法苑珠林 36.87

36.87

Sandalwood incense (zhantanxiang). Zhu Fazhen's Deng Luoshan shu states: 'Sandalwood comes from foreign countries. At the end of the Yuanjia era, the monk Cheng Teng saw a large tree on the mountain; its round shade covered several mu, and its circumference was more than thirty feet. Its pungent fragrance was intense and biting. In its midst were withered branches several feet long; he drew them down and cut into them with a blade—it was white sandalwood.' The letters of Yu Yiqi state: 'All the various fragrances share a single tree; the root of the tree is sandalwood.'