The Country of Zhejia磔迦國

The country of Zhejia is more than ten thousand li around. On the east it leans on the Piboshe river, and on the west it comes to the Xindu river. The great capital city of the country is more than twenty li around. It is fit for nonglutinous rice, and winter wheat is plentiful. It produces gold, silver, brass, copper, and iron. The season is hot and burning, and the land has many whirlwinds. The customs are violent and evil, and their speech is low and foul. Their clothing is fresh and white, the so-called jiaosheye garments and zhaoxia garments and the like. They serve the Law of the Buddha little and serve the gods of heaven much. There are ten monasteries and several hundred temples of the gods. In days gone by this country had many houses of blessing to provide for the poor and needy. In some they gave out medicine and in some they gave out food, supplying what the mouth and belly need, so that travelers were free of care.

Fourteen or fifteen li southwest of the great city one comes to the old city of Shejieluo. Its walls are broken, but the foundations are still firm, and it is more than twenty li around. Within it a smaller city has been built again, six or seven li around. The people who live there are rich and well supplied. This is the old capital of the country.

Several hundred years ago there was a king called Moxiluojuluo, who made his capital in this city and ruled over the lands of India. He had talent and wisdom, and his nature was bold and fierce, so that none of the countries around him failed to bow as subjects. In the leisure left over from affairs of state he wished to study the Law of the Buddha, and he ordered the monks to put forward one man of outstanding virtue. At that time none of the monks dared answer the command. Those of few desires did nothing and did not seek to be known, and those of wide learning and high understanding were afraid of his stern majesty. Then an old servant of the king's house, who had long worn the dyed robe, was clear and elegant in speech and argument and ample and quick in talk, so the assembly all put him forward to answer the command. The king said, "I honor the Law of the Buddha and sought out a famous monk from afar, and the assembly has put forward this bondsman to discuss with me. I always thought that the wise and clear stood shoulder to shoulder among the monks, but by this I know them today. What is there to honor?" Thereupon he proclaimed an order to the five countries of India that the Law of the Buddha handed down until then should all be torn down and wiped out, the monks driven off, and not one left behind.

King Poluoadieduo of the country of Mojietuo honored and revered the Law of the Buddha and cherished and nurtured his people. Because King Dazu used punishment loosely and ruled cruelly, he kept his own borders and did not perform the duty of tribute. Then King Dazu put his troops in order and was about to attack. When King Youri heard of it, he told his ministers, "I hear now that the robber is coming, and I cannot bear to fight his soldiers. I ask that all you officials and people forgive me and lay no blame on me, and grant that this poor body may go in hiding among the grassy marshes." When he had spoken he left the palace and lived out among the mountains and fields. Tens of thousands in the country, moved by his kindness, followed him, and they hid and settled on an island in the sea. King Dazu handed his troops to his younger brother and crossed the sea to attack. King Youri held the narrow and dangerous places and lured him to battle with light horsemen, and when the gongs and drums sounded once, troops lying in ambush sprang up on all four sides and took Dazu alive. They bound his arms behind him and led him in to be seen. King Dazu was ashamed that he had lost the way, and he covered his face with his robe. King Youri sat astride the lion couch with his officers guarding him all around, and he ordered an attendant minister to say to Dazu, "Show your face. I have something to say." Dazu answered, "Subject and lord have changed places, and we look at each other as enemies. Since we are not friends, what use is talking face to face?" Though he was told two and three times, in the end he did not obey the command. Thereupon the king proclaimed an order counting up his crimes, saying, "The Three Jewels are the field of blessing on which the four kinds of birth depend, yet you gave them over to jackals and wolves and overthrew and tore down that excellent work. Blessing did not help you, and you have been taken by me. Your crime cannot be pardoned, and you should be given over to punishment." At that time King Youri's mother had heard much and had a strong memory, and she understood the reading of faces well. When she heard that Dazu was to be killed, she quickly told King Youri, "I have heard that Dazu is of rare bearing and full of wisdom. I wish to see him once." King Youri ordered Dazu to be brought into his mother's palace. King Youri's mother said, "Ah, Dazu, do not be ashamed. The world is not lasting, and glory and disgrace come by turns. I am like your mother and you are like my son. You should take off the robe you have covered yourself with and speak a word face to face." Dazu said, "Once I was the lord of an enemy country, and now I am a captive and a prisoner. I have broken down the work of kingship and destroyed the sacrifices of my house. Above I am ashamed before the spirits of my forefathers, and below I am ashamed before the people, and truly I cannot lift my face. I look up to heaven and down to earth, and I have not been able to kill myself, and so I have covered myself like this." The king's mother said, "Rising and falling follow the times, and being and perishing have their fortune. If you make things equal by your mind, then gain and loss are both forgotten. If you make your mind equal by things, then blame and praise rise by turns. You should believe in the recompense of deeds and move along with the times. Take off the covering and speak face to face, and perhaps you may keep your body and your life." Dazu gave thanks and said, "Unfit as I was, I took up the work of kingship in succession. My punishments and my rule lost the way, and the blessing of the country perished. Though I am in the midst of ropes and bonds, I still covet the life of a morning and an evening. I make bold to receive your great favor and to thank you face to face for your deep kindness." Thereupon he took off the covering robe and showed his face. The king's mother said, "Take care of yourself, and may you live out your years." Then she told King Youri, "The old books have a teaching: pardon faults and love life. King Dazu has piled up evil for a long time now, but the blessing left to him is not yet spent. If you kill this man, for twelve years we shall look at one another with the color of famine in our faces. Yet he has the air of one who will rise again. In the end he will not be the king of a great country, but he will hold the north and have the land of a small country." King Youri received the command of his kind mother and pitied the ruler who had lost his country. He gave him a young daughter in marriage, treated him with special courtesy, gathered all his remaining troops, added an escort for him, and had him come out from the island in the sea.

