法苑珠林 38

English (machine translation) 38

Language: English

38.1

Compiled by the śramaṇa Shi Daoshi of Ximing Temple

38.2

Chapter Thirty-Five: Reverencing Stūpas, Part Two

According to the Xiangfa jueyi jing: "Building anew is not as good as repairing the old; creating blessings is not as good as avoiding misfortune." These words have indeed been verified! There are village settlements, funerary stūpas, old temples, and saṃghārāmas whose halls and pavilions have rotted and fallen into ruin, their dwellings and buildings collapsed and destroyed. Woven-reed doors and bramble entries fail to shut out the smoke and dust; jar-rim windows and thatched roofs fail to keep off the frost and dew. Consequently, gates and walls are ruined, filth and excrement fill the steps, and the roads are devoid of human footprints. The assembly of monks drifts and wanders as transients, neither repairing nor adorning [the temples], so that day by day they fall into decline and debility. They create sins and offenses without ceasing for a single moment. At night in the dark, lamps and candles are simply unheard of; in the light of day, banners and flowers have never been seen. The halls are devoid of Buddhist chanting, and in the censers, the sea-sandalwood incense has ceased burning. This causes evil ghosts to show their uncanny powers and good spirits to abandon their protection. The saṃghārāmas lack stability simply because the assembly of monks is negligent and indolent; since the Buddhadharma has declined, it is also because the white-robed laity has no reverence. If one does not worry over this, what else could one seek?

38.5

Furthermore, the Baoliang jing states: There was a virtuous man whose face bore the lines and physiognomy of a king. A physiognomist, having seen this, married his daughter to him. Later, the virtuous man entered a monastery and leaned his staff against the saṃghārāma. Because he gave rise to arrogance, he lost the lines and physiognomy of a king and fell into the great hells.

38.6

Furthermore, the Sacca-sūtra says: "If there are those who resent stūpas, temples, and various images as obstructions and move them to other places, such evil persons are subsumed among the class of living beings guilty of evil treason and shall be punished with the highest penalty."

38.7

Furthermore, the Shi lun jing says: "If someone destroys a temple or murders a bhikṣu, when that person's life ends, his limbs and joints will all ache, and for many days he will not speak; after dying, he falls into the Avīci Hell to undergo all manner of suffering." Furthermore, the Sanqian weiyi says: "In sweeping atop a stūpa, there are five matters: first, one must not wear shoes up there; second, one must not turn one's back to the Buddha to sweep the stūpa; third, one must not take good soil from above and carry it down to discard; fourth, one must not bring down old flowers from upon the Buddha image; fifth, in the morning after passing the night, one should wash one's hands and oneself hold a clean cloth to wipe the Buddha image. There are also another five matters: first, one should first sprinkle the ground with water; second, one should make it even; third, one should wait for it to dry; fourth, one must not sweep against the direction; fifth, one must not sweep against the wind. There are also another five matters: first, one must not remove good soil; second, one should pick up grass with one's own hands; third, one should take soil from the middle and move it to lower places; fourth, one must not leave tracks where the four corners have been swept; fifth, one should sweep the area six paces before the stūpa to make it clean (this is based on business affairs, hence it is limited to six paces; if one has leisure and ease, sweeping more is even better)."

38.8

Furthermore, the Zhengfa nian jing says: "If there are living beings who with a pure mind make offerings to the saṃgha and sweep the Tathāgata's stūpa, when their lives end, they are reborn in the Heaven of Restless Intent. Their bodies have neither bones nor flesh, nor do they have any defilement; their fragrance can scent a hundred yojanas, and their bodies are pure and immaculate like a bright mirror."

38.9

Furthermore, the Zhengfa nian jing says: "If there are living beings who recognize the field of merit and, seeing a Buddha stūpa damaged by wind and rain, or a monk's quarters, plaster, adorn, repair, and mend it with a mind of merit, and further teach others to repair old stūpas, then when their lives end, they are reborn in the Heaven of White Bodies. Their bodies are pure white, and they enter coral forests to amuse themselves with celestial maidens in the five desires. When their karma is exhausted, they fall back; if reborn among humans, their bodies are pure white."

38.10

Furthermore, the Za baozang jing says: "Sweeping the monks' quarters across the entire Jambudvīpa is not as good as sweeping a palm-sized area of a Buddha stūpa (the Chengshi lun says the same)."

38.11

Furthermore, the Zhuanji baiyuan jing says: "Sweeping the ground brings five merits: first, one eliminates defilements in one's own mind; second, one eliminates others' defilements; third, one rids oneself of arrogance; fourth, one tames the mind; fifth, one increases merit and obtains rebirth in a good realm."

38.12

Furthermore, the Wugou qingjing nü wen jing says: "Sweeping the ground brings five merits: first, one's own mind is pure, and when others see it, they give rise to pure minds; second, one is loved by others; third, heavenly beings rejoice in mind; fourth, one accumulates upright karma; fifth, when life ends, one is reborn in good realms among the heavens." Furthermore, the Shami weiyi jing says: "In sweeping the ground, there are five rules: first, one must not turn one's back to people; second, one must not sweep backwards; third, one should make it clean; fourth, there must be no tracks; fifth, one should immediately shovel it away." Furthermore, the Zengyi [Ahan] jing says: "In sweeping a Buddha stūpa, there are five rules: first, sprinkle the ground with water; second, remove tiles and stones; third, level the ground; fourth, sweep the ground with an upright mind; fifth, remove filth and evil. Once the ground is clean, one should, according to one's capacity, hold a spray of fragrant flowers and scatter them on the ground as an offering, obtaining immeasurable merit." Therefore, a verse from the Avataṃsaka says:

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"Scattering flowers of adornment, pure and bright, / using exquisite flowers of adornment as canopies, / scattering diverse flowers everywhere throughout the ten directions, / to make offerings to all the Tathāgatas."

