釋迦方志 1.44

1.44

The kingdom of Agni (Aqini, which is Yanqi / Wuqi). It is more than six hundred li from east to west and more than four hundred li from north to south. The capital city is six or seven li in circuit. Monasteries number more than ten, with more than two thousand monks, all studying the Hīnayāna Sarvāstivāda school. Their discipline and practice are meticulous and diligent, and they eat the three pure meats. From here through the Black Mountains, the Hu tribes diverge into distinct groups. They value wealth and despise righteousness, lacking propriety and respect; wives are honored while husbands are lowly, and freeborn and base are treated as one rank. White is worn for auspicious occasions and black for mourning. Going southwest for another two hundred li, crossing a small mountain and traversing two great rivers, one travels through a river valley for more than seven hundred li to reach the kingdom of Kucha (Quzhi, read ju-wu, which is Qiuci). It is more than one thousand li from east to west and six hundred li from north to south. The city is seventeen or eighteen li in circuit. Monasteries number more than one hundred, with more than five thousand monks, all studying the Hīnayāna Sarvāstivāda school. Eating the three pure meats as described above, the common people have great faith in the Buddha. Within the royal city and commoners' houses, so many images and stūpas are erected that they cannot be fully recorded. In a large city on the eastern border there is a deva temple. A dragon from its pond often comes forth, mating with mares to give birth to dragon steeds. At birth they are untamed; only their foals can be trained to harness. Therefore the kingdom has many excellent horses. A recent king named Jinhua ('Golden Flower') was moved by a dragon and rode it; when the king was about to die, he struck its ear with a whip, whereupon it vanished. It had illicit intercourse with a human woman and fathered a son who was courageous and fierce. The king conspired with the Turks to slaughter the people of this city, thus leaving it desolate and empty. More than forty li north of the city is the Eastern Zhaohuli Monastery. In its Buddha hall there is a jade stone two feet square, upon which is a footprint of the Buddha, one foot eight inches long and six inches wide. On fasting days it emits light. Outside the west gate of the royal city, on the left and right of the road, are standing Buddhas each over ninety feet tall; here they set up an arena for a quinquennial assembly. To the west is the Āścarya Monastery (Ashelini si), which means 'Wondrous' in the Tang language. In the past, the king went abroad on an excursion to pay homage to sacred traces. His younger maternal brother remained to guard the realm and castrated himself to prevent slanderous intrigues. The king marveled greatly at him. Later, the younger brother encountered a man castrating five hundred oxen and, moved with pity, redeemed them. By the power of this root of compassionate goodness, his male organ suddenly regrew, and so he would not re-enter the palace. The king marveled at this wonder and thus established the monastery. Going west through a small gravel desert for more than six hundred li, one reaches: