中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 1.52

1.52

On the great Buddha throne inside the hall, each of the two corners has a jade stūpa. They were made by Kāśyapa Tathāgata when he was on the causal ground. The stūpas are sixteen cubits tall, multifaceted, with one hundred and thirty tiers, and their entire bodies are carved from a single piece of jade. Inside each stūpa, the forms of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and eight classes each number eleven billion; the carving and ornamentation of these images are of a rarity hard to describe. From the thirteenth tier down, they are modeled on the tiers of Mount Sumeru. Below the Four Kings are images of Śākyamuni Buddha newly attaining the Way and delivering the five bhikṣus. Reflecting that the Buddhas of the three periods of time all expounded the Vinayapiṭaka inside this stūpa, I now also request the bhikṣu Ruci to expound the great Vinayapiṭaka, consisting of eighty billion verses in all. In the past, when the Buddha was in the world, during the poṣadha, the recitation of the precepts, and the conferral of the precepts, this stūpa would constantly emit light shining straight onto the ordination platform, transforming into a canopy over the platform. Responsive to this, the Buddhas of the ten directions would manifest inside the canopy, rebuking those who broke the precepts and praising those who upheld them. Those who encountered this all ascended to the ninth ground and then entered within the stūpa. The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra was expounded inside this stūpa. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Sāgara Nāgarāja gathered it up and took it into the ocean.