38.14

Furthermore, the Baiyuan jing says: Formerly, when the Buddha was in the world, he went with the bhikṣus to the banks of the Gaṅgā River and saw an old stūpa fallen into ruin and collapsed. A bhikṣu asked the Buddha: "What stūpa is this, that has become so decayed and old?" The Buddha told the bhikṣu: "In this Bhadrakalpa, King Brahmadatta of the kingdom of Vārāṇasī governed and transformed through the true Dharma. Yet he had no sons; he prayed and sacrificed to the various deities seeking to have a son, but was distressed at being unable to obtain one. At that time, in a pond within the king's realm, a lotus flower grew. In the calyx of that flower sat a young boy cross-legged, possessing the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics. From his mouth issued the fragrance of an utpala flower, and from all the pores of his body issued the fragrance of sandalwood. The king and his royal consorts, seeing him, were exceedingly joyful; they at once carried him back to the palace and gradually raised him. Wherever he walked, lotus flowers supported his feet. Because of his fragrance, he was named Candana-gandha ('Sandalwood Fragrance'). Later, awakening to impermanence, he became a pratyekabuddha; his body ascended into empty space, where he manifested eighteen transformations, and he soon entered nirvāṇa. The king collected his relics and raised a stūpa to make offerings to them. It is that very stūpa." The bhikṣu asked the Buddha: "What merit did he plant in the past to receive such a retribution?" The Buddha told the bhikṣu: "Long ago, in the past during the time of Krakucchanda Buddha, there was the son of an elder who was extremely fond of lust. Seeing a courtesan, his heart gave rise to infatuation, but having no wealth to give her, he went into a stūpa, stole flowers, and gave them to her; he then spent the night with her. At dawn, evil ulcers broke out all over his body, bringing indescribable agony. He called a physician to treat it. The physician divined and said: 'Gosīrṣa sandalwood must be smeared on the sores, and then they can be cured.' At that time, the elder's son immediately sold his house and estate, obtaining sixty myriad gold coins. He promptly used them to buy the incense, obtaining precisely six ounces, intending to smear it on the sores. In his mind, he reflected and said to the physician: 'What ails me now is an illness of the heart.' He at once took the purchased gosīrṣa sandalwood, pounded it into powder, entered that stūpa, and made this vow: 'The Tathāgata in the past cultivated all manner of austerities, vowing to deliver living beings and eliminate their distress. Now this body of mine is counted among the living; I pray only that the World-Honoured One, with compassion and pity, will relieve me of this affliction.' Having made this vow, he smeared the stūpa with the incense to repay the value of the flowers, and with an earnest mind made offerings, begging for mercy and repenting. The ulcers were immediately cured, and from all the pores of his body came the fragrance of sandalwood. Having smelled this fragrance, he bowed in homage with joy, made his vow, and departed. By reason of this merit, he did not fall into the evil realms, always enjoying bliss in the heavens and among humans; wherever he walked, lotus flowers supported his feet, and from all the pores of his body there was always fragrance. Therefore, the wise should train in this manner."

38.15

Furthermore, the Xiao famie jin jing states: "When the fire of the kalpa arises later, places that once served as saṃghārāmas will not be burned by fire, and will even become earthen terraces down to the vajra-maṇḍala."

38.16

Furthermore, the Pusa benxing jing says: Formerly, when the Buddha was in the world, he told the five hundred arhats: "Let each of you recount the merits cultivated in past lives, which have now caused you to encounter me and attain the Way." At that time, an arhat named Bhagatali arose from his seat and said to the Buddha: "World-Honoured One, I recall that countless kalpas ago, a Buddha appeared in the world named Dīpaṃkara. After he entered nirvāṇa, his relics were distributed and stūpas erected to make offerings. When the Dharma was on the verge of its end, there was a poor man who had no means to support himself and made a living by selling firewood. He went into the marshes to gather firewood and saw in the distance within the marsh a stūpa and temple, which was exceedingly towering and grand. He went to the side of the stūpa, gazed upon the image, and bowed in homage with joy. He saw only that it was a dwelling place for foxes, wolves, flying birds, and running beasts; weeds, trees, thorns, and filth filled its interior; it was deserted and devoid of people, with no footprints and none making offerings. The poor man, upon seeing this, felt mournful in his heart. Yet, unaware of the Tathāgata's divine virtue, simply with joy he cut down the grass and trees and swept away the filth. When the sweeping was finished, he circumambulated it eight times with joy, bowed in homage, and departed. By reason of this merit, after his life ended he was reborn in the Ābhāsvara Heaven. Its palaces of diverse jewels shone with dazzling radiance, and among all the heavens he was the most towering and supreme beyond measure. When his heavenly lifespan was exhausted, he subsequently became a wheel-turning king a hundred times, naturally possessing the seven jewels and ruling over the four continents. Later, when his lifespan was again exhausted, he was constantly reborn into the families of kings, great clans, and elders, possessing immeasurable wealth, with an upright countenance exquisite beyond compare, so that whoever saw him rejoiced and none failed to love and respect him. When he wished to walk, the roads cleaned themselves, and from empty space diverse flowers rained down. Bhagata said: 'The poor man of that time is now myself. Because of sweeping the stūpa in the past, my rebirths were spontaneous and natural; for one asaṃkhyeya and ninety kalpas I did not fall into the evil realms, but enjoyed wealth, noble status, natural endowments, and boundless bliss in the heavens and the human realm. Now in my final body, I have encountered Śākyamuni Buddha, abandoned nobility to leave home, and attained arhatship, possessing the three knowledges, the six supernatural powers, and the eight liberations. If someone can perform even a tiny amount of good, as small as a hair, toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha, the retribution they receive in the places of rebirth will be vast, great, and without end.'"

