法苑珠林 38.78

38.78

西域志云。波斯匿王都城東百里大海邊有大塔。塔中有小塔。高一丈二尺。裝眾寶飾之。夜中每有光曜如大火聚。云佛般泥洹五百歲後。龍樹菩薩入大海化龍王。龍王以此寶塔奉獻龍樹。龍樹受已將施此國。王便起大塔以覆其上。自昔以來有人求願者。皆叩頭燒香奉獻華蓋。其華蓋從地自起徘徊漸上。當塔直上乃至空中。經一宿變滅。不知所在。

The Records of the Western Regions states: 'One hundred li east of King Prasenajit's capital city, beside the great sea, there is a large stupa. Inside the stupa is a small stupa, one zhang and two feet high, adorned and decorated with numerous jewels. In the night it repeatedly shines brightly like a great mass of fire. It is said that five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva entered the great sea to convert the nāga king. The nāga king presented this jeweled stupa to Nāgārjuna. After Nāgārjuna received it, he brought it to bestow upon this country, and the king then raised a large stupa to cover it. From ancient times down to the present, whenever people make vows, they all prostrate, burn incense, and offer flower canopies. Those flower canopies rise up of their own accord from the ground, soaring and gradually ascending directly above the stupa into mid-air, and after one night they vanish, their whereabouts unknown.'