[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899) › 2.31 # 中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 2.31 中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 2.31 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [2.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2.31) 大院西巷門西自分六院。南第一院開於三門，西塞，名無常院。中有一堂，但以白銀，四面白廊，白華充滿，畫白骨狀無處不有，諸欲無常皆舉至此，令見白骨諸非常相。既命終已，從南門出。西大牆之西門，一切無常皆由此路。院有八鐘，四白銀、四頗梨。銀鐘在院四角，起臺置之。頗黎鐘者，在無常堂四隅。銀鐘四口，各重十萬斤，形如須彌。九龍盤遶壇鍾，鼻在臺上，仰銀蓮華中。一一鐘邊一白銀人，戴天冠，摩尼寶王在頂上。高一丈二尺，手執銀槌。比丘將逝，四角銀人一時打鐘。音中所說諸佛入涅槃法。他化天人聞此鐘，天童將白華幡來下，供養比丘死屍。兜率諸天便持天中十六種花，下投院中。是病比丘聞於鐘聲，不失本心，得生善道。其頗梨鐘形如腰鼓，鼻有一金毘侖，乘金師子，手執白拂。病僧氣將大漸，是金毘侖，口說無常、苦、空、無我。手舉白拂，鍾即自鳴，音中亦說：「諸行無常，是生滅法，生滅滅已，寂滅為樂。」病僧聞音，苦惱即除，得清涼樂，如入三禪，垂生淨土。若大德人，四頗梨鐘腹放大光明，光中所說菩薩六度，病人見光，生諸佛國。而是鐘光隨亡神往所生之處，奪日月光，弊諸天光。上銀鐘者，帝釋所造；頗梨鐘者，月天子所造。其聲所至百億世界。至佛滅後二鐘上去，各還本土。 > The western lane-gate of the great courtyard naturally divides into six courtyards to the west. The first courtyard to the south has three gates opened, with the west blocked off, and is named the Courtyard of Impermanence. In the center is a single hall made entirely of white silver, surrounded on four sides by white covered corridors and filled with white flowers; painted depictions of white bones are everywhere, so that all who are about to undergo impermanence are brought here to be made to look upon the white bones and various marks of impermanence. Once their lives have ended, they are carried out through the south gate. The west gate of the great west wall is the route by which all who undergo impermanence pass. The courtyard has eight bells: four of white silver and four of crystal. The silver bells are in the four corners of the courtyard, mounted upon raised platforms. The crystal bells are at the four corners of the Hall of Impermanence. The four silver bells each weigh one hundred thousand catties, shaped like Mount Sumeru. Nine dragons encircle the platform bell, whose suspension loop rests upon the platform within an upright silver lotus blossom. Beside each bell is a white silver figure wearing a heavenly crown with a maṇi jewel atop its head, twelve feet tall, holding a silver mallet in its hand. When a bhikṣu is about to pass away, the silver figures in the four corners strike the bells simultaneously. Within their sounds, they expound the Dharma of all Buddhas entering nirvāṇa. When the devas of Paranirmita-vaśavartin hear this bell, heavenly youths descend carrying white floral banners to make offerings to the bhikṣu's corpse. The Tuṣita devas then take sixteen kinds of celestial flowers and scatter them down into the courtyard. When this sick bhikṣu hears the sound of the bell, he does not lose his fundamental mind and attains rebirth in a good destiny. The crystal bell is shaped like a waist-drum; on its suspension loop is a golden kumbhīra riding a golden lion, holding a white whisk in its hand. When a sick monk's breath is about to expire, this golden kumbhīra proclaims with its mouth impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self. Raising the white whisk in its hand, the bell sounds of itself, its tones also proclaiming: 'All conditioned things are impermanent; they are phenomena subject to arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, tranquil extinction is bliss.' When the sick monk hears the sound, his afflictions and anguish are instantly dispelled, and he attains cool bliss as if entering the third dhyāna, on the verge of rebirth in a pure land. If he is a person of great virtue, the waists of the four crystal bells emit a great radiance, within which the six pāramitās of a bodhisattva are expounded; seeing this light, the sick person is reborn in the Buddha lands. And the light of this bell follows the deceased spirit to the place of rebirth, outshining the light of the sun and moon and eclipsing the light of all devas. The silver bells above were crafted by Śakra; the crystal bells were crafted by the Moon Deva. Their sound reaches throughout ten billion worlds. After the Buddha entered extinction, the two kinds of bells ascended, each returning to its native realm. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 2.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2.30) - [Next: 2.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2.32) - [Up: 2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899~en-mt.2.31) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1899.2.31) · Pramāṇa