法苑珠林 12.77

12.77

Furthermore, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, a person from the land of Cīnasthāna transcribed the great Vinaya-piṭaka and the Sūtra-piṭaka. As for the sūtras, they were written in gold on silver paper; as for the vinaya, it was written in silver on golden paper. At the time of this transcribing, it was copied at Daming Temple in Jingzhou. The sūtras were kept inside the southeastern terrace on a lotus blossom; the vinaya was kept in the western terrace above its leaves. Their adornments and offerings cannot be fully described. Among the scripts within the hundreds of millions of sets of four continents, for any to match this—even peers such as Zhong, Zhang, Wang, or Wei could not serve as a comparison. When the Tathāgata was in the world, whenever sages from various kingdoms came, he would often show them these scriptures and precepts. After the Buddha passed away, Mañjuśrī gathered these scriptures and precepts and deposited them in the Diamond Cave on Mount Qingliang.