法苑珠林 4.40

4.40

述曰。若依內經。此諸星宿並是諸天宮宅。內有天住。依報所感福力光現。若依俗書。即云是石。故宋時星落。殞星如石。或云非星。是天河石落。故俗書云。天河共地河相連。故河內時有石落。如須彌象圖山經云。天空有河名耶摩羅。於虛空中行。久有大石小砂。時有漏失即執為星此非正經。是俗所造妄述流行。非是佛說。

Commentary: According to the inner scriptures (Buddhist texts), these various stars and mansions are all the palace residences of the devas; within them devas abide, manifested by the radiant power of merit induced as circumstantial retribution (ādhipatiphala). If one relies on secular writings, they say they are stones. Thus during the Song dynasty a star fell, and the fallen star was like a stone. Or some say it was not a star, but a stone falling from the Heavenly River; hence secular books say that the Heavenly River is connected to the Earthly River, and therefore stones occasionally fall from within the river. As the Shumi xiangtu shanjing (Scripture of the Illustrated Mountains of Sumeru) says, in the void there is a river called Yamarā, flowing in empty space, which long contains large stones and small pebbles, and when these leak down at times, people cling to them as stars. This is not an authentic scripture; it is a false narrative created and circulated by worldly people, not spoken by the Buddha.