法苑珠林 38.80

38.80

西域乾陀羅城東南七里有雀離浮圖。推其本緣乃是如來在世之時。與諸弟子游化此土指城東曰。我入涅槃後二百年。有國王名迦尼色迦。在此處起浮圖。佛入涅槃後二百年。有國王字迦尼色迦。出游城東。見四童子壘牛糞為塔。可高三尺。俄然即失矣。王怪此童子。即作塔籠之。糞塔漸高挺出於外。去地四百尺。然後始定。王更廣塔基。三百餘步。從地搆木始得齊等。上有鐵棖。高三百尺。金盤十三重。沓去地七百尺。施功既訖糞塔如初。在大塔南三百步。時有婆羅門不信是糞。以手探之遂作一孔。年歲雖久糞猶不爛。以香埿填孔不可充滿。今有天宮籠蓋之。雀離浮圖。自作已來三為天火所災。國王修之還復如本。父老云。此浮圖天火七燒佛法當滅。塔內佛事悉是金玉。千變萬化難得而稱。旭日始開則金盤晃朗。微風暫發則寶鐸鏗鏘。西域浮圖最為第一。

The Records of the Western Regions states: 'Seven li southeast of the city of Gandhāra, there is the Kaniṣka Stupa. Tracing its original cause, it was when the Tathāgata was in the world: wandering and converting in this land with his disciples, he pointed to the east of the city and said, "Two hundred years after I enter nirvāṇa, there will be a king named Kaniṣka who will erect a stupa at this place." Two hundred years after the Buddha entered nirvāṇa, there was a king whose name was Kaniṣka. Venturing out on an excursion to the east of the city, he saw four boys piling up cow dung to make a stupa, about three feet high. Suddenly they vanished. The king, marveling at these boys, immediately built a stupa to encase it. The dung stupa gradually grew taller, jutting out above it, four hundred feet from the ground, and only then did it stabilize. The king expanded the stupa's foundation further, over three hundred paces; only by constructing with timber from the ground could he make it level. Above it was an iron mast, three hundred feet high, with thirteen tiers of golden basins, reaching seven hundred feet from the ground. When the work was completed, the dung stupa remained just as before, three hundred paces south of the great stupa. At that time, a brahman did not believe it was dung and probed it with his hand, thereby making a hole. Although years have passed, the dung still has not rotted, and filling the hole with fragrant mud cannot fill it up. Now there is a heavenly palace encasing and covering it. Ever since the Kaniṣka Stupa was constructed, it has thrice suffered calamity by fire from heaven, yet the king restored it each time so that it returned to its original state. The elders say: "When this stupa is burned by heavenly fire seven times, the Buddha-Dharma will be destroyed." The Buddhist fixtures within the stupa are all of gold and jade, shifting through a thousand variations that are difficult to describe. When the morning sun first breaks, the golden basins shine brightly; when a gentle breeze momentarily stirs, the jeweled bells chime melodiously. Among the stupas of the Western Regions, it is foremost.'