The Country of Jiashimiluo迦濕彌羅國

The country of Jiashimiluo is more than seven thousand li around. Its four borders lean on mountains, and the mountains are steep beyond measure. There are paths like gates, but these too are narrow, and from of old no neighboring enemy has been able to attack and take it. The great capital city of the country reaches a great river on the west, and it is twelve or thirteen li from north to south and four or five li from east to west. It is fit for sowing and reaping, and flowers and fruits are many. It produces horses of dragon stock, saffron, fire pearls, and medicinal herbs. The climate is bitterly cold, with much snow and little wind. They wear garments of hair and clothe themselves in white cotton. The custom of the place is light, and the people are timid by nature. The country is guarded by dragons, and so it stands strong among the borders around it. Their faces are fair and beautiful, but there is deceit in their nature. They love learning and have heard much, and they believe in the false and the true alike. The monasteries are more than a hundred, and the monks are more than five thousand. There are four stupas, all built by King Wuyou, and each holds relics of the Tathagata, more than a sheng of them.

The Guo zhi says that the land of the country was once a dragon lake. Long ago the Buddha, the World Honored One, had subdued an evil spirit in the country of Wuzhangna and wished to return to Central India. He rode through the air above this country and told Ananda, "After I have entered nirvana, there will be an arhat named Motiandijia, and he shall found a country here, set the people at peace, and spread wide the Law of the Buddha." In the fiftieth year after the Tathagata entered extinction, the arhat Motiandijia, a disciple of Ananda, gained the six spiritual powers and possessed the eight liberations. When he heard the prophecy the Buddha had set down beforehand, his heart rejoiced of itself, and he came here at once. He sat quietly in a wood on a great mountain ridge and showed forth great spiritual changes. The dragon saw it and believed deeply, and asked to supply whatever he wished. The arhat said, "I ask that you grant me, within the lake, a place to set my knees." The dragon king then drew back the water and offered it. The arhat used his spiritual power to make his body wide, and though the dragon king drew back the water with all his strength, the lake was emptied and the water was spent, so the dragon asked instead for land. The arhat left one lake for him to the northwest, more than a hundred li around, and the rest of his kin he settled apart in small lakes. The dragon king said, "I give the land of the lake entire. I ask that you receive my offerings forever." Motiandijia said, "Before long I shall enter nirvana without remainder. Though I would receive your request, how can it be done?" The dragon king asked again, "Let five hundred arhats always receive my offerings until the Law is spent, and after the Law is spent let me take this country back for a lake to live in." Motiandijia followed his request. Then the arhat, having gained that land, wielded the power of great spiritual force and set up five hundred monasteries. He bought lowly people in many other countries to serve as laborers and to provide for the body of monks. After Motiandijia entered extinction, those lowly people set up a lord of their own, and the countries round about despised their lowly stock and would not mix with them or be close to them, and called them Qilituo. In this present time the spring waters already overflow in many places.

In the hundredth year after the Tathagata entered nirvana, King Wuyou of the country of Mojietuo received the command of the age and became king, and his majesty reached even to other customs. He believed deeply in the Three Jewels and cherished and nurtured the four kinds of birth. At that time there were five hundred arhat monks and five hundred common monks, whom the king honored and looked up to, making no difference in his offerings. Among the common monks there was Mohetipo, open and wide of mind and full of wisdom, who sought out name and reality in secret and thought deeply and made a treatise, but its reasoning went against the holy teaching. Everyone who heard and knew of it formed parties and argued against it. King Wuyou could not tell the common from the holy, and following what his own feeling liked he took the side of those close to him. He called the monks together to go to the Qingqie river, wishing to sink them in the deep current and put them all to death. Then the arhats, pressed by this peril to their lives, all wielded their spiritual powers, rode the empty air, and came to the country in the north, where they lodged in the mountains and hid in the valleys. When King Wuyou heard of it he repented and was afraid, and came himself to beg pardon for his fault and ask them to return to their own country, but those arhats firmly would not follow his command. King Wuyou built five hundred monasteries for the arhats and gave this whole country to the body of monks.

