大唐西域記 11.24

11.24

伽藍大精舍高百餘尺，中有石佛像，高七十餘尺。上有石蓋七重，虛懸無綴，蓋間相去各三尺餘。聞諸先志曰：斯乃羅漢願力之所持也；或曰神通之力；或曰藥術之功。考厥實錄，未詳其致。精舍四周彫鏤石壁，作如來在昔修菩薩行諸因地事。證聖果之禎祥，入寂滅之靈應，巨細無遺，備盡鐫鏤。伽藍門外，南、北、左、右各一石象。聞之土俗曰：此象時大聲吼，地為震動。昔陳那菩薩多止此伽藍。自此西行千餘里，渡耐秣陀河，至跋祿羯呫（昌葉反）婆國（南印度境）。

Her friends having seen this considered it an unlucky sign, but the Arhat recounted the history of her birth. The girl thus attained the holy fruit (of Arhatship). The Arhat, moved with gratitude for her who had borne and cherished him, and remembering the end of such (good) works, from a desire to requite her, built this sanghârâma. The great vihâra of the convent is about 100 feet or so in height; in the middle is a stone figure of Buddha about 70 feet or so high. Above it is a stone canopy of seven stages, towering upwards apparently without support. The space between each canopy is about three feet. According to the old report, this is held in its place by the force of the vow of the Arhat. They also say it is by the force of his miraculous powers; others say by the virtue of some magical compound; but no trustworthy account has yet explained the reason of the wonder. On the four sides of the vihâra, on the stone walls, are painted different scenes in the life of Tathâgata's preparatory life as a Bodhisattva: the wondrous signs of good fortune which attended his acquirement of the holy fruit (of a Buddha), and the spiritual manifestations accompanying his Nirvana. These scenes have been cut out with the greatest accuracy and fineness. On the outside of the gate of the sanghdrdma, on the north and south side, at the right hand and the left, there is a stone elephant. The common report says that sometimes these elephants utter a great cry and the earth shakes throughout.