釋迦方志 2.49

2.49

The kingdom of Dhānyakaṭaka (Southern India) is over 6,000 li in circuit. The capital is over 40 li in circuit. Monasteries are mostly ruined, with over twenty remaining and over 1,000 monks, who belong to the Mahāsāṃghika. There are over a hundred deva temples, and tīrthikas are very numerous. East and west of the city, nestled in the mountains, are great monasteries on each side. Formerly, kings built them for the Buddha, cleaving the mountains and excavating the stones; their construction was extremely splendid, a place where sages and worthies roamed and rested. Not long after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, there were a thousand ordinary monks who, on the day the summer retreat ended, all attained the state of non-learning, rose into the void, and flew away; now it is quiet and without people. There was the master of treatises Bhāviveka (translated here as 'Clear Discernment'), the author of the Prajñāpradīpa. Before Avalokiteśvara he fasted, only drinking water for three years, waiting to see Maitreya. Avalokiteśvara then manifested a physical body for him and instructed him to go to the great mountain cliff south of this city, to the Vajrapāṇi deity, and recite the vajra mantra. After three years, the deity instructed him, saying: 'Inside this cliff rock is the palace of the asuras. If you make a formal request according to the Dharma, the stone wall will open and you may enter directly inside; when Maitreya appears, I shall inform you.' After another three years, he empowered mustard seeds with mantras and struck the stone wall; it opened wide at once. At that time, a crowd of hundreds of thousands watched in wonder. The master of treatises stood across the threshold and urged them repeatedly to enter, but only six persons followed him in; the rest thought it was a den of poisonous snakes. Thereupon the stone gate closed again, appearing as a rock wall. Going over 1,000 li southwest from here, one reaches [the following kingdom].