38.17

Furthermore, the Dṛṣṭāntamālya-sūtra says: In the past, in the time of Vipaśyin Buddha, Prince Jeta made a gift of a male servant and a female servant to sweep and maintain a temple. Due to this merit, lifetime after lifetime he always obtained a palace made of the seven jewels. On both sides of the gates and doors, there were always naturally manifest boys and girls of gold and silver holding gem-studded bowls, filled with the seven jewels, inexhaustible to draw from. In the night, there were always naturally manifest divine troops of over five hundred cavalry guarding his residence, so that none dared approach. The seven treasures of a cakravartin are: first, the gold wheel treasure; second, the white elephant treasure; third, the dark blue horse treasure; fourth, the divine wish-fulfilling jewel treasure; fifth, the jade maiden treasure; sixth, the treasury-master minister treasure; seventh, the military-leader spirit treasure.

38.18

Furthermore, the Saṃyuktaratnapiṭaka-sūtra says: Long ago, in the city of Śrāvastī, there was an elder who built a stūpa and monastery. Later, when his life ended, he was reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. Because his wife remembered her husband day and night, she was sorrowful, anxious, and distressed. Because she remembered her husband, she constantly swept and maintained the stūpa and monastery built by him. Looking down and seeing this, the husband came to where his wife was, inquired after her, comforted her, and said to her, "Is it because you remember me that you are so deeply sorrowful?" The wife then said, "Who are you?" The deva immediately replied, "I am your husband. Because of the cause and condition of the merit of building the stūpa and monastery, I attained rebirth in heaven. Seeing you remember me and repair the stūpa and monastery, I therefore came to you." The wife said, "Come close to me." The husband then replied, "The human body is foul and impure; it can no longer be approached. If you wish to become my wife again, diligently make offerings to the Buddha and the Saṃgha, repair and sweep the stūpa and monastery, and make a vow to be reborn in my heaven. If you can obtain rebirth in heaven, I will certainly take you as my wife again." The wife followed her husband's words, performed various merits, and made a vow to be reborn in heaven. Later, when her life ended, she was reborn in heaven and became husband and wife with him again. Taking each other by the hand, the couple came to the Buddha's place. The Buddha expounded the Dharma for them, and both husband and wife attained the fruit of srotāpanna. Having attained the fruit, they returned to heaven.

38.19

Furthermore, the Guṇavyūha-śāstra says: Long ago, in the city of Śrāvastī, there was a husband and wife who had no children. The husband and wife were energetic and had faith and reverence for the Three Jewels. Then the wife died young. Because of her faith and reverence, she was reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven as a heavenly maiden. Her countenance was upright and peerless in heaven. The heavenly maiden thought to herself, "I am extremely beautiful. In this world today, who is worthy to be my husband?" She then used her divine eye to look and see her former husband: he had now gone forth into homelessness, was old and frail, and had single-minded faith alone, constantly and diligently engaged in the good deed of sweeping the stūpas and shrines. Seeing that he swept the stūpas, he was certain to be reborn in heaven. The heavenly maiden immediately descended, her light shining brilliantly, and stood before her husband. The bhikṣu, upon seeing her, asked the reason. The heavenly maiden replied, "I was your wife, and now I am a heavenly maiden. I looked throughout heaven and found none worthy to be my husband. Seeing that you are energetic and constantly and diligently sweep the stūpas, you are certain to be reborn in heaven. If you obtain rebirth in heaven, I wish that we be in the same place and that you become my husband again. It is for this reason that I have come to make known this situation." Having spoken her intention, she returned to heaven. When the bhikṣu husband saw this incident, from then on he redoubled his diligence. He repaired stūpas and shrines and accumulated ever greater merit, so that he was destined to be reborn in the fourth heaven, Tuṣita. The heavenly maiden, remembering her husband, came again and said to him, "Your merit has become greater, and you are destined to be reborn in the Tuṣita Heaven. I can no longer have you as my husband." Having spoken, she departed. When the bhikṣu heard this, he redoubled his diligence even further and ultimately attained the fruit of arhat, endowed with the three knowledges, the six supernatural powers, and the eight liberations.

38.20

Furthermore, the Avadānaśataka says: When the Buddha was in the world, in the city of Kapilavastu there was an elder whose wealth and jewels were immeasurable. His wife gave birth to a boy, upright and extraordinary, whom all who saw him respected and admired. As he gradually grew up, he saw the Buddha and attained the fruit of arhat. At that time, the World-Honoured One addressed the bhikṣus: "Ninety-one kalpas in the past, there was Vipaśyin Buddha. After he entered nirvāṇa, there was a king named Bandhumat, who gathered the relics and built a stūpa of the four treasures to make offerings to them. Later, it was slightly damaged. A young boy entered the stūpa, saw the damaged place, and with a gentle and joyous expression called people together to plaster and repair the stūpa, made a vow, and departed. Due to this merit, for ninety-one kalpas he did not fall into hell, among animals, or among hungry ghosts. In heaven and among humans, he enjoyed limitless pleasure, and was always looked upon with respect and admiration by gods and humans. Down to the present, he has met me, is looked upon with respect and admiration by everyone, has gone forth into homelessness, and has attained the Way." Hearing what the Buddha said, they joyfully put it into practice.

