中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 2.21

2.21

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.