In the four hundredth year after the Tathagata entered nirvana, King Jianisejia of the country of Jiantuoluo met his time and took hold of the turning of fortune. The king's influence reached far, and other customs attached themselves to him. In the leisure left over from affairs of state he always studied the scriptures of the Buddha, and each day he invited one monk into the palace to expound the Law. But the many differing schools held to things that were not the same, and the king fell into deep doubt and had no way to put away his confusion. Then the Venerable Xie said, "The Tathagata has left the world, and the years and months grow ever more distant. The schools of his disciples and the treatises of master and pupil differ, each leaning on what it has heard and seen, and together they are spear and shield to one another." When the king heard this he was greatly grieved and sighed sorrowfully for a long while, and he said to the Venerable, "Unworthy as I am, with the merit left to me I follow the thread of those who came before. Though the Holy One went long ago, I am still fortunate. I make bold to forget my own dullness and meanness and to carry on and raise up the teaching of the Law. I shall set out a full explanation of the three baskets according to the schools." The Venerable Xie said, "Great king, you planted good roots in a former life and have gathered much help of merit, and now you set your heart on the Law of the Buddha. This is what I have wished for." The king then proclaimed an order far and near, calling together the holy and the wise. At this they gathered from the four quarters like the spokes of a wheel and sped from ten thousand li away like stars. The excellent and worthy all came together, and the wise and holy all assembled. For seven days he made offerings of the four kinds. As he was about to have the Law discussed, he feared the noise and confusion of it, so the king set out his mind fully and said to the monks, "Let those who have gained the holy fruit stay, and those still bound in fetters return." Even so they were many. Again he proclaimed an order, "Let those with nothing more to learn stay, and those still learning return." Still they were many. Again he gave an order, "Let those who possess the three clarities and the six spiritual powers stay, and let the rest each return." Still they were many. Again he gave an order, "Let those who have exhausted the three baskets within and mastered the five clarities without stay, and let the rest each return." At this four hundred and ninety-nine men were left. The king wished to hold it in his own country, but its heat and damp were hard to bear. He thought also of going to the stone chamber at the city of Wangshe where the great Kasyapa had held his council. The Venerable Xie and the others discussed it and said, "It cannot be. There are many followers of other ways there, and their differing treatises are tangled and confused. There will be no leisure even to answer them, so with what effort shall we make a treatise? The heart of the assembly leans toward this country. This country is made firm by mountains on four sides, yakshas guard it, the land is rich and fat, and its products are plentiful. It is where the worthy and the holy gather and come, and where spirits and immortals wander and stay." The many opinions rested here, and all said, "It is agreed." The king at this time came from there with the arhats, built a monastery, gathered the three baskets, and set out to make the Piposha lun. At that time the Venerable Shiyou was mending a patched robe outside the door. The arhats said to Shiyou, "Your fetters are not yet removed, and your disputing arguments go astray. You should keep your traces far off and not stay here." Shiyou said, "You worthies have no doubt about the Law, and you spread the teaching in the Buddha's stead. Now you gather the great meaning and would set down a true treatise. Though I am not quick, I have grasped the subtle words in outline, and the deep writings of the three baskets and the utmost principles of the five clarities I too have sunk myself in and studied, and I have gained their purport." The arhats said, "Words should not be like that. You should withdraw and dwell apart, quickly gain the state of nothing more to learn, and then join us here. It will not be too late." Shiyou said, "I look on the state of nothing more to learn as I look on spittle and snot. My will seeks the fruit of buddhahood, and I do not hasten down the small path. I shall throw this ball of thread, and before it falls to the ground I shall surely gain the holy fruit of nothing more to learn." Then the arhats rebuked him again, "A man of overweening pride is what this means. The fruit of nothing more to learn is praised by all the Buddhas. You should gain it quickly and settle the doubts of the assembly." At this Shiyou threw the ball of thread, and in the air the gods caught the ball of thread and asked, "You are about to gain the fruit of buddhahood and to follow Cishi as next in turn, the specially honored one of the three worlds on whom the four kinds of birth depend. How can you wish to gain a small fruit here?" When the arhats saw this, they begged pardon for their fault and yielded the place of virtue to him, asking him to be their chief seat, and whenever there was a doubtful point of meaning they all took his decision on it. These five hundred worthy and holy ones first made the Wubodishuo lun in a hundred thousand verses, explaining the Sudalan zang. Next they made the Pinaiye piposha lun in a hundred thousand verses, explaining the Pinaiye zang. Afterward they made the Apidamo piposha lun in a hundred thousand verses, explaining the Apidamo zang. Some call it the Apitan zang, which is a shortened name. Altogether there were three hundred thousand verses and nine million six hundred thousand words, explaining the three baskets in full and handing them down through a thousand ages. There is nothing in them whose branches and leaves are not exhausted and whose shallows and depths are not searched out. The great meaning was made clear again and the subtle words appeared once more, and they were spread and made to flow widely, so that those who came after leaned on them. King Jianisejia then made plates of red copper, engraved the writing of the treatises on them, sealed them in stone boxes, built a stupa, and stored them within it. He ordered the yaksha spirits to guard the country all around and not to let other schools carry these treatises out, and those who wished to study them had to come inside and receive their lessons. When the work was finished he turned his army back to his own capital. Going out of the west gate of this country, he knelt facing east and gave this whole country to the body of monks.

