經律異相 46.17

46.17

The kinnaras (also called zhennaluo) reside to the north of Mount Sumeru. Beyond the Small Iron Enclosure is a Great Black Mountain, also situated among ten jewelled mountains. There is no Buddhadharma, nor sun, moon, or stars. By the power of past generosity, they now dwell in palaces of the seven jewels and enjoy exceedingly long lifespans. This king was originally among humans. When a great elder was erecting a Buddha stupa, this kinnara donated a spire pole to complete the monastery and also provided pure food to the artisans. When his life ended, he became a chest-creature spirit between two mountains. Earlier, when he was a human, he was a great elder possessing boundless wealth. A śramaṇa came begging for food, and his wife carried the rice to offer it to him. He became furious and said, "What beggar is this, ogling my wife? I shall cause this person's hands and feet to be broken!" After his life ended, he received this ugly form, being constantly without hands or feet for eighty-four kalpas. When the devas hold banquets, they take turns going up and down with the gandharvas. When the devas wish to play music, sweat and filth flow from beneath his armpits, and he then ascends to heaven on his own. There was a kinnara named Druma who played the lute and sang of the true reality of all dharmas to praise the Bhagavat. At that time, Mount Sumeru and the forests and trees all trembled, Kāśyapa could not sit still upon his seat, and five hundred sages became wildly intoxicated in mind, lost their spiritual penetrations, and fell to the ground all at once (from the Bodhisattva-garbhāvakrānti Sūtra and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra).