續高僧傳 4.6.4

4.6.4

The north gate opens into the monastery. Within the courtyard the holy stūpas and sacred signs are numerous. Accounts differ as to the day on which the Tathāgata attained the Way: some say the eighth day of the third month, others say the fifteenth. Outside the northern gate of the enclosure stands the Mahābodhi Monastery. It has six courts and three stories, with brick walls forty feet high. The king of Siṃhala purchased this ground and erected this monastery. Its monks number nearly a thousand, abiding as adherents of the Mahāyāna Sthaviranikāya. There are bone relics shaped like a man's finger-joints, and flesh relics as large as genuine pearls. The thirtieth day of the twelfth month in that land corresponds to the fifteenth day of the first month here, which the world calls the Month of Great Miracles. When that evening arrives, miraculous lights are unfailingly emitted, and heavenly flowers and perfumes rain down, filling the courtyard around the tree. When Xuanzang first arrived here, he unwittingly swooned with grief. Only after a long while did he revive. As he gazed in succession upon these holy signs, what he had once heard expounded in the scriptures was now vividly before his eyes. Grieving that he lived in a marginal borderland and was born in the final age, never to behold the true countenance [of the Buddha], he swooned yet again. An Indian monk beside him went to his side on the ground, comforted him, and shared his sorrow. Although he performed the full round of worship and homage, he was disheartened that no miraculous light appeared. He stayed for the summer retreat until the dispersal of the session. According to the customary rule of that land, at this time monastics and laypeople in their tens of thousands vie to offer worship day and night for seven days. Their hopes are broadly twofold: to behold the luminous signs and to obtain the leaves of the tree. Every year, precisely at the end of summer, the tree’s leaves flutter down all at once, and through the night new shoots spring forth to equal the old. At that time there was a Mahāyāna upāsaka who was expounding the Yogācārabhūmi for Xuanzang. That night, as they faced each other in lecture, the lamp suddenly went out. Looking at the pearls, earrings, and necklaces they wore, no glint of color could be seen; there was only a pervading, brilliant luminescence, illuminating everything within and without, though no one could fathom its source. Wondering at the cause of this, they went out together from the thatched cottage and looked toward the Bodhi tree. There they saw a monk holding up a relic in his hand as large as a human finger, displaying it widely to the assembly above the terrace of the tree. The light it emitted illuminated heaven and earth. At that time, amid the commotion of the crowd, they could only pay homage from afar. Although his eyes witnessed the auspicious sign, his heart suspected it might be ordinary fire. With palms pressed together he knelt devoutly until dawn. As his mind grew weary, the light also faded away. The upāsaka asked, 'Now that you have seen the holy marvel, does your mind have no doubt?' Xuanzang explained his thoughts in full. The upāsaka said, 'My former doubt was also like this. Once the marvel manifests, doubt naturally resolves itself.' Seeing the Bodhi tree, whose leaves resembled the white poplar here, [Daoxuan] questioned him thoroughly about it. Xuanzang said, 'Their appearance is roughly similar, but its spreading luxuriance differs slightly.' Looking east from this monastery, one sees Mount Kukkuṭapāda, which is the Mount Cock’s Foot of the scriptures. Its three peaks rising straight up resemble the foot of a cock, hence its name. It is over one hundred li from the Bodhi Monastery. At its summit stands a great stūpa, which at night emits a divine torch whose radiance illuminates all around; it is the place where Mahākāśyapa entered serene extinction. The path is exceedingly rugged and choked with bamboo groves, where lions, tigers, and elephants roam freely; whenever one thought of ascending it, there was no way to advance. Xuanzang thereupon informed the king and requested guards for protection. He was provided with more than three hundred soldiers, each armed with sharp blades to cut through the bamboo and open a path, advancing ten li a day. At that time, when that kingdom heard that Xuanzang was going to the mountain, men and women of all ages numbering over a hundred thousand rushed in succession to follow him to Cock’s Foot. Upon reaching the mountain slope, the cliffs rose sheer with no path, so they tied bamboos into ladders, linking them together as they climbed. More than three thousand people reached the mountaintop. Looking in all directions with delight, their joy grew even more unbounded, and seeing the cleft in the rock, they scattered flowers in worship. Going northeast from the mountain for more than one hundred li, one reaches Mount Buddhavana. There is a great stone chamber where the Buddha once wandered. The Lord of Heaven went to the rock and anointed it with incense as an offering; reaching that spot today, the fragrance is still pervasive and strong. Not far off is a mountain cavern capable of holding a thousand people, in which the Tathāgata spent three months of the summer retreat. Stone was piled to make a road twenty paces wide and some five li long, which was the pathway by which Bimbisāra ascended the mountain to pay homage. Going east another sixty [li], one arrives at the ancient city of Kuśāgrapura, which in the language of the Tang means 'City of Fragrant Grass'; it is so named because it produces much kusa grass. This city is situated right in the center of Magadha; it is precisely what the scriptural texts call Rājagṛha. Lofty mountains surround it on all sides as its outer ramparts, crowned like parapets, all constructed of brick. A small pathway opens to the west, and a mountain gate is pierced to the north; its breadth and length conform to the narrows, with a circumference of one hundred and fifty li. The palace city within it has a circumference of more than thirty li; inside, the ancient sites are also numerous. About fifteen li northeast of the palace stands Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, which is the Vulture Peak of the scriptures, in the language of the Tang meaning 'Platform of the Vulture Peak'. Among all the mountains it is the highest, most prominent, and dazzling. On the sunny southern slope of the mountain the Buddha often dwelt. From the base to the summit, stones were arranged into steps more than ten paces wide and some six li long; it was along this road that the Buddha frequently came and went. Viewing the crags and caves, the ancient sites are so complete as to defy description, as detailed in the maps and accounts. A little over one li north of the mountain city’s gate lie the stone foundations of the Kalandaka Veṇuvana Monastery; a brick chamber with an eastern door still exists today. Going southwest from the park for some six li, in the shade of the southern mountain within a great bamboo grove, there is a stone cavern. This is the place where Mahākāśyapa and a thousand non-learners took shelter to compile the scriptural teachings. Another twenty-odd li to the west is the site of the council of the Mahāsāṃghika. About five li north of the mountain city, one reaches the city of Rājagṛha, which in the language of the Tang means 'New Rājagṛha'; it is what other accounts refer to. Going north another thirty-odd li, one reaches Nālandā Monastery, which in the language of the Tang means 'Giving Without Satiety'. Among all the monasteries in Jambudvīpa, none is higher or grander than this. Five kings jointly built it, each making offerings with redoubled magnificence; hence it was named accordingly. The monastery has five courts in total, sharing a single main gate, surrounded by four concentric enclosures some eighty feet high, all built of piled bricks. Even the uppermost walls are still six feet thick. The outer enclosure has three tiers, its walls also built of piled brick, some fifty feet high. In between, water encircles deep moats and pools, fully adorned with flowers and domestic animals, splendid to behold. From its founding down to the present, its defenses have been strictly maintained; women and disorderly misconduct have never been harbored or concealed. Over four thousand monks permanently reside there. Accommodating in addition over ten thousand monastics and laypeople, both orthodox and heterodox from outside, it provides them all with clothing and food without ever being exhausted. For this reason, too, the monastery is called 'Giving Without Satiety'. In its center is the Buddha Court, complete with all holy sites; its loftiest vihāra is over two hundred feet high, wherein the Buddha formerly expounded the Dharma for four months.