[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [續高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060) › 4.6.3 # 續高僧傳 4.6.3 續高僧傳 4.6.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [4.6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6.3) 至如東夏所尚素王為聖。 將定年算。 前達尚迷。 況復曆有三代。 述時紀號猶自差舛。 顧惟理越情求赴機應感。 皆乘權道適變為先。 豈以常人之耳目用通於至極也。 城之南北有過去二佛生地諸塔。 育王石柱銘記甚多。 都城西北數百千塔。 並是流璃所誅諸釋。 既是聖者。 後人為造。 當斯時也有四釋子。 忿其見逼不思犯戒。 出外拒軍。 瑠璃遂退。 後還本國。 城中不受。 告曰。 吾為法種誓不行師。 汝退彼軍非吾族也。 既被放斥遠投諸國。 本是聖胤。 競宗樹之。 今烏仗梵衍等王。 並其後也。 城東百里。 即是如來生地之林。 今尚存焉。 或有說者。 三月八日。 上座部云。 十五日也。 此土諸經咸云。 四月八日。 斯非感見之機。 異計多耳。 又東七百里方至拘尸。 中途諸異略不復紀。 創達此城。 不覺五情失守崩踊躄地。 頃之顧眄。 但見荒城頹褫純陀宅基有標誌耳。 西北四里。 河之西岸。 即娑羅大林。 周匝輪徑四十餘里。 中央高竦。 即涅槃地。 有一甎室。 臥像北首。 旁施塔柱具書銘記。 而諸說混淆通列其上。 有云。 二月十五日入涅槃者。 或云。 九月八日入涅槃者。 或云。 自彼至今過千五百年者。 或云過九百年者。 城北渡河。 即焚身地。 方二里餘深三丈許。 土尚黃黑狀同焦炭。 諸國有病服其土者無不除愈。 故其焚處致有坑耳。 其側復有現足分身雉鹿諸塔。 並具瞻已。 又西南行大深林中七百餘里。 達婆羅痆廝國。 即常所謂波羅奈也。 城臨殑伽。 外道殷盛。 乃出萬計。 天寺百餘多遵自在。 僧徒三千。 並小乘正量部也。 王都東北波羅奈河之西。 塔柱雙建。 育王所立。 影現佛像。 覩者興敬。 度河十里即鹿野寺也。 周閭重閣望若仙宮。 僧減二千。 皆同前部。 佛事高勝諸國最矣。 中有轉法輪像。 狀如言說。 旁樹石柱高七十餘尺。 內影外現眾相備矣。 斯即如來初轉法處。 其側復有五百獨覺塔三佛行坐處。 寺中銘塔聖迹極多。 乃有數百。 又有佛所浴池浣衣洗器之水。 皆有龍護。 曝衣方石。 鹿王迎佛之地。 並建石塔。 動高三百餘尺。 相甚弘偉。 故略陳耳。 順河東下減於千里達吠舍釐。 即毘舍離也。 露形異術偏所豐足。 國城舊基周七十里。 人物寡鮮但為名地。 其中說淨名經處。 寶積淨名諸故宅處。 身子證果處。 姨母滅度處。 七百結集處。 阿難分身處。 此之五處各建勝塔標示後代。 自斯東北二千餘里。 入大雪山至尼波羅國。 純信於佛僧有二千。 大小兼學。 城東有池。 中有天金光浮水上。 古老傳云彌勒下生。 用為首飾。 或有利其寶者。 夜往盜之。 但見火聚騰焰。 都不可近。 今則沈深叵窮其底。 水又極熱難得措足。 唐國使者試火投之焰便踊起。 因用煮米便得成飯。 其境北界。 即東女國與吐蕃接境。 比來國命往還率由此地。 約指為語。 唐梵相去一萬餘里。 自古迴邅致途遠阻。 又從梵吠舍南濟殑伽河達摩揭陀國。 即摩竭提之正號也。 其國所居是為中印度矣。 今王祖胤繼接無憂。 無憂即頻毘娑羅之曾孫也。 王即戒日之女婿矣。 今所治城。 非古所築。 殑伽南岸有波吒釐城。 周七十里。 即經所謂華氏城也。 王宮多花。 故因名焉。 昔阿育王自離王舍遷都於此。 左側聖所其量彌繁。 城之西南四百餘里。 度尼連禪河至伽耶城。 人物希少可千餘家。 又行六里有伽耶山。 自古諸王所登封也。 故此一山世稱名地。 如來應俗就斯成道。 頂有石塔高百餘尺。 即寶雲等經所說之處。 周迴四十里內聖迹充滿。 山之西南即道成處。 有金剛座周百餘步。 其地則今所謂菩提寺是也。 寺南有菩提樹。 高五丈許。 遶樹周垣壘甎為之。 輪迴五百許步。 東門對河。 > As for what is revered in the Eastern Xia, with the Plain King (Confucius) regarded as the sage, when one seeks to determine the chronology of years, even the ancient luminaries were still confused—how much more so given the calendars of the Three Dynasties, where recorded dates and reign titles still disagree among themselves! When we reflect that the ultimate principle transcends ordinary emotional quests and that spiritual responses adapt to the capacities of beings, they all avail themselves of expedient means, taking accommodation to change as paramount. How could the ears and eyes of ordinary men be used to fathom the supreme ultimate? To the south and north of the city, there are various stūpas marking the birthplaces of two past Buddhas, with many inscriptions on King Aśoka's stone pillars. Northwest of the capital city are hundreds of thousands of stūpas, all for the Śākyas slain by Virūḍhaka; because they were noble ones, later generations built these for them. At that time, there were four Śākya youths who, resentful of being oppressed and giving no thought to violating the precepts, went out to resist the army. Virūḍhaka then retreated. When they later returned to their native city, the city would not receive them, announcing to them: 'We are the lineage of the Dharma and have vowed never to wage war. That you repelled their army means you are not of our clan.' Having been banished, they cast their lot afar among various kingdoms. Because they were originally of noble lineage, people vied to honour and establish them. The present kings of Uḍḍiyāna, Bāmiyān, and elsewhere are all their descendants. One hundred li east of the city is the forest where the Tathāgata was born; it still exists today. Some say it was the eighth day of the third month; the Sthavira school says it was the fifteenth day; and the scriptures of this land all say it was the eighth day of the fourth month. This is nothing other than varying capacities of spiritual perception