釋迦譜 5.9

5.9

傳云。王得信心。問道人曰。我從來殺害不必以理。今修何善得免斯殃。答曰。唯有起塔供養眾僧。赦諸徒囚賑濟貧乏。王曰。何處可起塔。道人即以神力左手掩日。日光作八萬四千道。散照閻浮提。所照之處皆可起塔。今諸塔處是也。

A tradition says: Having attained faith, the king asked a man of the Path, "Hitherto I have killed and harmed without proper reason. What wholesome deed may I now cultivate to be spared from this calamity?" [The man of the Path] replied, "There is only erecting stupas to make offerings to the Saṅgha, pardoning convicts, and giving relief to the poor and destitute." The king asked, "Where may stupas be erected?" The man of the Path then used his supernormal power to conceal the sun with his left hand; the sunlight divided into eighty-four thousand rays, shining out over Jambudvīpa. Wherever the light shone, a stupa could be erected. The sites of all the present stupas are these.