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The verse says:

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Eighty thousand stūpas of his relic-body,
Adorned with jewels, rising a hundred fathoms high.
The phoenix figures differ from spiritual crows;
The golden discs replace the immortal's dew-basins.
Stacked brackets support carved corners;
High eaves hang draped with tree-nets.
The jewelled ground is like pond sand;
The wind-bells chime like clustered resonances.
Carving and chiselling bring forth a thousand wonders;
Pigments and paints depict ten thousand forms.
Mists and rosiness emerge and vanish from time to time;
Spirits and immortals come and go in a flash.
Morning fog rises at the middle storeys;
Flying banners reach up to touch the clouds.
The soaring rainbow dare not pause;
How could the wheeling kun-bird look up to its heights?
Holy transformations display endless auspicious signs;
How could the evoked blessings be merely few?
May I board this raft of salvation;
Who can say that the other shore is distant?

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Circumstances of Sympathetic Resonance (briefly citing twenty-one verifications)

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The stūpa of Mou County in Kuaiji under the Western Jin;
The Changgan stūpa of Jinling under the Eastern Jin;
The East City stūpa of Qingzhou under the Later Zhao of the Shi clan;
The Puban stūpa of Hedong under the Later Qin of the Yao clan;
The south stūpa of Mount Qishan in Qizhou under the Northern Zhou;
The ancient stūpa east of the city of Guazhou under the Northern Zhou;
The Mahāyāna Temple stūpa inside the city of Shazhou under the Northern Zhou;
The west stūpa of the old capital of Luozhou under the Northern Zhou;
The ancient stūpa of Guzang in Liangzhou under the Northern Zhou;
The ancient stūpa of Shandan County in Ganzhou under the Northern Zhou;
The south stūpa of Mount Huoshan in Jinzhou under the Northern Zhou;
The ancient stūpa east of the city of Daizhou under the Northern Qi;
The Fugan Temple stūpa of Yizhou under the Sui;
The stūpa of Jinyuan County in Yizhou under the Sui;
The Chaohua Temple stūpa of Zhengzhou under the Sui;
The Miaole Temple stūpa of Huaizhou under the Sui;
The Jingming Temple stūpa of Bingzhou under the Sui;
The stūpa of Yushe County in Bingzhou under the Sui;
The stūpa of Linhuang County in Weizhou under the Sui;
A general overview of the stūpas of the mountains, rivers, and the east of the sea in the Divine Continent;
A miscellaneous overview of the stūpas built in the Western Regions.

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The aforesaid twenty-one stūpas are all from when the Tathāgata was alive, wandering to transform beings and begging for food.

38.26

Because a boy was playing with sand and earth, taking it to be rice and flour, past blessings darkly converged,

38.27

and he offered the earthen flour to the Buddha. The Buddha, moved by his good heart, accepted it to plaster the ground, and prophesied

38.28

for this boy: "A full one hundred years after my extinction, there will be a king born into the world, named

38.29

Aśoka, who will become an iron-wheel-turning king ruling over Jambudvīpa. All ghosts and spirits will be

38.30

his subjects and ministers. He will command all the ghosts and spirits within forty li in the air and under the earth

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to open the previous eight stūpas. Employing the ghosts and spirits with the relics obtained, in a single day

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and single night, he will bestow one stūpa for every hundred million households, widely calculated as eighty-four thousand

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stūpas." It is fully detailed as in the sūtra above, so it is not recorded in full here. Now, only this Divine Continent is

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the eastern realm. Therefore, consulting the various records and searching this land of Han, there are twenty

38.35

stūpas, all of which were built by King Aśoka. If one were to further cite in detail the sympathetic resonances

38.36

built by monastics and laypeople since the eastward transmission of the Buddha's Dharma, they would number in the hundreds of thousands. Here, we shall only set forth

38.37

the essential miraculous signs among King Aśoka's twenty-one stūpas, and based on what has been mutually seen and heard, briefly

38.38

relate twenty-one items. The rest that cannot be exhausted are fully provided as in the extensive biographies.

