諸鬼神，大地為震動。
菩薩二足尊，百福相已具；
始入母胎時，地則為大動。
十月處母胎，如龍臥茵蓐；
初從右脇生，時地則大動。
佛為童子時，消滅使緣縛；
成道勝無量，地則為大動。
昇仙轉法輪，於鹿野苑中；
道力降伏魔，則地大為動。
天魔頻來請，勸佛般泥洹；
佛為捨性命，地則為大動。
人尊大導師，神仙盡後有；
難動而取滅，時地則大動。
淨眼說諸緣，地動八事動；
有此亦有餘，時地皆震動。」

“The unsurpassed sage of bipeds,
He’s a great ascetic who lights up the world.
Ānanda asked the teacher of gods,
‘What’s the reason for this earthquake?’

The Tathāgata explained it in a kind voice
That sounded like a kalaviṅka.
‘I’ll tell you all, so listen:
There are these causes of earthquakes.

The earth depends on water, which remains.
Water depends on air, which abides.
If a wind rises in that space,
Then the earth is shaken greatly.

Sometimes, a monk or nun
Wants to test their miraculous power.
The mountains, oceans, grasses, and trees,
The whole earth is shaken.

Śakra, Brahmā, and the venerable gods
Sometimes want to shake the earth.
Demons and spirits of mountains and oceans
Also make the earth quake.

When bodhisattvas and sages of bipeds,
Replete with a hundred signs of merit,
First enter their mother’s womb,
Then the earth is shaken greatly.

They dwell in the womb for ten months
Like nāgas lying on a mat.
When they first emerge from her right side,
Then the earth is shaken greatly.

When the Buddha was a young man
He eliminated the conditions that fettered him,
Achieved awakening supreme and measureless,
Then the earth was shaken greatly.

Become a sage, he turned the Dharma wheel
There in the deer preserve.
When he defeated Māra with awakening’s strength,
Then the earth was shaken greatly.

The god Māra came to press his request,
Urging the Buddha to parinirvāṇa.
When the Buddha discarded his life force,
Then the earth was shaken greatly.

The human worthy, the great teacher,
The miraculous sage ended later existences.
He was hard to move but chose to go out,
And the earth was shaken greatly.

The pure eye explained these reasons,
These eight situations that cause earthquakes.
When there’s this, there’s also that;
These are the occasions of earthquakes.”