The Country of Kashmir迦葉彌羅國
1The pool where the dragon king feeds the arhats
又從此北行十五日。入山至迦羅國。此迦彌羅。亦是北天數。此國稍大。王有三百頭象。住在山中。道路險惡。不被外國所侵。人民極眾。貧多富少。王及首領諸富有者。衣著與中天不殊。自外百姓。悉枝毛毯。覆其形醜。土地出銅鐵㲲布毛毯牛羊。有象少馬粳米蒲桃之類。土地極寒。不同已前諸國。秋霜冬雪。夏足霜雨。百卉亘青葉彫。冬草悉枯川谷狹小。南北五日程。東西一日行。土地即盡。餘並蔭山。屋並板木覆上不用草瓦。王及首領百姓等。甚敬三寶。國內有一龍池。彼龍王每日供養不一羅漢僧。雖無人見彼聖僧食。亦過齋已。即見餅飯從水下紛紛亂上。以此得知。迄今供養不絕。王及大首領出外乘象。小官乘馬。百姓並皆途步。國內足寺足僧。大小乘俱行。五天國法。上至國王。至國王王妃王子。下至首領及妻隨其力能各自造寺也。還別作。不共修營。彼云。各自功德。何須共造。此既如然。餘王子等亦爾。
Again from here I went north for fifteen days, entered the mountains, and reached the country of Kashmir (迦葉彌羅國). This Kashmir too is counted within North India. This country is somewhat large. The king has three hundred head of elephants, and he lives in the mountains. The roads are steep and bad, so the country is not invaded from outside. The people are very many, but the poor are many and the rich are few. The dress of the king, the chiefs and the rich is no different from that of Central India, but the rest of the people only throw a blanket over themselves to cover what is unseemly.
The land yields copper and iron, wool cloth, blankets, cattle and sheep. There are elephants, a few horses, rice and grapes and the like. The land is very cold, unlike the countries before it. In autumn the frost falls, in winter the snow comes, and in summer the long rains. Every plant is green and then sheds its leaves, and in winter all the grass is dry.
The valleys are narrow and small. Five days' journey from south to north and one day's journey from east to west, and the land is at an end; all the rest is the shadow of the mountains. The roofs are all covered with boards, and they use neither thatch nor tile.
The king, the chiefs and the people revere the Three Jewels greatly. Within the country there is a dragon pool (龍池), and the dragon king there makes offerings every day to many arhat monks. No one has seen those holy monks eat, but when the fast is over, cakes and rice are seen rising in confusion from under the water. By this it is known, and to this day the offering has not ceased.
The king and the great chiefs ride elephants when they go out, the lesser officials ride horses, and the people all go on foot. Within the country there are many monasteries and many monks, and both the Great Vehicle and the Lesser Vehicle are practised.
The law of the five Indias is this. From the king above, with his queen and his sons, down to the chiefs and their wives, each builds a monastery as his strength allows, and each builds his own; they do not build together. They say, "The merit is each man's own. Why should we build together?" Since it is so with these, it is so with the other princes as well.
2To build a monastery is to give a village
凡造寺供養。即施村莊百姓。供養三寶。無有空造寺不施百姓者。為外國法。王及妃姤。各別村莊百姓。王子首領。各有百姓。布施自由不王也。造寺亦然。須造即造。亦不問王。王亦不敢遮。怕拈罪也。若富有百姓。雖無村莊布施。亦勵力造寺。以自經紀。得物供養三寶。為五天不賣人。無有奴婢。要須布施百姓村薗也。
Whenever a monastery is built and offerings are made, villages and their people are given with it, so that they may make offerings to the Three Jewels. There is no one who builds an empty monastery and gives no people with it. By the law of these foreign countries the king and the queen each have villages and people of their own, and the princes and the chiefs each have their people, and they give as they please and do not ask the king. It is so with building a monastery too. If it is to be built, it is built, and the king is not asked; nor does the king dare to forbid it, for he fears it would be a sin.
A rich man among the people, even when he has no village to give, builds a monastery with all his strength, and makes offerings to the Three Jewels out of what he earns by his own trade. In the five Indias people are not sold and there are no slaves, so whoever would give must give people, villages and gardens.