法苑珠林 29.43

29.43

又奘師傳云。佛以唐國三月八日成道。上座部云。當此三月十五日。成道時年三十者。或云三十五者。斯之差互彼自不同。由用曆前後故有此異。由神州曆算元各不同。三代定正延縮何足怪乎。且據一相取悟便止。樹西大精舍內有鍮石像。東面立。飾以奇珍。前有青石奇文異采。初成道日梵王起七寶堂。帝釋起七寶座。佛據上七日思惟。放光照樹令寶為石。樹南浮圖。高百餘尺。初佛於河沐已將坐念草。帝釋化人以始尸草（此云吉祥草）以奉佛坐。育王造塔表之。次東北有塔。是佛證果時有群青雀來繞世尊。亦有群鹿繞之處。樹東大路左右各有一塔。是魔王嬈佛衰退處。樹西北有精舍。中迦葉波佛。時放光明。俗云。至誠七繞生得宿命智。又垣西北有欝金香泥。高一丈四尺。樹垣東南隅有尼拘律樹。樹側有塔精舍中有坐像。初證果時大梵王請轉法輪處。垣內四隅皆有塔。初佛受草趣樹先至西南地動。又向西北。又東北又東南。並為地動。即西北至樹下。東面坐金剛座上。地方安靜。故立塔記。垣外西南有二牧牛女宅處。其側有煮乳糜處。又側有佛受糜處。皆立表塔。樹南門外大池。周七百餘步。清澄魚龍所宅。次南有池。是帝釋所造為佛濯衣。池西大石。是帝釋雪山持來為佛曬衣。次側有塔。是佛納故衣處。次南林中一塔。是佛受貧母施故衣處。化池東林龍池清潔其水甘美。岸西有小精舍中像。佛初成道此坐七日入定。龍王繞佛七匝化多頭蓋佛處。龍池東林精舍作佛羸瘦形像。其側有經行迹。七十餘步南北各有卑鉢羅樹。往來攀而後起。即是苦行六年日食一麻麥處。今有疾者。以香油塗像多愈。又有五比丘住處。又東南有塔。是佛入尼連河浴處。次近河有佛食乳糜處。其側有二塔。是長者獻蜜[麩-夫+少]處。樹東南塔。是四天王奉佛石鉢處。其側有塔。是佛成道後為母說法處。又有度迦葉兄弟千人處。樹垣北門外即是摩訶菩提寺。庭宇六院觀閣三重。周垣高五丈。有佛舍利。大如指節。光潤鮮白通徹內外。肉舍利者。大如青珠形帶紅色。每年至佛大神變月出以示人。即印度十二月三十日。於唐國當正月十五日。於此之時。放光雨華大起深信。其寺常有千僧習大乘上座部。法儀清肅。是南海僧伽羅國王請立。經今四百年。寺多有師子國人。每年比丘解安居訖。四方道俗百千萬眾。七日七夜香華伎樂遍林供養。印度諸僧以唐國五月十六日入夏安居。以唐國八月十五日解夏。斯亦隨方用曆不同。不可一定。如雪山北有國坐春坐秋者。意以一年之內多溫熱處。制三月住。就中前後一月延促不定。若據修道何時不安。故律制三時游行。通結有罪。必有善緣亦開兼濟。院東渡河大林中塔北池者。佛昔為香象子侍盲象母處。前建石柱。昔迦葉波佛於此宴坐。側有四佛行坐迹。林中小石柱是欝頭藍發惡願處。又東度黃河百餘里至屈屈吃播陀山（舊云雞足）直上三峯。狀如雞足。頂樹大塔。夜放神炬光明通照。即大迦葉波於中寂定處也。初佛以姨母織成金縷大衣袈裟傳付彌勒。令度遺法四部弟子。迦葉承佛教旨。佛涅槃後第二十年。捧衣入山以待彌勒。山路徑極梗澁多諸林竹。師子虎象縱衡騰倚。奘法師至彼。每思登踐。取進無由。奘乃告王請諸防援。蒙王給兵三百餘人各備鋒刃斬竹通道。日行十里。爾時彼國聞奘往山禮拜。士女大小數盈十萬。奔隨繼至共往雞足。既達山阿壁立無路。乃縛竹為梯相連而上。達山頂者三千餘人。四睇欣然轉增喜踊。具覩石罅散華供養。又依王玄策傳云。粵以大唐貞觀十七年三月內。爰發。

Furthermore, Master Xuanzang's biography states: The Buddha attained awakening on the eighth day of the third month by the calendar of the Tang empire. The Sthaviranikāya says it was on the fifteenth day of this third month. Regarding his age when he attained awakening, some say thirty, while others say thirty-five. These discrepancies stem from their own differences, and this variation exists because the calendars they use place it earlier or later. Just as the origins of calendar reckoning in the Divine Land [of China] differ from one another, with the three dynasties fixing the first month differently, lengthening or shortening it, what is there to wonder at? One should simply rely on a single account to acquire understanding and stop at that. Inside the great vihāra to the west of the tree, there is a brass statue standing facing east, adorned with rare treasures. Before it is a blue-green stone with extraordinary patterns and unusual hues. On the day he first attained awakening, the king of the Brahmā realm erected a hall of the seven jewels, and Śakra erected a throne of the seven jewels. The Buddha sat upon it for seven days in contemplation, emitting light that shone upon the tree, causing the jewels to turn into stone. The stupa to the south of the tree is more than a hundred feet high. Formerly, when the Buddha had bathed in the river and was about to sit down, he thought of grass. Śakra transformed himself into a man and offered the Buddha kusa grass (called auspicious grass here) to sit upon. King Aśoka built a stupa to mark the place. Next, to the northeast, there is a stupa where, when the Buddha attained the fruit [of awakening], a flock of blue birds came to circumambulate the World-Honoured One, and where a herd of deer also circled him. On either side of the great road to the east of the tree, there is a stupa at each place where the Demon King harassed the Buddha and was routed. To the northwest of the tree is a vihāra containing Kāśyapa Buddha, which from time to time emits light. The worldly say that whoever circumambulates it seven times with utmost sincerity will in this life obtain the knowledge of past lives (pūrvanivāsa). Moreover, northwest of the wall, there is saffron mud, fourteen feet high. At the southeast corner of the tree's wall, there is a nyagrodha tree. Beside the tree