法苑珠林 38.76

38.76

高麗遼東城傍塔者。古老傳云。往昔高麗聖王出現按行國界。次至此城見五色雲覆地。即往雲中有僧執錫住立。既至便滅。遠看還見。傍有土塔三重。上如覆釜。不知是何。更往覓僧。唯有荒草。掘深一丈得杖并履。又掘得銘。上有胡書。侍臣識之。云是佛塔。王委曲問。答曰。漢國有之。彼名蒲圖。王因生信起木塔七重。後佛教始至。具知始末。今更增高。本塔朽壞。斯則育王所統一閻浮洲處處立塔。不足可怪。倭國在此洲外大海中。岠會稽萬餘里。隋大業初彼國官人會丞來此學問。內外博知。至貞觀五年。共本國道俗七人方還倭國。未去之時。京內大德每問彼國佛法之事。因問云。阿育王依經所說。佛入涅槃一百年後出世。取佛八國舍利。使諸鬼神一億家為一佛塔。造八萬四千塔。遍閻浮洲。彼國佛法晚至。未知已前有阿育王塔不。會承答曰。彼國文字不說無所承據。然驗其靈迹則有所歸。故彼土人開發土地。往往得古塔靈盤。佛諸儀相數放神光。種種奇瑞詳此嘉應。故知先有也。

Regarding the stupa beside the city of Liaodong in Goguryeo: Elders of old handed down a tradition saying that in the past, a sagely king of Goguryeo appeared and toured his realm's borders. Next, upon reaching this city, he saw five-colored clouds covering the ground. He immediately went [there], and within the clouds was a monk holding a tin staff standing still. Once he arrived, [the monk] vanished, yet when viewed from afar, he was seen again. Beside [that spot] was a three-tiered earthen stupa, its top like an inverted caldron; no one knew what it was. Going again to search for the monk, there were only wild weeds. Digging to a depth of one zhang, they found a staff and shoes. Digging further, they found an inscription upon which was barbarian script. An attendant official recognized it and said that it was a Buddhist stupa. The king questioned him in detail, and he replied, saying: 'China has these; there they are called putu.' Because of this, the king generated faith and raised a seven-tiered wooden stupa. Later, when the Buddhist teaching first arrived, the full details from beginning to end came to be known. Now it has been built even higher, while the original stupa had rotted away. This indeed is King Aśoka's erection of stupas everywhere across the single Jambudvīpa he unified, which should come as no surprise. The country of Wa is situated in the great sea beyond this continent, more than ten thousand li from Kuaiji. At the beginning of the Daye era of the Sui, an official of that country, an assistant named E [Heguri no Omi], came here to study and became broadly learned in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist lore. In the fifth year of Zhenguan, together with seven monks and laypeople of his native country, he finally returned to Wa. Before he left, the eminent monks of the capital frequently inquired about matters regarding the Buddha-Dharma in that country. They thereupon asked, saying: 'According to what the sūtras explain, King Aśoka appeared in the world one hundred years after the Buddha entered nirvāṇa, took the śarīra of the Buddha from the eight countries, and commanded various spirits to make one Buddhist stupa for every hundred million households, constructing eighty-four thousand stupas throughout Jambudvīpa. In that country of yours the Buddha-Dharma arrived late; is it known whether there were King Aśoka stupas there before?' The assistant answered, saying: 'Our country's written records do not mention this, so there is nothing to rely upon as proof. However, examining miraculous traces, there is indeed something to which they trace back. Thus, when the people of that land open and clear the earth, they frequently discover miraculous dew-basins of ancient stupas, and various images of the Buddha repeatedly emit divine radiance. Judging from these auspicious resonances amidst various marvelous omens, we know that they existed from of old.'