38.39

First, the stūpa and monastery of Mou County in Kuaiji under the Western Jin. It is now three hundred and seventy li east of Yuezhou, within the boundaries of Mou County, forty li east to the sea, seventy li southeast of the county seat, and twenty-five li south to Wu Village. According to the earlier biography: In the second year of the Taikang era of the Jin, there was a man named Liu Sahe from Lishi in Bingzhou. Born into a farming family, he made hunting his occupation. He fell ill and died, but revived. He saw a Central Asian monk who said to Sahe, "Your sins are heavy and you should enter hell. I pity your lack of understanding and will release you for now. At present, in Luoxia, the city of Qi, Danyang, and Kuaiji, there are ancient stūpas and stone statues that floated down the river, all built by King Aśoka. You may diligently seek them out to worship and repent, and thereby escape this suffering." After he awakened, he reformed his previous habits, left home to study the Way, and changed his name to Huida. As told, he went south to Kuaiji, searching everywhere by the sea shores, mountains, and marshes, but could not recognise any trace or foundation. Huida, grief-stricken, distressed, and with nowhere to turn, suddenly in the middle of the night heard the sound of a bell beneath the earth. He immediately marked the place and pared wood to make a pillar. Within three days, a jewelled stūpa and relics suddenly welled up from the earth. The miraculous stūpa's appearance was greenish, resembling stone yet not stone, one foot four inches high and seven inches square, with five storeys of dew-basins, resembling those made in Khotan of the Western Regions. Its sides opened into windows, surrounded by heavenly gold, with a bronze chime suspended in the middle; whenever there was the sound of a bell, it was suspected to be this chime. Surrounding the body of the stūpa were all kinds of images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, vajra-guardians, holy monks, and miscellaneous figures, extremely minute in form; gazing with intent eyes, hundreds of thousands of images appeared, their faces, eyes, hands, and feet all fully complete. This may indeed be called divine work and holy trace, beyond the reach of human wisdom. It is now kept within a large wooden stūpa, and on the eight king days, it is carried in procession through the towns and villages. None who see it fail to bow down, recite the Buddha's name, give rise to goodness, and observe fasts and precepts for the rest of their lives. The relics are at the base of the wooden stūpa. To the left side of this stūpa are many ancient relics.

38.40

Beside the stūpa is Zhuji County, the site of the former capital of Yue. Zhuji was formed from four counties: Gouzhang, Yin, Mou, and Shan. One hundred and seven li northeast, in Dabu Township, is the ancient city of Yue, with a circumference of three li. The Local Gazetteer says: "In the middle period of Yue, its capital was located here." The remaining foundations of detached palaces and country villas still exist. Camphor trees grow all around, mostly alongside the gates and steps, standing in orderly rows, tall, upright, and lovely. During wind, rain, and the dark of the new moon, the sound of bells and chimes can still be heard. To this day, the common people mostly harbour solemn reverence. Its traces are manifold.

38.41

The Geographic Treatise says: "Aśoka was a disciple of Śākyamuni, capable of commanding ghosts and spirits. In a single day and night, he built eighty-four thousand jewelled stūpas for the Buddha's bones throughout the world, all of which welled up from the earth." According to the Jin śramaṇa Zhu Huida: of the two stūpas in the east, one is here, and one is in Pengcheng. Today, Changgan in Moling is yet another one, which makes three. Now, examining the evidence, one stūpa was built for every hundred million households, so in calculating this for the Eastern Xia, in principle there is little doubt. Moreover, seeing that Yangyue alone has two stūpas, when broadly overseeing the nine regions, some were certainly concealed.

38.42

The Records of Kuaiji states: The Chancellor Wang Dao of the Eastern Jin said: When he first crossed the Yangtze River, there was a man of the Way of extraordinary bearing who said he came from the sea to visit him, and that in the past he had travelled with King Aśoka to Mou County, where they deposited true relics and erected a stūpa to guard it. King Aśoka and various realized men held the stūpa, flew through empty space, and entered the sea. The disciples clung to them to say farewell and all fell at once, transforming into black stones. The stones still have human shapes. The stūpa is at Mount Cakravāḍa. Prefect Lord Chu said: Sea travellers reported that on an island there are gathered black stones shaped like men of the Way, appearing to have clothes. Chu ordered them to be chiselled out and brought for inspection; the veins of the stone all resembled the pattern of a kāṣāya.

38.43

In the third year of the Putong era of the founder of the Liang dynasty, honouring its ancient site, he constructed a wooden stūpa, with halls, chambers, and verandas complete all around, named King Aśoka Temple. Surrounded on four sides by mountains and lush green bamboo forests, with flowers blooming in between and birds and beasts delighting one another, it is truly an excellent place for those in quiet leisure. There is a stele praising it, composed by the Gentleman of the Editorial Service Gu Yinzu.

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Three li southeast of the monastery, on a mountain, is the Buddha's right footprint. Three li northeast of the monastery, on a mountain peak, is the Buddha's left footprint. Both appear upon rock, and their origin cannot be fathomed. Two li north of the monastery there is a sacred well; it is actually a deep pond with an eel-like fish inside, which the locals call the 'Fish Bodhisattva'. When people come to the well and pay homage, the fish emerges following the sound [of their voices]. Toward the end of the Sui, when rebels passed through, they falsely paid homage and the fish appeared; the rebels then struck it with a knife, thereby cutting off its tail. From then on it concealed itself, never coming out even when called. When sometimes there are those who invite and pay homage with supreme sincerity, it merely spouts water. Earlier, a monk who had heard of the stupa came to pay homage. The place was desolate and obtaining food was difficult. An old woman with an ailment in her legs came to prepare food for him and then left, doing so day after day. He found this strange. After she left, he secretly tracked her, only to see her enter the pond; upon consideration, she was a transformation of the pond's fish. The miraculous anomalies of this stupa were often not uniform. As an auspicious omen, it mostly manifested holy monks. They circumambulated the stupa and practiced the Path, lighting lamps every night; their forms appeared upon the wall amidst the light and shadows, revolving as they walked. A few items are listed here, for an exhaustive account would be wordy.

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In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang (645), Dharma Master Min, who had lodged in mountain caves and excelled in the Way, visited the sacred traces. Stirred in spirit, he led several hundred disciples to the monastery for one month to expound the sutras and treatises; scholar-officials and commoners all gathered. In the night, someone saw over a hundred foreign monks circumambulating the stupa and practicing the Path, and reported the matter to the assembly. The monastery monks said: 'This matter happens frequently, nothing to wonder at. From antiquity to the present, on the four great auspicious days, people from near and far come to the monastery to hold vegetarian feasts and plant blessings. And at night one frequently sees the appearances of foreign monks walking the Path, chanting sutras, and intoning pāṭha.'

