中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 1.51

1.51

殿內有蓮華藏。高一丈三尺，狀若此間明堂形。臺下九龍盤結為脚，紫磨金作龍。頭上有七寶蓮花，花中有摩尼跋陀大神將。立身用黃金作之，白銀彫鏤，項以七寶，頭戴七寶蓮花。之上以白銀為七層臺，臺有八楞，八面有窓，窓下有門，以金為扉，有黃金鎖，形如師子，自然開開，不以人功。以紅頗梨為瓦，瓦頭皆有金師子，師子口中皆銜金銀鈴。臺上相輪如今塔上者。然有八角，角別金鎖具之，鎖上懸金師子如上銜鈴。皆八楞珠王為舌，珠王如雞。相輪上珠，如金翅鳥。鳥上普賢菩薩乘白象王覆以寶蓋（從金翅鳥以上至蓋一珠所作）。上敘蓮花藏相，每六齋日四眾禮敬，九龍口中先頭吐香煙，大將口中訶責破戒。八門鎖碩、瓦頭諸師子及諸鈴，或讚持戒功德，又說十善等法。諸欲受戒比丘，先來臺所，致敬祈請。是金翅鳥王便出大聲，初如摩尼天鼓，後如百千天樂。音中所演，正明持戒功德。故有聞者，得大歡喜，心志勇銳。普賢菩薩放眉間光，說一實道，教之以平等大慧，誨之以無相持戒。行者聞法，得果登地，往業障累，一無聞見。如是請已，方往戒壇，依法受具。普賢光明先照戒壇，然後遍照十方世界百億佛剎。彼受戒已，還來禮臺。若獲上品戒者，臺門自開，見百千佛為說普賢諸大行願。或登諸地，便見臺中八萬四千白銀樓觀，隨觀皆有百億金臺，隨臺皆有百億化佛。其銀觀內各有八萬四千普賢菩薩。其金臺內各有百億佛土，於土中心有蓮華藏世界，隨界皆有蓮華，臺內皆以七寶莊嚴，謂之寂滅道場。隨場皆有百億盧合那佛，說平等法身，當說《華嚴》於此臺中。大梵天王移臺在摩竭提國，以梵王為請法主故也。上諸九龍是娑竭羅龍王自手造之。大神將、諸蓮華皆大梵王目運手造，臺身者是金剛齊菩薩造，諸寶寶廁填亦是娑竭所施。此華藏相所覩，惟是賢聖隨其業行，如上見聞。凡夫下劣，都非境界。至佛滅時，龍王收之，藏諸海殿。

Inside the hall is a Lotus Treasury. It is one zhang and three chi high, shaped like the Mingtang of this land. Beneath the platform, nine dragons coil together to form the feet, the dragons made of purple-sheen gold. Atop their heads are seven-jeweled lotus flowers, and within the flowers is the great spirit general Maṇibhadra. His standing body is made of yellow gold, engraved with white silver, with seven jewels around his neck and a seven-jeweled lotus flower on his head. Above him, white silver forms a seven-tiered platform; the platform has eight ridges, with windows on eight sides, beneath which are doors with golden leaves and golden locks shaped like lions that open naturally without human effort. Red crystal serves as roof tiles; at the ends of the tiles are golden lions, each holding gold and silver bells in its mouth. The wheel discs atop the platform are like those on stūpas today. However, they have eight corners, each corner provided with a golden chain, from which hangs a golden lion holding a bell as above. All have eight-ridged sovereign jewels as tongues, each sovereign jewel the size of a chicken egg. The jewel atop the wheel discs is shaped like a garuḍa. Above the bird, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra rides a king of white elephants, covered by a jeweled canopy (from the garuḍa up to the canopy is made of a single jewel). Such is the appearance of the Lotus Treasury described above. Every six fast days, when the fourfold assembly pays homage and worships, fragrant smoke first billows from the mouths of the nine dragons, and the great general's mouth reprimands those who break the precepts. The locks of the eight doors, the lions at the tile ends, and the bells either praise the merit of keeping the precepts or speak of dharmas such as the ten wholesome deeds. Bhikṣus wishing to receive the precepts first come to the platform to pay homage and make their entreaty. Then the garuḍa king emits a great sound, at first like a maṇi celestial drum, and later like hundreds of thousands of celestial instruments. What is expounded in the sound directly clarifies the merit of keeping the precepts. Therefore, those who hear it attain great joy, their minds resolute and valiant. The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra emits light from between his brows, expounding the One True Path, teaching them the great wisdom of equality, and instructing them in formless precept-keeping. When practitioners hear the Dharma, they attain the fruits and ascend the stages, and their past karmic hindrances and burdens are completely extinguished. Having made their entreaty in this way, they then proceed to the ordination platform and receive the full ordination according to the Dharma. Samantabhadra's light first illuminates the ordination platform, and then pervades the thousand million Buddha lands of the worlds of the ten directions. Having received the precepts, they return to pay homage to the platform. If they have attained the highest grade of precepts, the platform doors open of themselves, and they see hundreds of thousands of Buddhas expounding for them all the great practices and vows of Samantabhadra. Or, ascending the various stages, they immediately see within the platform eighty-four thousand white silver towers, each tower having a thousand million golden platforms, and each platform having a thousand million transformation Buddhas. Within those silver towers, there are eighty-four thousand Samantabhadra bodhisattvas each. Within those golden platforms, there are a thousand million Buddha lands each, and in the center of the lands is a Lotus Treasury World; each world has lotus flowers, and inside the platforms all is adorned with the seven jewels, called the Bodhimanda of Extinction. In each bodhimaṇḍa there are a thousand million Rocana Buddhas expounding the equal dharmakāya, and the Avataṃsaka is expounded within this platform. Mahābrahmā moved the platform to Magadha, because Brahmā was the host who requested the Dharma. The nine dragons above were made by the hand of Sāgara Nāgarāja himself. The great spirit general and the lotus flowers were made by Mahābrahmā himself by direct sight and hand, the body of the platform was made by Bodhisattva Vajrasamādhi, and the various jewel-inlaid enclosures were also donated by Sāgara. This Lotus Treasury is seen and heard as described above only by the noble and holy according to their karmic practices. For base ordinary beings, it is entirely beyond their realm. At the time of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the dragon king collected it and hid it in his ocean palace.