律相感通傳 1.19

1.19

He replied: "The original foundation of the capital of Shu was upon Mount Qingcheng. Present-day Chengdu was the site of a great sea. Formerly, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, someone made it at the Xi'er River, modeled upon the complete-body form of Prabhūtaratna Buddha. It was at the Vulture Head Mountain Monastery on the Xi'er River. There was a person from Chengdu who went there for trade, requested the image, and was bringing it back. When he arrived at the location of the present-day Prabhūtaratna Monastery, it was sunk by a sea spirit stepping on the boat. Initially, the person who took the image saw the son of the sea spirit wandering on the shore, thought he was a mountain monster, and killed him. Because of this, the spirit was enraged and overturned the boat; both the person and the image drowned, together in the same boat. Formerly, Prabhūtaratna Buddha was at Vulture Head Mountain Monastery; its ancient foundation still remains, and there is still a stupa that constantly emits radiant light. Now, to go to that land, the road goes by way of Langzhou, crosses large and small mountains, calculated to be over three thousand li, before reaching the Xi'er River. The river is very wide, sometimes a hundred li, sometimes five hundred li; in the middle there are mountain islands, where there are also ancient monasteries, sutras, and images, but no monks reside there. The sutras match this script; at times, one hears the sound of bells. The common people are prosperous, and make offerings to the ancient stupa twice a year. The stupa is like an ordination platform, with three tiers of stone masonry, and an overturned bowl above; their numbers are extremely great. The people of that land merely call them 'spirit mounds'; whenever they emit light, people sacrifice vegetables and food to them, seeking blessings and good fortune. That place is over two thousand li to the northwest of Xizhou, and not far from India; people frequently reach there (and so on). By the Jin dynasty, a monk saw an earthen mound emerging from the ground; as fast as it emerged he removed it, but in the end it could not be leveled. Later he saw it split open, and was deeply puzzled by it. Digging more than a zhang deep, he found the image and human bones in a boat; the skull, elbow, and shin bones were all thick and large, several times larger than those of modern humans. That was precisely the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, when the lifespan of humans in Jambudvīpa was twenty thousand years. In modern times, life is short and forms are small; this is naturally the norm. When it first came out, it was difficult to drag and pull; your disciple transformed into an old man, directing skillful means, and in a moment it was brought out. When the Zhou dynasty abolished the Dharma, it was temporarily hidden. When the Sui arose, it was brought out again. The people of Shu only knew that its spiritual presence emerged from the earth, but could not fathom its origin; seeing the words 'Prabhūtaratna' on its lotus pedestal, they consequently named it Prabhūtaratna Buddha, and consequently named it Prabhūtaratna Monastery."