大唐西域記 8.66

8.66

昔者，南海僧伽羅國，其王淳信佛法，發自天然。有族弟出家，想佛聖迹，遠遊印度，寓諸伽藍，咸輕邊鄙。於是返迹本國，王躬遠迎，沙門悲耿，似若不能言。王曰：「將何所負，若此殷憂？」沙門曰：「憑恃國威，遊方問道，羈旅異域，載罹寒暑，動遭凌辱，語見譏誚。負斯憂恥，詎得歡心？」曰：「若是者何謂也？」曰：「誠願大王福田為意，於諸印度建立伽藍，既旌聖迹，又擅高名，福資先王，恩及後嗣。」曰：「斯事甚美，聞之何晚？」於是以國中寶獻印度王。王既納貢，義存懷遠，謂使臣曰：「我今將何持報來命？」使臣曰：「僧伽羅王稽首印度大吉祥王！威德遠振，惠澤遐被，下土沙門，欽風慕化，敢遊上國，展敬聖迹，寓諸伽藍，莫之見館，艱辛已極，蒙恥而歸。竊圖遠謀，貽範來葉，於諸印度建此伽藍，使客遊乞士，息肩有所，兩國交歡，行人無替。」王曰：「如來潛化，遺風斯在，聖迹之所，任取一焉。」使者奉辭報命，群臣拜賀，遂乃集諸沙門，評議建立。沙門曰：「菩提樹者，去來諸佛咸此證聖，考之異議，無出此謀。」於是捨國珍寶，建此伽藍，以其國僧而修供養，乃刻銅為記曰：「夫周給無私，諸佛至教；慧濟有緣，先聖明訓。今我小子，丕承王業，式建伽藍，用旌聖迹，福資祖考，惠被黎元。唯我國僧而得自在，及有國人亦同僧例。傳之後嗣，永永無窮。」故此伽藍多執師子國僧也。

In old days there was a king of Ceylon, which is a country of the southern sea, who was truthful and a believer in the law of Buddha. It happened that his brother, who had become a disciple of Buddha (a houseless one), thinking on the holy traces of Buddha, went forth to wander through India. At all the convents he visited, he was treated with disdain as a foreigner (a frontier countryman). On this he returned to his own country. The king in person went out to a distance to meet him, but the Sramana was so affected that he could not speak. The king said, "What has so afflicted you as to cause this excessive grief?" The Sramana replied, "I, relying on the dignity of your Majesty's kingdom, went forth to visit the world, and to find my way through distant regions and strange cities. For many years all my travels, during heat and cold, have been attended with outrage, and my words have been met with insults and sarcasm. Having endured these afflictions, how can I be light-hearted?" The king said, "If these things are so, what is to be done?" He replied, "In truth, I wish your Majesty in the field of merit would undertake to build convents throughout all India. You would thus signalise the holy traces, and gain for yourself a great name; you would show your gratitude for the advantage derived from your predecessors, and hand down the merit thereof to your successors." He replied, "This is an excellent plan; how have I but just heard of it?"

Then he gave in tribute to the king of India all the jewels of his country. The king having received them as tribute, from a principle of duty and affection to his distant ally, he sent messengers to say, "What can I now do in return for the decree?" The minister said, "The king of Simhala salutes the king of India (Maha Sri raja). The reputation of the Maharaja has spread far and wide, and your benefits have reached to distant regions. The Sramanas of this inferior country desire to obey your instructions and to accept your transforming influences. Having wandered through your superior country in visiting the sacred traces, I called at various convents and found great difficulty in getting entertainment, and so, fatigued and very much worn by affronts, I returned home. I have therefore formed a plan for the benefit of future travellers; I desire to build in all the Indies a convent for the entertainment of such strangers, who may have a place of rest between their journey there and back. Thus the two countries will be bound together and travellers be refreshed." The king said, "I permit your royal master to take (for this purpose) one of the places in which Tathagata has left the traces of his holy teaching."

On this the messenger returned home, having taken leave of the king, and gave an account of his interview. The ministers received him with distinction and assembled the Sramanas and deliberated as to the foundation of a convent. The Sramanas said, "The (Bôdhi) tree is the place where all the past Buddhas have obtained the holy fruit and where the future ones will obtain it. There is no better place than this for carrying out the project." Then, sending all the jewels of the country, they built this convent to entertain priests of this country (Ceylon), and he caused to be engraved this proclamation on copper, "To help all without distinction is the highest teaching of all the Buddhas; to exercise mercy as occasion offers is the illustrious doctrine of former saints. And now I, unworthy descendant in the royal line, have undertaken to found this sanghârâma, to enclose the sacred traces, and to hand down their renown to future ages, and to spread their benefits among the people. The priests of my country will thus obtain independence, and be treated as members of the fraternity of this country. Let this privilege be handed down from generation to generation without interruption."

For this cause this convent entertains many priests of Ceylon. To the south of the Bôdhi tree 10 li or so, the sacred traces are so numerous that they cannot be each named. Every year when the Bhikshus break up their yearly rest of the rains, religious persons come here from every quarter in thousands and myriads, and during seven days and nights they scatter flowers, burn incense, and sound music as they wander through the district and pay their worship and present their offerings. The priests of India, according to the holy instruction of Buddha, on the first day of the first half of the month Sravana enters on Wass. With us this is the sixteenth day of the fifth month; they give up their retreat on the fifteenth day of the second half of the month Asvayuja, which is with us the fifteenth day of the eighth month. In India the names of the months depend on the stars, and from ancient days till now there has been no change in this. But as the different schools have translated the accounts according to the dialects of the countries without distinguishing one from the other, mistakes have arisen, and as a consequence contradictions are apparent in the division of the seasons. Hence it is in some places they enter on Wass on the sixteenth day of the fourth month, and break up on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.