giving rise to differing views. Going another seven hundred li east, one reaches Kuśinagara; the various wonders along the way will not be related in detail here. When he first arrived at this city, he unconsciously lost control of his five feelings, collapsing and beating the earth in sorrow. When he looked around after a moment, he saw only a desolate city falling into ruin, with only marked sites indicating the foundation of Cunda's residence. Four li to the northwest, on the west bank of the river, is the great Śāla forest, forty-odd li in circumference. Its centre rises loftily; this is the site of the Parinirvāṇa. There is a brick chamber with a reclining image facing north. Beside it are erected a stūpa and a pillar, fully inscribed with records; yet the various accounts are confused and all listed upon it. Some say he entered nirvāṇa on the fifteenth day of the second month; some say he entered nirvāṇa on the eighth day of the ninth month; some say that over 1,500 years have elapsed from then to the present; and some say over 900 years have elapsed. Crossing the river north of the city is the site where the body was cremated, more than two li square and about three zhang deep. The earth is still yellowish-black, resembling scorched charcoal. Whenever the sick of various kingdoms ingest this earth, there are none who are not cured; this is why there is a pit at the cremation site. Beside it are also various stūpas marking where he showed his feet, divided his relics, and the episodes of the pheasant and the deer; \[Xuanzang\] paid full reverence to all of them. Going southwest through a great dense forest for over seven hundred li, he reached the kingdom of Vārāṇasī, which is what is commonly called Banaras. The city borders the Gaṅgā. Non-Buddhists flourish abundantly, numbering in the tens of thousands. There are over a hundred deva temples, mostly revering Maheśvara. There are three thousand monks, all belonging to the Hīnayāna Saṃmatīya school. To the northeast of the royal capital and west of the Varaṇā River, twin stūpas and pillars were erected by King Aśoka; a shadow of the Buddha's image appears, and those who behold it give rise to veneration. Crossing the river for ten li is the Mṛgadāva (Deer Park) Monastery. Its surrounding walls and tiered pavilions look like an immortal's palace. There are just under two thousand monks, all belonging to the same school mentioned above. The Buddha-work conducted here is noble and superior, the foremost among the various kingdoms. Within it is a statue of the Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma, looking as though it were speaking. Beside it is erected a stone pillar over seventy feet high, with internal reflections appearing outwardly, complete with manifold marks. This is where the Tathāgata first turned the wheel of the Dharma. Beside it there are also a stūpa for five hundred pratyekabuddhas and the site where three Buddhas walked and sat. In the monastery there are an immense number of inscribed stūpas and sacred traces, amounting to several hundreds. There are also the pool where the Buddha bathed and the waters where he washed his robes and cleansed his vessels, all protected by nāgas; the square stone where his robes were dried in the sun; and the site where the Deer King welcomed the Buddha. Stone stūpas have been erected at all of them, commonly over three hundred feet high and extremely magnificent in appearance, so they are only briefly set forth here. Following the river eastward for just under a thousand li, he reached Vaiśālī, which is also called Visālā. Naked ascetics and exotic arts are particularly abundant there. The old foundations of the kingdom's city are seventy li in circumference; people and things