Kapilavastu, the Buddha's Birthplace

Going southeast from the city of Shravasti twelve yojanas, one comes to a town named Nabhiga, the place where Krakucchanda Buddha was born. At the place where father and son met and at the place where he entered nirvana there are sangharamas as well, and stupas have been raised.

Going north from here a little less than one yojana, one comes to a town that is the place where Kanakamuni Buddha was born. At the place where father and son met and at the place where he entered nirvana stupas have been raised as well.

Going east from here a little less than one yojana, one comes to the city of Kapilavastu. In the city there is neither king nor people, and it is like a waste mound; there are only the monks and some tens of households. On the site of King Shuddhodana's old palace there is made an image of the crown prince's mother, and of the prince entering his mother's womb riding a white elephant. At the place where the prince went out of the east gate of the city, saw a sick man, and turned his carriage back — at all of these stupas have been raised. There is the place where Asita (阿夷) read the prince's face; the place where he threw the elephant with Nanda and the rest, wrestled, and shot the arrow that flew thirty li to the southeast and sank into the ground, where a spring now rises which later men have shaped into a well, so that travellers may drink of it; the place where the Buddha, having gained the Way, came back and saw his father the king; the place where five hundred sons of the Shakya clan left the household life and bowed in reverence before Upali, and the earth shook in six ways; the place where the Buddha preached the law for the gods, and the Four Heavenly Kings guarded the four gates so that even his father the king could not come in; the place where the Buddha sat facing east under a nyagrodha tree and Mahaprajapati gave him a sanghati robe — that tree is standing yet; and the place where King Virudhaka killed the men of the Shakya clan, who before they died had all gained the fruit of srotapanna. Stupas were raised at them, and they are there to this day. Some li to the northeast of the city is the king's field, the place where the prince sat under a tree and watched the ploughmen.

Fifty li east of the city there is a king's garden, and the garden's name is Lumbini (論民). The queen went into the pool and washed herself, and she came out on the north bank of the pool and walked twenty paces; then she raised her hand, took hold of a branch, and facing east gave birth to the crown prince. The prince came down to the ground and walked seven steps, and two dragon kings washed the prince's body. The place where they washed him became a well at last. From it, and from the pool above where she bathed, the monks now always draw water and drink.

For all the buddhas there are four places that are always fixed. The first is the place where the Way is completed. The second is the place where the wheel of the law is turned. The third is the place where they preach and debate and subdue the other ways. The fourth is the place where they go up to the Trayastrimsha Heaven to preach the law for their mother and come down again. All the rest they show forth as the time calls for.

The country of Kapilavastu is a great emptiness and waste, and the people are few and far between. On the roads there are white elephants and lions to fear, and one cannot travel carelessly.

Going east five yojanas from the place where the Buddha was born, there is a country named Ramagrama. The king of this country got one share of the Buddha's relics, and went home and raised a stupa, which is named the Ramagrama stupa. Beside the stupa is a pool, and in the pool is a dragon that always guards this stupa and makes offering to it day and night. When King Ashoka came into the world, he wished to break open the eight stupas and make eighty-four thousand stupas. He had broken seven of them, and he meant to break this one next; but the dragon showed himself in his own body, took King Ashoka into his palace, showed him all his offering vessels, and said to the king, "If your offerings can better these, then break it open and carry it away. I will not strive with you." King Ashoka knew that those offering vessels were not such things as the world holds, and so he went back.

This place is rough and overgrown, and there is no one to sprinkle it and sweep it; but a herd of elephants always comes, draws water with their trunks and sprinkles the ground, and brings flowers of all kinds and incense to offer at the stupa. A man of the Way came from another country, wishing to bow in reverence before the stupa. He met the elephants and was greatly afraid, and hid himself behind a tree, and there he saw the elephants making their offering as the law requires. The man of the Way was moved to deep sorrow: there is no sangharama here to make offering to this stupa, and so the elephants are made to sprinkle and sweep. Then and there the man of the Way gave up the great precepts (大戒) and became a novice again. With his own hands he pulled up the grass and the shrubs, levelled and put the ground in order and made it clean, and he moved the king of the country to build a dwelling for monks, and himself became master of the temple. Monks dwell there to this day. This happened lately, and from that time on, down to now, a novice is always made master of the temple.

Going east from here three yojanas is the place where the crown prince sent Chandaka and the white horse back, and there too a stupa has been raised.

Going east from here four yojanas, one comes to the Charcoal Stupa (炭塔), and there too is a sangharama.