is a stupa, and inside the vihāra is a seated statue; this is the place where, when he first attained the fruit [of awakening], the Great Brahmā King requested him to turn the wheel of the Dharma. Within the four corners of the wall, there are stupas at every corner. Formerly, when the Buddha received the grass and approached the tree, he first went to the southwest, and the earth shook; he also moved to the northwest, again to the northeast, and again to the southeast, and at each the earth shook. He then went from the northwest to beneath the tree and sat facing east upon the adamantine seat (vajrāsana); the earth then became peaceful and still. Therefore, stupas were erected to commemorate it. To the southwest outside the wall are the dwellings of the two cowherd maidens. Beside them is the place where they boiled the milk-rice, and beside that is the place where the Buddha accepted the milk-rice; all have commemorative stupas erected. Outside the south gate of the tree is a large pool, more than seven hundred paces in circumference, clear and pure, the dwelling of fish and nāgas. Next, to the south, is a pool made by Śakra for the Buddha to wash his robes. To the west of the pool is a large rock that Śakra brought from the Himālayas for the Buddha to dry his robes. Beside it is a stupa where the Buddha patched his old robes. Next, in the forest to the south, is a stupa where the Buddha accepted an old robe offered by a poor mother. In the eastern grove of the transformed pool, the Nāga Pool is clear and pure, its water sweet. On the west bank is a small vihāra with a statue inside, where the Buddha, when he first attained awakening, sat for seven days absorbed in samādhi, and the Nāga King circumambulated the Buddha seven times, transforming his many heads into an umbrella over the Buddha. In the grove east of the Nāga Pool, a vihāra contains a statue of the Buddha's emaciated form. Beside it are the traces of his walking meditation, more than seventy paces long, with pippala trees on the north and south, which he reached out to clasp before standing up. This is the place where he practiced austerities for six years, eating a single grain of hemp and wheat each day. Nowadays, those who have illnesses are mostly cured by anointing the statue with scented oil. There is also the dwelling place of the five bhikṣus. Further to the southeast is a stupa where the Buddha entered the Nairañjanā River to bathe. Next, near the river, is the place where the Buddha ate the milk-rice. Beside it are two stupas, which mark the place where the elders offered honey and roasted flour. The stupa southeast of the tree is where the Four Heavenly Kings offered stone almsbowls to the Buddha. Beside it is a stupa where the Buddha preached the Dharma to his mother after attaining awakening. There is also the place where he converted the thousand men, Kāśyapa and his brothers. Just outside the north gate of the tree's wall is the Mahābodhi Temple. Its halls comprise six courtyards, with pavilions three stories high, surrounded by a wall fifty feet tall. It possesses a Buddha śarīra the size of a finger joint, lustrous and pure white, translucent from inside to out. As for the flesh-śarīra, it is as large as a blue pearl with a reddish hue. Every year during the month of the Buddha's great divine transformation, it is brought out and shown to the people; this is the thirtieth day of the twelfth month in India, corresponding to the fifteenth day of the first month in the Tang empire. At this time, light radiates, flowers rain down, and great deep faith is aroused. The temple constantly has a thousand monks who study the Mahāyāna Sthaviranikāya, whose monastic deportment is