After King Jianisejia died, the Qilituo stock again called themselves kings, drove out the monks, and tore down and destroyed the Law of the Buddha. King Ximodaluo of the country of Duhuoluo was of the stock of Shakya in his ancestry. In the six hundredth year after the Tathagata entered nirvana, he brought glory to his territory and took up the work of kingship in succession, planting his heart in the land of the Buddha and letting his feeling flow in the sea of the Law. When he heard that the Qilituo were tearing down and wiping out the Law of the Buddha, he called together the bold and brave men of his country and got three thousand of them. He dressed them as merchants, loaded them with much treasure and goods, hid weapons among them, and came into this country. The lord of this country received them as guests with special courtesy. From among the merchants he chose and enlisted again and got five hundred men, fierce and sharp and full of plans. Each hid a keen blade in his sleeve, and together they took up heavy treasures and went forward in person with the gifts they bore and presented them. Then King Xueshanxia took off his cap and sat down in the king's own seat. King Qilituo was startled and afraid and did not know what to do, and in the end the king struck off his head. He gave an order to those below him, "I am King Xueshanxia of the country of Duhuoluo. I was angry that this lowly stock openly carried on a cruel rule, and so today I have cut down the one who was guilty. All you common people are not at fault." But the ministers and counselors who had upheld that country he moved away to other regions. When he had settled this country, he called the monks together and built monasteries according to the rule, and all was at peace as before. Again, outside the west gate of this country, he knelt facing east and gave it to the body of monks.

That Qilituo stock had many times had their royal house overturned and their sacrifices cut off because of the monks, and so for generations they piled up that grudge and hated the Law of the Buddha. When the years and months had grown long, they again called themselves kings. Therefore this country now does not honor and believe greatly, and gives its special attention to the temples of the gods of other ways.

More than ten li southeast of the new city, north of the old city and south of a great mountain, there is a monastery with more than three hundred monks. In its stupa there is a tooth of the Buddha, about an inch and a half long, yellow and white in color, and on fast days it sometimes sends out a shining light. Long ago, when the Qilituo stock wiped out the Law of the Buddha, the monks scattered and each lived where it suited him. There was a sramana who traveled through the lands of India, paying homage at the traces of the Holy One and setting forth his utmost sincerity. Later he heard that his own country had been settled, and he set out at once on the road home. He met a herd of elephants moving across a grassy marsh, running and roaring so that the ground shook. When the sramana saw them he climbed a tree to escape. Then the herd of elephants ran up one after another, vying with one another to drink up the water of the pool, and they soaked the roots of the tree and pushed and dug at it together until the tree fell over. They took the sramana, carried him on their backs, and went on until they came to a great forest, where a sick elephant lay in pain from a wound. It drew the monk's hand to the place that hurt, and it had been pierced by a dry bamboo. The sramana then pulled out the bamboo, laid on medicine, tore his own robe, and wrapped its foot. There was another great elephant that brought a golden box and gave it to the sick elephant, and when the elephant had taken it, it passed it on to the sramana. The sramana opened the box, and there was a tooth of the Buddha. The elephants stood around him in a ring, and the monk had no way to get out. The next day at fast time they each brought rare fruits and made them his midday meal. When he had eaten, they carried the monk out of the forest, and only when they had gone several hundred li did they set him down, and each knelt and bowed and went away. The sramana came to the western border of the country and crossed a swift river, and when he reached midstream the boat was about to capsize. The people in the same boat said to one another, "The calamity of this boat capsizing now is the sramana's doing. The sramana must be carrying relics of the Tathagata, and the dragons covet them." The master of the boat looked and found the Buddha's tooth indeed. Then the sramana lifted up the Buddha's tooth, looked down, and said to the dragon, "I entrust it to you now, and before long I shall come and take it." So he did not cross the river but turned the boat and went back, and looking back at the river he sighed, "I have no art to bind them, and I have been cheated by a beast of a dragon." He went to India again and learned the art of binding dragons. Three years later he returned to his own country, came to the bank of the river, and had just set up an altar when the dragon held up the box with the Buddha's tooth and gave it to the sramana. The sramana took it home and made offerings to it in this monastery.

