法苑珠林 18.4

18.4

漢法本內傳稱。漢明帝遣蔡愔秦景王遵等一十八人。至天竺國得摩騰法蘭等及佛經像還。帝問。法王出世何以化不及此。騰曰。天竺迦毘羅衛國者。三千大千世界百億日月中心也。三世諸佛皆於彼出。乃至天龍人鬼有願行力。皆生於彼受佛正化。咸得悟道。餘處群生無緣感之。佛故不往也佛雖不往光相及處。或五百年。或一千年。或千年外。皆有聖人傳佛聲教而往化也。時帝大悅。

The Han Inner Account of the Dharma's Origin states: Emperor Ming of the Han dispatched eighteen men, including Cai Yin, Qin Jing, and Wang Zun, to the country of India. They obtained [the monks Kāśyapa] Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna, as well as Buddhist scriptures and images, and returned. The emperor asked, "When the Dharma King appeared in the world, why did his transformation not reach here?" Mātaṅga said, "The country of Kapilavastu in India is the center of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world with its ten billion suns and moons. All Buddhas of the three periods of time appear there. Down to devas, dragons, humans, and ghosts who possess the power of vows and practice, all are born there to receive the Buddha's true transformation and all attain awakening to the Way. Living beings in other places lack the conditions to sense him; thus the Buddha did not go there. Although the Buddha did not go, wherever the light of his bodily marks reaches—whether after five hundred years, or after one thousand years, or beyond a thousand years—there are always holy ones who transmit the Buddha's vocal teachings and go to transform [them]." At that time, the emperor was greatly delighted.