釋迦方志 1.77

1.77

The kingdom of Prayāga (Central India) is more than five thousand li in circuit. Its capital is situated at the confluence of two rivers and is more than twenty li in circuit. There are two monasteries with few monks. There are several hundred deva temples, and tīrthikas are particularly numerous. To the southwest of the city, bordering the bend of the Yamunā River, it flows northeastward for two or three thousand li to meet [the Gaṅgā], in between which are campaka flowers. In a grove stands a stūpa more than a hundred feet high, where the Buddha formerly subdued the non-Buddhists. There are stūpas for his hair and nail relics, and the traces of his walking. There is also the place where Bodhisattva Deva composed the Guang bai lun (Śataśāstra-vaipulya).
In the deva temple within the city, the large tree in front of the hall has dense branches and leaves, upon which a man-eating spirit dwells. To its left and right, abandoned skeletons form a mound. When people arrive at the temple, none do not hold life lightly; they climb the tree and cast themselves down, lured by the spirit.
To the east of the city, between the two rivers, the confluence is more than ten li wide. The ground is level and high, blanketed with fine sand. Kings and notables of past and present who have made gifts and donations have all invariably done so here; it is called the Great Arena of Giving. King Śīlāditya also pursued this undertaking. At the eastern mouth of the confluence, hundreds of people drown themselves to death every day, which the local custom calls the place for rebirth in heaven. Some who wish to perform the practice fast here for seven days, and then submerge themselves in the midst of the current, flocking here from near and far. Even mountain apes and wild deer roam in groups along the water’s edge, fast, and submerge themselves in the water. At the time when King Śīlāditya was distributing gifts, there were two macaques; the female was killed by a dog, and the male carried her corpse and threw it into this river, whereupon he also starved himself for successive days and died.
Traveling southwest from here through a great wild forest for more than five hundred li, one reaches the kingdom of Kauśāmbī (Central India). It is six thousand li in circuit, and its capital is more than thirty li in circuit. There are more than ten monasteries with more than three hundred monks. There are fifty deva temples, and non-Buddhists are numerous. Within the city, in the former palace, is a great vihāra more than sixty feet high, containing a carved sandalwood statue of the Buddha with a stone canopy suspended above it; it was made by King Udayana (formerly called Youdayan; in the Tang language rendered ‘Chu’ai’ [Outpouring Love]). A miraculous light arises intermittently. When kings attempted to lift it by force, in the end none could move it. Formerly, when the Buddha ascended to heaven to preach the Dharma for his mother, the king requested Maudgalyāyana’s supernatural power to convey a craftsman up to heaven to model the likeness; and when the Buddha descended from heaven, the statue rose to welcome him. The Buddha consoled it, saying, ‘It will perform the work of the Buddha in the future.’ More than a hundred paces east of the vihāra are the traces where the four buddhas walked and sat. The well of the Buddha’s bathhouse is still drawn from today. In the southeast corner within the city is the residence of the elder Ghoṣila, where there is a Buddha vihāra and stūpas for hair and nail relics. Beside its great stūpa there are also the traces where the four buddhas walked and sat.
Nine li west of the city is a stone cave, where the Buddha once traveled to subdue a venomous dragon. Beside it is a great stūpa more than two hundred feet high, adjacent to which are traces of the Buddha’s walking and stūpas for his hair and nail relics; those who seek healing for illnesses are mostly cured. The bequeathed Dharma of the Śākya will come to extinction in this kingdom; when noble and base enter its borders, they naturally feel sorrowful and moved. Traveling northeast from the cave through a great forest for more than seven hundred li, crossing to the north bank of the Gaṅgā, one reaches the city of Kaśapura. It is around ten li in circuit. It is the place where Bodhisattva Dharmapāla subdued the non-Buddhists. There is a stūpa more than two hundred feet high; the Buddha formerly preached the Dharma here for six months. There are traces of his walking, as well as stūpas for his hair and nail relics. Traveling north from here for one hundred and eighty li, one reaches the kingdom of Viśākhā (Central India). It is more than four thousand li in circuit, and its capital is seventeen li in circuit. There are twenty monasteries with three thousand monks. There are fifty deva temples, and non-Buddhists are exceedingly numerous. To the left and right of the road south of the city, the monastery stūpa is more than two hundred feet high; the Buddha formerly preached the Dharma here for six years. Beside it is a marvelous tree seventy feet high that does not change through spring or winter; it vigorously sprouted from a tooth-wood twig cast away by the Buddha. People of wrong views repeatedly came and cut it down, but it immediately grew back as before. Beside it are the traces where the four buddhas walked and sat, along with stūpas for hair and nail relics. Their bases and corners join one another, and groves and ponds cast intermingling shadows. Traveling northeast from here for more than five hundred li, one reaches
the kingdom of Śrāvastī (Central India, namely Shewei). It is more than six thousand li in circuit. The capital is ruined and desolate, its old foundations being more than twenty li in circuit. There are several hundred monasteries with few monks. There are more than a hundred deva temples, and non-Buddhists are very numerous.
On the eastern foundations of the former palace in the ruined city is a small stūpa, which is where King Prasenajit (formerly called Bosini; in the Tang language rendered ‘Shengjun’ [Victorious Army]) built a hall for the Buddha. Next to it, the stūpa on the old foundations is where the king built a vihāra for the Buddha’s maternal aunt, the bhikṣuṇī Prajāpatī (formerly called Bojiuoboti; here rendered ‘Shengzhu’ [Lord of Beings]). The next stūpa to the east is the former residence of Sudatta (rendered ‘Shanshi’ [Good Giver]). Beside it is a great stūpa, which is where Aṅgulimāla (rendered ‘Zhiman’ [Finger Garland]) abandoned his false ways. About six li south of the city is the Jetavana; it is the monastery built by the Prince and Anāthapiṇḍada. Now ruined and desolate, there still remains a stone pillar more than seventy feet high erected by King Aśoka. A single brick chamber survives, while the rest are all buried and obliterated. Inside the chamber is a golden statue [depicting the Buddha] preaching the Dharma for his mother. To the northeast is a stūpa where the Buddha washed a sick monk. To the northwest is a stūpa where Maudgalyāyana lifted Śāriputra’s robe. Not far away are a well and a stūpa, used by the Buddha for drawing water. Furthermore, where Śāriputra and the Buddha paced the walkway and preached the Dharma, there are marking stūpas throughout. Miraculous medicines and wondrous incenses constantly descend upon those places. Furthermore, where non-Buddhists murdered a girl in order to slander the Buddha, a stūpa was erected to mark it. A hundred paces east of the monastery is a great deep pit, which is where Devadatta fell alive into hell when he sought to poison and harm the Buddha. To the south is a great pit, which is where the bhikṣu Kokālika fell alive into hell when he slandered the Buddha. Another eight hundred paces to the south is a great deep pit, which is where the Brahmin girl Ciñcā fell alive into hell when she slandered the Buddha. These three pits are all fathomless chasms without a bottom; even when torrential rains pour down heavily, they never fill up or halt.
Seventy paces east of the monastery is a vihāra named ‘Shadow-Covered,’ sixty feet high, within which is an eastward-facing seated statue, being the place of debate with non-Buddhists. Next to the east is a deva temple of equal size to the vihāra. In the early morning, its shadow falls to the west without shading the Buddha’s shrine; in the evening, the shade falls to the east and immediately blankets the deva temple.