pure and solemn. It was commissioned by the king of the country of Siṃhala in the Southern Sea; four hundred years have passed since then. In the temple, there are many people from the Lion Country (Siṃhala). Every year, when the bhikṣus have concluded their retreat, clergy and laity from the four quarters, numbering in the hundreds of thousands or millions, make offerings of fragrant flowers and instrumental music throughout the grove for seven days and seven nights. The monks in India enter the summer retreat (varṣā) on the sixteenth day of the fifth month by the Tang calendar, and end the summer retreat on the fifteenth day of the eighth month by the Tang calendar. This also varies with the local calendar and cannot be fixed uniformly. For instance, north of the Snow Mountains there are countries that observe the retreat in spring or in autumn; the intention is to establish a three-month stay during the period of the year that is predominantly hot, with the start and end varying by a month. If it is based on cultivating the path, what time is not peaceful? Thus, the Vinaya institutes that wandering during the three periods is universally reckoned as an offense, but if there is an auspicious cause, an exception is also made to allow helping others. Crossing the river to the east of the monastery, in the great forest north of the stupa by the pool, is the place where the Buddha was formerly the offspring of a fragrant elephant (gandhahastin) and served his blind mother elephant. In front of it is an erected stone pillar; formerly Kāśyapa Buddha sat here in quiet contemplation. Beside it are traces of the walking and sitting of the four Buddhas. A small stone pillar in the forest marks the place where Udraka [Rāmaputra] made his evil vow. Further east, crossing the Yellow River for more than a hundred li, one reaches Kukkuṭapādagiri (formerly called Cock's Foot Mountain), where three peaks rise straight up, shaped like a cock's foot. A great stupa stands on the summit, which emits divine torches at night, its light shining everywhere; this is the place where Mahākāśyapa entered serene quiescence. Formerly, the Buddha passed the great gold-threaded kāṣāya woven by his maternal aunt to Maitreya, ordering him to deliver the fourfold assembly of disciples of his bequeathed Dharma. Kāśyapa received the Buddha's instruction, and in the twentieth year after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, he held the robe and entered this mountain to await Maitreya. The mountain paths are extremely rugged and obstructed, with many groves and bamboos; lions, tigers, and elephants wander and leap freely. When Master Xuanzang arrived there, he repeatedly thought to climb it, but had no way to advance. Xuanzang then informed the king, requesting defensive escort. He received from the king over three hundred soldiers, each equipped with sharp blades to cut through the bamboo and open a path, advancing ten li a day. At that time, when that country heard that Xuanzang was going to the mountain to worship, men and women, young and old, numbered more than one hundred thousand; they followed in continuous succession, going together to Cock's Foot. When they reached the mountain slope, the cliffs stood sheer without a path; they then bound bamboo into ladders and climbed up sequentially. Those who reached the mountaintop numbered more than three thousand; gazing all around, they rejoiced and bounded with ever greater joy. They all beheld the rock crevice and scattered flowers in offering. Furthermore, according to the account of Wang Xuance: In the third month of the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era of the Great Tang, [the Emperor] issued