釋迦方志 1.72

1.72

The kingdom of Kapitha (Central India; anciently Sāṅkāśya) is more than two thousand li in circuit. The capital is more than twenty li in circuit. Monasteries are four, with more than a thousand monks. There are ten deva temples, which together serve Maheśvara; they all make images of the deva, whose shape has a human genital organ that is exceedingly long and grand. The common people do not consider this bad, saying that all sentient beings are born from the deva's organ. In a great monastery more than twenty li east of the city, there are several hundred monks; several tens of thousands of pure individuals all reside beside the monastery. Within the great wall are the three jeweled stairs built by the king of devas: the middle stairs of yellow gold, on the left of crystal, and on the right of white silver. Arranged from north to south, they descend to the ground facing east. This is the place where the Buddha, having ascended to the Hall of Good Dharma in the heavens from the Jeta grove (that is, the Jetavana) and preached the Dharma for three months for his mother, descended. A hundred years ago the stairs were still present, but now they have completely submerged. Later kings imitated them, still more than seventy feet high, and erected a vihāra on top. Beside them is a stone pillar, lustrous and reflective; according to one's transgressions or blessings, shadows appear within the pillar. The stūpa built by King Aśoka beside the stairs marks the walking- and sitting-traces of the four buddhas. A stūpa was erected where the Buddha bathed. Where he resided, there is a vihāra where the Buddha entered his chamber. Beside it is also a stone terrace where the Buddha walked in meditation, fifty paces long and seven feet high; wherever his feet stepped, there are lotus patterns. The small stūpas to the left and right of the terrace were built by King Brahmā.