法苑珠林 29.11

29.11

又西南逾大葱嶺。八百餘里至朅盤陀國。其國東南有大石室二口。各一羅漢入滅定。已經七百歲。其鬚髮長年別為𩮜。又越三國。行四千餘里至達摩鐵悉帝國。國都城寺內有石像。上懸金銅圓蓋。眾寶飾之。人有旋繞蓋亦隨轉。人止便止。四周石壁。莫測其然。有說聖力使之然也。自高昌至於鐵門。凡經一十六國。人物優劣奉信淳疏具諸圖傳。其鐵門者。即是漢之西屏鐵門之關。見漢門扉一竪一臥。外鐵裹木加懸諸鈴。必掩此關寔惟天固。南出斯門千餘里。東據葱嶺。西接波斯。南大雪山。北據鐵門。縛芻大河中境西流。即經所謂博叉河。其境自分為二十國。不可具列名字。各有君長信重佛教。僧以十二月十六日安居坐。其春分以其溫熱雨多故也。又順北下從呾蜜國。越十三國至喝縛國。土地華博。時俗號為小王舍城。國近葉護南衙也。王都城外西南寺中有佛澡罐。可容升許。雜色炫曜金石難名又有佛牙。長寸餘廣八九分。色黃白而光淨。兼有佛掃帚。用迦奢草。長二尺餘。圍可七寸。雜寶飾柄。三物齋日法俗所感放大光明。王城西北五十餘里有提謂城。王城正北四十餘里有波利城。各有浮圖。高三丈許。各表靈迹。即釋迦初成道時。元獻蜜[麩-夫+少]長者本邑之髮爪塔也。又有佛僧伽胝欝多羅僧僧脚崎。又覆鉢竪錫杖。次第立塔。

Further traversing the Great Congling southwestward for over eight hundred li, one arrives at the kingdom of Khavandha. To the southeast of this kingdom are two great stone chambers, in each of which an arhat has entered the absorption of cessation, already seven hundred years having passed; their beards and hair grow long, and are shaved year after year. Further crossing three kingdoms and traveling over four thousand li, one arrives at the kingdom of Dharmasthiti. Inside a temple in the capital city of the kingdom is a stone image, above which hangs a round canopy of gilt bronze adorned with manifold gems. When someone circumambulates it, the canopy turns accordingly; when the person stops, it stops. Surrounded on all four sides by stone walls, no one could fathom how this happens; some say the power of the sage causes it to be so. From Gaochang to the Iron Gate, traversing a total of sixteen kingdoms, the superiority and inferiority of the people and the depth or shallowness of their devotion are recorded in detail in the illustrations and accounts. The Iron Gate is precisely the Iron Gate Pass that served as the western bulwark of the Han. One sees that of the Han door leaves, one stands upright and one lies down; wrapped externally with iron over wood, with various bells hung additionally. If this pass were shut, it would truly be as secure as heaven itself. Going south through this pass for over a thousand li, it abuts Congling to the east, borders Persia to the west, faces the Great Snowy Mountains to the south, and relies on the Iron Gate to the north. The great Vakṣu River flows westward through the middle of its territory—this is precisely what the sutras call the Vakṣu River. Its territory naturally divides into twenty kingdoms, whose names cannot be listed in full; each has a sovereign who reveres and honors the Buddha's teachings. The monks begin their rain retreat on the sixteenth day of the twelfth month and end it at the spring equinox, because of the warm heat and abundant rain. Moving further down northwards from the kingdom of Termez, crossing thirteen kingdoms, one arrives at the kingdom of Balkh. The land is flourishing and vast, and the contemporary custom calls it the Little Rājagṛha; the kingdom is near the southern court of the Yabghu. Outside the capital city to the southwest, a temple contains the Buddha's wash basin, which can hold about a sheng, glittering with mixed colors of unnameable gold and stone. There is also a tooth of the Buddha, over an inch long and eight or nine tenths of an inch wide, yellowish-white in color and purely radiant. There is also the Buddha's broom made of kāśa grass, over two feet long and about seven inches in circumference, with its handle decorated with manifold gems. On fast days, moved by the monastics and laity, these three objects emit great bright light. Over fifty li northwest of the capital city is the city of Tiwei (Trapusa), and over forty li directly north of the capital city is the city of Boli (Bhallika), each having a stupa about thirty feet tall, each manifesting divine traces. These are the hair and nail stupas of the original home towns of the elders who first offered honey and parched flour when Śākyamuni first attained enlightenment. There are also stupas erected in succession for the Buddha's saṃghāṭī, uttarāsaṅga, and saṃkakṣikā, as well as where he inverted his almsbowl and planted his monk's staff.