[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › 12.90 # 法苑珠林 12.90 法苑珠林 12.90 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [12.90](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12.90) 前漢成帝時。都水使者光祿大夫劉向傳云。向博觀史籍。往往見有佛經。及著列仙傳云。吾搜撿藏書。太史創撰列仙圖。黃帝以下迄至于今。定搜實錄一百四十六人。其七十四人已見佛經矣。據此而明。秦周已前早有佛法流行震旦。何以明知。今案所列也。故佛傳云。佛滅度後一百一十六年。東天竺國有鐵輪王。統閻浮提。收佛靈骨。役使鬼神起八萬四千塔。具如下述。此九州之地並有遺塔云。是育王所造。此塔即當此。周敬王二十六年丁未之歲。故塔興焉。世經十二王。至秦始皇二十四年焚燒典籍。育王諸塔由此見隱。 > In the time of Emperor Cheng of the Former Han, the biography of Liu Xiang, Commissioner of Waterways and Grand Master of the Palace, states: Liu Xiang widely perused the historical records and often saw Buddhist scriptures. When composing the \*Biographies of Immortals\* (Liexian zhuan), he said: "I searched through the collected books; the Grand Astrologer had initially compiled the \*Illustrated Immortals\* (Liexian tu) from the Yellow Emperor down to the present day, determining a search of authentic records of one hundred and forty-six persons. Seventy-four of them had already appeared in Buddhist scriptures." Based on this, it is clear that before the Qin and Zhou, the Buddha's Dharma was already circulating in Cīnasthāna. How do we clearly know this? It is now examined through what has been listed. Thus the \*Buddha's Biography\* says: One hundred and sixteen years after the Buddha's demise, there was an Iron-Wheel King in Eastern India who ruled over Jambudvīpa. He collected the Buddha's wondrous relics and employed ghosts and spirits to erect eighty-four thousand stūpas, as detailed below. In the lands of the Nine Provinces there are also surviving stūpas said to have been built by King Aśoka. These stūpas correspond to the twenty-sixth year of King Jing of Zhou, the year \*dingwei\*, when the stūpas were established. The world passed through twelve kings down to the twenty-fourth year of the First Emperor of Qin, when the scriptures and classics were burned; the stūpas of King Aśoka thereby became hidden from view. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 12.89](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12.89) - [Next: 12.91](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12.91) - [Up: 12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.12.90) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [折疑論](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2118.4.142) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12.90](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.12.90) · Pramāṇa