are scarce, and it remains merely a famous site. Among them are the site where the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra was spoken; the former residences of Ratnarāśi and Vimalakīrti; the site where Śāriputra attained the fruit; the site where the Buddha's maternal aunt attained extinction; the site of the council of seven hundred; and the site where Ānanda divided his body. At each of these five sites, an extraordinary stūpa has been built to indicate it to later generations. Going more than two thousand li northeast from here, one enters the Great Snow Mountains to reach the kingdom of Nepāla. They have pure faith in the Buddha, with two thousand monks studying both Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna. East of the city is a pool in which divine gold floats with light upon the water. The elders transmit the tradition that when Maitreya descends to be born, it will be used as a head ornament. Some who coveted its treasure went by night to steal it, but saw only a blazing mass of flames and could not approach it at all. Nowadays, it has sunk so deep that its bottom cannot be fathomed; the water is also extremely hot, making it difficult to set foot in. When envoys from the Tang state tested it by throwing in fire, flames immediately leaped up; when they used it to boil rice, it quickly became cooked. Its northern border adjoins the Eastern Women's Kingdom and borders Tibet. In recent times, state envoys traveling back and forth have mostly passed through this region. Speaking roughly, the Tang and Indic regions are more than ten thousand li apart; from antiquity, circuitous routes made the journey long and obstructed. Furthermore, crossing the Gaṅgā southward from Vaiśālī, he reached the kingdom of Magadha, which is the proper designation of Mo-jie-ti. Where this kingdom is situated is Central India. The ancestral lineage of the present king succeeds to Aśoka; Aśoka was the great-grandson of Bimbisāra. The present king is the son-in-law of Śīlāditya. The city where he now governs was not built in antiquity. On the south bank of the Gaṅgā is the city of Pāṭaliputra, seventy li in circumference, which is what the sūtras call the City of Flowers. Because the royal palace had many flowers, it was named accordingly. In the past, King Aśoka left Rājagṛha and moved the capital here. The sacred sites beside it are exceedingly numerous. Over four hundred li southwest of the city, crossing the Nairañjanā River, one reaches the city of Gayā. People and things are scarce, with only about a thousand households. Going another six li, there is Mount Gayā, where kings of old performed the feng sacrifice; hence, this mountain has been called a famous site by the world. It was here that the Tathāgata accommodated mundane ways and attained enlightenment. On its summit is a stone stūpa over a hundred feet high, which is the site spoken of in sūtras such as the Precious Cloud Sūtra. Within a circumference of forty li, it is filled with sacred traces. Southwest of the mountain is the site where the Path was achieved; there is the Vajrāsana (diamond seat), over a hundred paces in circumference. That ground is what is now called the Mahābodhi Temple. South of the temple is the Bodhi tree, some fifty feet high. Surrounding the tree is an enclosure built of layered bricks, measuring about five hundred paces in circumference, its eastern gate facing the river. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 4.6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6.2) - [Next: 4.6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6.4) - [Up: 4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.4.6.3) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.4.6.3) · Pramāṇa