Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s2.t4.5

v1.c7.s2.t4.5

Xuanzang's travelogue also provides other legends for the place. He describes that the *Vajrasana* was located in the middle of the enclosure surrounding the Bodhi tree. This "diamond throne" has come up in the beginning of *Bhadra-kalpa* (refers to the recreation of the universe in the present aeon) and stands at the centre of three "meta-thousand" worlds. Appearing on the surface of the earth, it is connected below with the golden wheel. Made up of the hardest stone (diamond), it was known as the *Vajrasana* because in *Bhadra-kalpa*, 1,000 Buddhas had meditated here and were enlightened. It was also known as the Bodhi-*mandapa*. Standing still even at the time of an earthquake, this was the place which provided Buddha protection to pursue his meditation without any interruption. Buddhism, it was believed, would decline with the sliding down of the *Vajrasana* to the earth. To protect it, kings and emperors had installed two statues of Avlokitaeshwara befitting its size. Xuanzang, however, found the statue in the south had already slid down to the chest thus indicating the decline of Buddhism. Similar legends are found in Buddhagosh's discourses too.