一切經音義 20.150

20.150

Kṣetra (忉剎: also written 擦, pronounced cha. In Sanskrit kṣetra, translated here as "land" or "fields". In the sūtras, when it says "country" or "land", the meaning is the same. When written "kṣetra-land" [剎土], both phonetic and semantic elements are preserved. Likewise, kṣatriya, meaning "master who protects the fields", is also this. Note that in standard script there was no character 剎; it is an abbreviation of the character [利-禾+(暴-(日/共)+夾)], pronounced cha [chu + yi fan]. Calling a stūpa a 剎 is an error; it should be said as yaṣṭi [剌瑟胝], 剌 pronounced la [li + ge fan], translated here as pole. People substituted a pillar for it, calling it a stūpa-pole [剎柱]. Because it is used to house the Buddha's relics, its meaning corresponds to land; hence it is called 剎, for in the Western Regions relics are placed at the top of the stūpa's pole).