大唐西域記 2.44

2.44

卑鉢羅樹南有窣堵波，迦膩色迦王之所建也。迦膩色迦王以如來涅槃之後第四百年，君臨膺運，統贍部洲，不信罪福，輕毀佛法。畋遊草澤，遇見白兔，王親奔逐，至此忽滅。見有牧牛小豎，於林樹間作小窣堵波，其高三尺。王曰：「汝何所為？」牧豎對曰：「昔釋迦佛聖智懸記：『當有國王於此勝地建窣堵波，吾身舍利多聚其內。』大王聖德宿殖，名符昔記，神功勝福，允屬斯辰，故我今者先相警發。」說此語已，忽然不現。王聞是說，嘉慶增懷，自負其名，大聖先記，因發正信，深敬佛法。周小窣堵波，更建石窣堵波，欲以功力彌覆其上。隨其數量，恒出三尺，若是增高，踰四百尺，基趾所峙，周一里半，層基五級，高一百五十尺，方乃得覆小窣堵波。王因嘉慶，復於其上更起二十五層金銅相輪，即以如來舍利一斛而置其中，式修供養。營建纔訖，見小窣堵波在大基東南隅下傍出其半。王心不平，便即擲棄，遂住窣堵波第二級下石基中半現，復於本處更出小窣堵波。王乃退而歎曰：「嗟夫，人事易迷，神功難掩，靈聖所扶，憤怒何及！」慚懼既已，謝咎而歸。其二窣堵波今猶現在，有嬰疾病欲祈康愈者，塗香散華，至誠歸命，多蒙瘳差。

To the south of the Pippala tree is a stupa built by King Kanishka; this king ascended the throne four hundred years after the Nirvana and governed the whole of Jambudvipa. He had no faith either in wrong or right (crime or religious merit), and he lightly esteemed the law of Buddha. One day when traversing a swampy grove (bushy swamp) he saw a white hare, which he followed as far as this spot, when suddenly it disappeared. He then saw a young shepherd-boy, who was building in the wood hard by a little stupa about three feet high. The king said, "What are you doing?" The shepherd-boy answered and said, "Formerly Sakya Buddha, by his divine wisdom, delivered this prophecy: 'There shall be a king in this victorious (superior) land who shall erect a stupa, which shall contain a great portion of my bodily relics.' The sacred merits of the great king (Kanishka) in former births (suit), with his increasing fame, have made the present occasion a proper one for the fulfilment of the old prophecy relating to the divine merit and the religious superiority of the person concerned. And now I am engaged for the purpose of directing you to these former predictions." Having said these words he disappeared. The king hearing this explanation, was overjoyed. Flattering himself that he was referred to in the prophecy of the great saint, he believed with all his heart and paid reverence to the law of Buddha.

Surrounding the site of the little stūpa he built a stone stūpa, wishing to surpass it in height, to prove the power of his religious merit But in proportion as his stūpa increased the other always exceeded it by three feet, and so he went on till his reached 400 feet, and the circumference of the base was a li and a half. The storeys having reached to five, each 150 feet in height, then he succeeded in covering the other. The king, overjoyed, raised on the top of this stūpa twenty-five circlets of gilded copper on a staff, and he placed in the middle of the stūpa a peck of the śarīras of Tathāgata, and offered to them religious offerings. Scarcely had he finished his work when he saw the little stūpa take its place at the south-east of the great foundation, and project from its side about half-way up. The king was disturbed at this, and ordered the stûpa to be destroyed. When they had got down to the bottom of the second storey, through which the other projected, immediately that one removed to its former place, and once more it surpassed in height the other. The king retiring said, "It is easy to commit errors in human affairs, but when there is divine influence at work it is difficult to counteract it. When a matter is directed by spiritual power, what can human resentment effect?" Having confessed his fault, therefore, he retired.

These two stûpas are still visible. In aggravated sickness, if a cure is sought, people burn incense and offer flowers, and with a sincere faith pay their devotions. In many cases a remedy is found. On the southern side of the steps, on the eastern face of the great stûpa, there are engraved (or carved) two stûpas, one three feet high, the other five feet. They are the same shape and proportion as the great stûpa. Again, there are two full-sized figures of Buddha, one four feet, the other six feet in height. They resemble him as he sat cross-legged beneath the Bôdhi tree. When the full rays of the sun shine on them they appear of a brilliant gold colour, and as the light decreases the hues of the stone seem to assume a reddish-blue colour. The old people say, "Several centuries ago, in a fissure of the stone foundation, there were some gold-coloured ants, the greatest about the size of the finger, the longest about a barleycorn in size. Those of the same species consorted together; by gnawing the stone steps they have left lines and marks as if engraved on the surface, and by the gold sand which they left (as deposits) they have caused the figures of Buddha to assume their appearance."