法苑珠林 7.62

7.62

Wang Xuance's Travel Account says: Southwest of the kingdom of Tubo, there is a gushing spring that erupts from the flat ground. The surging water reaches five or six feet high and is extremely hot; meat boiled in it cooks immediately. Its steam shoots up into the sky like mist. An old Tibetan said: Ten years ago, its water surged upward to a height of more than ten fathoms before beginning to disperse to the sides. A man on horseback pursuing a deer rushed straight into the spring; from then on, it no longer surged so high. In the spring, human skeletons are seen gushing out from time to time. If one lowers cloth into the water, it rots in an instant; some call it the "Boiling Cauldron". Sixty or seventy li northwest of this spring, there is another spring whose heat is roughly the same; from time to time it boils violently with a roar like thunder. Various small warm springs are often like this everywhere. Nowadays, in various places here in Cīnasthāna there are many hot springs; by analogy, these too are boiling cauldrons. Therefore, the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya states below that the Buddha said: North of Rājagṛha there is a hot spring that comes from the hells; when it first emerges it is extremely hot, but later, flowing to distant places, it gradually cools, because there is other water mingling with it, which is why it is cool. (The above one verification is from the Xiguo zhuan.)