Fourteen or fifteen li south of the monastery there is a small monastery, and in it there is a standing image of the bodhisattva Guanzizai. If there is one who cuts off food and vows to hold to it until death, wishing to see the bodhisattva, then a body of wondrous color comes forth from within the image.

More than thirty li southeast of the small monastery one comes to a great mountain, where there is an old monastery. Its make is grand and strong, but it has grown very wild and overgrown, and now only in one corner is a small two-storied hall raised. There are more than thirty monks, and all study the Law and teaching of the Greater Vehicle. Long ago the master of treatises Sengqiebatuoluo made the Shunzhengli lun here. In the stupas to the left and right of the monastery lie the relics of great arhats. Wild beasts and mountain apes gather flowers and make offerings, and year after year they do not fail, as though they were carrying out a command. In this mountain there are many numinous traces. In places a stone wall is split across, and on a peak the tracks of a horse remain. All such things are strange in their shape, and all of them were made by arhats and novices who roamed and played in bands, rubbing and drawing with their fingers and riding horses back and forth. The traces they left are like this, and it is hard to tell of them in detail.

More than ten li east of the monastery of the Buddha's tooth, among the cliffs of the northern mountain, there is a small monastery. Here in olden days the great master of treatises Suojiandiluo made the Zhongshifen piposha lun.

In the small monastery there is a stone stupa more than fifty feet high. These are the relics of the body an arhat left behind. Formerly there was an arhat whose frame was great in size, and whatever he ate and drank was equal to an elephant's. The people of the time mocked him, saying, "He knows only how to eat his fill. What does he know of right and wrong?" When the arhat was about to enter extinction, he told the people, "Before long I shall take nirvana without remainder. I wish to speak of the wondrous Law that my own body has gained." When the people heard and knew of it, they mocked him to one another again, and all came together to watch what he would gain or lose. Then the arhat told the people, "I shall now tell you of my original causes. Before this body, I received an elephant's body in recompense and was in the king's inner stable in eastern India. At that time there was a sramana of this country who traveled far in India, seeking out the scriptures and treatises of the holy teaching. Then the king gave me to the sramana, and I carried the scriptures of the Buddha and came as far as here. Not long after that my life came to an end. By the power of the merit of carrying those scriptures, I came to be a man, and further blessings gathered so that I put on the dyed robe early and diligently sought release, with no leisure to rest at ease. So I gained the six spiritual powers and cut off the desires of the three worlds. But in what I eat the old habit is still with me, so I always hold my body in check and eat one part in three." Though he said this, the people still did not believe. He rose at once into the empty air, entered the samadhi of fire and light, sent out smoke and flame from his body, and entered extinction. The bones that were left fell down, and they raised a stupa.

Going more than two hundred li northwest of the royal city, one comes to the monastery of Shanglin. The master of treatises Bulana made the Shi piposha lun here.

Going a hundred and forty or fifty li west of the city, to where the north side of the great river meets the south side of the mountains, there is the monastery of the Mahasamghika school, with more than a hundred monks. The master of treatises Fodiluo made the Dazhongbu jizhen lun here.

From here, going southwest over the mountains and through dangerous places for more than seven hundred li, one comes to the country of Bannucuo.