King Dazu's younger brother had gone back to the country and set himself up as king, so Dazu lost his place and hid among the mountains and fields, and then went north and gave himself over to the country of Jiashimiluo. The king of Jiashimiluo treated him with deep courtesy, pitied him for having lost his country, and gave him a town in fief. When the years and months had grown long, he led the men of that town, killed the king of Jiashimiluo by treachery, and set himself up in the high place. Riding on the majesty of that victory, he attacked the country of Jiantuoluo in the west. He hid his soldiers and concealed their armor, and in the end he killed its king and cut down and wiped out the kin of the royal house and the great ministers. The stupas he tore down and the monasteries he did away with were one thousand six hundred in all. Besides those his soldiers killed, nine hundred million people were left, and he wished to put them all to death and leave not a living soul. Then all his counselors came forward and remonstrated, "Great king, your majesty has overawed a strong enemy, and your soldiers did not cross blades. It is the chief evildoer who should be cut down. What fault is there in the common people? We ask that our poor bodies stand in place of those who ought to die." The king said, "You believe in the Law of the Buddha and hold the blessings of the other world heavy. You mean to gain the fruit of buddhahood and speak widely of former lives. Do you wish to pass my evil on to the ages to come? You should go back to your places and decline no more." Thereupon he took three hundred million of the upper stock to the bank of the Xindu river and killed them there, three hundred million of the middle stock he sank in the current of the Xindu river and killed them, and three hundred million of the lower stock he shared out among his soldiers. Then he took the goods of the country he had destroyed, drew his army together in order, and went home. Before the year had even changed, he died. At that time clouds and mist grew dark, the great earth shook, and a violent wind arose. Then one who had gained the fruit pitied him and sighed, "He killed the guiltless without cause and tore down and wiped out the Law of the Buddha. He has fallen into the hell without respite, and his turning there will not come to an end."

In the old city of Shejieluo there is a monastery with more than a hundred monks, and all study the Law of the Lesser Vehicle. The bodhisattva Shiqin made the Shengyidi lun here in olden days. The stupa beside it is more than two hundred feet high, and the four Buddhas of the past expounded the Law here. There is also a place with the traces left where the four Buddhas walked. Five or six li northwest of the monastery there is a stupa more than two hundred feet high, built by King Wuyou. It is the place where the four Buddhas of the past expounded the Law.

Going more than ten li northeast of the new capital city, one comes to a stone stupa more than two hundred feet high, built by King Wuyou. It is the place where the Tathagata stopped on the road while he traveled and taught in the north. The Yindu ji says that there are many relics in the stupa, and on fast days it sometimes sends out a shining light.

From here, going east more than five hundred li, one comes to the country of Zhinapudi.