弘贊法華傳 1.7

1.7

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.