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The Country of Magadha摩揭陀國

Wang Ocheonchukguk Jeon (Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India) 往五天竺國傳 · Hyecho · 727 (Silla, 26th year of King Seongdeok) · 1 passages · 158 Chinese characters · reading time 0.6 min

Wang Ocheonchukguk Jeon (Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India) Complete in one volume The travel record of Hyecho, a monk of Silla, who at about twenty walked forty countries of India and the Western Regions and set down what he saw. It was lost for more than a thousand years and was found again in 1908 in the caves of Dunhuang, as a damaged scroll. Five poems in five-word lines, longing for home, are carried in it.

1At Mahabodhi a wish is fulfilled

是摩揭陀國舊有一王名尸羅栗底。造此像也。兼造一金銅□□輻團圓正寸三十餘步此城俯臨恒河北岸置也。即此鹿野苑。拘尸那。舍城。摩訶菩提等四大靈塔。在摩揭陀國王界。此國大小乘俱行。□□得達摩訶菩提寺。稱其本願。非常歡喜。略題述其愚志。五言不慮菩提遠。焉將鹿苑遙。只愁懸路險。非意業風飄。八塔難誠見。參著經劫燒。何其人願滿。目覩在今朝

This is the country of Magadha (摩揭陀國). Long ago there was a king named Shiladitya (尸羅栗底), and he made this image. He also made a □□ of gilt bronze, round as a wheel and more than thirty paces across. This city was set looking down on the north bank of the Ganges.

The four great holy stupas, that is the Deer Park (鹿野苑), Kushinagar (拘尸那), Rajagriha (舍城) and Mahabodhi (摩訶菩提), all stand within the borders of the king of Magadha. In this country both the Great Vehicle and the Lesser Vehicle are practised.

□□ I reached the monastery of Mahabodhi. The wish I had set from the first was fulfilled, and my joy knew no bound. I set down my foolish purpose in brief, in verse of five words to the line.

I do not fret that Bodhi is far; how then should the Deer Park be called distant? My only care is the steep road and its danger; the driving of the wind of karma (業風) is not in my mind. The eight stupas are hard indeed to see, for through long ages they have been burned away. How is it that this man's wish is fulfilled, and this morning my own eyes behold them?

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