法苑珠林 39.35

39.35

依道宣律師感應記。問天人曰。荊州河東寺者。此國甚大。余與慈恩寺嵩法師。交顧積年。其人即河東羅雲法師之學士也。云此寺本曾住萬僧。震旦之最。聞之欣然莫測河東之號。請廣而述之。亦佛法之大觀也。答曰。晉氏南遷。郭璞多聞之士。周昉地圖云。此荊楚舊為王都。欲於硤州置之。嫌逼山遂止。便有宜都之號。下至松滋。地有面勢都邑之像。乃掘坑秤土嫌其太輕。覆寫本坑土又不滿。便止曰。昔金陵王氣於今不絕。固當經三百年矣。便都建業。仍於此置河東改遷。裴薛柳杜四姓居之。地在江曲之間。類蒲州河曲。故有河東目也。有東西二寺。昔符堅伐晉。荊州北岸並沒屬秦。時桓仲為荊牧邀翼法師。度江造東寺安長沙寺僧。西寺安四層寺僧。符堅歿後。北岸諸地還屬晉家。長沙四層諸僧各還本寺。西東二寺因舊廣立。自晉宋齊梁陳氏。僧徒常數百人。陳末隋初。有名者三千五百人。淨人數千。大殿一十三間。惟兩行柱通梁長五十五尺。欒櫨重疊。國中京冠。即彌天釋道安。使弟子翼法師之所造也。自晉至唐曾無虧損。殿前四鐵鑊。各受十餘斛以種蓮華。殿前塔。宋譙王義季所造。塔內素像忉利天工所造。佛殿中多金銅像。寶帳飛仙真珠華珮。並是四天王天人所作。寺內僧眾兼於主客出萬餘人。當途講說者五十三人。十三人得其聖果。各領千僧。餘小法師五百餘人。十誦律師有四十人。九人得聖。大小乘禪師八百餘人。其得聖人二百二十四人。徒眾嚴肅說不可盡。寺法立制誦經六十紙者免維那。誦法華度免直歲。寺房五重並皆七架。別院大小今有十所。般舟方等二院莊嚴最勝。夏別常有千人。四周廊廡減一萬間。寺開三門兩重七間。兩廈殿宇橫設並不重安。約准地數取其久故。所以殿宇至今三百年。餘無有損敗。東川大寺唯此為高。映曜川原實稱壯觀也。又問。彌天釋氏宇內式瞻云。乘赤驢荊襄朝夕而見。未審如何。答曰。虛也。又曰。若爾虛傳何為東寺上有驢臺。峴南有中驢村。據此行由則乘驢之有地也。答曰。非也。後人築臺於寺植樹供養焉。有佛殿之側頓置驢耶。又中驢之名。本是閭國郗國之故地也。後人不練遂妄擬之云云。

According to the Records of Sympathetic Resonance by Vinaya Master Daoxuan: He asked a heavenly being: "Regarding the Hedong Monastery in Jingzhou, it is extraordinarily large in this country. I have had an acquaintance of many years with Dharma Master Song of Cien Monastery, who was a student of Dharma Master Luoyun of Hedong. He said that this monastery once housed ten thousand monks, the foremost in China. Hearing of this, I was delighted, but could not fathom the name 'Hedong'. Please relate it in detail, as it is also a magnificent spectacle of the Buddha's Dharma." The heavenly being answered: "When the Jin house moved south, the widely learned scholar Guo Pu surveyed the maps and said: 'This region of Jing-Chu was formerly a royal capital. They wished to establish it at Xiazhou, but disliked its proximity to the mountains and so ceased, hence the name Yidu ("Suitable Capital"). Down to Songzi, the terrain had the topography and appearance of a metropolitan capital; they dug a pit and weighed the earth, but disliked it for being too light, and when poured back into the original pit the earth did not fill it, so they ceased, saying: "The kingly aura of Jinling has not ceased to this day; it should certainly endure for three hundred years." They then made Jianye the capital. Still, they established Hedong here, relocating the four clans of Pei, Xue, Liu, and Du to reside in it. The land lies in a bend of the river, resembling the river bend of Puzhou; hence it received the name Hedong.' There were an Eastern and a Western monastery. In the past, when Fu Jian attacked the Jin, the northern bank of Jingzhou fell to Qin. At that time Huan Zhong, as governor of Jingzhou, invited Dharma Master Yi to cross the river and build the Eastern Monastery to house the monks of Changsha Monastery, and the Western Monastery to house the monks of the Four-Storeyed Monastery. After Fu Jian died, the various lands on the northern bank returned to the Jin house, and the monks of Changsha and the Four-Storeyed monasteries each returned to their original monasteries. The Eastern and Western monasteries were then broadly expanded upon their old foundations. From the Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties, the monastic assembly was always several hundred persons. In the late Chen and early Sui, famous monks numbered 3,500, with thousands of pure attendants (śuddhopāsakas). The great hall was thirteen bays wide, with only two rows of columns, and span beams fifty-five feet long; the brackets and corbels were multiplied, the finest in the entire realm. It was built by Dharma Master Yi, sent by Shi Dao'an, 'the one filling the heavens' (Mitian). From the Jin down to the Tang, it has never suffered any damage. In front of the hall are four iron cauldrons, each holding over ten hu, used for planting lotuses. The stupa in front of the hall was built by King Yiji of Qiao during the Song dynasty; the plain image inside the stupa was made by the artisans of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. In the Buddha hall there are mostly gilt bronze images; the jeweled canopies, flying celestials, and pearl-and-flower pendants were all crafted by heavenly beings of the Four Heavenly Kings. The monastic assembly inside the monastery, including both resident monks and guests, exceeds ten thousand persons. Those in charge of lecturing and preaching number fifty-three persons, thirteen of whom have attained holy fruits, each leading a thousand monks; other minor Dharma masters number over five hundred persons. There are forty Vinaya masters of the Daśabhāṇavāra, nine of whom have attained holiness. There are over eight hundred Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna meditation masters, among whom two hundred and twenty-four have attained holiness. The solemnity and strictness of the assembly cannot be fully described. The monastery established the rule that one who recites sixty sheets of scripture is exempt from being karmadāna; one who recites the Lotus Sūtra for ordination is exempt from being the year-director. The monastic quarters are five-tiered, all with seven-bay rafters; there are presently ten separate cloisters, large and small. The Pratyutpanna and Vaipulya cloisters are the most supremely adorned; in each summer retreat there are regularly a thousand people. The surrounding corridors fall just short of ten thousand bays. The monastery opens three gates, two-tiered and seven bays wide. The halls and pavilions of the two wings are arranged horizontally and are not duplicated; calculated according to the land measurements, they were planned for longevity. For this reason, down to the present for three hundred years, the halls and pavilions have suffered no damage. Among the great monasteries of the Eastern River region, only this one stands so high; illuminating the river and plain, it is truly worthy of being called a magnificent spectacle." He asked again: "Shi Dao'an, whose fame filled the heavens and who was admired by all under heaven, was said to ride a red donkey and be seen in both Jingzhou and Xiangyang morning and evening. I wonder if this is so?" The heavenly being answered: "It is false." He asked again: "If it is a false report, why is there a Donkey Platform on the grounds of the Eastern Monastery, and a Middle Donkey Village south of Mount Xian? Based on these travel traces, there is indeed basis for riding a donkey." The heavenly being answered: "It is not so. Later people built a platform in the monastery and planted trees to make offerings; how could a donkey be suddenly placed beside a Buddha hall? Furthermore, the name Middle Donkey was originally the ancient territory of the state of Lü and the state of Xi. Later people, lacking understanding, falsely made this comparison, and so on."