38.46

In the first year of the Yonghui era of the Tang (650), Zhang Taixuan, a retired scholar of Kuaiji, paid homage and chanted at the monastery. The śramaṇa Zhiyue slept on adjoining beds with Taixuan alone. In the middle of the night, they heard the Diamond Prajñā being recited, completely lucid and distinct. The two listened quietly, their bodies and minds delighted and at ease. When the recitation ended, the sounds of snapping the fingers were as clear as if real. Looking around, there was no form; it was clearly known to be a divine grant.

38.47

Inside the Western Capital, at the Quchi [pond] in the southeast, stands the Riyan Temple. The temple was built by Emperor Yang of the Sui when he formerly governed as Prince of Jin in the regional commandery. In the temples of the Huai-Hai metropolitan area, there was a stupa where the śarīra had not yet been deposited; so he opened beneath the stupa of Changgan Temple, took it, brought it into the capital, buried it beneath the stupa of Riyan Temple, and placed an inscription upon it. At that time, more than fifty venerable elders from Jiangnan all said that the śarīra beneath the capital stupa was not the śarīra for which King Aśoka built a stupa, but that King Aśoka's śarīra was still at the original Changgan Temple. Both clergy and laity harboured doubts, unable to determine right from wrong. In the seventh year of the Wude era (624), Riyan Temple was abolished, its monastic assembly was dispersed and reallocated, and its śarīra stupa had no one to guard it. At that time there were ten disciples of Vinaya Master Daoxuan who were assigned to live at Chongyi Temple in Changshou Ward, south of the West Market. They excavated beneath the stupa and obtained three śarīras, white and radiant, as large as millet grains, together with one nail, slightly yellow, and more than ten white hairs, as well as miscellaneous treasures, lapis lazuli, and ancient vessels, all contained within a large bronze casket. Upon inspection there were no spiral curls. Furthermore, they doubted the nail, which was yellow and small like that of an ordinary person; for when one examines the Buddha, he was twice the size of a human and his nails were the colour of red copper, whereas now it was not so. Thereupon they brought them to Chongyi Temple beneath the stupa southwest of the Buddha hall, placed them in a large stone casket as before, covered it with the original inscription, and buried it in the underground chamber. The southern monks all said: 'These nails and hairs were already doubted in the time of Emperor Wu of the Liang.' Judging by the facts, the Changgan Buddha-relic had indeed been moved to the imperial capital. However, the ancient stupa in Jiangnan still possessed divine anomalies, whereas what was passed down at Chongyi was quite insignificant. Thus I have recorded both accounts; but because the years have stretched long, later generations cannot fathom their source, so I have made a separate record.

38.48

West of the Western Capital, the former county of Fufeng lies south of Mount Qi. The ancient stupa is on a plain, lower to the south and higher to the north, in a township called Fengquan. Before the Northern Zhou and Northern Wei, the monastery was called King Aśoka [Monastery], with five hundred monks. When the Northern Zhou destroyed the Buddhadharma, the halls and chambers were ruined and destroyed, leaving only two halls. Toward the end of the Daye era (605–618), rebels arose on all sides; the common people jointly built this walled city to guard against external raiders. In the early Tang, mixed inhabitants accidentally started a fire that burned it down; everything was completely lost, though charred remnants of the two halls still survived. In the fifth year of the Zhenguan era (631), Zhang Liang, the Prefect of Qizhou, who had always had faith, came to the monastery to pay homage. Seeing only the foundation of the old stupa with no covering above, he memorialized requesting an imperial edict to take down the Wangyun Palace hall to cover the stupa foundation. An imperial decree...

38.49

...granted permission. The old elders handed down that this stupa, once closed, would pass thirty years before being revealed once to people, causing clergy and laity to produce goodness; fearing that opening it would draw crowds, they dared not open it privately. He memorialized, and...

38.50

...an imperial edict permitted it to be opened. Digging more than a zhang deep, they obtained two ancient stele inscriptions, both erected by the Northern Zhou and Northern Wei. Once the śarīra was brought out, it was shown everywhere to clergy and laity. There was a blind man whose eyes had been dark for years; glaring with wide-open eyes, he suddenly saw clearly and purely. People from inside and outside the capital rushed to the stupa site, tens of thousands daily. When the śarīra was held aloft, what onlookers saw was not the same: some saw it like jade, with white light penetrating inside and out; some saw it as green; some saw the Buddha's form; some saw bodhisattvas and holy monks; some saw red light; some saw five-coloured mixed light; and some did not see it at all. Inquiring into their backgrounds, it was because throughout their lives they had committed many grave transgressions; when good spiritual friends instructed them to repent thoroughly to the utmost, or when some burned their heads, scorched their fingers, or pricked their blood to sprinkle the ground with profound sincerity, they finally were able to see it. The diverse manifestations cannot be recorded completely.

38.51

In the ninth month of the fourth year of the Xianqing era (659), there were mountain monks, Zhicong and Huibian, who were summoned into the imperial palace because of their knowledge of incantations. When conversation turned to the matter of the King Aśoka stupa, [it was noted that] because the years were distant, it required great protection.

38.52

The Emperor said: 'Is this not the King Aśoka [who as] a boy offered dirt? If it exists nearby, it must be one of the eighty-four thousand stupas.' Cong said: 'The truth has not yet been investigated; we request that it be brought out again.'

