中天竺舍衛國祇洹寺圖經 2.4

2.4

The upper storey of the eastern terraced pavilion of the multi-tiered hall has the complete-body seven-jeweled stūpa of the second Buddha of the Nakṣatrakalpa, with one thousand three hundred tiers and sixty-four facets, resting on a terrace of white jade. Inside the stūpa is an image of that Buddha entering nirvāṇa, with the eight classes standing guard; only below it is the golden body. Encircling the four sides of the stūpa are eighty thousand golden terraced belvederes, within which are nirmāṇa-buddhas capable of preaching the Dharma. Atop the stūpa is a great king of jeweled pearls, shaped like a white elephant, bearing atop it an image of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Six years after the Buddha passed away, it entered into the Vajra Cave. In the second storey is a thousand-petaled golden lotus; upon each petal are sixteen golden belvederes, within which are many images of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. In the center of the flower, Locana Buddha preaches one million gāthās of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra therein; this is the fourth preaching. Furthermore, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, a person from this land of Cīnasthāna wrote out the great Vinayapiṭaka and Sūtramiṭaka. The sūtras were written in gold on silver paper, and the Vinaya in silver on gold paper. When he wrote these scriptures, he was at the site of the present Daming Monastery in Jingzhou. The sūtras were placed inside the southeastern terrace of the lotus, and the Vinaya inside the southwestern terrace atop the petal. Their adornments and offerings are beyond telling. Among all the scripts throughout the hundreds of millions of four-continents that are identical to this one, this man received the foremost; even the likes of Zhong, Zhang, Wang, and Wei would not suffice as his peers. During the Tathāgata's days, when sages of various countries arrived, if their writing was identical to it, the Buddha mostly displayed these scriptures to them. After the Buddha passed away, Mañjuśrī gathered them into the Vajra Cave on this Qingliang Mountain. Inside the third tier is a sea of seven treasures; in the sea are 1.6 billion golden nāgas, each holding a great jeweled lotus flower in its mouth. Atop the flowers, gold and silver together form a terrace, inside of which are the Vinaya scriptures preached by past Buddhas, numbering thirty-eight thousand kinds. Among the scripts of the hundreds of millions of four-continents that are identical to this region's writing, these are supreme. Within each terrace is a maṇi jewel-king serving as an illuminating lamp. Whenever ordination is administered, the jewels emit light, illuminating the ordination platform and transforming into hundreds of thousands of golden belvederes. In each belvedere is an image of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who expounds the differing characteristics of the vinayas of past Buddhas to the ordinands, and also expounds the bodhisattva Dharma-gate of upholding precepts. When the ordinands hear it, they are able to give rise to the first bhūmi. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Kāśyapa carried it to the Asura Cave on Mount Kukkuṭapāda. When Maitreya appears, he will bring it back to its original location and install it as before. This was created by the Bodhisattva Vajramati in the time of the third Buddha of the Nakṣatrakalpa. In the fourth tier are sixteen gośīrṣa sandalwood stūpas, each having one thousand three hundred tiers. Inside the stūpas are many images of Śākyamuni attaining enlightenment and turning the wheel of the Dharma. Atop each stūpa, patches of seven treasures cover the four corners. When the great golden bells sound, they can be heard throughout the small chiliocosm, and their sound mostly expounds the merit of building stūpas. Fifteen years after the Buddha's enlightenment, he ordered Maitreya Bodhisattva to lead Kāśyapa Bodhisattva to Mount Gandhamādana to harvest superior sandalwood to make them. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the nāgas gathered them into the sea. In the fifth tier are images of Śākyamuni converting the Kāśyapa brothers. These were crafted by the youth Jīvaka, who requested craftsmen from the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven to carve them from jade. After the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, King Vaiśravaṇa took them to dwell in his northern celestial palace.