中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 2.21

2.21

次東一院名修多羅院。門向西北開，中有三重高閣，周房遶之，蓮池流渠，林樹交影，經部經師皆所同止。有一石鐘，形如漢樣，如青碧玉，可受十斛。鼻上有三十三天像，四面以金銀隱起。東西兩面，有大寶珠陷在其腹，大如五升，八角分曜，杜若花形，周匝作十方諸佛初成道像。至日出時，鐘上諸佛皆說十二部經。舍衛城中童男、童女悉來聽之，聞成聖果；犯欲之者，則不聞誨。每至說前，摩尼大將以金剛杵擊之，聲聞百億世界。寶珠光明遍照十方，其光明中百千釋迦說修多羅。此鐘是拘樓秦佛所造。彼佛滅後，娑竭龍王收去。釋迦佛興，龍復將來。及佛將滅，珠光唱言：「釋迦如來却後三月當般涅槃。」鐘鼻諸天聞皆涕泣，龍復將去。

Next, the courtyard to the east is named the Sūtra Courtyard. Its gate opens toward the northwest. In the center is a three-tiered tall pavilion surrounded by chambers, with lotus ponds and flowing channels, where the shadows of forest trees interlace; the sūtra masters of the Sūtra Section all reside here together. There is a stone bell shaped in the Chinese style, resembling bluish-green jade, which can hold ten bushels. On its suspension loop are images of the Thirty-Three Devas, embossed on all four sides in gold and silver. On its eastern and western faces, large precious gems are set into its waist, as large as five pints, eight-cornered and radiating light, in the shape of pollia flowers; all around it are images of the Buddhas of the ten directions at the moment of their initial attainment of the Way. At sunrise, the Buddhas upon the bell all preach the twelve divisions of scriptures. Boys and girls of the city of Śrāvastī all come to listen, and upon hearing them they attain holy fruitions; those who have violated desire do not hear their instructions. Whenever it is time to preach, the Great General Maṇi strikes it with a vajra pestle, its sound being heard throughout ten billion worlds. The radiance of the precious gems shines everywhere across the ten directions, and within that light, hundreds of thousands of Śākyamunis preach the sūtras. This bell was crafted by Krakucchanda Buddha. After that Buddha entered extinction, the Sāgara Nāgarāja took it away. When Śākyamuni Buddha arose in the world, the nāga brought it back again. When the Buddha was about to enter extinction, the light of the gems proclaimed: 'Three months from now, Śākyamuni Tathāgata shall enter parinirvāṇa.' Hearing this, all the devas on the bell's suspension loop wept, and the nāga took it away once more.