續高僧傳 4.6.3

4.6.3

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.