法苑珠林 29.44

29.44

an imperial decree, ordering the envoys, Grand Master of Closing Court, Acting Assistant Chamberlain of the Court of the Imperial Insignia, and Superior Commander of the Guard Li Yibiao, together with Associate Envoy, former Magistrate of Huangshui County in Rong Prefecture Wang Xuance and others, to escort a Brahmin guest back to his country. In the twelfth month of that year, they reached the country of Magadha. Taking the opportunity, they inspected the Buddha's homeland and observed the remaining traces. Holy sites and divine transformations manifested responses everywhere. On the twenty-seventh day of the first month of the nineteenth year, they reached Rājagṛha, and thereupon climbed Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa. Letting their gaze roam freely, they looked off into the distance without end. Although more than a thousand years had passed since the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the holy sites and surviving foundations remained clearly and completely preserved. Every movement and every seat has a stupa to mark it. Considering that their own talent and understanding were from the rustic borderland, yet suddenly they were able to personally behold the numinous traces, grief and joy commingled so that they could not restrain themselves. Therefore, they inscribed this mountain to transmit it imperishably, wishing to cause