中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 1.10

1.10

The foundation of the monastery is clearly described in the sūtras and Vinaya as covering an area of eighty qing, with one hundred and twenty cloisters; measured from east to west it is nearly ten li, and from north to south over seven hundred paces. As a recent account says: In antiquity, when the Buddha was in the world, Sudatta and Prince Jeta built it together. The historical circumstances in the sūtras are as previously heard. After two hundred years—which corresponds in this land to the thirty-first year of King Ping, the thirteenth sovereign of the Zhou Ji dynasty—it was burned down completely. What was the cause? Prince Jeta treasured this park, and when Sudatta pressed to buy it, he did not begrudge the expense of gold. The prince was stingy and deeply regretted it, but Sudatta's resolve was firm and immovable. Seeing that he did not begrudge yellow gold and rejoiced in making offerings, the prince told the elder: "I shall build the monastery myself, without relying on you." Sudatta would not permit it. The prince made a vow: "The trees do not require gold; they may be offered. If it should fall into ruin in the future, may the trees grow back." When the fire occurred, the buildings were completely destroyed. The trees that had been established remained unchanged from before. Formerly, when Sudatta was an ordinary person, he accumulated wealth by selling meat, rising from lowliness to nobility, and constantly wishing for famine and scarcity. Although he attained immense wealth, his riches stemmed from a defiled mind; because he built the monastery with this, it ultimately met with burning ashes. Through the prince's pure mind, the trees grew; although his actions had flaws, the result is inconceivable. Four hundred years later, someone known as King Aśoka rebuilt it upon the ground, yet it did not reach one-tenth of the original. After a thousand and one hundred years, it was burned to ashes by bandits. After thirteen years, a king named Kaniṣka rebuilt the buildings as before, their magnificent forms all adorned with jewels. One hundred years later, an evil king destroyed it, making it an execution ground. The Four Heavenly Kings and Sāgara Nāgarāja became enraged and crushed the destroyers to death with a great rock. For ninety years it lay desolate without people. The Devarāja of Trāyastriṃśa ordered his second son to descend and serve as a human ruler. He again decorated and adorned it based on the ground flowers, surpassing the time when the Buddha was in the world. After one hundred and fifty years, Māra burned and destroyed it, which corresponds in this land to the twenty-ninth year of Emperor Xian at the end of the Han. Examining these events, after the reign of Xianzong, during the eras of Emperors He, An, Huan, and Ling, travelers back and forth to the Western Regions followed upon each other's heels; they thus witnessed the constructions of the devarāja and the flourishing of the Jeta grove. Although there were later [restorations], it has now lost its foundation and remains desolate down to the present day.