釋迦方志 2.26

2.26

那爛陀寺（言施無厭）本南菴沒羅園也。昔有五百商人買以施佛。於中三月說法。前後五王之所合造。一鑠迦羅阿迭多王。此言帝日。創造此寺。二佛陀毱多王。此云覺護。次南造寺。三咀陀揭多王。此言如來。次東造寺。四婆羅阿迭多王。此言幻日。次東造寺。五伐闍羅王。此言金剛。次北造寺。周垣峻峙高五丈許。總有七院。院別三層同為一門。歷代興建窮壯極麗。寺立嚴制。立寺已來女人不至。知事十人每夕巡檢。未具受者齒敘為次。僧徒數千。遊學名僧通數將萬。多是俊才通學。聲馳異域者。其人數百。故印度諸僧皆仰則焉。其有不談藏旨者。形骸自愧。故殊方來議守門者詰問多屈而返。或客遊後進詳論藝能。其退飛者固十有七八矣。所以高才博達強識多能。明德引人聯暉接物。至如護法護月振績芳塵。德惠德堅流譽物表。光友清論勝友高談。智月風鑒戒賢志業。皆純粹於當時。並昭彰於遂古。既學冠舊儀述作論釋。各數十部盛世流布。故寺聖跡略而可敘。寺西精舍佛曾三月說法。次南百步小塔。遠方僧見佛處。又南有觀自在菩薩立像。或見執香爐繞精舍右旋者　次南一塔。佛曾三月住剃剪處。疾繞多愈。

Nālandā Monastery (meaning 'Giving Without Satiety'). It was originally the southern Āmra Grove. In the past, five hundred merchants purchased it to offer to the Buddha, who preached the Dharma there for three months. It was jointly built by five successive kings: the first was King Śakrāditya (meaning 'Sun of Indra'), who initially founded this monastery; the second was King Buddhagupta (meaning 'Protected by the Awakened One'), who built a monastery next to the south; the third was King Tathāgatagupta (meaning 'Tathāgata'), who built a monastery next to the east; the fourth was King Bālāditya (meaning 'Morning Sun'), who built a monastery next to the east; and the fifth was King Vajra (meaning 'Diamond'), who built a monastery next to the north. Its surrounding walls rise steeply, about fifty feet high; there are seven courtyards in all, each three stories high, all sharing a single gate. Constructed across successive generations, it is magnificent and extremely ornate to the utmost degree. The monastery enforces strict regulations: since its founding, women have never entered. Ten overseers patrol and inspect every evening. Those who have not yet received full ordination are ranked according to age. The community of monks numbers several thousand; including visiting scholar-monks of renown, the total approaches ten thousand. Most of them are men of exceptional talent and extensive learning; several hundred of them have reputations renowned in foreign lands, so all the monks of India look up to them as models. Those who do not discourse upon the tenets of the Piṭakas feel ashamed of their very bodies. Therefore, when people from distant lands come to debate, the gatekeeper questions them and most are refuted and turn back. Even if visiting junior scholars come to discourse extensively on their arts and capabilities, seven or eight out of ten certainly retreat like flying birds. For this reason, those of lofty talent, broad erudition, strong memory, and manifold abilities guide others with their illustrious virtue and connect with the world through their brilliant splendor. Figures such as Dharmapāla and Candrapāla stirred up noble legacies in their fragrant dust; Guṇamati and Sthiramati spread their renown beyond the world of phenomena; the clear discourses of Prabhamitra and the elevated discussions of Jayasena; the insightful discernment of Jñānacandra and the resolute practice of Śīlabhadra—all were consummate in their own time and celebrated down through antiquity. Their learning surpassed old traditions, and their treatises and commentaries, each numbering several tens of fascicles, circulated widely in an illustrious age. Thus the sacred traces of this monastery may be briefly described: In the vihāra west of the monastery, the Buddha once preached the Dharma for three months. A hundred paces south of it is a small stupa, where monks from distant lands saw the Buddha. Farther south is a standing image of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, whom some have seen holding an incense burner and circumambulating the vihāra to the right. Next to the south is a stupa where the Buddha once stayed for three months shaving his hair and paring his nails; those who are ill and circumambulate it are mostly healed.