38.53

The Emperor said: 'Being able to obtain the śarīra is truly a good cause. You may proceed to the stupa site and practice the Path for seven days; only when there is an auspicious omen upon prayer may it be opened.' He then granted five thousand strings of cash and five thousand bolts of silk to cover the offerings. Cong, together with the attendant eunuch Wang Changxin and others, set out from the capital at dawn on the fifth day of the tenth month and arrived only toward nightfall on the sixth. Cong then entered the stupa to practice the Path with utmost single-mindedness and painful dedication. For a long time there was no response. At the third watch on the tenth day, he placed burning charcoal on his arm to burn incense; sternly striving and fully focused, he had no other thoughts. Suddenly he heard a cracking sound beneath the images inside the stupa. Following the sound to look, he saw an auspicious light overflowing, billowing and surging upward inside the stupa. From the feet of the three images, light emanated respectively, red, white, and green, spiraling upward until it formed a canopy over the beams and rafters. Cong leaped for joy and wished to call the monks to see; he then beheld the stupa packed tightly, with monks standing with palms joined, and thought they were of the same monastery. After a long while, the light canopy gradually abated, slowly descending; when it was three feet above the ground, the assembly of monks was nowhere to be seen, and only then did he realize it was the holy ones who had vanished.

38.54

Palace Envoy Wang Changxin and others all saw the auspicious signs: the flowing radiance filled the area, dazzling and splendid, seeming to swirl, and only subsided after a long time. When morning came to look, they obtained one śarīra, unusually larger than a grain [of rice], with bright and pure brilliance. Searching more carefully, they obtained another seven grains. Placing them all in a basin of water, one rotated alone around the other seven grains, each emitting light dazzling to the eye. Cong and the others reported the full circumstances of the resonance they had experienced to the throne.

38.55

An imperial edict dispatched the Attendant-in-ordinary Wang Junde and others to deliver three thousand bolts of silk, ordering the crafting of a life-sized statue of King Aśoka of Our measure, with the remainder used to repair the old stupa, and placing the statue within the stupa; they were immediately to excavate and bring forth the Buddha's śarīra to spread blessings and wisdom. Moreover...

38.56

...an imperial edict commanded that the monks Zhicong and Huibian be given registration by the Court of State Ceremonial to reside at Huichang Temple. When first opening for the śarīra, more than twenty people chiseled down together; and when the śarīra was obtained, everyone saw it except for one single person. That person, distraught, tore out his hair and earnestly prayed; when the śarīra was placed upon his palm, although he felt its weight, he still could not see it as before. For this reason, people feared not seeing the bone and dared not look at the light. A few days before the imperial envoys arrived, the people of Yunlong Ward, east of the temple, looked toward the temple stupa and saw a red light illuminating near and far; some saw it straight up to the sky like a rainbow, while others saw the light illuminate the temple city, red as daylight. In the morning they reported this fully, and the temple monks sighed in wonder, saying: 'The śarīra will soon be opened; this omen is no different from that in the Zhenguan era.' The śarīra was shaped like the first bone of a little finger, about two inches long, with a square hole inside and the outer edges likewise; it was flat at the bottom and tapered at the top, pure and bright inside and out. Inserting a finger into the hole, it received the finger snugly, so one could respectfully bear it on the head to show the great assembly. As for the transformations of its light and signs, they could not be uniformly measured. At that time, clergy and laity inside and outside the capital stretched over a distance of two hundred li, continuously coming and going, all praising the Buddha's virtue—a glory of the age. Monk Huiman of Cien Temple in the capital was practicing the Path at the stupa, when he suddenly saw beneath the coffered ceiling a pair of eyes whose radiance was exceptionally huge; he summoned both clergy and laity to look together, and it was the same. All were terrified out of their wits and dared not look closely again. In the third month of the spring of the fifth year of the Xianqing era (660), an imperial edict...

38.57

...requested the śarīra to proceed to the Eastern Capital to enter the palace for offerings. At that time, the Western Regions also offered the Buddha's bundled parietal bone [uṣṇīṣa] to the capital. Those among the people who saw it [described it as] about five inches high and four inches wide, of a yellowish-purple colour. Furthermore, seven monks from the capital were summoned to proceed to the Eastern Capital to enter the palace and practice the Path.

38.58

An imperial edict displayed the śarīra and the parietal bone to the monks practicing the Path, saying: 'This is the true body of the Buddha; you monks may bear it on your heads and make offerings.' After one night, it was returned to the interior of the palace.

38.59

The Empress renounced the clothing and bed curtains she slept in, valued at a thousand bolts of silk, to have a gold coffin and silver outer coffin made for the śarīra, carved and chased to supreme wondrousness. In the second year of the Longshuo era (662), it was returned to its original stupa. On the fifteenth day of the second month, the monks of the capital, together with the monks of the stupa monastery, officials, and others, countless thousands of people, jointly lowered the śarīra into the stone chamber and sealed it. Waiting for thirty years later is beyond what I can know; when it is opened in the future with auspicious signs, I hope this place will be supplemented.

