Gaya, the Land of Enlightenment

Going west from here for four yojanas he reached the city of Gaya, and inside the walls it too was empty and waste.

Going south again for twenty li one comes to the place where the Bodhisattva practiced austerities for six years, and there is a wood in that place. Going west from here for three li one comes to the place where the Buddha went into the water to bathe, and heaven pressed down a branch of a tree so that he took hold of it and came out of the pool. Going north again for two li one finds the place where the woman Mijia offered the Buddha milk gruel. Going north from here for two li is the place where the Buddha sat facing east on a stone under a great tree and ate the gruel. The tree and the stone are both there today, and the stone is six chi broad and long and about two chi high. In the Middle Country the cold and the heat are temperate, and trees live some thousands of years, and even ten thousand years.

Going northeast from here half a yojana one comes to a stone cave. The Bodhisattva went inside and sat cross-legged facing west, and he thought in his heart, "If I am to attain the Way, there will be a divine sign." At once the shadow of a Buddha appeared on the stone wall, about three chi long, and it is still bright today. Then heaven and earth shook greatly, and the gods spoke from the air, "This is not the place where the Buddhas of the past and the Buddhas to come attain the Way. Go southwest from here a little less than half a yojana, to the foot of the Beiduo tree. That is the place where the Buddhas of the past and the Buddhas to come attain the Way." When the gods had spoken these words, they went before him singing and led him away. The Bodhisattva rose and walked. Thirty paces from the tree heaven offered him auspicious grass, and the Bodhisattva took it. When he had gone fifteen paces more, five hundred blue birds flew up, circled the Bodhisattva three times, and went away.

The Bodhisattva went forward to the foot of the Beiduo tree, spread the auspicious grass, and sat facing east. Then the demon king sent three jade maidens to come from the north and tempt him, and he himself came from the south and tempted him. The Bodhisattva pressed the ground with his toe, and the demon soldiers drew back and scattered, and the three women turned into old women. From the place of the six years of austerities above to all these places, men of later times raised stupas and set up images within them, and they are all there today. There is the place where the Buddha, having attained the Way, gazed at the tree for seven days and enjoyed the bliss of deliverance. The place where he walked to and fro from east to west for seven days under the Beiduo tree. The place where the gods made a terrace of the seven jewels and made offerings to the Buddha for seven days. The place where the blind dragon Mucalinda (文鱗) coiled about the Buddha for seven days. The place where the Buddha sat facing east on a square stone under a nyagrodha tree, and Brahma came and made his request. The place where the four heavenly kings offered the bowl. The place where five hundred merchants offered parched meal and honey. The place where he saved Kashyapa and his brothers and their thousand disciples. In these places too stupas were raised. At the place where the Buddha attained the Way there are three sangharamas, and monks live in all of them. The monks and the households of the people supply what is needed in plenty, and nothing is lacking. The rules of the Vinaya are strict, and their bearing, the manner of their sitting and rising, and the way they enter the assembly are what the holy company practiced while the Buddha was in the world, and so it is to this day.

Since the Buddha entered nirvana the places of the four great stupas have been handed down without a break. The four great stupas are these: the place where the Buddha was born, the place where he attained the Way, the place where he turned the wheel of the Law, and the place where he entered nirvana.

Long ago, when King Ashoka was a small child, he was playing in the road, and the Buddha Kashyapa passed by begging for food. The child was glad, and he offered the Buddha a handful of earth. The Buddha took it back with him and spread it on the ground where he walked. By the fruit of this deed he became an iron wheel king and ruled Jambudvipa. Riding the iron wheel, he went about Jambudvipa, and between the two Tiewei mountains he saw a hell where sinners were punished. He asked his ministers, "What is this?" They answered, "This is where the ghost king Yama punishes sinners." The king thought to himself, "Even a ghost king can make a hell and punish sinners. I am the lord of men. Why should I not make a hell and punish sinners?" Then he asked his ministers, "Who can make a hell for me and take charge of punishing sinners?" The ministers answered, "Only a man of the utmost evil can do it." The king then sent a minister to search everywhere for an evil man. By the water of a pool he saw a man, tall and strong, black of body, with yellow hair and green eyes. He hooked fish with his feet, and he called the birds and the beasts with his mouth and shot them dead when they came, and not one got away. They took this man and brought him before the king, and the king commanded him in secret, "Build a high wall on four sides. Plant all manner of flowers and fruits inside it, make a fine bathing pool, and adorn it so that men look on it and thirst for it. Make the gates strong. When a man comes in, seize him at once and punish him in every way, and do not let him out. Even if I myself come in, punish me and do not let me go. Now I appoint you king of the hell." There was a monk who was begging his food from house to house, and he came in at that gate. The jailer saw him and was about to punish him. The monk was afraid and begged for a little while, asking to be allowed to eat his midday meal. In a moment another man came in, and the jailer put him in a mortar and pounded him, and a red foam came out. When the monk saw it, he pondered that this body is without permanence, is suffering, and is empty, like a bubble and like foam, and he became an arhat at once. Then the jailer seized him and put him in a cauldron of boiling water, but the monk's heart and face were glad. The fire went out and the water grew cold, and a lotus flower opened in the middle of it, and the monk sat upon it. The jailer went at once and told the king, "There is a strange thing in the prison. I beg the king to come and see." The king said, "I bound myself before, and I dare not go now." The jailer said, "This is no small matter. The king should go quickly." So the king changed the bond he had made before and went in after him. The monk preached the Law to him, and the king believed and understood. He broke down the hell at once and repented of all the evil he had done before. From that time he honored the Three Jewels, and he went often to the foot of the Beiduo tree, repented of his faults, blamed himself, and took the eight precepts. The king's wife asked, "Where does the king always go?" The ministers answered, "He is always under the Beiduo tree." The wife watched for a time when the king was not there and sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came and saw it, he lost his senses and fell to the ground. His ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a long while he came to himself. Then the king piled bricks on the four sides and poured a hundred jars of cow's milk on the root of the tree. He threw his body on the ground and made this vow: "If the tree does not live, I shall never rise." When he had made the vow, the tree grew again from its root, and so it is to this day. It is a little less than ten zhang high.

Going south from here for three li one comes to a mountain named Jizu. Mahakashyapa is in this mountain today. The mountain was split and he went down inside, and the place where he went in will not let a man pass. Far down inside there is a hole at the side, and the whole body of Kashyapa stays within it. Outside the hole there is the earth where Kashyapa once washed his hands, and when the people of that country have a headache they rub this earth on and are healed at once. Arhats live in this mountain even now. Men of the Way from the countries of that land go every year to make offerings to Kashyapa, and to those whose hearts are wholly given an arhat comes by night and talks with them, and when he has resolved their doubts he vanishes all at once. On this mountain the hazel trees grow thick, and there are many lions and tigers and wolves, so one may not walk there carelessly.