弘贊法華傳 1.7

1.7

茅城東北十四五里。至耆闍崛山。唐言鷲頭。亦云鷲峯。接北之陽。孤標特起。既棲鷲鳥。又類高臺。空翠相映。濃淡分色。如來御世。垂五十年。多居此山。廣說妙法。即說此經之處也。故經云。常在靈鷲山。及餘諸住處。佛在世時。頻婆娑羅王。為聞法故。興發人徒。自山麓至峯岑。跨谷淩巖。編石為階廣十餘步。長五六里。中路有二小塔。一名下乘。即王此徒行以進。一名退凡。即簡凡人。不令同往。其山頂。東西長南北狹。臨崖西垂。現有甎舍。高廣奇製。東闢其戶。如來在昔居中說法。今作說法之像。量等佛身。唐沙門玄奘。俗姓陳。洛陽人也。早歲出家。夙資慧解。遍師名匠。洞曉真詮。以為攀條者見微。挹流者識淺。乃殉軀命於絕域。馳丹素於幽極。以貞觀之初。發迹西邁。周旋往返一十七年。所獲經論。具如別記。於彼中天竺國。請得擬摩揭陀國鷲峯山說法花經金像一軀。通光座高三尺。色相超挺。妙絕人功。頂戴瞻仰。實萬恒倍。至止之後。摸寫無窮矣。

Fourteen or fifteen li northeast of Kuśāgrapura, one arrives at Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain, which in Tang speech means Vulture Head, also called Vulture Peak. Adjoining the southern slope to the north, it rises uniquely and toweringly. Not only do vultures roost there, but it also resembles a high terrace. Azure sky and green hills reflect each other, their deep and faint colors distinctly defined. When the Tathāgata governed the world for nearly fifty years, he mostly resided on this mountain and broadly expounded the wonderful Dharma; this is precisely the place where he preached this sūtra. Hence the sūtra says: 'Always dwelling on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain and in other various abodes.' When the Buddha was in the world, King Bimbisāra, for the sake of hearing the Dharma, mobilized laborers to pave stones into a stairway more than ten paces wide and five or six li long, spanning valleys and surmounting crags, from the foot of the mountain up to its peak. Along the path there were two small stūpas: one was called 'Dismounting,' where the king proceeded on foot; the other was called 'Dismissing Commoners,' where ordinary people were screened out and forbidden from proceeding further together. The summit of the mountain is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. Overlooking the cliff along its western descent, there currently stands a brick chamber, of lofty, spacious, and extraordinary construction, with its door opening to the east. The Tathāgata formerly dwelt within it and preached the Dharma; now an image of him preaching the Dharma has been made there, equal in measure to the Buddha's body. The Tang śramaṇa Xuanzang, whose lay surname was Chen, was a native of Luoyang. He left household life at an early age and was endowed from youth with insightful comprehension. Having studied widely under renowned masters, he thoroughly penetrated the genuine principles. Considering that those who cling to branches see only the minute, while those who draw from downstream understand only the shallow, he risked his life in distant regions, gallantly striving toward the utmost depths. In the early years of the Zhenguan era, he set out and traveled westward, going back and forth for seventeen years. The sūtras and treatises he acquired are fully recorded in a separate account. In that country of Central India, he obtained through request a golden image modeling the preaching of the Lotus Sūtra on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain in Magadha. Its height, including the halo and pedestal, is three feet; its countenance is exceptionally sublime, utterly surpassing human craftsmanship. Looking up to it with reverent hands on the head, one's devotion is indeed multiplied ten-thousandfold. After his return, boundless copies and replicas were made of it.