38.60

In Wangzhuang Village, Huayang Township, Qishan County, Qizhou, there was a man named Feng Xuansi. Formerly crude and violent, he had no faith or reverence. When his mother and elder brother heard that the śarīra had arrived from the Eastern Capital and was about to be interred, Xuansi would not allow them to go. His mother and elder brother did not heed his words, went to the place of the śarīra to pay homage, and returned home. Xuansi said angrily: 'What efficacy is there in this that you went to pay homage? If the śarīra possesses merit, the Buddha image in my house also possesses merit.' He immediately took the Buddha image and burned it, [saying]: 'What efficacy does it have in the end?' His mother and elder brother tried to rescue it, but the lower half was already burned. Xuansi suddenly collapsed and unexpectedly died suddenly. After three days he revived, saying: 'Suddenly I reached a place that seemed to be hell. Huge birds flew down to peck out my eyes and eat my tongue, and I entered a great fire pit. Tortured by burning and searing, my body felt itchy and suffocated. When I rubbed my face with my hands, my eyebrows and hair fell off with it; looking at the earth, my eyes had completely lost their clear vision.' The relatives watching at his side all knew this was the proof of his transgression. People said to him: 'You committed the sin yourself; none can substitute for you.' Xuansi's consciousness was unlike that of an ordinary person; he merely said: 'Fire burns my heart! Because I adopted the words of Daoists, they taught me not to believe. The sin of slandering the Buddha now brings disaster upon my body.' Running east and west, he was also beaten, and cried out in terror. He only kowtowed, snapped his fingers, repented, and begged for his life, yet day and night he wailed and ran without pausing for a moment. On the thirteenth day of the second month, his relatives took pity on him, invited monks to perform repentance, vowed to make statues, and brought him to the stupa site. At that time, venerable elders in the capital were exceedingly numerous. Dharma Master Xingqian was expounding the Dharma for the assembly. Bhikṣuṇī Pei Shanggong and several hundred others, along with lay men and women numbering nearly ten thousand, all saw Xuansi prostrate all five limbs before the śarīra, wailing, throwing himself down, and with utmost sincerity repenting his sin of disbelief. He also repented transgressing against the pure practice of nuns, beating and scolding monks, and stealing and eating the monks' fruit. After he repented, his sleep and dreams were slightly more peaceful, yet his severe illness still did not recover. Before a year had passed, he finally died.

38.61

The Buddha's uṣṇīṣa-bone was redeemed with rare treasures, valued at four thousand bolts of silk; thereupon, according to this amount, payment was made with patterned raw silk. The uṣṇīṣa-bone is currently kept within [the palace] for veneration, and it is the small uṣṇīṣa-bone of hair bound into a topknot. However, the large uṣṇīṣa-bone has not yet arrived here.

38.62

As for the pagoda of Fugan Temple in the suburbs of Yizhou, it is located west of the city wall in the suburbs of the prefecture. It was originally called "Great Stone." Tradition recounts that ghosts and spirits, obeying King Aśoka’s command, went to the western mountains and took a great stone to serve as the pagoda's foundation, and the śarīra was placed within it; hence it was named "Great Stone." In the Sui dynasty, when Xiu, the Prince of Shu, served as military governor, he heard of this and ordered men to dig and excavate it. It was entirely a single stone. Tracing its seams down to the springs, they could not find its limits. Suddenly a violent wind and rain arose. Someone chiseled off a fragment from the side of the stone to bring it out, and it turned out to be jet. When he asked a merchant who was an expert in gems, the merchant said: "This is genuine jet, extremely rare in the world." In the early Sui, there was the Vinaya Master Shen. Seeing this ancient site, he erected a nine-tiered wooden pagoda upon it, which is still standing today.

38.63

Whenever there was drought or flood in Yizhou, officials praying for rain would always do so at this pagoda, and praying invariably brought an answer—such were the extraordinary and sympathetic omens; hence it was named Fugan ("Blessing-Response") Temple. Recently, someone stole the bells and was coming down three tiers when a spirit lifted up a capital-bracket and pinned the thief’s thigh beneath it. The man was trapped and cried out loudly, calling the temple monks to lift the bracket before he could be freed. In the first year of the Yonghui reign-period, there was a man named Wang Yanzi, well known for robbery and plunder. At night, he climbed up to the dew-basin rings and took the censer; as he was descending to the lowest tier, two pillars suddenly trapped him between them. Unable to escape, he grew increasingly hard-pressed. A foreign monk appeared and said: "You must shout 'Thief!' loudly; otherwise, you will die." He at once shouted several times. The temple monks heard him and came to the rescue, only then pulling him out. At the beginning of the Zhenguan reign-period, the earth shook violently, and this pagoda swayed and was on the verge of collapsing. At that time, countless people came from the suburbs, and they suddenly saw four spirits, as tall as the pagoda itself, each leaning with their backs against one of the pagoda's four sides; it tilted and leaned this way and that, but completely avoided destruction. Monastics and laypeople witnessing this auspicious sign gasped at the unprecedented event. The dew-basin atop the pagoda had always been small and short, not fitting the shape of the pagoda. There was an extremely wealthy man with vast properties who, having seen the previous spiritual miracle, donated three hundred ounces of gold, and together with other faithful believers, made another dew-basin. Once completed, as they dismantled down to the inverted bowl, a fragrant scent surged forth like rising clouds, spreading its fragrance through the city for seven days before it abated.

38.64

As for the Jinyuan pagoda in Yizhou, it is located over a hundred li southwest of the prefecture, and is now called Dengquan Temple. It was originally named "Great Stone." Its foundational origins are roughly the same as the previous one. Examining ancient pagodas, their appearances are different: might it not be because the spirits of each respective quarter took delight in different things? According to records, the three pagodas of Shu share one and the same stone; other pagodas cannot be judged by any fixed standard.

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法苑珠林 — 道世, Classical Chinese